The sky split into a black fissure, and the air grew heavy as if the world were dying.
From Kim's hollow chest rose a thread of darkness that stretched until it covered his entire body. He was no longer human, nor fully demonic, but an unknown entity—seen only as a shadow walking on top of the light.
He approached the Lord of Darkness slowly, his voice emerging doubled—as if a thousand beings spoke through him:
"Tell me, O King of Darkness… are you truly the king?"
The king chuckled lightly, mockingly, and said, "Don't you see? All this ruin was wrought by my hands."
Kim tilted his head slightly; his eyes had no features—only spirals of nothingness—then he said in a deadly calm, "But I don't believe you. If I kill you, I will become the true King of Darkness."
In an instant he exploded forward, a flash of nothingness; every skill he used launched with him—Nightmare Sword, Shadow of Souls, Doom Flame, even the Dagger of Reckoning—yet the Ruler stood unmoved, smiling, showing no wound, feeling no pain.
Kim staggered back, his breaths ragged, black blood trickling from his mouth. The Ruler spoke with relish, "Is that all? Or shall I show you how true darkness is used?"
Suddenly… everything stopped. Kim's system began to glow a deep red, and a window appeared before him in the void:
> [Skill Unlocked: The Unbound Shadow]
"A shadow that follows no one."
Kim's eyes froze, then the Book of Sin opened on its own, and new letters began to be etched within it in his blood:
[Field of Eclipse] — Field of the Eclipse.
He extended his hand slowly; the sky inverted, the sun burned out, the moon split in two, and the whole world turned a dead gray. A land with no shadow—only black light devouring itself.
The Ruler screamed as he was dragged into this void: "What is this place?!"
Kim answered with a voice deep as if issued from the heart of the Abyss itself:
"This is my private domain… the Field of Eclipse. There is no life here, nor death. Only the truth of who owns it."
The king tried to move, but his body began to disintegrate into black ash, every particle of him crying out in an agony beyond comprehension. He saw millions of souls orbiting around him, faces without eyes whispering, "Stay with us… taste eternity in pain."
Kim raised his hand with a single motion, and the ground beneath him ignited with black flames. The Ruler choked out a ragged, broken voice, "Please… kill me! End this torment! A hundred years… a thousand years… how much time has passed?!"
Kim laughed softly, then said with merciless cold:
"More than ten thousand years have passed in my domain, O King of Darkness… but don't worry, the end is near."
He approached, his eyes glowing with a deadly silver gleam, and said, "Burn in my world… forever."
With a single gesture of his finger, the Ruler's body collapsed and turned to ash scattering through the void. Then the Field of Eclipse began to collapse with him, absorbing itself until everything returned to silence.
---
When Kim returned to the real world, the arena lay empty except for the debris.
Elena ran to him with tears streaming: "Kim!! Thank God… you're alive!"
He looked at her with a strange coldness, as if not recognizing her for a moment, then said, "Yes… I'm fine."
But she asked fearfully, "Where did you and the Ruler disappear to? What happened?"
He replied in a low, expressionless voice, "I sent him away… to my private world."
She stepped closer, placed her hands on his wound that would not stop bleeding, and began to tend him while sobbing, "Let me bandage you—just this once."
He felt a strange warmth in his chest—a warmth he had not known for a long time. He froze for a beat… then spoke in a harsh, cold tone, "Move your hand away… before I kill you."
She stopped, tears still on her cheeks, looking at him with fear and longing at once. He remained standing like a shadow—human in body but with a soul that seemed to dwell in the dark, as if he were a being unsure to which side he belonged...
Field of Eclipse
A realm where darkness and light intertwine in eerie harmony, where life and death lose their meaning.
Here, there is no true life, nor complete annihilation — only the void that reflects the essence of its master.
A world without shadows, where black light devours itself and reshapes time.
In this domain, power defines reality, and the fate of all within it is trapped between life and death,
each step drawing them closer to the absolute truth.