The black dust flowed slowly toward Tiger's chest.
It was neither fast...
nor was it slow.
Rather, it moved as if time itself had stopped out of respect for its existence.
Tiger stared at the scene, yet he could not move his body.
It wasn't fear that paralyzed him.
But a strange feeling...
a feeling for which he knew no name.
The closer the dust drew to his heart...
the more his memories began to flash before his eyes.
His childhood.
His mother's smile.
The first time he held a sword.
The first time his father called him "useless."
The laughter of the servants.
The gazes of contempt.
And his fall from the top of the mountain.
Then...
all the memories vanished.
As if they had never existed.
The voice said quietly:
> "Nothingness does not bestow power."
>
> "Nothingness... strips away."
>
Tiger frowned.
"Strips away... what?"
Silence prevailed for a few moments.
Then came the answer:
> "Everything."
>
Suddenly, Tiger felt something being ripped from inside him.
Not his heart.
Nor his soul.
But...
his emotions.
He no longer felt anger.
Nor sadness.
Nor hatred.
Nor even the desire for revenge.
Everything became...
empty.
But in the next split second...
the entire void shook.
And countless voices echoed.
> "No!"
>
> "Stop him!"
>
> "He has awakened!"
>
> "It is the final sin!"
>
And in a distant place...
inside an ancient temple, an old man opened golden eyes.
And on another continent, a flame that had not gone out for thousands of years died down.
And in the depths of a sea untouched by light...
a giant eye stirred slowly.
And in the sky...
a black rift appeared, witnessed by no one.
As for Tiger...
he did not know that the entire world had begun to sense his existence.
And for the first time in thousands of years...
the scales of the world tilted.
Then, everything returned to stillness.
...
Tiger opened his eyes.
The rain returned.
The mountain returned.
The pain returned.
But he felt something different.
His life-threatening wounds...
were slowly healing.
And for a brief moment, his eyes flashed...
with a deep, profound black.
Then the flash vanished.
He raised his head toward the peak of the mountain...
from where his sister had thrown him.
And he said nothing.
He did not smile.
Nor did he get angry.
Instead, he stood in silence.
As if the human who fell from the peak...
was no longer the human who rose from its depths.