The medical wing of the Valor Guild headquarters was a fortress of white steel and humming machinery. In the center of the primary trauma room Kaelen Vance floated suspended in a massive cylindrical tank of glowing green healing fluid. He was unconscious a breathing tube forced down his throat.

Elias Vance stood in front of the glass tank his massive hands clasped behind his back. The S Class Berserker radiated a silent terrifying fury that made the medical staff tremble in the corners of the room.

"His ribs were pulverized" a nervous doctor reported reading from a digital tablet. "The kinetic force of the impact caused severe internal hemorrhaging. The healing fluid will repair the tissue but he will not be able to fight for at least six months Guild Master."

Elias did not look at the doctor. He kept his eyes on his broken son. "An F Rank Mimic did this. A slum rat with no pedigree and no sponsor."

"He is not a Mimic sir" Elara the B Rank Tracker said stepping out of the shadows near the door. "I told you what I found in the dungeon. The boy steals skills and merges them. He is an anomaly, something that redefines everything we know about the awakening system."

"I do not care what he is" Elias growled turning away from the tank. "He humiliated my bloodline on global television. He made the Valor Guild look weak. I want him removed from the board before the tournament reaches the quarter finals."

"That might be short sighted Elias."

A new voice echoed through the sterile room. A man stepped through the sliding doors. He was tall and impossibly thin wearing a pristine white lab coat over a dark tailored suit. His skin was pale almost translucent and his eyes were completely black lacking any visible pupils.

This was Vane. He was the Chief Researcher for the Valor Guild and a high ranking liaison to the shadow organization known as Eden.

Elias narrowed his eyes. "I am not in the mood for your cryptic advice Vane. The boy is a threat to our public image."

"Public image is a trivial concern" Vane said walking over to a metal examination table. He reached into his coat and pulled out a small lead lined lockbox. "While you have been obsessing over a single academy student my teams have been monitoring the upper floors of the Crimson Tower. We found something that makes your little pest look completely insignificant."

Vane opened the lockbox.

Resting on a bed of velvet was a jagged crystal. It was not a monster core. It did not glow with the natural elemental light of the Awakening system. It was pitch black absorbing the light around it and it pulsed with a sickening chaotic energy that made Elara take a step backward.

"What is that?" Elias asked his S Class instincts flaring with sudden aggression.

"It is a fragment of a dimensional tear" Vane whispered his black eyes locked onto the crystal. "As we know the Towers were built by the Administrators as a closed system, or what Eden calls it; controlled experiment. But this crystal did not come from the Administrators, It came from the outside. Something is trying to break into our world Elias. Something ancient."

"Speak plainly Vane" Elias demanded.

"The ancient texts recovered from the Endless Library refer to them as The Lost" Vane explained closing the box. "A demonic race from the outer worlds. They consume reality itself. The Administrators built the Towers to keep them out but the barriers are failing. Well the barriers have been falling for years and right now it appears as though the barriers are at their weakest and The Lost are bleeding into our dungeons."

Elias scoffed crossing his massive arms. "Fairy tales and ghost stories. My mother used to tell me about The Lost and the threat they posed but in my twenty years of hunting I have never come across a single one. If the stories were to be true and those demons of legend were to invade, we will crush them and harvest their cores just like everything else."

Vane smiled a thin bloodless smile. "Perhaps. But we need to understand their power first. Which brings me back to your problem with Glen Mcdonald."

Vane tapped a button on his wrist console projecting a holographic file into the air. It showed the profile of a C Class rookie named Jarek.

"Jarek is a disposable asset" Vane said. "A nobody who barely survived the qualifiers. Yesterday my team surgically implanted a microscopic fragment of The Lost into his spiritual core. The demonic energy is currently rewriting his biology. He is highly unstable but incredibly powerful."

Elias looked at the hologram. "You want to use him in the tournament?"

"I have already manipulated the bracket" Vane nodded. "Jarek will face Glen Mcdonald in the second round tomorrow. We get to test our new demonic biological weapon in a controlled combat environment. And you get to watch the pest who broke your son get torn to pieces by something not of this world."

Elias looked back at the healing tank where his son floated. A cruel satisfied smile spread across his face.

"Do it" Elias commanded. "And make sure the cameras get a good angle when the boy dies."