Lord of the Abyss

At eighteen, F-rank slum boy Kane enters the Abyss to save his dying sister. Thirty thousand enter; he alone survives. The Abyss Lord Vargos stores his power inside Kane, shrinking into a black cat named Peanut. Branded a deserter, Kane signs a false confession and kneels before the memorial wall. To save Lily, he hunts monsters and fights in the Academy Arena, awakening Vargos’s power each time he’s cornered. With ally Aria, he defeats noble heir Lucius and exposes the truth: talent is rationed from the Abyss Mother. When the city’s rift reopens, Kane becomes the new Abyss Lord—not to rule, but to close the door from within.