Light swallowed me whole.
For a moment, there was nothing. No ash. No whispers. No storm of gods. Just endless brilliance, burning away the Neutral Zone until not even rubble remained.
Then the light broke.
And I fell.
✦
I hit the ground hard enough to drive the air from my lungs. My ribs screamed, my arms almost gave out, but I forced myself to keep hold of Arjun's ember.
It pulsed weakly, steadying, as if reminding me it was still there.
I rolled onto my knees, sucking in air, and looked around.
The Neutral Zone was gone.
This place… wasn't one place.
It was three.
✦
To my left stretched a valley of jagged peaks, forests clinging to their sides, waterfalls cascading in impossible arcs. But the trees weren't normal—they twisted upward in perfect spirals, glowing faintly with qi. Murim.
To my right sprawled ruins of castles and stone roads, broken banners snapping in an invisible wind. Armor-clad corpses lay half-buried, their swords rusting into the dirt. Yet some still twitched, half-alive. Fantasy.
And straight ahead yawned an abyssal plain, black stone riddled with cracks glowing crimson. From within the fissures, things crawled—shapes with too many eyes, too many teeth, their bodies smeared with shadow. Abyss.
Three realms.
One place.
And I was standing at their convergence.
✦
The system's voice struck like a hammer.
[ Act II – Scenario: The Hunt of Realms. ][ Survive until the convergence stabilizes. ][ Reward: Access to Cross-Realm Paths. ][ Penalty for failure: Erasure. ]
I swallowed hard.
No time limit. No clear objective. Just survive.
Which meant this wasn't a challenge.
It was a culling.
✦
The Inkblade quivered in my hand, shadows curling eagerly.
"…three realms… three feasts… let me loose, fracture, and I will carve them all…"
I tightened my grip. My body ached, bones cracked, blood burned, but I forced myself upright.
No survivors.
No allies.
Just me, the blade, and Arjun's ember.
And gods watching.
Always watching.
✦
The first sound was a horn.
Low. Resonant. Coming from the fantasy ruins.
It rolled across the plain, shaking dust from broken stone. And as it echoed, figures rose from the ground—armored knights, their flesh rotted but their eyes burning with green fire. Their swords scraped stone as they staggered upright, their armor clanking.
An army of the dead.
They turned their empty eyes toward me.
✦
The Inkblade hissed like it was laughing.
"…see? Already they gather… already they come… give me their strength, and we will never be hunted again…"
My heart hammered.
The knights weren't fast, but there were dozens. Maybe hundreds.
And I was already half-broken.
I glanced down at Arjun's ember, glowing faintly in my arms.
"Looks like we don't get to rest," I muttered.
The ember flickered, like it agreed.
✦
I shifted him carefully against my chest, then raised the Inkblade. Shadows rippled outward, pooling around my feet, writhing like snakes ready to strike.
The first knight reached me, sword raised high. Its armor groaned, its mouth split open in a scream that wasn't human.
I stepped forward.
And cut.
The blade sliced through steel like paper, shadows devouring the fragments before they hit the ground. The knight shrieked, body collapsing into sparks of green fire.
The Inkblade purred.
"…yes… more…"
Another knight charged. Then another.
The hunt had begun.
✦
I fought, step by step, shadows tearing through rusted armor, green fire burning my skin each time they struck. My ribs screamed, my vision blurred, but I didn't stop.
Because if I stopped, I was gone.
And so was Arjun.
✦
I cut down the last knight, its body crumbling into dust. My chest heaved, my arms shook, my blood dripped into the dirt. The Inkblade thrummed, satisfied.
But the valley to my left stirred.
From the spiral forests, qi shimmered, and figures leapt into sight. Murim warriors—robes torn, blades gleaming, their movements too fast, too sharp. They landed lightly on the stone, their eyes locking on me with cold precision.
One drew his blade in silence.
The others followed.
✦
I cursed under my breath.
Fantasy had tested me with an army.
Murim would test me with duelists.
And the Abyss…
I glanced at the crimson fissures ahead. Shadows shifted within them, shapes writhing, waiting.
That would be worse.
Much worse.
✦
The system's voice pulsed again.
[ Warning: Realm entities have recognized you as prey. ][ Hunt initiated. ]
The Inkblade pulsed in delight, shadows writhing up my arm.
"…prey? No… let them learn… let them bleed…"
I adjusted my grip on Arjun's ember, my other hand tightening on the blade.
"Then let them try."
The Murim warriors advanced.
Their movements were sharp, precise, flowing like rivers and striking like storms. Even fractured, even dragged into this nightmare convergence, their forms were disciplined.
And they all focused on me.
Not the knights' ruins. Not the abyssal fissures.
Me.
Because the system had marked me.
Because the gods had marked me.
Because prey had to be hunted.
✦
The first warrior moved.
A blur of white cloth and flashing steel. His sword cut the air with a hiss, qi humming along the edge.
I shifted Arjun's ember tighter against my chest and met him with the Inkblade.
Steel clashed against shadow. Sparks erupted, qi burning black smoke. The force rattled my bones, forced me back a step, but I didn't fall.
The warrior pulled back, eyes narrowing.
Then three more leapt forward.
✦
I ducked one strike, shadows flaring to intercept another. The third landed behind me, his blade sweeping low. Pain flared across my leg, blood spraying.
The Inkblade pulsed, shadows lashing out like snakes, ripping through cloth and flesh. The warrior staggered, half his body dissolving into sparks.
I spun, cutting another through the chest, my arm trembling from the impact.
But they kept coming.
Their strikes weren't like the undead knights—predictable, heavy.
These were clean. Precise. Merciless.
Every clash reminded me I wasn't just fighting bodies.
I was fighting entire schools, entire philosophies, entire histories of blade and fist.
And I was already bleeding.
✦
The Inkblade laughed in my skull, drunk on the fight.
"…beautiful… their arts, their lives, all fuel… give me more and I will give you mastery…"
I gritted my teeth, parrying another strike, shadows screaming as they caught a spear before it could impale my ribs.
"No."
I cut, shadows exploding outward, scattering the warriors back. My chest heaved, my vision blurred. Arjun's ember flickered faintly in my arms, as if urging me not to falter.
I steadied my breath.
Because this wasn't about mastery.
This was about surviving.
✦
The warriors regrouped, circling me in silence. Their eyes glowed faintly with qi, their movements syncing. This wasn't a mob.
This was a hunt.
And I was surrounded.
The Inkblade whispered sweetly.
"…you cannot win like this… but with me, you can end them all at once…"
I almost wanted to agree. My blood soaked my side, my leg burned, my grip shook.
But then Arjun stirred weakly, his faint voice brushing my ear.
"…don't… give in…"
My chest clenched.
Even half-dead, even barely tethered, he still knew.
Still reminded me.
I grinned through blood.
"Guess I'm still stubborn."
✦
The warriors struck as one.
Steel and qi from all sides.
I roared and moved, shadows exploding outward, blade slicing arcs through the air. I ducked low, cut high, spun with blood spraying. Every strike tore into me too—scratches, burns, cuts piling onto bruises and broken ribs.
But one by one, they fell.
Not whole. Not shattered.
Flickering, dissolving into sparks of qi and ash, remnants of realms collapsing under the weight of convergence.
When the last warrior fell, the plain was silent again.
I stood hunched, panting, blood dripping from fresh wounds. My arms trembled, but the ember-light in my chest still pulsed.
Arjun was still here.
And so was I.
✦
The ground shuddered.
The fissures ahead widened, crimson light bleeding outward. A sound rose—low, guttural, wrong.
The Abyss was waking.
I staggered forward, forcing my legs to move, forcing my breath steady.
Knights were gone. Murim duelists were gone.
Now it was just me and the dark.
The Inkblade purred, eager.
"…yes… this is the true feast… shadows that even gods avoid… let me show you what it means to devour the abyss…"
I didn't answer.
Because I wasn't ready.
But I would be.
I had to be.
✦
The system's voice pulsed again, cold and merciless.
[ Warning: Abyss entities entering convergence. ][ Hunt escalation in progress. ]
I adjusted my grip on the Inkblade, blood dripping from my side, Arjun's ember-light pressed against me.
And I whispered:
"Come then."
The fissures cracked wider. Shapes writhed in the crimson glow, eyes opening in the dark, teeth glinting like stars.
The Hunt of Realms had only just begun.