SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling

Inside the Hunter Association President's office, Paulas reviewed a damage report on his holographic display. Liona, the master of the Silver Tower Guild, was also in the room, along with the President's personal assistant who stood by the door.

"Well?" Paulas did not look up from the report.

The assistant cleared his throat, "Sir, it has been 3 days. All patrols and informants in the Northern Wastes have reported in. There has been no sign of the Unranked hunter, Luthra. It is the consensus of the tracking division that he has either perished in the wilds or has moved beyond our operational reach."

Liona spoke, her voice even, "Or, he was taken by the Beast King. We still have no explanation for that encounter. To lose a potential asset of that magnitude without even understanding its nature is a significant failure on our part."

Paulas swiped the damage report away, replacing it with a strategic map of the continent dotted with blinking icons that indicated active gates.

'A failure? Perhaps. But a man who can make a Beast King collapse by doing nothing is not an asset, he is a walking catastrophe. His disappearance is a blessing in disguise.'

He looked at his assistant, "We cannot waste any more resources chasing a ghost. Officially close the file on the Unranked hunter Luthra. Reclassify him as 'disappeared, presumed deceased'. Alert all branches to stand down."

"Yes, President."

"Are you certain, Paulas? Simply giving up on him seems… premature. My mages could still scry for his energy signature."

"What energy signature, Liona? The boy is a blank. A hole. Your mages would be trying to find the color of nothing. It is a waste of time and manpower." Paulas waved his hand, dismissing the topic entirely, "Now, I want a full report on the A-Rank gate that appeared near the western coast, the one they are calling the 'Elves home'. The last three subjugation parties have been wiped out. I want to know why."

The assistant immediately brought up a new file on the holographic display, filled with casualty reports and blurry images of multiple elves.

'This feels wrong. It feels like we are ignoring a storm on the horizon because we are too busy looking at the rain in front of us.' Liona thought, her gaze lingering for a moment on the empty spot of the map where Luthra was last seen.

Paulas pointed at a specific data point in the report, his attention already completely focused on the new crisis. The unranked hunter from the north was already a forgotten file in a vast, bureaucratic archive.

"These elves kill rate are absurd. What are their weakness?"

---

In the private training hall of the Fist King Guild, a dozen advanced training golems lay in pieces around Jax. His fists covered in his signature golden mana. His personal secretary, Kai, stood by the entrance holding a data pad.

Jax let the golden aura around his fists dissipate.

"Anything?!"

Kai shook his head, "Nothing, Guild Master. The Rat has scoured every black market information network from here to the southern continent. The subject, Luthra, has vanished without a trace. It is as if he was erased from the world."

"Coward!" Jax roared, kicking a severed golem head across the room, hitting the far wall. "He runs and hides! After making a fool of me, after making the entire Association look like idiots, he just tucks his tail between his legs and disappears! He denied me! He denied me the chance to put him in his place!"

Kai remained silent.

'It is not about the Association, sir. It is about your pride. The President's order to stand down was a public check on your authority, and the subject's disappearance has left you with no one to vent your frustration on.'

"I am the Fist King!" Jax shouted at the ruined golems, "My path to glory is paved with the bodies of my enemies! I am supposed to be the pinnacle of physical power! How can I be the pinnacle if there is an anomaly, a glitch in the system, running around unchecked?! His very existence is an insult to everything I have built!"

He turned to Kai, "Is there nothing else?! Not a single rumor?! A forgotten address?! A goddamn parking ticket?!"

Just as Kai was about to shake his head again, the data pad in his hand chimed. A new message had arrived.

Kai read the text.

'This… it can't be.'

Jax's patience wore thin. "What is it?! Spit it out, Kai! What did that damn Rat find?!"

"Sir… it is not a new lead on his location. It is… a re-analysis of his biometric data from the Hunter Association's registration file. The Rat cross-referenced the subject's facial structure and retinal patterns against a number of… classified databases."

"And?!"

"He found a match, sir. A low-probability match, flagged as 'expunged' from a private family archive. It is an old file, from sixteen years ago."

"A family archive? What family?! Get to the point!"

"The House of Lurius, sir."

The name hung in the air.

'Lurius? No. It can't be. They are a house of prodigies, a pure line of elemental masters. There are no blanks in that family. It's impossible.'

"He… he is a Lurius?"

"According to this file," Kai read from the pad, "The subject matches the description of a child who was… disowned. A single, unprecedented failure in their bloodline. A boy born without a mana circle."

Jax stumbled backward, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. The Fist King, the S-Rank hunter who feared no monster or man, looked genuinely, utterly horrified.

The House of Lurius stood as a monument of power, renowned across the continent for their "pure bloodline" and unmatched mana circles, producing an endless line of prodigious elemental masters. Jax, the S-Rank Fist King, had built his entire legend on his raw physical might, a power he honed through rigorous training and perfected through his own mana. He was the pinnacle of physical hunters, a testament to what a human could achieve when fueling their body with mana.

'That boy… that 'blank'… he's a Lurius. The single failure in a line of perfection. Yet he broke the Association's machines with ease, and he made a Beast King collapse with a mere touch. He did it all without a single drop of mana. If a mana-less Lurius dud can display that level of physical power, what does that make me? What does that do to my glory? It makes it worthless.'

To pick a fight with a Lurius was already a dangerous game, they were arrogant and powerful. But to pick a fight with the Lurius who was cast out, the ultimate contradiction to their perfect image, the one who had nothing to lose, the one who was a complete unknown, was something far, far worse.

Jax grabbed Kai by the collar of his suit, "The Rat! Get him on the line now! Tell him to erase everything! Every record of our inquiry, every credit we paid him, every digital footprint! Tell him to forget my name, forget Luthra's name! Burn it all! Burn it all to the ground!"

Kai fumbled with his data pad, "But sir, the information…"

"I don't want the information!" He screamed, "I want to be forgotten! You understand me, Kai?! As of this moment, we know nothing! We saw nothing! That boy does not exist!"

He shoved his secretary away and walked toward the exit of the training hall, his mind repeating a single, terrifying thought.

'I picked a fight with a Lurius.'