The arena was no longer silent.
The walls of blood had shattered, but the ground itself pulsed like a living heart.
Every beat was an earthquake.
Every throb shook the bones.
In the middle of the arena stood the beast… the giant bloody version of Ashen.
Its smile stretched from ear to ear, and blood poured from its mouth like a river.
Its voice echoed with the sound of countless cursed souls.
— "Ashen… you are nothing but a distorted shadow. I am the truth."
— "I am the blood you deny. I am the hatred you fear. I am the grudge that is about to consume you."
Its laughter was like a death bell, and with every chuckle the air around Ashen grew heavier and heavier.
Ashen, despite his bleeding body and broken spirit, stood.
His eyes were burning.
His chest was torn open, his soul had a black void inside, but he did not kneel.
He whispered as he stared at the beast:
— "I will not allow you… to take my place."
The beast roared, its voice making the blood on the ground boil:
— "Your place?!"
— "This place was mine from the start! You are just a weak puppet… every wound you suffered, every tear you shed… I was the one who gave you the strength to stand."
— "But you were a coward. You were a fool. You were weak. And now… your role is over."
The beast charged.
One step shattered the air, bloody light scattering like shards.
Its fist was not a hand… it was a bloody mouth, rows of bone teeth devouring everything in its path.
Ashen raised his hand to block, but the blow crushed his arm. A terrible scream echoed through the arena, the pain reaching even his soul.
The beast dug its fingers into Ashen's chest and pulled out threads of both his blood and his soul.
Ashen screamed, blood pouring from his mouth like a fountain.
— "Every time you resisted me… every time you denied me… you grew weaker."
— "I am your true strength."
— "I am the beast you should have been!"
Ashen fell to his knees.
Darkness surrounded him.
The voices in his head grew louder, the mirror copies still laughing in the distance.
Everything around him pushed him to surrender.
But he… remembered.
He remembered the smell of his blood the day his clan was slaughtered.
He remembered their last screams.
He remembered the promises he made.
He opened his mouth, spat dark red blood, and then laughed… laughed madly.
It was a twisted laugh, full of blood and despair, but it was a laugh of defiance.
— "If you are me… then you know one thing."
He raised his head, his eyes burning with tears and blood.
— "My defiance will drown the earth and my rage will burn the sky. As long as my heart beats and my blood drips, my path of revenge will never fade."
Ashen's roar shook the arena.
His eyes glowed with bloody fire.
In that moment, his body erupted with a terrifying blood aura.
Blood Frenzy – Five Stars.
But this time, it was not just a crimson wave.
It absorbed the remnants of the savage intent from the mirrors… and became like a hellish bloodstorm.
The ground split.
The air itself tore apart.
The giant eyes above and below trembled with the explosion.
The giant beast froze for a moment, then laughed.
— "Hahahahahah! Good… very good. I want to see… how far you can risk yourself against yourself!"
They charged.
Ashen with his blood, the copy with its savagery.
They clashed in the middle of the arena.
The first blow cracked the ground.
The second blow exploded the air.
The third blow made the entire arena shake as if it would collapse into the void.
The battle was not just an exchange of strikes… it was a massacre between two souls.
Every strike from the beast shattered part of Ashen's soul.
But every strike from Ashen made the copy fade, blood spraying like rain.
He laughed while bleeding.
Every blow he took, he returned tenfold.
Every wound he suffered, made him fiercer.
Even the giant spirit copy, despite its power, began to retreat.
Its hollow eyes trembled, as if it could not understand how this broken man was still standing.
Ashen roared as he unleashed a destructive strike:
— "You are nothing but a fragment of regret.
But I am the full regret. I am this world's trial and its eternal remorse.
I am the curse of its existence and its doomed fate."
His blood-lit fist pierced the copy's chest.
The sound of a soul tearing apart echoed.
The giant beast screamed a hellish cry, its echo piercing the heavens.
Its body exploded in blood, then evaporated into the air, leaving the arena drowning in red mist.
Ashen fell to his knees.
His whole body was broken.
His soul was shattered like broken glass.
But… he was still alive.
He lifted his head with difficulty, his blood dripping onto the ground.
Suddenly… the giant eyes above him and under the arena lit up again.
The voice of the Heavenly Dao resounded inside him:
— [You have torn yourself apart with your own hands… and this is only the beginning.]
— [He who wishes to carry savagery must fight himself before he fights the world.]
— [Savagery is a path of endless pain and madness.]
— [But Ashen… will you live long enough to see the end of this path?]
The echo of those words was like a prophecy.
The arena closed into complete darkness.
But before the darkness crushed him… Ashen smiled, a mad smile, soaked in blood and tears.
— "If I cannot… then I will curse the world with me."