Saint:My Daily Routine Became My Superpower

July 13th. 4:45 AM.

The fog arrived with no warning.

Kael had been scouting the outer perimeter—a jagged cliffside east of the old ruins—when it rolled in. Heavy. Thick. Silent. It moved like spilled ink across the shattered earth, swallowing trees and stone alike. Even Ghost Veil couldn't penetrate its depths for long.

He crouched low, hand pressed to the soil. The ground was wet. Not from dew.

From blood.

A faint trail glistened across the rocky incline. Drops. Then smears. Then claw marks etched into stone.

Something had bled while escaping. Or hunting.

Kael followed.

---

His footfalls were silent thanks to Routine Serge, and the faint echoes of the world shimmered across his senses as Ghost Veil activated. It wasn't fully reliable in this fog. The air shimmered like stretched silk, distorting movement.

Still, he moved.

The trail led deeper into the cliffs, into what remained of an ancient metro tunnel now half-buried in overgrowth and collapse.

Darkness swallowed the entrance.

Kael paused. Instinct prickled.

He wasn't alone.

---

Inside the tunnel, the air was wrong.

Colder than it should be. Each breath felt like inhaling glass shards and ash. As he moved deeper, old rail tracks cracked under his boots.

> [Ghost Veil Active: Detection Threshold Decreased]

The first body was a scavenger. Half-eaten. Limbs torn. Spine removed.

Kael knelt. His fingers hovered over the corpse. The wounds were precise.

Not savage.

Surgical.

> [Warning: Apex Energy Residue Detected.]

Then he saw it. Embedded in the wall beyond the body: a mask. Bone-white. Shaped like a stretched human face, but warped. Jawless. Just two eye slits and an eerie spiral across the forehead.

Below it lay something else—a tattered piece of grayish-black skin, like a robe or shroud. Light refused to reflect off it properly.

Kael stepped forward.

He reached out.

> [Item Acquired: Pale Mask] Type: Gear / Head Defense: +2 Effect: Partial Concealment in Darkness. Identity Obfuscation. Psychological Fear Aura (Weak).

> [Item Acquired: Flayed Shroud] Type: Gear / Body Defense: +4 Effect: Blurs outline in low light. Lowers visual detection when stationary. Slight resistance to claw/piercing damage.

Kael held both items in his hands. They were cold. Lighter than expected.

Like wearing a second shadow.

---

He put them on.

The world shifted.

Not magically. But perceptually. The light around him warped ever so slightly. His breath no longer echoed. Even Ghost Veil felt more efficient. His own reflection in the darkened tunnel shimmered like a ghost.

Kael rolled his shoulders and drew both daggers.

It was time to go deeper.

---

Deeper inside, the tunnel split into three collapsed branches. The central one showed recent damage—shattered stone, burn marks, and prints.

Massive claw prints.

Kael followed them. Every few feet, new signs emerged: scratches on ceilings, remnants of bones, crushed scavenger gear. Then he found a mark burned into the wall—a spiral similar to the mask's forehead.

Not random.

This creature wasn't a mindless hunter.

It had culture. Memory. Maybe even ritual.

> [Caution: Unknown Apex Behavior Pattern Forming]

Suddenly, a roar shook the tunnel.

Kael didn't freeze. He darted sideways into cover.

From ahead, something massive emerged. But it wasn't the Pale Mimic from before.

It was a spined brute. Covered in black, bark-like armor and six legs like a spider's. On its back? Bone spears like a porcupine. Its eyes were small. But focused.

> [New Threat Detected: Tunnel Fang - Type: Mutated Apex] Weak Point: Underbelly. Sensory Organs Overloaded by Light or Sound.

The brute sniffed the air.

Kael didn't breathe.

The Pale Mask worked. The brute's gaze passed over him.

But then—a loose stone fell.

The beast charged.

Kael burst forward with Routine Serge, sidestepping the charge and raking his dagger along its side. The Obsidian blade cut deep—but the armor absorbed most of it.

The brute spun, shrieking, and launched a bone spine from its back.

Kael ducked. It grazed his shoulder, tearing cloth and drawing blood.

He dropped into a slide, using the fog inside the tunnel as partial cover. Then he used Ghost Veil's pre-perception to time the next lunge.

Three seconds.

The brute roared again. Charged.

Kael jumped high, rolled over its back, and stabbed both daggers downward.

The obsidian struck the neck gap. The dagger of humility melted through cartilage.

The beast shrieked.

But didn't fall.

Instead, it collapsed backward.

With Kael still on top.

He rolled, barely missing being crushed, and stabbed upward into its exposed gut.

Crack.

The beast spasmed.

> [Tunnel Fang Defeated. Experience Logged. Gear Damage: Minimal.]

Kael knelt beside the corpse, panting.

Blood coated his mask.

But the Pale Shroud remained untouched. Almost like it had absorbed the impact.

---

Outside, dawn had arrived.

Kael emerged from the tunnel, dragging a broken bone spine as a trophy.

The fog had started to lift. But something still clung to the horizon. A darkness that wasn't weather.

He looked back.

The mask's spiral shimmered faintly.

He now wore a face that wasn't his.

And something out there—maybe the original Pale Mimic—had let him have it.

Why?

Was it a warning?

A challenge?

Or... an invitation?

Kael clenched his jaw.

He didn't care.

He was going to find it.

And next time, he wouldn't run.

---

To Be Continued...