The cold was no longer just a physical sensation. It was a presence. An unseen force that had already slipped past his defenses. The third Hound wasn't a beast of bone or crystallized starlight. It was a predator of the mind.
Kael collapsed to his knees, his body drained, his mana reserves shattered. He could feel the Hound inside him, a cold, probing emptiness that was not an extension of the Archon, but a different kind of hunger. A psychic one. It was sifting through his memories, his regrets, his deepest fears.
Its voice was not a roar or a whisper. It was a direct, unfiltered thought in his own voice, a terrifying echo that spoke to him from within the confines of his own mind.
"You think you are so strong, little one? You fought the hunger of the body, and you won. But what of the soul? What of the things you buried? That which you run from, I will bring to life. And I will feast on your despair."
The world around him dissolved. The crystalline ice, the shattered spires, the black void of the Vestige Core—it all vanished. Kael was suddenly standing in a familiar, terrible place. The grand dining hall of the Ardyn Clan mansion. The air was thick with the scent of roasted meat and celebratory wine. The room was filled with the joyous, laughing faces of his family. His father, his mother, his younger sister, their expressions full of love and pride.
And then, in a single, gut-wrenching moment, a wave of darkness washed over them. Their faces twisted into silent screams, their flesh turning to ash, their bodies crumbling to dust before his eyes. It was a replay of the memory he had been fighting for over a year to avenge. The memory that fueled his every move.
"You could not save them," his own voice whispered inside his head, laced with the Hound's malicious delight. "You were too weak. Too slow. This rage you carry? It is not your strength. It is a cage built of your own failure."
Kael gritted his teeth, forcing himself to breathe. This was a lie. A projection. He had to remind himself. This wasn't real. But the pain, the regret, the searing, helpless anger… it was terrifyingly real.
He felt the Hound's consciousness burrowing deeper, feeding on his agony. It was not trying to kill him. It was trying to consume him, to absorb his essence, to leave him a hollow husk. Kael knew he had to fight back, but with what? He had no weapons here. He was alone, his body a world away.
He had to fight with his mind. And he knew his mind better than anyone. He had spent his past life as a scholar of forgotten lore and ancient cults. He had studied every psychological trick, every mental defense. He knew how to fight a war on a different kind of battlefield.
The Hound brought forth a new memory. His own death. He was on his knees, his broken body bleeding out on the cold marble floor of the Patriarch's study. The Patriarch stood over him, a look of contempt on his face. He felt the cold shock of the sword through his heart, the bitter taste of betrayal.
"This is your truth," the Hound's voice hissed. "A life of failure. A life defined by weakness."
Kael closed his eyes, centering himself. He didn't run. He did the opposite. He plunged his consciousness headfirst into the memory. He didn't just feel the pain; he examined it. He had always seen this memory as a defeat, a moment of weakness. But in the quiet solitude of his year in the Vestige Realm, he had seen it for what it truly was. It was not an ending. It was a beginning. It was the birth of his new life.
He looked at the ghost of the Patriarch, at the cold, arrogant face. And for the first time, Kael didn't feel hatred. He felt a different kind of power. He felt absolute, cold clarity.
"This is not my truth," Kael's own voice responded, no longer an echo, but a strong, deliberate thought that was entirely his own. "This is not a cage. It is a key."
The mental image of his dying body began to crack, to shatter. The Hound's projections were based on his emotions. But his emotions had changed. His rage had become purpose. His defeat had become his greatest weapon. The illusion began to tear.
"Impossible!" the Hound's voice shrieked, no longer Kael's own, but a thin, terrified sound of pure energy. "You cannot change a truth!"
"It is not a truth. It is a perspective," Kael's will thundered, his consciousness a focused beam of light that drove back the encroaching darkness. "You have shown me my past. Now, I will show you my future."
He didn't fight the Hound. He devoured it. He absorbed its essence, its power. The Hound was a manifestation of pure regret and despair. By facing his own regrets and transmuting them into strength, he had turned the Hound into a source of energy. The cold, empty feeling in his soul began to fill, not with despair, but with a new, strange kind of power.
Kael's consciousness returned to his body. He was back on the crystalline ground of the Vestige Core, gasping. The Archon's mark, the cold gnawing presence in his soul, had not vanished. But it had diminished. It was no longer a parasite; it was a scar. He had won a piece of himself back.
The Ledger, which had been silent, now flared to life with a new notification.
[Trial: Passed. Third Hound Assimilated.]
[Reward: The Hunter's Soul]
[Ability Unlocked: Karmic Sight]
Kael felt a new power surge through him. He could see not with his eyes, but with a different kind of sense. He could see the faint, shimmering threads of Karma that bound beings together. He could see the subtle, cosmic energy that players and entities possessed. He could see the Archon's mark not as a darkness, but as a faint, glowing beacon.
He was no longer a simple Player. He was a Hunter. He was a Hound himself.
A moment of triumph surged through him. He had won the unwinnable fight. He was free.
But as he stood, a sudden, sharp vibration echoed through the Keybearer compass in his palm. It was not the familiar presence of the Archon. It was a different kind of signal entirely. It was alien, powerful, and utterly unknown. The Ledger screamed a new, more terrifying warning.
[Warning: New Hunt Initiated. Player: Kael Ardyn.]
[Karmic Source: The Scavenger. Player Tier: Sovereign.]
[Status: The new player's signal has been picked up. A new hunt has begun.]