The sight of my own face—the weak, trembling version of myself I thought I'd left in a shallow grave on Earth—was more paralyzing than any Mantra Kael had ever cast. The "Vessel" stood over me, the Soul-Dagger in its hand dripping with a thick, viscous shadow that hummed with the frequency of a funeral bell.
Internal Monologue: Look at him. The sunken eyes, the bruised knuckles from bullies I never fought back against. He's the personification of everything I hated about being human. He's my shame made flesh.
[System Notification] Status: Core Fracture (Immobile for 42 seconds) Threat: The Vessel (Soul-Clone) Analysis: The Vessel possesses "Past-Life Resonance." Any damage dealt to it will be reflected onto your own soul-core.
"You look pathetic," the Vessel said, its voice cracking just the way mine used to when I was scared. It stepped closer, the dagger's tip hovering over the gap in my obsidian chitin. "All this power, all these scales... and you're still just a scared kid hiding in a monster's skin."
"Ray, don't look at his eyes!" Meera screamed. She tried to raise her flute, but the air around the Vessel was thick with Soul-Salt, a substance that neutralized divine energy. Her Phoenix fire flickered and died, leaving her gasping on the scorching sand.
First Person POV: The Psychological Void
The Vessel leaned down, pressing the blade against my throat. I couldn't move my limbs, but my mind was a storm of saffron and black.
"Do you remember the night you died?" the Vessel whispered. "The cold rain? The way you wished for someone—anyone—to save you? No one came. Not Raghav. Not the System. You were alone."
I wasn't alone, I thought, my Dom energy beginning to boil beneath the surface. I was waiting.
"If you kill me," the Vessel continued, a cruel smile spreading across my old face, "you admit that the 'Ray' who loved, who hoped, who felt... is dead. You'll just be another one of Bali's puppets. A beast with no heart."
The dagger began to sink in. I felt a sharp, stinging pain—not in my neck, but in my very memories. The System flared red.
[Warning]: Soul-Core Erosion: 15%... 20%... Hidden Variable Triggered: The Ashura's Choice.
I looked into the black voids of the Vessel's eyes. He was right. I was terrified of him. Not because he could kill me, but because he was the part of me that deserved a better life—the part I had sacrificed to become a killer.
But a heart isn't a weakness, a voice echoed in my head. It was Raghav's voice, faint and distant. It is the anchor that keeps the Ashura from drifting into the abyss.
"I'm not killing you because I hate you," I rasped, the words vibrating through the ground. My Core Fracture timer hit zero. "I'm killing you because I'm the one who survived."
Third Person POV: The Shattering
In the Obsidian Spire, Arjun Pandit leaned forward, his eyes wide. "He's moving? That's impossible. The Soul-Salt should have paralyzed his spiritual nervous system!"
On the screen, Ray's massive obsidian claws didn't strike the Vessel. Instead, he reached out with his Soul-Grip and grabbed the dagger itself.
The necrotic energy of the PatalLok Devourer collided with the past-life resonance of the Vessel. The resulting shockwave sent Meera tumbling back across the dunes.
Ray's form began to shift again. He wasn't evolving; he was merging. The matte-black chitin and the pale human skin began to blur, the fourth shard in his chest glowing with a blinding, neutral light.
"He's not destroying the clone," the Librarian whispered in horror. "He's reclaiming the soul-essence Arjun used to build it. He's... he's becoming whole."
First Person POV: Rebirth
The pain was beyond anything I had ever felt. It felt like my childhood, my death, and my evolution were being tossed into a blender. The Vessel screamed—a high, human sound—as it dissolved into streaks of grey light that were sucked into the fourth shard.
[System Notification] Soul-Clone Consumed. Hidden Achievement Unlocked: The Unified Self. Reward: Intelligence +10, Soul Resonance +5. New Skill Unlocked: Ashura's Avatar (Allows the user to temporarily assume a humanoid form while retaining Calamity-class stats).
The dust settled. The Vessel was gone. I stood in the center of the crater, no longer a six-foot beast, but a young man. I looked human—same face, same hair—but my skin had a faint, metallic sheen, and my eyes remained the swirling saffron of the Ashura. I was draped in a cloak of living shadows that felt like the fur of my stalker form.
I looked at my hands. They were steady.
Meera crawled toward me, her eyes wide. "Ray? Is it... is it really you?"
"It's all of me, Meera," I said, my voice finally sounding like my own, just deeper, more resonant. I reached out and helped her up. Her touch didn't burn. The Ashura's Breath had calmed, turning from a wild fire into a steady, controlled engine.
[System Notification] Objective Complete: The Sands of Silence. Current Shards: 4/12. Next Location detected: The Submerged Capital of Varuna – PatalLok's Gateway.
The Gateway: Third Person POV
Deep beneath the desert, the Tomb of Bali didn't just open; it exhaled. The black glass walls cracked as a surge of necromantic energy flowed toward the Submerged Capital.
Bali's voice was no longer a hiss. It was a roar. "The anchor is set! The boy has the heart and the hide! Bring him to the water... bring him to the gate!"
In Ashvamedha, Arjun Pandit turned away from the screen. He looked at his Celestial Wyrm. "The psychological play failed. He's stronger now. We stop playing games, General. Mobilize the BlackRabbit Order's First Fleet. We meet him at the Varuna Trench."
Arjun's golden eyes flickered. "If he wants to be a god, I'll give him a god's funeral."
First Person POV: The Horizon
I looked out toward the distant shimmer of the sea. I could feel the fifth shard calling from the depths. It was colder, darker, and hungrier than the others.
"The Submerged Capital," Meera whispered, standing beside me. "Ray, that's where the seals are thinnest. If we go there, we aren't just fighting tamers anymore. We're fighting the foundation of the Dominion."
"Good," I said, the shadows of my cloak lengthening as the sun began to set. "I've had enough of their foundation. It's time to see what's underneath."
I looked at the System screen one last time before we moved.
[Current Rank]: Tier 4 (Calamity) [Title]: Heir of the Requiem. [Warning]: The First Fleet of Ashvamedha is en route. Estimated time to contact: 4 hours.
The hunt was no longer in the shadows. It was a war.