The path before me unfolded as if the entire world were being laid out anew. Shadows stretched and rolled beneath my feet, and the air carried the taste of iron and cold fire. It wasn't merely discovering a path; it felt as though the entire dark universe was watching me, testing every step, every breath. I looked at the sky and sensed an incomplete sunrise—a sun burning with hell inside, not the light I had expected. I whispered to myself in a rough voice:
— "Even the sun here lies; even today begins in hell."
It wasn't long before a group of men and women blocked my way, their malicious smiles clinging to their faces like poison. Among them were:
Darkol: tall, black cloak, violence gleaming in his eyes.
Elisa: fast as a bullet, wielding two metallic daggers that shimmered like the night.
Morphine: wearing heavy armor, like a moving fortress, his voice clanging like iron.
Seraphine: half of his face covered with red tattoos, laughing without sound.
They all asked in unison:
— "From which realm have you come? And why have you exiled yourself?"
I answered calmly but sharply:
— "I am from Earth… and from the Ethum bloodline. My fault? I awoke to see this world as it is."
They grinned wickedly and charged. The fight wasn't mere striking and blocking; it was a living battle between shadow and fire, between terror and strength. This time, I discovered a new skill within me—the Dual-Soul Shadow: summoning two bodies from my shadow, one attacking, the other defending simultaneously, as if I intersected with myself in parallel dimensions. My strikes became faster, stealthier, and more devastating to my enemies' nerves.
Darkol screamed:
— "Impossible! How can you be everywhere at once!"
I struck Elisa with my shadow dagger while the Dual-Soul Shadow captured Morphine from behind, turning the battle upside down. They all fell before me, and I stood victorious, my breaths laced with both fire and cold.
But victory didn't last. I noticed Elisa, the last one left on the ground, rising slowly, her face filled with rage and deceit. Before I could react, she vanished behind me, and her dagger pierced my back. Darkness engulfed my eyes, a feeling of losing control, and I collapsed unconscious.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a dark cell, its windows overlooking a vast city I had never seen before. The buildings were massive, everything seemed alive, as if the city itself was breathing. I smiled, half pain, half realization:
— "Here is the world… all of it, and all those I thought I had defeated… just the beginning. Every step I believed was strength was merely part of a greater game. Mercy… power… all tools in the hands of this dark universe."
I sat on the floor, my consciousness blending regret with bitter truth: every victory, every cruelty, was just the beginning of learning the true laws of this world, and my next judgment would merely be executing a lesson learned through strength and awareness: in this universe, those who do not know their end will become nothing more than pawns in its hands.