CHAPTER 9 : Evaluation (2)

The monster turned toward them. Ren, Mira, and Kurogane froze instantly. Their chests rose and fell hard; the air felt like it refused to enter their lungs. Their legs wouldn’t move—caught somewhere between exhaustion, panic, and the creeping cold climbing up their throats.
“Don’t… don’t move,” Ren whispered. His voice was as thin as the fog.

Then—
BLIP.
In the span of a blink, the monster was already standing right in front of Kurogane. That close. That silent.

“K-Kurogane…” Mira tried to call out, but her voice was swallowed by terror.

The monster lowered its head slowly, as if examining a brand-new toy. Its torn mouth began to open… and kept opening… until it was nearly 180 degrees wide, revealing rows of black, slime-coated teeth.

From deep inside its throat, a light appeared. Pale blue. Pulsing softly like a heart on the verge of exploding.

Kurogane didn’t move. His eyes were empty. His whole body felt stripped of its own will.

“Ren…” Mira’s voice cracked. “He… he’s not responding…”

Ren dug his nails into his own arm until they almost pierced the skin. “I… I can’t move…” he said, breath hitching.

The light grew brighter. Swallowing more and more of Kurogane’s awareness.

The monster dipped its head lower, slowly, like performing a violent ritual it had repeated countless times.

Its mouth hovered toward Kurogane’s head.
A little more—
A little more—

DUGH!!!

A fist slammed into the monster so hard the air itself erupted. The creature’s body was sent flying, crashing into the ground and scraping across the dirt for several meters.

The person who struck it stood there panting. His shirt was wrinkled, his long coat covered in dust, sweat running down his jaw. His eyes were sharp as blades.

“…Toma?” Ren breathed, barely believing it.

Toma brushed dirt off his arm and let out a heavy exhale. “Finally,” he said.
“…I found you.”

Mira nearly collapsed in relief. Ren almost dropped to his knees. Behind them, Kurogane gasped for breath, snapping out of the trance.

“Ugh… what… just happened…?”

Toma didn’t answer. His gaze was locked on the monster, which was already rising again with a furious snarl.

“I’ll explain later,” he said, flexing his fingers.
“For now… let me handle this.”

The flung monster rose with a low, grinding roar, like metal forced against metal. Its body trembled, then it began to rampage—lashing, smashing, destroying anything nearby as if something inside it was driving it into a frenzy.

Without warning—
BLIP.

The monster shot forward again. In one blink, it was right in front of Toma, its long claws curved like blades ready to slice him apart.

“Toma! Watch out!” Ren yelled.

But Toma wasn’t surprised. His eyes had already read the movement long before it happened.

In a split second, his body shifted sideways, dodging the slash by almost zero distance. The wind alone from the monster’s attack lifted his hair.

The monster struck the ground, cracking it. It growled and swung again—faster this time.

Toma dropped low, one knee touching the dirt. “You’re fast, huh…” he muttered.

The monster leaped, the pale blue light in its throat pulsing violently. Toma pushed off the ground, springing upward and driving his elbow forward.

BRAK!

His elbow smashed into the monster’s jaw, twisting its head backward. The creature tumbled, but this time it dug its claws into the ground and stopped its momentum, body tensing like a drawn bow.

It attacked again—truly like a shadow exploding forward.

Toma raised his arm, blocking with his forearm. The impact was harsh—like two massive stones colliding.

He slid back several steps, his heel carving lines in the dirt. His breathing was heavy, but his eyes stayed laser-focused.

“You’re not the talking type, huh?” he said quietly.

The monster lifted its body high, ready to twist and tear him apart. The blue light in its mouth looked ready to erupt.

Toma loosened his fingers.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll speed up.”

The monster charged like a black lightning bolt ripping through the fog. The ground split under its claws. The blue glow in its throat grew stronger—like it was about to fire in one deadly blast.

Toma braced himself, body leaning forward, feet gripping the earth.

As soon as the monster reached him—
DUAR!!

The blue blast fired straight out, a beam of raw energy tearing through the air.

But Toma had already moved.

He twisted his body sideways like bending wind; the blast carved through the spot he’d been in just a second before.

The monster roared, turning sharply, swinging both claws at once.

Toma leapt back, one hand touching the ground for balance, then sprang upright in one smooth motion.

“You’re getting predictable,” he said.

The monster grew even angrier, its movements wilder. It attacked relentlessly—slashes, claws, ground strikes. All fast, chaotic, brutal.

But to Toma, it was a pattern he’d already memorized.

Every attack missed by the thinnest margin:
a strand of hair, a centimeter, a breath.

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane could only watch, unblinking.

“Toma… he’s not letting that thing land a single hit,” Mira whispered.

And finally—Toma found an opening.

When the monster raised both arms to rip him apart from above, its body spread wide open. The blue light in its throat blazed wildly, unstable.

“Now.”

Toma drove his foot into the ground and shot forward like a crash of thunder. He ducked under the falling claws and appeared right beneath the monster’s jaw.

His right fist tightened.
Shoulder turning.
Hips locking.
Every ounce of power focused into one point—

BOOM!!!

His punch slammed into the monster’s abdomen, right at the pulsing core of blue light. The sound was like shattering glass mixed with lightning. The light exploded outward from inside the monster—not toward Toma, but in all directions, like a machine forced beyond its limit.

The monster flew back, body convulsing violently, then collapsed to its knees.

The blue glow dimmed.
Its growls faded.
And silence swept over the area.

The monster was defeated—or so they thought.

Ren dropped to the ground, laughing in relief. Mira slumped, covering her face. Kurogane almost fell over, but he managed to lift two thumbs at Toma.

“We… we’re alive…” Mira said, nearly crying.

Ren nodded rapidly. “Holy crap, Toma! You were amazing!”

Kurogane added, “I… I don’t even have words…”

But Toma didn’t respond.

He stood exactly where he was, chest rising and falling, his eyes locked on the monster’s unmoving body. There wasn’t even a shred of relief on his face—only growing tension.

Ren noticed it first. “Toma? Hey… what’s wrong?”

Mira looked at the creature too. “Isn’t it already…?”

Toma lifted one hand without turning, signaling for them to be silent.

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane froze.

Silence.
A suffocating silence.

Then—

KRAK… krk… KRKKKK…

The monster’s body began to move. Its bones twisted in impossible directions, like its body was being crushed from the inside. Its spine bent sharply, arms and legs twisting the wrong way.

Ren felt chills run into his bones.
“W-what is that…?” he whispered.

And suddenly—

The monster started to grow.

Its thin, dry skin stretched tight, swelling before splitting in tiny bursts as massive muscles surged beneath it. Arms, chest, shoulders—everything expanded like a bodybuilder inflated far beyond reason. The sound of muscles stretching was like ripping fabric.

Then its head… changed.

Its face flattened.
Eyes vanished.
Nose gone.
Mouth gone.

Only a smooth, pale surface remained—featureless, like a blank mask forced into life.

Mira gasped, covering her mouth.
Kurogane stepped back. “T-That’s… not the same thing.”

Ren swallowed hard. “Toma… what is that…?”

Toma turned to the three behind him. His eyes were sharp, brooking no argument.

“You three. Back up. Now.”

“Move slowly. Don’t make a sound.”

Ren opened his mouth to protest. “But—”

“GO.”

It wasn’t the tone of someone angry—
It was the tone of someone who saw death approaching.

They obeyed immediately, stepping back little by little.

But they didn’t get far.

In one second—

BLAM!!!

The monster was already in front of Toma. No blue light. No roar. No warning.

Only a massive fist—solid as steel.

DOOGHH!!!

The punch landed square in Toma’s gut, folding his body like a U before flinging him away.

Ren screamed, “TOMA!!—”

Toma smashed through the cave wall with an explosion of shattered stone. Rocks crumbled, dust billowed.

The monster didn’t stop.

In movements almost invisible to the eye, it leapt after Toma, crushing boulders underfoot like cardboard.

Mira froze. “It’s… it’s chasing him…”

Kurogane trembled. “That’s not the same monster…”

Ren stared at the direction Toma was thrown, face pale.

“This is… bad.”

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane stared toward the direction where Toma had been thrown. The sound of collapsing rocks and heavy impacts echoed through the tunnel.

Mira trembled violently. “W-woi, T-Toma’s seriously gonna die!”

Kurogane nodded rapidly, face pale. “If he loses… we—we’re—”

Ren grabbed both their shoulders tight. “Hey, listen! Toma told us to run not because he’s stupid—but because it’s the only way we stay alive!”

Mira fell silent, lips quivering.

“If we stay here, he’ll have to protect us while fighting that thing. He’ll die for nothing.” Ren stared at them hard, even though his own voice was shaking. “I don’t want Toma to die either.”

A second of silence.

Then Mira nodded slowly, swallowing her fear.
Kurogane clenched his fists. “O…okay. We… we have to find a way out.”

Without wasting another moment, the three of them sprinted down the dark cave corridor. Their breaths overlapped, footsteps frantic, ears catching the distant echoes of battle behind them.

Along the way, small creatures—cave rats, strange insects, even grayish lizards—scurried past their feet, just as terrified as the humans.

“Hah… hah… where’s the exit?” Mira asked between gasps.

“Just keep searching,” Ren replied. “If there’s air flow, that means we’re close.”

As they turned into another passage, Ren’s eyes caught something glinting on the ground. He stopped abruptly.

“Ren?” Kurogane looked back.

“Hold on.” Ren crouched and picked up an object: a short dagger with a leather grip, dusty but still sharp. The metal felt cold, heavy—definitely not something left lying around by chance.

“Why is there a dagger here…?” he muttered.

Mira watched him anxiously. “Ren, hurry. We have to—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Ren slipped the dagger into his waistband, and the three continued running.

But they only made it a few meters before—

KRAKK!!

The stone wall to their right exploded outward as if blasted from inside. Shards of rock flew everywhere.

Mira screamed. Kurogane shielded his head.

And from behind the smoke and dust, two massive figures burst out—slamming, grappling, crashing into each other.

Toma.

Already using the Centipede Mode.

The monster—now built like a faceless titan—charged Toma brutally, smashing him into the stone wall. But Toma blocked the attack with both fortified arms. Metal and stone clashed, sending shockwaves everywhere.

DUARR!!

Dust erupted.

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane were frozen, unable to move.

Kurogane whispered in horror, “That’s… Toma…? He changed…”

Mira covered her mouth, eyes wide. “Oh my god…”

Toma growled—low, not entirely human—and shoved the monster backward several meters.

Ren watched them fight, feeling his body lock up.
“This… is way worse than I thought…”

Their battle shook the entire cave.

And the three of them… were stuck right in the middle of its path.

Toma wasted no time. His right arm shifted into a massive black axe-like blade as he lunged back at the monster. Each step he took sent vibrations up the walls, shaking dust from the ceiling.

The monster—with its newly bulked, unnatural muscles and featureless white head—let out a sound that didn’t belong to any living thing; more like scraping metal and fractured breath.

They stared at each other… or at least Toma stared, while the monster merely tilted its blank head in a disturbing angle.

Then—

BOOM!

The first impact rattled the whole cavern.

Toma blocked the monster’s punch with his armored forearm, sparks of black energy crackling like lightning. His body slid backward several meters, carving a trench in the cave floor.

Toma snarled.

He twisted his body and drove a centipede-plated kick into the monster’s chest.
GROAAAK!
The creature was launched into the wall, fracturing it.

But it didn’t pause.

It shot back, speed multiplied several times.

In an instant, it was already above Toma—

DUK! DUK! DUK!

A barrage of punches rained down on him like meteor strikes. Toma blocked most of them, but the rest slammed into his body and arms, blasting debris everywhere.

Toma grabbed one of its arms and spun his whole body.

“HAAAH!”

He hurled the monster into the air.

Toma kicked off the ground, shooting upward—his body a black streak slicing through the air.

In midair, he twisted—centipede shield on his elbow igniting with dark energy—

BAMM!!

His elbow smashed into the side of the monster’s head, sending it spinning several times before crashing into the ground like a falling meteor.

The cave floor shattered, dust erupting everywhere.

Toma landed lightly, crouched, breathing hard—but his eyes… grew even sharper.

“Get up. I know you’re not done.”

Sure enough—

Through the dust, the monster rose—its movement staggered, like its bones locked and unlocked in the wrong order.

It growled without a mouth, and two new arms burst from its back—long, wiry, yet powerful.

Toma narrowed his eyes.
“…Okay. Now you’re just annoying.”

The monster attacked from four directions at once—like a blur of limbs.

Toma crossed his shields, blocking the front strike while twisting to avoid the side attacks. He kicked a massive rock behind him toward the monster—the creature smashed it with a single punch.

Toma used the distraction, leaping toward the wall and pushing off.

In a burst of near-invisible speed, he drove his armored knee into the monster’s featureless face.

CRAAK!

A crack formed on the white surface.

Toma unleashed a flurry of rapid blows, his body moving like a giant centipede: fast, repetitive, simultaneous.

DUK! DUK! DUK! DUK! DUK!

The monster tried to counter, but every strike was deflected by Toma’s shifting chitin armor, moving like a living shield.

Toma grabbed one of its arms and crushed it with a bone-shattering grip.

The monster released a sound like an empty void screaming.

Toma spun—

“BREAK!”

—and slammed the creature into the ground, shattering the floor.

The monster struggled to rise… but Toma stood over it, his right arm transforming further—into a thicker, sharper, heavier shield.

“This is the final round.”

He slammed the shield into the monster’s head.

PRANG!!

A massive crack.

The monster still twitched.

Toma struck again.

PRANG!!

The crack widened.

The monster stopped moving.

Toma raised both shields.

Centipede energy spread like living ink.

“—STAY. DOWN.”

BOOOOM!!

One final strike shattered the monster’s head into pale fragments. Its body collapsed, returning to its original thin, lifeless form.

The dust slowly settled.

Toma stood there, breathing heavily, his centipede mode slowly dimming…

Toma stepped away from the corpse and moved toward Ren, Mira, and Kurogane.

“T-Toma! Are you okay?” Ren asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine but—”

The dust hadn’t fully cleared when a series of cracks echoed through the air.

Toma froze.

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane whipped their heads toward the sound.

“A-ah… Toma?” Ren whispered.

From beneath the pile of rubble and the remains of the broken monster, something began to move—slowly, unnaturally, as though its body was being reassembled from scratch.

A new hand emerged.

Then a second one.

Both long, slender, and ending in white bone-like blade edges.

And then, the monster rose—

taller, stronger, more… complete.

Its once thin body and then mutated bulk now shifted into a perfectly athletic, statue-like frame—like a sculpted warrior given wrong, unnatural life. The skin remained pale and featureless.

Except—

slowly, the center of its head split open.

From that crack, a mouth emerged—grinning impossibly wide, stretching almost to both sides of its head.

A mouth full of teeth…
human teeth—far too many shoved into one jaw.

The creature whispered in a fractured voice:

“—Finally… the correct form…”

Ren went pale.
“OH NO NO NO NO—Why does it keep getting uglier?!”

Mira covered her mouth.
“That’s not evolution, that’s a bug! That’s a glitch of life!”

Kurogane screamed, “TOMA! CAN WE—UH—PAUSE THIS PLEASE?!”

But Toma didn’t answer.

He stood frozen.

For the first time since the battle began—
his eyes showed fear.

“…This is bad,” Toma muttered. “Really bad. Its aura… changed completely.”

The monster leaned forward, preparing to launch.

Instinctively, Toma transformed his right arm—

The centipede armor cracked, shifted, and opened to reveal the energy channels beneath his skin. His body trembled as the arm unfolded into a black organic cannon glowing red from within.

“If this doesn’t work… nothing will.”

Toma fired the CENTIPEDE CANNON—
A black-reddish beam shot straight out, slicing the air and detonating with a shockwave.

BOOOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion cracked the entire cave wall from end to end.
Ren, Mira, and Kurogane were blown backward by the pressure.

“WOAAAH—DID THAT KILL IT?!” Ren shouted.

“I—I hope it did!” Mira screamed.

“If that thing’s not dead, I’m going home with a magic motorcycle taxi!” Kurogane panicked.

Dust hovered.
Silence.

Toma lowered the cannon slowly, gasping for breath.

“…Direct hit.”

But when the dust cleared—
his face went pale.

The monster stood tall.

Untouched.
Unburned.
Not even pushed back.

It took one step forward—
and the cave floor cracked just from its weight.

Toma stepped back on instinct.
His hands trembled.

“…Impossible. A full-power blast didn’t even leave a SCRATCH?!”

For the first time, Toma’s voice cracked—
not from anger, but pure fear.

Then the monster vanished.

“TOMA! ABOVE!” Ren yelled.

Toma looked up—too late.

One of the monster’s blade-arms came down like a guillotine.

Toma raised his centipede shield—

ZRAAAAKK!!

The sound was like thick glass being sliced clean.
His centipede shield—untouched by every enemy before this—fractured from base to tip.

The monster’s blade slammed into the cave floor—

KRAAAAK!

The stone beneath them split apart like soft clay.

The trio froze.

“OKAY, OKAY, I OFFICIALLY… NEVER WANT TO GO INTO A CAVE AGAIN,” Kurogane shook.

“Toma… you can still fight, right?” Mira whispered, confident but terrified.

But Toma just stood there, heaving for breath, staring at the monster with a face they had never seen.

The face of someone realizing—

the enemy in front of him was far beyond his level.

“I… I’m not even sure I can survive…”

The monster slowly turned its human-toothed mouth toward Toma.

“Your turn,” it hissed in a voice no creature should possess.

The monster lunged, speed horrifying, both blade-arms flashing like lightning—ready to skewer Toma from both sides.

Toma froze for half a second.

He knew his shield wouldn’t survive the next hit.

But before the blades reached him—

“Enough.”

A calm voice. Flat. Unhurried.

A single finger appeared from the monster’s side, piercing straight through its head—without blood, without tearing, as if its skull were just a hologram with no mass at all.

The monster’s body instantly went limp, movements shutting off like someone had yanked its power cord. More fingers followed, emerging around its head unnaturally, as if restraining an invisible energy flow.

Toma stared, relief mixing with disbelief, breath ragged.

The figure behind the monster stood casually—like he’d just finished a lunch break.

“Good work, you guys,” he said flatly. “Didn’t expect you to last this long.”

Toma grunted through the pain.
“Maybe… come a LITTLE earlier next time?”

The figure smiled faintly.

Daichi.

Mira’s eyes widened.
“D-Daichi?! What the—why are you just popping out of nowhere?!”

Daichi shrugged casually.
“Saving your lives, obviously. Relax, you passed the evaluation.”

Ren exploded.
“EVALUATION YOUR FACE! LOOK AT TOMA! OUR LIVES WERE AT LIKE ONE PERCENT!!”

Daichi massaged his temples.
“I was actually going to stop things after its second evolution… but then you survived the third one too, so—”

He grinned.

“—I thought, ‘wow this is getting fun.’”

Ren made a noise that wasn't even human anymore.

Mira pointed at the monster, still frozen in place with a finger through its head.

“Psychopath… also WHAT IS THAT THING?! Why doesn’t it die?!”

Daichi patted the monster like it was a pet turtle.
“Oh, this cutie? It’s a Sky-Rift evolution monster from a few years back. We call them Dori.”

Kurogane blurted,
“Dori? Like the fish?”

Mira glared.
“Haha. Hilarious.”

Translation: not funny at all.

Daichi clapped his hands like closing a meeting.
“Anyway, let’s go home.”

“S–stop,” Toma said.

“Oh right, mukbang time, huh? Here you go, Toma.”
Daichi casually offered the limp monster’s body.

“What mukbang? I’m just taking a bite.”
Toma muttered, then bit off the monster’s finger and swallowed it—absorbing its evolutionary power.

“Ew, disgusting,” Mira gagged.

“Bro that’s actually gross,” Kurogane added.

“Alright, time to head back.”
Daichi snapped his fingers.

BLIP—

In an instant, they were back in the Interlock Room, as if the cave horror was nothing but a “hell-mode exam simulation” that no human should ever experience.

The Interlock room was silent again—white, sterile, spotless.
Not a hint that five minutes ago they’d almost been turned into monster confetti.

Toma still trembled, steadying his breath, while Ren immediately stood up and glared at Daichi.

“I only wanna ask one thing,” Ren said, finger aimed at Daichi.
“Can you… teleport?”

Daichi blinked calmly.
“No.”

Ren froze.
“…Then how did we move?”

Daichi shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Do I really need to explain? My power’s secret.”

Ren clenched his teeth.
“SECRET?! WE JUST MOVED FROM A CAVE TO HERE WITHOUT EMERGENCY BUTTONS, WITHOUT TRANSIT, WITHOUT A SINGLE PORTAL, AND YOU JUST SAY ‘SECRET’?!”

Daichi nodded casually—like someone who just ordered meatballs.
“Yep.”

Ren stared at the floor, soul clearly still trapped in the cave.

Mira rubbed her temples.
“I keep telling you… he’s insane.”

Daichi turned casually.
“I’m not insane.”

Kurogane and Ren answered in perfect sync:
“Definitely insane.”

Daichi shrugged.
“Believe what you want.”

The room finally calmed—
until Kurogane looked at Toma.

“Oh right… Toma. Why were you late this morning? You’re always the earliest.”

Toma scratched his neck awkwardly.
“Oh, that… I had to handle some paperwork.”

Ren squinted.
“What paperwork? Don’t tell me snack deposits again…”

Toma shook his head and held up a small metal card he’d kept in his pocket.

“I… was officially accepted as a Xentra.”

Instant chaos:

“HUH?!”

“ARE YOU SERIOUS?!”
“W-wait—OFFICIALLY?!”

Ren grabbed Toma’s shoulders like he’d just met a lottery winner.
“You serious? Not training? Not provisional? Not internship?”

Toma nodded.
“I already got the registration code and council stamp.”

“Teach us!!” Mira yelled.

Kurogane bowed dramatically.
“Sensei, please guide us.”

Toma fell silent.
“You guys are being so dramatic—”

Daichi jumped in with an overly proud grin.
“You guys can do it too! As long as you become my students.”
He burst into loud laughter. “Hahaha!”

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane finally rose from the floor.
They dusted off their clothes—dirt, stone fragments, and mysterious powder falling everywhere.

Ren zipped up his jacket.
“Man… I can’t wait to become an Awakened too.”

Mira smiled, though her hair was still a disaster.
“Yeah. Hopefully we get strong like Toma.”

Kurogane dusted his pants.
“We gotta work hard if we wanna catch up.”

They started walking toward the exit—ready to go home and cry in the shower.

But after just a few steps—

“AHEM. Where do you think you’re going?”

Daichi stood behind them, arms crossed, looking like a teacher catching students skipping a ceremony.

The trio froze.

Their faces synced perfectly:
“U-uh what is it… Mr. Daichi?”

They turned slowly—knowing their suffering wasn’t over.

Daichi smiled.
The kind of smile that never means anything good.

“Who said the evaluation is over?”

Ren turned white.
“You mean… there’s MORE?!”

Daichi nodded casually.
“Well, yeah. That was just the warm-up. Now you three have a physical test.”

Ren grabbed his head.
“THAT’S WORSE THAN THE MONSTER!!”

Daichi tapped an invisible clipboard.
“Come on, let’s return to the training room. With a big smile and full enthusiasm.”

Kurogane covered his face.
“Can’t we… at least get a drink first…?”

Daichi shook his head.
“Drink later. Evaluation first.”

And the moment those words landed—

Ren, Mira, and Kurogane screamed in perfect harmony:

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Their voices echoed through the entire Interlock.
Even the Dori monster would’ve twitched… if it were still conscious.