Kane woke up to a throbbing headache and a suffocating sense of dread. The first thing he registered was Linia's face, contorted in raw panic, staring at him. She was clearly awake, her eyes wide and haunted. He sat up, the slick, cold stone of the floor sticking to his skin.
Linia was bruised and swollen. Ugly, mottled purple marks covered her hands and forearms, and a dark, oozing scrape ran across her temple. Missy, who had materialized nearby, was in a somehow worse state. Her normally vibrant mist body was faint, almost translucent, flickering weakly, like a dying candle struggling against a strong draft.
"Explain. What happened?" Kane's voice was hoarse, a rasp of dried cotton and pain.
The air had immediately grown heavy with the smell of ozone and burnt earth as the black plates and the golden river attacked Kane. Linia didn't hesitate. Her obsidian scythe flashed, a silver arc aimed at the heart of the approaching chaos, hoping to cleave the sentient golden fluid before it could reach Kane.
But before she could strike, a black figure erupted from the distortions. It was vast and oppressive, a towering silhouette that was more human than beast. It was clad in armor that seemed less crafted and more fused to its form, with immense, tattered wings of jagged, dark metal that scraped the ground as it landed, stirring up a whirlwind of dust and debris.
A high, malevolent flame flickered from its back, casting an ominous, dancing red light on the twisted metal of its helm. It fixed its gaze—or where its gaze should have been—on Linia, and charged.
Linia met the charge, her scythe carving a line towards its chest. The impact wasn't a clean cut. Instead, a bone-jarring, grating screech of steel on steel tore through the air, the sound vibrating violently up her arms. It felt like striking a mountain of solid, unyielding iron, sending a shockwave of agony through her joints. The figure didn't even flinch.
It responded with a terrifying, silent roar, its dagger-like claws lashing out. The flame from its back pulsed, igniting its fists and spreading like a malevolent, searing rash up its arms. Linia was forced into a desperate parry, the clank of her scythe against its hardened claws now punctuated by the hiss of superheated metal meeting her blade.
She tried to find an opening—a joint, a weakness in the tattered wings—but every blow was met with unyielding resilience. Without her Aspect, Linia felt a growing sense of frantic frustration. Her instincts, usually as sharp as her blade, were dulled. She swung where she thought the creature would be, but it moved with a terrifying, unnatural speed, zipping past her guard, its attacks becoming harder to track. Her breaths grew ragged, each parry a monumental effort that yielded no visible damage. She was giving everything, yet the creature remained a relentless, unscarred wall of iron and fire.
Then, abruptly, the flame on its arms and back extinguished. The oppressive shadows returned, and the Black Figure began to move violently, not with precision, but with a sudden, uncontrolled thrashing. It flailed, its massive wings striking the ground and whipping the air with indiscriminate force. Linia's eyes widened. This wasn't an attack; it was a spasm of instability, a momentary crack in its impenetrable defense.
She saw a fleeting opportunity, a chance to dive low and exploit a joint, but the creature's blind, sweeping claw caught her with devastating, skull-numbing force. The world spun into a sickening blur. Linia hit the ground, a limp puppet, knocked out cold before she could even register the pain.
As Linia crumpled, Missy materialized, her summoning a desperate, last-ditch effort born from Kane's subconscious survival instinct. She took in the scene: Linia unconscious, the Black Figure thrashing wildly, its flames now dark. Missy didn't charge. She saw the violent, uncoordinated movements, the tell-tale sign of its instability. She aimed for the ground, conjuring a burst of focused arcane energy to shatter the flagstones beneath its feet, hoping to unbalance it, to expose a weakness. The ground cracked, fissures racing outwards, briefly staggering the Black Figure. It roared, a sound devoid of thought, just raw, instinctual fury. Missy pressed her attack, her magic weaving around its flailing limbs, trying to bind its wings, but the creature, finding its footing again, slammed a massive, dead-weight fist into her. Missy was sent flying. She landed with a sickening, silent thud, overwhelmed and knocked out, her light dimming to a near-death flicker. Yet, the damaged flagstones around the Black Figure remained, a testament to her strategic, if ultimately failed, resistance.
Kane listened to Linia's harrowing account, the blood draining from his face as she described the fight and the creature's subsequent, violent retreat.
"If you didn't kill it," he asked, looking around the cathedral's chamber, "where did that thing go?"
Linia pointed to the massive, ornate door they had entered through. It was now broken, shattered pieces of stone blasted outward onto the platform. "It left," she muttered.
Kane's mind raced. 'That creature seemed to have tried to escape this place.' He then remembered the shrieking, agonizing pain, the golden fluid, and the peeling skin. He remembered the faint voice of the Nightmare Spell announcing something. To cross-check his sanity, he opened his runes.
Name:Kane
True Name:Deputy of Heaven
Rank:Dreamer
Rebirth Cores:[780/1000]
Memories:[The Ultimate Defiance]
Echo:-
Followers:[Mist Assassin]
Attributes:[Fated] [Mark of Divinity] [Adaptive] [Wood Shell] [Sleeper Killer]
Kane's eyes widened. He had indeed gained two new Attributes. As he went to look closer, he noticed something else—a brand. A tattoo had appeared on his hands, centered on his palm, glowing faintly beneath his skin.
The symbol was an intricate, stylized emblem rendered in a deep, shadowy black, centrally positioned against a backdrop of ethereal blue light. It featured a prominent, sharp-angled crest at the top, reminiscent of a crown or a multi-faceted gem, with smaller, pointed protrusions extending outwards and downwards from its sides, creating a sense of aggressive elegance. At its core, the symbol incorporated a spiraling, almost rose-like motif that glowed with an intense, bright white luminescence from its center, acting as the symbol's focal point. Surrounding this central element were sweeping, organic, and almost wing-like or claw-like extensions that radiated outwards, each ending in a sharp point.
He quickly focused on the new Attributes.
[Wood Shell]
Attribute Description: You are equipped with a divine wood shell that grows with you. Your strength grows with your emergence.
[Sleeper Killer]
Attribute Description: You can shape any weapon you desire.
Kane focused his will, trying to activate the [Wood Shell]. Suddenly, the black pattern on his skin flared, and he was encased in a suit of monstrous, matte-black armor. It was less a crafted garment and more a solidified shadow. The design was comprised of sharp, overlapping plates, resembling jagged wooden scales or hardened insect carapace, giving it a menacing, chitinous texture. These plates were not uniformly smooth but etched with fine, irregular lines, suggesting heavy wear or a raw, forged aesthetic. The helmet was a nightmare visage, featuring a pronounced, almost beak-like snout and deep eye sockets that, when the mask was active, glowed with a fiercely malevolent red light. The armor was imposing, designed for blunt, overwhelming force rather than agile movement, right down to the heavily armored boots and gauntlets.
Kane now looked at the intimidating shell wrapped around him. "Okay, armor problem solved," he stated, his voice muffled slightly by the helm.
Linia and Missy stared, slack-jawed. Linia spoke, her curiosity overriding her pain. "You got a new armor? So where did you get it?"
Kane briefly explained the Attribute's function. Linia looked at the massive black suit of power with disbelief. "Is that even possible?"
Ignoring her question, Kane focused on the second Attribute, [Sleeper Killer].
The black lines of the symbol on his palm transformed with a golden spark, the light resolving into a magnificent, pitch-black sword, similar to Sunless's Midnight Shard. Kane then reimagined a bow. The sword dissolved, and a massive, dark longbow formed in his grip. He tried to draw it, and an ethereal arrow of pure, humming energy materialized on the string. Kane then retracted the manifestation, and the golden sparks retreated back into the black patterns on his hand.
Missy, her misty form regaining a flicker of strength, gasped like an excited child. "That was so coool."
Suddenly, a profound, heavy rumbling noise echoed through the vertical maze. It wasn't the sound of falling stone, but the sound of something vast and ancient rising.
===========================
how was the chapter?
1.Peak
2.Good
3.Meh
4.Worst