Quinn stood frozen behind the counter, his eyes locked on the figure wielding a gleaming scythe. The music had long since stopped, replaced by the sound of tearing flesh and cracking bones. Fear crept up his spine like cold venom. At first, he'd thought the stranger was just a reckless human—an easy meal. But now, he realized the grim truth. This wasn't prey.
This was a predator.
All around him, the vampires he'd commanded were reduced to ash and bone, their bodies drained of blood and energy. Even now, as Kurogai stood still with his eyes half-closed, none of the remaining vampires dared to move. His presence alone was suffocating.
"What are you all waiting for?!" Quinn roared, fury and fear battling in his tone. "Kill him!"
The vampires hesitated, but their fear of Quinn's wrath outweighed their sense of survival. With a chorus of snarls, they charged forward once more, fangs bared and claws extended.
Kurogai sighed softly, his expression calm, almost detached. "Perfect timing," he murmured. "Let's test this new power."
A ripple of invisible force surged from his body. The air distorted, bending and warping like heat haze—and then came the screams.
The first wave of vampires didn't even reach him. Their bodies twisted unnaturally, bones cracking and snapping as if crushed by an unseen hand. Some were ripped clean in half, their blood spraying across the dance floor in crimson arcs before collapsing into lifeless heaps.
Kurogai didn't move an inch.
His new ability—the Eye of Distortion—wasn't flashy or loud, but it was devastating. Space itself bent around him, warping reality and flesh alike. Though its effective range was short, within that radius, nothing survived.
In seconds, silence reclaimed the room.
The surviving vampires recoiled, trembling. Even among their kind, creatures of night and death, they had never seen such a terrifying power.
"The power of distortion…" Kurogai said quietly, examining the faint black shimmer radiating from his body. "Not bad. If mastered, it'll do nicely."
He stepped forward, his scythe dragging against the blood-soaked floor. The scent of iron filled the air, thick and cloying. His weapon pulsed faintly, feeding on the remains of his victims.
With a sudden blur of movement, Kurogai vanished, reappearing within the crowd of remaining vampires. The air warped again. Screams echoed as bodies collapsed like crushed paper.
To the terrified Quinn, it no longer resembled a battle. It was slaughter. Pure, efficient, merciless.
His heart pounded. He'd faced vampire hunters before, seen daylight weapons and silver bullets—but this… this was something else entirely. When the last of his confidence snapped, Quinn turned and fled through the back door, his footsteps slipping on the blood-slick floor.
Kurogai's crimson gaze followed him, calm and calculating. "Running? That's fine. I already marked you."
Earlier, during their first exchange, Kurogai had embedded a trace of his energy within Quinn's aura. No matter where the vampire ran, it would lead him straight to his next destination.
There were still many vampires in this city, many nests hidden beneath neon lights. He would harvest them all.
Without another word, Kurogai spread his power once more. The twisting force surged outward, shredding the remaining vampires that dared to move. The dance floor became a sea of blood and ash.
When the last scream faded, only the steady hum of silence remained.
The once-glamorous club now looked like a battlefield. Kurogai stood among the corpses, expression unreadable. Then, a familiar whisper echoed in his mind—his Ultimate Eye had activated again.
[The seventh pupil ring is saturated. Power capacity reached. Upgrade available—proceed?]
Kurogai smirked. "Why not? Let's see how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Warm energy surged through him, flooding toward his eyes. His pupils darkened, the faint purple-gold hue replaced by an abyssal black. Within those eyes, a spiral vortex began to turn—slow, deep, and endless.
He exhaled, and the world seemed to tremble.
When he waved his hand, the blood that covered the entire floor evaporated into nothing, leaving the room spotless, as though the massacre had never happened. Only the faint metallic tang of blood in the air betrayed the truth.
"So this is the upgraded version… distortion of light," he murmured.
The ability revealed itself through the Ultimate Eye's connection—control over the very light that entered his vision. With it, he could manipulate perception, twist reality's appearance, or make himself invisible.
"Not a bad trick," he said with a faint smile. "Though I've got better ways to alter reality."
His hand brushed against the faint blue glow of the Space Stone embedded within his gear. Compared to that, light distortion was child's play. Still, every power had its use. And if mastering distortion strengthened the Ultimate Eye further, it was worth keeping.