The sky above the Vessels' Continent was a dull slate, thick clouds drifting low as if the atmosphere itself bowed under the weight of the ancient powers buried across the land. Rayon walked alone through plains of blackened stone, his hands in his pockets, coat brushing lightly against the wind.
He looked calm.
Relaxed.
But everything around him was shifting—subtly kneeling to the pressure of his Black Resonance.
Beside him, Vorthalaxis stirred within his consciousness.
Vorthalaxis: "The Primordial vessels here… they once walked beside Erethon. The air still remembers their footsteps."
Erethon: "And if they survived this long, little monarch, they're either brilliant… or catastrophically stubborn."
Rayon didn't respond. His focus was fixed forward.
Behind him, Nexus—now fully healed—stood on a cliff overlooking her domain: a colossal forest, ancient and lush, her rightful territory.
She gazed at Rayon with a quiet hunger, her eyes glowing like molten amethyst.
Nexus: "I'll return to my lands… my mate."
A whisper, soft but bound by instinctual certainty.
Rayon gave a slight nod.
She leapt backward, shifting into a streak of black flame and vanishing toward her forest—the world trembling in respect as she returned home.
Rayon kept walking until the plains suddenly stopped—ending at a canyon carved by an impact so violent the stone still rippled like frozen waves.
Erethon materialized beside him, brows raised.
Erethon: "Ah. Here we are. I was wondering when he'd show himself."
Rayon: "…Who?"
A voice answered from within the canyon:
???: "The one who survived the era of Primordials, boy."
A figure rose from the depths like a phantom.
A young-looking man.
Silver-black dreadlocks hanging to his shoulders.
Glowing golden pupils—no whites at all.
Barefoot, shirtless, covered in archaic tattoos that looked like constellations wrapping around his ribs.
He stepped onto the cracked stone, every motion impossibly fluid.
???: "Rayon Vey… the Black Primordial. Erethon's chosen. I've been expecting you."
Rayon narrowed his eyes.
Rayon: "Name?"
The man smiled faintly.
???: "Ka'dros. Vessel of the Primordial Oblivion."
Even Erethon went silent.
Ka'dros lifted his chin slightly.
Ka'dros: "Oblivion—the end of all memory, all identity, all meaning. Not destruction… worse. Erasure. The ceasing of concept."
Rayon didn't flinch, but the space around him distorted.
Erethon whispered: "Oblivion is older than me."
Ka'dros chuckled.
Ka'dros: "I was once human. Oblivion chose me because I had no fear of losing myself. I had nothing to begin with."
He snapped his fingers.
The stone canyon shifted—half of it simply vanished, like someone erased it with a brush.
No debris.
No noise.
No transition.
Just… gone.
Rayon's jaw tightened.
Rayon: "You try that on me, and I'll rip your spine out through your throat."
Ka'dros grinned wider.
Ka'dros: "Good. You speak like a monarch already."
Ka'dros blurred forward.
Rayon didn't see the start of the movement—just the afterimage slashing toward him.
Rayon sidestepped, hooking Ka'dros' wrist and dragging him forward, knee snapping toward Ka'dros' kidney.
Ka'dros dissolved into smoke—reappearing behind him.
Ka'dros: "Oblivion Step."
A palm strike descended at Rayon's temple.
Rayon caught it cleanly with one hand, turning his wrist and pulling Ka'dros forward while spinning.
His elbow slammed into Ka'dros' face.
Ka'dros slid back, wiping a thin trail of black blood.
He smiled.
Ka'dros: "Hand-to-hand? Good. I haven't stretched properly in a century."
He lowered his stance—knees bent, chest angled, one arm relaxed behind his back.
The stance was so refined it felt ancient.
Rayon exhaled slowly.
Then he vanished.
His foot struck the ground with a sharp crack—and he accelerated with force so sharp it sliced the air.
They clashed in a flurry of blows.
Rayon's hook meeting Ka'dros' upward elbow Ka'dros' knee nearly catching Rayon's ribs Rayon sweeping his leg while striking Ka'dros' jaw Ka'dros countering with a palm strike that erased part of Rayon's coat sleeve
Each movement was instantaneous.
Each hit meant to kill.
The canyon thundered with shockwaves.
Stone shattered like thin glass beneath their feet.
Ka'dros' Power Awakens
Ka'dros flicked his fingers.
A sphere of nothingness instantly appeared at Rayon's heart level—closing in like a black sun.
Rayon twisted his torso, the sphere grazing him.
Where it touched…
Reality peeled away.
Rayon raised his hand, and the air around him snapped.
Black Resonance burst outward, slamming into the sphere and dissolving it like acid.
Ka'dros' eyes widened.
Ka'dros: "You dissolved Oblivion…? Even I cannot dissolve Oblivion."
Rayon's voice was a cold whisper.
Rayon: "Then learn something new."
He lunged.
Ka'dros barely blocked Rayon's fist—but still slid back more than a hundred meters, boots carving trenches into the canyon.
Rayon walked toward him, hands still in his pockets.
Rayon: "If you're one of the old vessels, show me why you're still alive."
Ka'dros shivered—not from fear… but excitement.
He cracked his neck.
Ka'dros: "Very well. I'll show you Oblivion's true vessel form."
His tattoos ignited—bright gold turning pitch black.
His eyes vanished into twin voids.
His voice deepened, doubled.
Ka'dros: "Let us see if a newborn Primordial can stand against one who walked beside gods."
Rayon tilted his head slightly.
Rayon: "I don't walk beside anyone."
Black lightning spiraled from his shoulders.
Rayon: "I walk above all."
They launched at each other—