Chapter 5
"You don't survive in the shadow world by being stronger. You survive by being stranger."
The air behind them rippled—not like wind or energy—but like reality itself had torn.
Bai Shen turned.
The figure that stepped out looked human at first glance—tall, robed in silver and blood-streaked red, his skin pale and taut over muscle. But his face told the truth.
No eyes.
No pupils.
Only hollow sockets glowing faint blue flame.
A Shadow Hunter.
Mara stiffened. "That's not a Bloodroot enforcer…"
Shen's shadow stirred. His Core pulsed violently.
"That thing's not alive."
"No," she said. "It's worse."
The Shadow Hunter stepped forward, not walking—gliding. The ground beneath him blackened. Moss withered. Even the wind stopped moving.
Shen raised his guard.
"What is it?"
Mara's tone was grim. "A Purge relic. Designed to eliminate Shadow Fist remnants during the war. They're not human. They're made of forbidden spells and soul fragments from dead masters."
Shen's eyes narrowed. "Why is it here now?"
"It wasn't meant to activate unless someone awakened the full Shadow Core."
Shen exhaled slowly.
"I must've tripped the alarm."
The Hunter raised its hand.
Black runes ignited along its arm. The symbols spun like chains, unraveling and shooting toward Shen at blistering speed.
He reacted on instinct.
Veil Step.
He blinked away—
But the runes changed direction mid-air and curved toward him again.
They weren't projectiles.
They were targeting seals.
"Dodge won't work!" Mara shouted.
Shen dropped low and slammed his palm to the ground.
"Soul Grip!"
A skeletal fist burst from below and intercepted the runes, but instead of shattering them—
They wrapped around the fist and consumed it.
The Core inside Shen pulsed erratically.
You are prey. Unless… you evolve.
The Hunter vanished.
Reappeared above him.
Blade made of runed bone in hand.
Shen raised his arm too late.
The blade struck.
Pain exploded through his shoulder as the weapon grazed deep.
Mara moved to strike the Hunter's back, but her dagger passed through it as if through smoke.
She stumbled back. "It's not fully physical. Only you can touch it."
"Why?"
"Because you're its target. And it's keyed to your Core."
Shen's mind spun.
So this wasn't a fight he could run from.
He centered himself.
Felt the Core stir deeper than before.
Not just hunger now.
Growth.
A new tier forming.
He dug his fingers into the dirt and whispered—
"Awaken me."
His blood burned.
His vision blurred.
Darkness surged from his heart into his limbs, winding through muscles, veins, and nerves.
Tier 2 Unlocked: Shade Veins.
Shadow Qi now circulates throughout the body, enhancing physical speed, reaction, and pain tolerance. New technique unlocked: Shadow Skin.
The change was immediate.
The Core flooded his limbs. His vision clarified.
And his fear?
Gone.
He looked up—and the Hunter, mid-charge again, moved slower now.
Shen twisted aside, avoiding the slash with inches to spare.
He moved behind it.
"Shadow Skin."
The air shimmered around his hands. His fingers turned black, laced with shadow scales.
He struck the Hunter's back.
This time—it connected.
The undead shrieked, spinning wildly, arms flailing.
The skin on its back bubbled where Shen had touched it.
Shadow countered shadow.
He pressed the advantage.
His feet were faster now—he darted through tree roots, blinking between shadows without calling the technique aloud.
He could feel it. This tier belonged to movement. Agility. Flow.
He called forth a Veil Fang, slashing horizontally.
The Hunter tried to block.
But Shen's blade curved mid-air, wrapping behind its weapon and slicing through its shoulder.
It screamed again.
But didn't fall.
It staggered backward, runes glowing brighter.
Suddenly—
A black pillar of light burst upward from its chest.
Mara grabbed Shen and yanked him back.
"Seal magic! Don't let it tag your name!"
Too late.
The beam touched his shadow.
His ears rang.
And in the distance, he heard voices—
Not his.
"Bai Shen… Shadow Core recipient… Archive seal confirmed… Memory tag activated…"
"What is that?" he gasped.
"A memory-locking curse," Mara said, face pale. "It marks you for eternal hunting."
Shen's Core surged violently.
He saw images not his own.
Old men in black hoods.
A field of bodies.
A woman with silver hair screaming as her own shadow turned against her.
Then…
A small boy. Crying. A man knelt beside him. Familiar.
"Your name is Bai Shen," the man said.
"No," Shen whispered. "That's not my memory."
The Hunter stepped forward again.
"You sealed it," Shen murmured.
Mara's eyes widened. "What?"
"You sealed something in me… someone…"
The Core roared inside him.
Shen dropped to one knee, clutching his skull.
Unlock it.
The voice wasn't his.
Not the Core's.
Another presence. Older. Waiting.
The Hunter attacked.
Mara intercepted with a flurry of spiritual knives, buying him time.
"Shen! Snap out of it!"
He stood slowly.
Face calm.
A shadow cross-mark formed across his chest.
"Thank you," he whispered to the voice inside.
"I remember now."
He raised his hands.
And the entire battlefield darkened.
Not just light—but sound, pressure, even gravity shifted.
Mara gasped.
Even the Hunter hesitated.
Shen's eyes were pure void now.
"New Technique: Shadow Seal – Domain Variant."
Create a field in which only shadow-aligned entities function. All light-based, spirit-based, or seal techniques are nullified.
The Hunter screamed in frustration as its runes began to disintegrate.
Its blade flickered out of existence.
Shen stepped forward slowly.
The Hunter lunged.
Shen didn't dodge.
He grabbed its throat mid-leap.
Black tendrils exploded from his palm and dragged the creature into the dirt, binding it like a cocoon.
The ground swallowed it whole.
Silence returned.
The Domain faded.
Mara stared at him.
"You… unlocked a seal."
Shen turned to her, his voice steady.
"There's something in me. A memory someone didn't want me to have."
"Who?"
He looked to the horizon.
"I don't know. But I saw a symbol."
He sketched it in the dirt—three triangles inside a spiral.
Mara froze.
"That's the sigil of the Eclipse Sect."
"What is that?"
She shook her head.
"No one talks about them. They don't exist on maps. They don't recruit. They don't teach."
"Then what do they do?"
Her voice dropped.
"They erase."
That night, while Shen slept, his shadow moved on its own.
It slithered across the forest floor toward the edge of a nearby lake.
In the water's reflection…
Shen's face didn't appear.
Someone else's did.