The Author's Draft-Chapter 40: Unregistered I

Aiden looked at the five figures surrounding him and felt a headache forming behind his eyes.

The five figures stood thirty meters away. Four of them wore Hunter Association combat gear—reinforced armor, their weapons drawn, and faces hidden behind tactical helmets. They held their weapons with the confidence of professionals, but their stances betrayed tension. Uncertainty.

The fifth stood in front. A man in a long black coat, hands empty, face visible.

An Enforcer.

His amber eyes were locked not on Aiden, but on Tian Long hovering behind him.

The dragon floated majestically in the air, its golden scales catching the afternoon light, and its presence pressing down on everything within a hundred meters.

Kane’s expression was unreadable, but Aiden saw his team.

The red-haired woman—Martinez—had her daggers raised but her hands were shaking slightly. One of the others had taken a half-step back unconsciously. Another’s weapon dipped slightly, as if his arms had forgotten to hold it up.

They were afraid.

Not of Aiden, but of what floated behind him.

Kane’s eyes finally shifted from the dragon to Aiden. They were cold, analytical and measuring.

’Of course,’ Aiden thought, the headache intensifying. ’Of fucking course it’s an Enforcer.’

Enforcers hunted rogue awakeners, unregistered hunters, people operating outside the system.

People exactly like him.

The five of them stared at Tian Long floating majestically behind Aiden. The dragon’s presence still pressed down on everything nearby, its eyes burning with ancient power.

They’d never seen anything like this.

After several seconds of tense silence, Aiden made a decision.

He reached inward and called Tian Long back.

The dragon’s form shimmered, its solid presence dissolving into streams of golden light that flowed back into Aiden’s body. Within seconds, the massive spirit had vanished completely, leaving only normal afternoon air in its wake.

The pressure lifted, the overwhelming presence disapearing.

Kane’s team visibly relaxed, though their weapons stayed raised.

The Enforcer himself stepped forward, his amber eyes studying Aiden with clinical precision. "Are you human?"

The question hung in the air for a moment.

Aiden almost laughed. Because standing here covered in lycan blood, having just manifested a dragon that shouldn’t exist outside of S-rank dungeons, being asked if he was human seemed absurd.

But he understood why Kane asked. Dragons were a myth, a legend. The kind of thing you only encountered in the deepest, most dangerous dungeons in the world. S-rank minimum, maybe SS-rank.

And Aiden had just summoned one like it was a party trick.

"I’m human," Aiden said, keeping his voice level. "That’s my ability. My awakened power."

Kane’s expression didn’t change. "Your ability is summoning dragons."

"It’s what it is."

"And this dragon does..?"

"It’s complicated." Aiden cut him off. He could feel his qi reserves dropping. The fight with the lycans had drained him more than expected, and maintaining Tian Long’s manifestation—even briefly—had cost energy he didn’t have to spare. "Look, I helped with the dungeon break, saved civilians and killed the monsters. The situation’s handled, I’m leaving."

He turned to go.

"Stop."

Aiden kept walking.

"I said stop." Kane’s voice carried command now, backed by spiritual pressure that rolled across the street. "You’re coming with us for questioning. Operating as an unregistered awakener is illegal under section 47B of the—"

"Save me the legal lecture." Aiden didn’t look back. "I’m not registered, don’t plan to be. And I’m leaving."

"You don’t have a choice."

"Actually, I do." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Kane’s team moved immediately, spreading out to flank him. Their moved coordinated. They’d done this before—cornered rogue awakeners, forced compliance through superior numbers and training.

Martinez appeared on his left, daggers drawn, moving with B-rank speed. One of the others—a man with a shield strapped to his arm—took his right. Two more blocked the street ahead and Kane stood directly behind him, spiritual pressure intensifying.

"Last warning," Kane said coldly. "Come willingly, or we bring you in by force."

Aiden stopped walking. "You really want to do this? Right now? After what you just saw?"

"What I saw was an unregistered awakener with dangerous abilities operating illegally in a dungeon break. That’s exactly the kind of situation I’m here to handle."

"I saved people."

"You also killed an A-rank monster without authorization, used unregistered abilities in public, and refused to identify yourself to Hunter Association personnel." Kane’s tone was absolute. "Those are violations regardless of your intentions."

Aiden turned to face him fully. "You’re really going to arrest the guy who just saved civilians? While the Hunter Association team showed up late?"

"We were the last to be informed, not negligence."

"But you were delayed, I wasn’t." Aiden gestured at the dead lycans scattered across the street. "These things would have torn through that barricade and killed everyone there if I hadn’t stopped them. Including some people I know."

For the first time, something flickered in Kane’s expression. Not sympathy exactly, but acknowledgment. "People you know?"

"That doesn’t change the law."

"I’m not here to argue the law i’m leaving"

Kane’s eyes narrowed. His spiritual pressure spiked, pressing down on Aiden like a physical weight. "Final warning. Come with us. Now."

"System," Aiden said quietly, knowing only he could hear it. "Their levels, all of them."

[Scanning...]

[Enforcer Kane: A-rank, a magic warrior]

[Martinez: B-rank, an assassin with enhanced speed]

[Shield user: B-rank, the tank with an elaborate turtle shell, enhanced durability]

[Archer (back position): B-rank, ranged specialist]

[Mage (rear support): B-rank, elementalist]

[Combined threat assessment: EXTREME]

[Recommendation: Do not engage. These are trained professionals who regularly hunt rogue A-rank awakeners.]

An A-rank and four B-ranks. All of them experienced in taking down people exactly like him and working together as a unit.

And Aiden was exhausted, his qi reserves were maybe forty percent. His body ached from the lycan fight and he’d used Tian Long’s manifestation which had drained him further.

This was a fight he couldn’t win.

Worse—it was a fight he didn’t want to win. Because these weren’t monsters, they were people. Hunters doing their jobs, even if those jobs were misguided.

Killing lycans was one thing. Killing humans was different.

Even if Azazel’s influence was making violence more appealing, Aiden hadn’t crossed that line yet. Wouldn’t cross it if he could help it.

Which meant retreat was the only option.

"I’m not going with you," Aiden said firmly.

"Then you leave us no choice." Kane nodded to his team. "Subdue him, non-lethal force. We need him conscious for questioning."

They moved as one.

Martinez blurred forward from the left, her daggers aimed at his shoulders—disabling strikes meant to cripple without killing. The shield user charged from the right, his reinforced barrier leading, trying to pin Aiden against a wall.

The archer’s first shot came from behind—a blunted arrow designed to stun, moving faster than sound. And the mage began channeling a spell that made the air around Aiden’s feet glow with binding energy.

Aiden activated Phantom Step.

His body blurred sideways, Martinez’s daggers cutting through empty air where he’d been a heartbeat before. The arrow struck the pavement and exploded into a net of energy threads. The shield user crashed into nothing, his momentum carrying him into the wall Aiden had been standing against.

Aiden reappeared ten meters away, already moving. He needed distance, needed space to—

Kane was waiting.

The Enforcer moved faster than Aiden expected—A-rank speed combined with decades of experience. His palm strike came from an angle that gave Aiden no room to dodge.

Aiden blocked with his forearm, channeling Sword Aura into the contact point.

The impact rattled his bones. Kane’s magic pressure crushed down on him, trying to lock his movements. Aiden pushed back with his own qi, the two energies clashing in the space between them.

They separated, five meters apart, both breathing steadily.

"You’re well-trained," Kane observed. "Military?"

"Self-taught." Aiden’s arm throbbed where he’d blocked. Kane hit like a truck.

"Interesting."

The team regrouped around their leader. Martinez flanking left, shield user right, archer taking an elevated position on a destroyed car and the mage maintaining distance, hands glowing with prepared spells.

They attacked again.

This time it was a coordinated assault—four vectors of attack timed to eliminate escape routes. Martinez’s speed, shield user’s mass, archer’s precision and mage’s area denial.

And Kane kept moving through the gaps, his strikes finding the spaces where Aiden’s defenses couldn’t cover.

Aiden fought back.