I Am a Hero With A Hundred Abilities

The moment Ethan stepped into the building, he activated the Aether Mark on the back of his left hand. A faint pulse of light ran across his skin as a translucent interface opened in front of him.

[Aethermark Interface]

Name: Ethan Cross

Rank: E (Forsaken)

Level: 4 (Elite)

Ability Limit: 1 (Unlocked: 100+)

Abilities:

• Force Might

• Vital Bloom

• Withering Verdict

• Chrono Pulse

• Manifest Armament

• Abyss

Innate Talent: Sanctum of Beasts

Meta Essence: 0 / 500

Tenbris Evolution Counter: [728 / 10,000]

He skimmed through the panel quickly, confirming everything was as it should be. Once satisfied, he dismissed the interface and pulled up the mission briefing on his communicator.

---

Mission Name: Corrupted Building

Mission Type: Closure and Rescue

Description:

A blackpit has formed within a residential structure in District 69. Your task is to locate and close the source of the anomaly. If any civilians are found alive within the zone, extract them. However, your primary objective is to seal the pit. Casualties are acceptable.

Dread Beast Present: Unknown

---

Ethan had already read the briefing before arriving, but seeing it again still annoyed him.

"Casualties are acceptable," he muttered under his breath, jaw tightening.

He knew what that meant. The Association wasn't interested in saving anyone from this place. District 69 had always been the city's dumping ground—filled with petty criminals, gang wars, addicts, and worse. It was a breeding ground for chaos.

But not everyone in that district was trash.

"Just because the place is a mess doesn't mean every person in it deserves to die," Ethan said quietly.

He understood the politics behind it. Let the den swallow the district, and the Association would have one less headache. Clean-up by inaction.

He sighed. "Whatever. I'm here for Meta Essence… and to get Tenbris one step closer to evolution."

As if on cue, a low growl echoed from deeper inside the building.

Ethan shut off the communicator and looked around. That's when he noticed it—what had once looked like a typical lobby now resembled the inside of something alive. The structure had twisted. Flesh-colored walls pulsed faintly with movement, and viscous fluids dripped from the ceiling like sweat from a breathing beast.

The door he entered through still stood behind him, but the space beyond had expanded unnaturally—larger than what should've been possible from the outside.

Ethan cracked his neck, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"This is gonna be interesting."

And with that, he stepped deeper into the den, ready for whatever waited inside.

****

Ethan charged deeper into the fleshy corridor, his footsteps echoing with wet smacks against the pulsating ground. Before he got too far, three figures emerged from the shadows ahead.

They looked like misshapen lumps of meat, each one dragging itself forward with twitching limbs. What stood out was the massive red stone embedded in the front of each of their faces—if you could even call it a face.

The Association hadn't given them an official name yet.

Ethan shrugged. "Stone Faces it is."

If someone wanted to crucify him for his naming sense, so be it. The name stuck, and he wasn't changing it.

The Stone Faces jerked to a stop the moment they noticed him. The red stones began to glow with ominous energy.

"So they're not just decoration," Ethan muttered.

A second later, beams of concentrated light blasted out from the stones. Ethan didn't wait. He activated Force Might and let Flow guide his movements, pushing his legs to the limit. His body launched forward in a blur. The beams missed by inches as he darted sideways, leaping onto the wall.

With a kick, he pushed off again, rebounding from surface to surface. The warped hallway became a chaotic blur of fleshy walls and sizzling laser trails. Ethan kept moving, ricocheting like a bullet between each failed shot. The beasts kept firing, but they couldn't land a single hit.

Eventually, the red stones stopped glowing.

"Cooldown," Ethan said with a grin.

He vanished from his spot.

A heartbeat later, he appeared in front of the first Stone Face and slammed his force concentrated fist straight into the glowing red stone.

It shattered instantly, and the beast dropped like a sack of meat.

Meta Essence surged into Ethan's body, making his skin tingle.

He didn't stop.

With two fluid movements, he rushed the other two. His strikes were brutal, efficient—Force-reinforced blows straight to their weak point. Both fell before they could react, their stones crushed and their bodies twitching before going still. More Meta Essence flowed into him, and he exhaled through his nose, steadying the rush.

Standing over the twisted corpses, Ethan stared down at them.

"That was… easy," he said. "Didn't even need to activate my fusion."

He scratched the side of his head, annoyed.

He'd grown too used to fighting enemies far stronger than him. This—this felt unnatural. Almost boring.

Then it hit him.

"Shit. I didn't summon Tenbris," he muttered. "That's wasted points."

He pressed a hand to his chest, channeling his core. A moment later, a dark gauntlet formed over his arm, crawling into existence with twitching, shadowy tendrils. The moment it solidified, it began to throb—angry, like a pet that had missed its meal.

Ethan winced slightly. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I screwed up. But don't worry—there'll be more Dread Beasts ahead. Plenty of points for you."

The gauntlet slowly calmed, the pulsating slowing to a steady rhythm.

Ethan took one last look at the remains of the Stone Faces, then turned and continued deeper into the corrupted den.

****

To Ethan, the den didn't feel like a mission. Not really.

No real challenge. No overwhelming odds. No near-death experiences.

In fact, it was starting to feel like a break.

Sure, it was a hellish nightmare of meat walls, acidic fluids, and monsters with rocks for faces—but after the chaos he'd dealt with over the last few days, this? This was relaxing. It almost felt ike a vacation.

A very twisted amusement park vacation.

If amusement parks came with death traps, flesh corridors, and Dread Beasts constantly trying to kill you.

Still, Ethan moved through the den with ease, tearing through every creature that lunged at him. The Stone Faces came in waves at first, but they got old fast. No variety. No tricks. Just the same old attacks, same old weakness, same old death.

He didn't even need to think about it anymore. A punch here, a strike there, a flash of fire—and it was done.

The deeper he went, the higher he climbed, the more the den twisted. But not just in size or structure. Something else was growing… hungrier.

That's when Ethan saw them.

Bodies. Human. Barely alive.

They were fused into the walls—half-sunken into the flesh, limbs twitching, faces gaunt, skin pale. The den was feeding on them, keeping them alive just enough to suck out whatever it needed. Life force. Nerves. Hope.

He stopped in front of the first one, eyes narrowing.

"Bastards," he muttered.

He didn't know their names, didn't care if they were criminals or victims. Nobody deserved this.

With a snap of his fingers and a thought, he summoned Gray. The moment he materialized, Ethan nodded toward the survivors.

"Carry them out. Get them to the agents outside. I'll call you back if I need you."

Gray responded with a growl and began the work silently, pulling the survivors free with careful precision. Ethan trusted him. If anything went sideways, he could always summon him back in an instant and trigger fusion. No big deal.

After sending off the last group of survivors, Ethan leaned against the wall for a second, letting his muscles relax. Then he flicked open his Aethermark interface.

---

[Aethermark Interface]

Name: Ethan Cross

Rank: E (Forsaken)

Level: 4 (Elite)

Ability Limit: 1 (Unlocked: 100+)

Abilities:

[Force Might]

[Vital Bloom]

[Withering Verdict]

[Chrono Pulse]

[Manifest Armament]

[Abyss]

Innate Talent: Sanctum of Beasts

Meta Essence: 500 / 500

Tenbris Evolution Counter: [2200 / 10,000]

---

"Already maxed out," Ethan said under his breath. "Been sitting at full for a while now."

He was hoping for an oversaturation. Enough extra Meta Essence to trigger a Rank-Up, like before. But deep down, he knew better.

It wasn't that easy. He'd already beaten the odds once. Expecting it to happen again was wishful thinking—even if he was a little broken. Ethan didn't feel like gambling on it happening again.

As for Tenbris, its evolution counter hadn't budged in a while.

Figures. It had sucked up enough from the Stone Faces. No new points from them meant it had probably hit a cap—at least with that species.

Ethan sighed and closed the interface.

"Well," he muttered, pushing himself off the wall, "guess it's time to finally close the den."

He'd gotten what he came for—Meta Essence, evolution points, survivors saved.

Now all that was left was the guardian.

The final challenge.

The one keeping this place alive.

Ethan rolled his shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

"Let's see what this den's boss looks like."

And with that, he stepped forward—ready to end it.