You are mud, Kael... and no man can kill the mud."
Branded as Consumable No. 409 by a corrupt Church, fifteen-year-old Kael is thrown into the Crucible Academy—a military meat-grinder built over the gaping maw of the Great Nexus Dungeon. Highborn lords feast on stolen grain while commoner youths are shoveled into the subterranean dark to clear miasma and die as live bait.
The empire demands his marrow as fuel for its sleeping gods.
The inquisitors demand his obedience.
They forgot one lethal truth: venom does not care about noble blood.
Equipped with concealed bog-steel, forbidden alchemical extracts, and cold, calculating malice, Kael begins a ruthless subterranean ascent. He isn't here to save this rotting world. He is here to bleed it dry from within.