The rebirth had left a quiet hum beneath Yuki's skin—a sensation not of pain, but raw, awakened power. Every movement was fluid, almost dreamlike, as if his body responded faster than thought. Sovereign Mind hummed gently in the background, its sub-skills like coiled springs ready to activate with intent alone.
The forest seemed to acknowledge his evolution. Spirit wisps floated around him like curious moths, but even they dared not come too close. The glade he wandered into was luminous with crystalline roots and pulsing fungi—an ancient pocket of the spirit realm leaking into the material plane.
Then he felt it.
A presence.
Low and thudding. A mental pressure that pressed against his mind like a dull blade. It wasn't a greeting.
It was a challenge.
Yuki turned toward the thicket as the trees bent unnaturally, shifting like puppets on strings. A ripple tore through the glade. A figure stepped forward—not hulking, but sleek and wickedly elegant.
A beast of soul and shadow.
**Name: Noctis-Strider Apex – Warden of Glade Echo**
**Type: Spirit Predator (Void/Soul hybrid)**
**Threat Class: High-A**
**Affinity: Dissonance, Soul-Disruption, Spatial Slide**
Its form was partially translucent, like an ethereal feline fused with insectoid plating. Six eyes blinked asynchronously across its mask-like head, and its tail flickered in and out of phase, like it wasn't entirely in this world.
It snarled—not with sound, but a screeching thought that clawed at Yuki's psyche.
**\[Alert: Sovereign Mind sub-skill "Mental Dominion" activated.]**
**\[Hostile mental interference suppressed.]**
Yuki didn't flinch. He took one step forward.
The predator blurred.
**Spatial Slide**—the beast reappeared behind him mid-leap, claws like curved void-blades descending.
But Yuki was ready.
**"Psionic Flare."**
A pulse of soulfire erupted around him in a dome of shimmering force. The Noctis-Strider screeched, its leap disrupted mid-air as it spun, fur and carapace singed. It landed clumsily but rolled back, its claws digging into the mossy floor.
Yuki lunged. His jaws shimmered with soul-empowered Flame Sovereign Breath, layered now with piercing psychic distortion. The blast hit the beast's shoulder, searing fur and forcing it to phase out instinctively.
But it couldn't escape thought.
Yuki activated **Thoughtform Projection**, splitting a decoy version of himself made of solidified will. The predator lunged again—through the projection—only to realize its mistake too late.
Yuki surged from above, descending like a meteor, claws glowing with raw soulforce.
**"Soulrend Claw."** *(new technique)*
His strike tore through the beast's shadowlike plating. A horrible screech, both mental and physical, echoed as chunks of essence and gore spilled. The beast faltered, trembling.
It tried to vanish into the void again.
**"Mindforge Lock."**
Yuki's eyes flared with amethyst light. Lines of psionic power lanced from his forehead, tethering the beast mid-phasing. A prison of pure cognition locked it in place, distorting the space around them like a warped lens.
With a final push, Yuki roared—a soul-infused bellow that shook the glade and shattered weak spirit barriers in a hundred-meter radius.
He charged.
Claws. Flame. Soul.
The predator gave one last desperate screech—but Sovereign Mind was absolute. Yuki struck it down with soul-searing flame and a second Soulrend Claw to the head.
Silence fell.
Then:
**\[Soul-Type Predator Defeated.]**
**\[Skill Extracted: "Void-Tether Leap" (Hybrid Movement-Skill)]**
**\[Bonus Skill Created: "Phantom Ripper" (Psionic/Soul Attack)]**
Yuki stood panting, though not from exhaustion. His body hummed with new information, new patterns. His core—the **Mind Forge**—glowed brighter within, adapting and rewriting itself with every kill.
Around him, the forest remained hushed.
But somewhere, deep within the trees, a presence was watching. Curious. Drawn by what had just awakened.
Not yet. But soon.
**Chapter End**