The man's hand was as cold as ice, yet it carried a power Rain couldn't break free from. He felt something strange seeping into him, as if his very soul was being torn away, piece by piece.
"What... is this?!"
He tried to struggle, but his body refused to respond. This wasn't just a physical attack—it was something deeper. Something that crept into his very existence, trying to dismantle him from within.
His vision began to distort. The colors of the world faded, replaced by an endless black void. In that moment, he was no longer standing on the scorched earth where he had been just moments ago...
He was floating in nothingness.
And suddenly, a familiar image appeared before him—
He saw himself.
But not as he was now. He was a small child, sitting alone in a dark corner, his body covered in wounds, his eyes frozen with pain and despair.
"Do you remember this place?"
The man's voice echoed in the void, yet it didn't come from any specific direction. It was everywhere— in the air, in the depths of Rain's own being.
"This is where you were before you gained your power."
Rain shuddered. That wasn't true.
"No… I was always here."
The image shifted. He saw glimpses of his past, but something was wrong.
He saw himself in Valrok Village, surrounded by other children. But he wasn't an outcast... He was one of them. They laughed with him, spoke to him, as if he had never been the lonely boy without a spirit insect.
"These aren't my memories."
"No... these are the real memories. Before they were altered."
The black butterfly hovering around Rain trembled violently. It seemed to be trying to stop him from seeing more, but the force consuming him was stronger.
"Did you really think your life was just coincidence?" the man continued. "That you were born an outcast, weak, without an insect?"
The image shifted again.
He saw a tall man with long black hair and piercing eyes standing before a group of sorcerers. The place was dark, the air thick with an overwhelming energy.
"This is your father, on his last night."
Rain's eyes widened, and his heart nearly stopped.
"What…?"
That night… was right before his birth.
"I will reshape destiny," the man in the vision declared, his voice filled with power and fury. "I will not let this world take what is mine."
Then, he raised his hand, and between his fingers, there was a small black butterfly—yet its aura was terrifying.
"He was wrong."
The voice returned, closer this time, as if whispering directly into Rain's ear.
"He wanted to pass his power to you, but he made a fatal mistake."
The image changed again. This time, Rain saw his mother, her eyes filled with sorrow and fear, holding a small child in her arms.
"He stole my fate… and gave it to you."
Rain let out a scream, and a massive surge of energy exploded from his body, tearing apart the darkness around him. He was back in reality—but he was no longer standing.
He was floating.
His body was flooded with a power he had never felt before, yet his mind swarmed with questions.
"Is this true? Did I steal a power that wasn't meant to be mine?"
But there was no time for doubt. The man before him hadn't stepped back.
"The countdown has begun, Rain," he said calmly, yet there was something sinister in his tone.
"Either you return what is mine… or I will take it by force."
Rain didn't answer. Instead, he raised his hand, and the black butterfly around him expanded, spreading its wings into the sky.
"Come and take it if you can."
And so… the real battle began.
To be continued…
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