Bound By Fury:The Forced Path

As Akira walked out of the guild building.

His mind ran non-stop, tugging him in different directions.

"I should visit Mom at the hospital"

He visioned her lying in that clean, cold room hooked up to machines in his mind.

"But I can't." His jaw tightened

"It's too dangerous. If they find out I'm still alive, they'll come for me again and im not strong enough to stop them"

He kicked a loose stone on the path ahead, the small action doing nothing to vent the anger welling up inside him.

"Damn it! I can't even visit her, can't even see how she's doing!"

His breath came faster, his heart pounding with a helpless fury.

"I need to get stronger—fast. Strong enough to face anyone who dares stand in my way no matter what."

The resolve was fierce, but the bitterness remained.

"But for now…"

He exhaled sharply, trying to steady himself.

"I'll call Grandma and ask him to visit her. She can check on her and let me know how she's doing."

With that, he shook his head and continued walking, trying to redirect his focus. His gaze shifted to his wrist, where the cursed tattoo faintly pulsed with energy.

"I've done the daily QUEST of the system"," he thought, trying to push the darker emotions aside.

"Now I just have to wait for a high-ranking dungeon assignment. E-Rank and D-Rank dungeons don't do anything for me anymore. They're useless for leveling up."

He sighed. "But what should I do with the rest of the day?"

As the thought lingered, a memory surfaced—bright and warm.

"Oh, right. I promised Yuna I'd take her to the park." A small, genuine smile broke through his stoic expression.

"Guess that's what I'm doing," he decided, his steps lightening as he headed toward Cha-Jong's house.

Meanwhile, in the Guildmaster's Sylara Office

Captain Imzar stood before Sylara's imposing desk, his breaths labored and uneven.

Guildmaster Sylara leaned back in her chair, her piercing gaze locked onto him.

Grido stood nearby, his arms crossed, his normally calm face now a mask of suspicion and concern.

"What is the meaning of this commotion, Imzar?" Sylara's voice was sharp, authoritative, cutting through the tension like a blade.

Imzar's knees wobbled, his composure crumbling as he struggled to find the words.

"It's about the dungeon, Guildmaster," he finally managed, his voice trembling.

"The one you canceled—the one you asked T.E.R.R.A. to reevaluate because of the immense mana it emitted."

Sylara's expression grew colder, her fingers tapping the desk rhythmically.

"Yes, I remember."

"What about it?"

Imzar's face twisted in anguish, his knees buckling beneath him as he collapsed to the ground.

"I made… a terrible mistake."

Sylara's eyes narrowed, her voice taking on an edge of barely-contained fury.

"Don't tell me you did what I think you did, Imzar."

She rose from her chair, the air around her seeming to crackle with suppressed power.

Imzar clenched his fists, his teeth grinding audibly.

"Since that day I lost to that brat… to Akira…" he spat the name like a curse.

"I've felt worthless to you, Guildmaster."

"Like I've lost my worth."

His voice cracked as he continued, his head bowed in shame.

"I thought… If I could successfully raid the dungeon with my team—the one you postponed—I could prove my worth again."

"Regain your recognition."

"Prove I wasn't useless."

Sylara's eyes blazed with fury, her aura flaring as the room grew oppressively tense.

"How dare you!"

She snarled, her voice shaking with restrained fury. The room seemed to grow colder with each word.

"No, Guildmaster!"

Imzar shouted, his voice desperate.

"Hear me out until the end!"

Sylara's expression didn't soften, but she gestured sharply for him to continue, her presence demanding obedience.

Imzar gritted his teeth, his trembling hands gripping his hair as he recounted the events.

"I took my team and entered the dungeon…"

At first, it seemed manageable.

"There were monsters waiting at the entrance—true, it was evolved—but we fought them."

"We killed them."

His voice wavered, as though saying the words brought the battle back to life in his mind.

"But as we moved forward…"

He paused, his breathing shallow.

His hands clutched at his head as though trying to hold back the flood of memories.

"What happened, Imzar?"

Sylara demanded, her tone sharp but undercut with growing concern.

Imzar's face twisted in anguish.

"It wasn't just monsters waiting for us."

"Beyond them, deeper in the dungeon… there was something else."

"Someone else."

"Someone?"

Grido interjected, stepping forward.

His calm facade cracked, replaced by a look of confusion and worry.

"Continue,"

Sylara ordered, her voice now laced with a dangerous edge.

Imzar's body quaked, his hands falling to his sides as he raised his face, pale and drenched with sweat.

"It was a person," he whispered, his voice barely audible.

"No… not just a person."

"Something far worse."

Sylara leaned forward slightly, her piercing eyes narrowing.

"What do you mean, 'worse'?"

Imzar swallowed hard, his throat dry.

"His strength… it was beyond anything we'd ever faced."

"His mana was… unnatural, suffocating."

"At one moment, it felt like the dungeon itself was crushing us under its weight."

The captain's voice broke, his trembling more pronounced.

"In seconds… He killed most of my team."

"They didn't even have time to react. He moved like a shadow, faster than I could track, and his strikes were—"

He stopped, his voice choking on the words.

Sylara's jaw tightened, her fingers gripping the edge of her desk.

"How did you escape then if he was that powerful?"

Imzar's eyes brimmed with tears as he answered, his voice heavy with guilt.

"Jin Ael… He… He used his skill, Spatial Shift."

He pushed me away, changed my location to the dungeon entrance.

"I didn't want to leave, but he… he gave his life so I could escape."

"So I could come here and tell you."

Sylara's sharp intake of breath echoed through the room, her fury momentarily tempered by the weight of the revelation.

Imzar's voice cracked, his head bowing so low it nearly touched the floor.

"I'm so sorry… I never expected to face something like that inside the dungeon."

"Jin Ael's sacrifice… it must not be in vain."

Sylara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to control her anger.

"Did you get to know anything else about this… person?" She asked.

Imzar lifted his head, his eyes open wide and filled with fear.

"I think…" he paused, shaking,

"I think he's a Demonic Human."

The words lingered in the air like a bad omen.

Sylara's eyes widened in surprise, and for a moment, she looked less placid.

Grido also took a step back, his face expressing both incredulity and fear.

"Why do you think that?"

Grido asked, his voice louder than he meant it to be.

Imzar's voice quaked as he answered, the memory visibly shaking him to his core.

"The mana… It wasn't like anything normal."

"It was darker… denser."

"It made it hard to breathe, hard to even think."

"And… when he used his power…"

Imzar's breath hitched, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"His eyes turned red."

Sylara and Grido met each other's gaze, both their faces grim, as if the weight of the revelation had sunk into the room like lead.

-Red eyes—a characteristic of Demonic Humans.-