******************************************

In a desolate place, a man with a black sword could be seen sitting in front of multiple dead bodies. There were some people kneeling in front of him, paying respect to him out of awe and fear.

The man stood up and wiped the blood off his face, revealing his handsome looks and shining red eyes that were the cause of nightmares for many people in this world. He walked up to one of his subordinates and spoke,

"Did you find the whereabouts of Nate?" Asher spoke in a very cold manner.

His voice was devoid of any emotion, and his eyes displayed his craziness.

"B-Boss, we are trying but-" Before he could speak, a bone-chilling killing intent made him unable to breathe.

"Find him," Asher glared at the man kneeling in front of him.

"Where should we go next?" A man with a white mask asked Asher.

Unlike other men who were kneeling, he was standing a bit behind Asher. Just by looking at that, anyone could guess his ranking was high enough to talk to Asher like that.

"They have situated all of the SSS Rankers equally in all continents," The man in the white mask spoke. He was none other than Tom Gylip.

"Any news regarding those black dungeons and those towers?" Asher turned and asked Tom.

"Two of them have appeared in Halcyon, so many of the high ranking hunters are busy closing it, and World Association is really not letting any information slip out regarding the second ones," Tom replied respectfully.

"Boss, you are only a step away from reaching the peak of SS Rank. If we just wait-" Tom was trying to convince Asher, but he stopped as he saw Asher gesturing him to do so.

"We have a company," Asher looked at the blue sky in front of him and two men appeared in front of them.

"ASHER GREVILLE, WE ADVISE YOU TO SURRENDER!!!" The man shouted, making all the people who were kneeling until now brandish their weapons at those two men.

<The backup will arrive in 5 minutes. Keep him busy!!>

The man heard the voice in his ears and looked at Asher, who was looking at him with no emotions.

'Fuck, are they really telling me to keep this monster busy?' Unlike his confident face, this man was shaking with fear.

"Boss, their backup is late," Tom said as he looked at his device and told Asher.

"Snake steps," Asher muttered as he disappeared from his position and appeared behind the two men in the air.

"What-?" Before they could react, both of their heads were cut off from their bodies.

Asher hovered down and looked at two headless bodies in front of him. He walked up and crouched as his men started to prepare for their departure from this place.

<Hey, what happened?> Asher saw the device they were using to communicate with their backup.

"They are dead, Leon," Asher said with a mocking tone.

<YOU BASTARD!!> A scream of a young man could be heard from the device.

"Why don't you come out from your little shell and bring that Kevin as well," Asher laughed, knowing full well they would never confront him.

Asher destroyed the device and appeared in front of Tom immediately after.

"Did you find their location?" Asher asked.

"They are in the capital of Fashia," Tom replied, "But those mana wavelengths were quite weak, so I am not sure where exactly."

Tom said, but as they were getting ready to move out of their location, a sudden pressure came, and in front of them was a man with blond hair and sharp eyes, holding his sword and looking directly at Asher.

"D-D-Dalton Rothschild...!!" a man muttered with fear as he saw the famous SSS Rank Hunter in front of them.

But Asher just looked up with his indifferent face changing into a crazy one. His eyes were shining red, and small black veins started to form around his fingertips."HAHAHAHAHAHHA," Asher laughed as he saw Dalton, who was looking down at him with a calm look on his face.

In a matter of one second, Asher and Dalton both disappeared and clashed with each other, making a huge crater on the land below them.

***************************************************

[ Congratulations Host has reached D- Rank ]

Asher opened his eyes and saw his body covered in sweat. He stood up and clenched his fist, feeling the increase in his strength after his breakthrough.

But he was immediately hit with a flood of memories, as if experiencing a lucid dream. Asher touched his forehead and frowned as fragments of multiple memories assaulted him, some pleasant and some infuriating.

[ Rune of Eirdin is now stable ]

[ Rune of Eirdin reached Rank D ]

Asher took a deep breath but still had a slight headache.

The air around him changed and his demeanor became cold. It was as if he was returning to his old self, the one who instilled fear in the minds of all Seat Holders of the High Council, the man feared more than the current Greville family.

Asher took a deep breath and reined in the killing intent that was oozing out of him.

"Status," he muttered and his status appeared in front of him.

-----------------| Fate Devourer System |------------------

[Name] : Asher Von Raven Greville

[Level] - 17 (EXP 1000/17,000)

[Bloodline] : Devil's Absorption Rank SSS

[Cursed] : Curse of Fate (Active)

[Body Constitution] - Mana Core Rank D-

---------------------------------------------------------------

[-Attributes-]

Strength: 75

Agility: 62

Endurance: 70

Intelligence: 110

Mana: 86

Stamina: 60

Charm: 65

Fate: 9230

[AP]: 80 [SP]: 32

----------------------------------------------------------

[-Skills-]: Time Dilation (Rank S) Lvl 1, Absorption (Rank S) Lvl 1, Mana Flow (Rank C), Mana Circulation (Rank A), Rune of Eirdin (Rank D), Node-Art Rank SSS

Asher saw that his stats had increased significantly since he had acquired his sword art. Each stat had gained more or less than 20 points, and he had become stronger than his previous self at the same rank.

This was the result of all the new skills Asher had gained this time, which he didn't have in his previous life."Rune of Eirdin..." Asher muttered as he noticed that the [Rune of Eirdin] had increased to Rank D from E.

During the months of practicing, Asher had asked if he could increase the rank of [Rune of Eirdin], as the benefits he would receive would also increase.

[ Host can increase it, but the <Rune> will become more powerful than what the host's mana core can handle. And the side effects and mental drain cost will increase tremendously. ]

Hearing this, Asher had no choice but to put increasing the [Rune]'s rank aside for now. But now that he had reached Rank D, he could feel the presence of the [Rune] inside his body more clearly. He could understand why the [Rune of Eirdin] was an extremely powerful but dangerous [Rune].

Asher was surprised that Nathan appeared fine despite having such a [Rune] inside his body. This made him think that Nathan might be even more powerful than what he had imagined him to be.

Asher walked out of the meditation room and went to take a shower. As he walked out, he saw a notification on his phone.

Asher walked up to his phone while wiping his face with a soft towel.

He picked up his phone and saw that Damian had sent him a message.

<Job done... (＾＾)ｂ >

He put the phone down and went to his bed to sleep and recover his body as he needed to rest due to the mental fatigue he was experiencing right now.

While Asher was sleeping, Damian and Amelia were in the hallway discussing their recent quarrel with Elena, Kevin, and Eva.

"Damian, don't provoke them again," Amelia said with a serious look on her face.

Unlike her and Asher, Damian was not from an elite family, and she didn't want him to get caught in the crossfire that might happen in the future.

"Oh, you worry too much. I am a very brave person," Damian said while laughing.

"Yeah, you are..." Amelia rolled her eyes, seeing Damian bragging about himself again.

"Woah, I was the only one who fought Asher despite knowing I would lose," Damian spoke out, defending himself.

"That's just you being dumb," Amelia said while crossing her arms.

"But still, I didn't think those guys were so arrogant. I mean, it's Asher's fault for hitting her, but she was the one who started it," Amelia said with a frustrated look on her face.

She was thinking of mending her relationship with the three of them so that they would forget the incident at the party. But after today, Amelia saw that the chances of that happening were very low.

"Don't worry, Asher and I will protect you if they come for you," Damian said with a proud look on his face.

"And why would I need protection?" Amelia squinted her eyes.

"Oh, I still remember you going 'Kyaaa~'," Damian imitated Amelia while barely holding himself from laughing.

"YOU!!" Amelia's face got red, and she tried to punch Damian, but he slipped past her punch.

"You're ten years too early to defeat me in close combat," Damian said as he ran into the lift that went towards the boys' dormitory.

"Wait-" Before Amelia could catch him, Damian had already escaped.

It was nighttime, so the access of the opposite gender was not allowed in the dormitories.

"Wait till I see you in the morning," Amelia stomped her feet on the ground and went back to her room.

It was the next morning, and Asher woke up to his ID Bracelet. He got a notification of a meeting of the Student Council that was called by the Student Council President herself.

He wore the black uniform and went out. Because he was not late this morning, he saw Alyssa, who was in the lobby as well. She was taking a snack from the machine present in the lobby.

Alyssa saw Asher and immediately hid her snacks. She thought that Asher was the type that was always late, so she was surprised to see him so early in the morning.

"Why hide it?" Asher asked Alyssa.

"I got surprised, nothing else," Alyssa replied with no emotions on her face.

A very awkward silence followed as two people who didn't talk much just stared at each other. Asher turned and left first and went out of the lobby room. Alyssa kept staring at his back to confirm that he went out and took out the chocolate bar she hid and started to eat it.

At first, she was surprised to hear a voice calling her out, but when she turned, she saw Asher, but something was different about him.

"Was he in a bad mood?" Alyssa thought but dismissed her thoughts quickly.

She could feel something off about him, but strangely it didn't bother her, so she didn't think about it much.