He stood frozen, eyes locked on the swirling, violet mass.
It loomed, not just in size but in intention.
"I wonder what an A-rank gate looks like..." he murmured, almost to himself.
Officer Nanami, standing nearby, didn't miss the question.
"They're bad news," he said grimly. "When those appear, my first move is always the same get civilians out. Fast."
Gin had imagined them before. Everyone told him on an on about gates.
He'd watched them footage from his cell but he soon came to realize tv is completely different from reality. Guild recruitment ads, glamorized with hero edits and explosions. Even those shaky low-rank cartoonist animations he saw at the central stop.
But none of that had prepared him for this.
This wasn't flashy.
This wasn't edited.
This was real.
Too real.
Why was it so massive?
Why did it feel... aware?
Tabaki gave a slow nod, the unnatural wind from the rift tugging at his jacket, the metal clasps on his sleeves rattling like tiny alarms.
"So… we just wait?" he muttered. "How long does a Dungeon Division team usually take to respond?"
"Fifteen minutes, tops," Iwaizumi replied, eyes narrowing as he scanned the gate ahead.
"Normally, you can't tell an E-rank from a B-rank just by looking. Same shimmer, same distortion in the air. You need an Anchor Unit with ring tech, or a trained Analyst to make a decent guess."
He paused, then added grimly, "But this one? You don't need scanners to feel it. This isn't E-rank. It's either C… or worse."
The street had gone quiet, like even the air was holding its breath.
Iwaizumi turned to Gin, continuing in a low voice, "And the reason I said your bags are gone is 'cause most people here aren't from District 4. They came to District 4 because it's the safest. Gates almost never appear here. Lowest dungeon rate in the city."
He glanced around at the crowd.
"Most of these folks haven't seen a gate up close in years. So if they see free clothes lying around? Yeah, they're gone. Some are homeless. Others just desperate."
Gin scratched the back of his head, sheepish.
"Ah… my bad. Sorry."
Iwazumi politely responded. "We'll get you new clothes when my Mom comes back from work, sir."
"Sure. Just tell me how much and I'll pay for it," Gin replied with a grin.
Then they turned back to the rift.
It loomed towering as tall as a seven-story building, thick, dark, and faintly pulsing.
Like it was alive.
Like it was watching.
Iwazumi exhaled. "It hasn't opened since it appeared. Definitely not reactive…"
Then came the sirens.
From down the avenue, a fleet of police skimmers tore through the street sleek, hovering vehicles lined with flashing blue strobes. They dropped low over the asphalt, kicking up gusts of dust and wind as they halted in a tight, calculated formation.
A mechanical hiss followed.
With perfect synchronicity, barricades deployed from the sides of each skimmer slamming into place with a satisfying clunk sealing off the block in under ten seconds.
The crowd fell into stunned silence.
"Ugh, finally. Took them long enough," someone muttered. "Let them scan the damn thing so we can get moving."
"Yeah… I just wanna know what rank it is," another voice echoed.
And then it arrived.
Matte black. Waist-high. Humming faintly with arcane tech. A turret.
It rolled in with a calm, menacing grace, its cylindrical core rotating slowly as it scanned the area with cold precision. Glowing runes shimmered across its casing dungeon radiation markers blinking in a deep, rhythmic pulse that made the hair on Gin's arms stand on end.
The turret whirred, locked onto the gate and began its scan.
Tabaki exhaled sharply. "They're not taking any chances… That's a Suppression Crawler. They're trying to determine the gate's radiation class with precision."
The gate pulsed once.
Then again.
And then something howled from the other side.
It wasn't natural. It sounded like a scream heard underwater warped, muffled, and distant. But it clawed at the edges of reality, like it was reaching for the surface.
Gin instinctively stepped back, heart pounding.
And then… he laughed.
A low chuckle at first. Then louder. Head tilted, teeth bared.
"Hah! So this is what my rival faces on a regular?" he grinned. "Hahahaha hah!"
Tabaki glanced over, narrowing his eyes.
"…What kind of twisted laugh is that?"
Another machine rolled into place sleek, curved, and bristling with anchor rods. With a hiss of hydraulics, the rods slammed deep into the concrete.
"A Gate Anchor," Nanami muttered, eyes narrowing. "That means… it's already been claimed."
"Yup," Tabaki replied, watching the rods lock in. "Some guild bought the rights ahead of time."
Gin blinked. "Wait what's a gate anchor?"
"It locks the gate in place," Tabaki explained. "Keeps it from relocating. Dormant gates can shift or even vanish if not anchored properly."
"And now that it's anchored," Iwa added, "that gate's not going anywhere until the dungeon boss is killed."
As if on cue, an officer from the Dungeon Division approached the still-pulsing anomaly and slapped a bright-orange license seal onto its surface. The tag flickered visible to both tech scanners and the naked eye.
[PURCHASED — DOGUEN GUILD]
LICENSE CODE: RANK-C GATE
The crowd erupted in murmurs as the license seal's message settled over the gate. Iwaizumi's chest tightened. He didn't even need to look at the seal to know what it signified.
From behind the cordon, voices began to rise:
"Wait… isn't that Redman's guild?"
"I watched their last raid those Salamander. guys are monsters."
"They're ranked fifth in the top ten!"
"No way. Redman's coming here?"
A child's excited cry cut through the tension. "Mommy! Mommy! Redman's coming!" A mother gently patted the child's head. "It's okay, baby. Yes, he's coming. You'll be alright."
Gin tilted his head, eyes wide with curiosity. "Redman? His name matches his… appearance?"
Iwaizumi sighed, reluctant but matter-of-fact. "Yeah, Gin. Redman the Salamander. When he uses his fire skill, his body flushes red."
Tabaki smirked. "Told you Iwaizumi's like an encyclopedia for all this stuff."
"They say his flames burn hotter than volcanic lava," Iwaizumi continued. "He once went toe-to-toe with a B-rank dungeon dragon matched its fire breath head-on. The footage is still trending on HeroTube."
Gin's eyes lit up. "A dragon? So that's what Chief Megnon meant about how random these gates are… Hmm. Are all these gates just random, or is there some pattern?"
Before Gin could ponder further, Tabaki cut in, "Wait Iwa… isn't that guy with Doguen Guild now?"
But Iwaizumi didn't get the chance to reply. The rising murmur of the crowd and the charged hum radiating from the gate swallowed his voice. For a heartbeat, the air itself seemed to hold its breath.
And then another wave of noise crashed over them.
HeroTube's media team had arrived. Drones buzzed into position, their lenses locking onto the scene like predatory eyes. A reporter stepped into frame, voice sharp and urgent.
"We're live here in District 4's residential zone, where a C-rank gate has just been confirmed! And yes ladies and gentlefolk back home it's official. The license has been claimed by none other than the Doguen Guild. That's right... Redman the Salamander is en route. I repeat The Salamander is coming. Stay tuned as HeroTube brings it to you live!"
Then, with a screech of tires and a blur of motion, a convoy of matte-black transport vans tore through the cordon and came to a synchronized halt. The crowd surged forward only to be held back by police drones and barricades.
The van doors hissed open.
And they stepped out.
The Salamanders.
A wave of silence washed over the crowd, replaced a heartbeat later by shouts, gasps, and camera shutters.
They didn't come to assess the gate.
They came to dominate it.
They came for war.