Chapter 5
The forest grew thicker as Orion moved forward, its silence unnatural, suffocating. Not a single insect dared to chirp; not a single leaf rustled without permission. Every root, every shadow, every breath of air felt like it was watching him.
The Fake Stage 5 was dead—but the territory still remembered him.
And something else was waiting.
Orion stopped walking.
The soil beneath his feet pulsed once.
A warning.
He shifted his weight just slightly—
A hand burst from the ground.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Figures crawled out of the soil, their bodies made of mud, rock, and stolen flesh. They resembled humans only in shape—no faces, no voices, no souls. Empty shells animated by something ancient.
So this was the Sovereign's next trial.
One of the creatures pointed at Orion with a trembling, incomplete arm. Instantly, all the others surged toward him like a collapsing wall of bodies.
Orion didn't move.
He didn't swing his blade.
He simply breathed.
His Ink Domain flared. Black lines rippled through the air and carved cleanly across the charging crowd. The creatures froze mid-lunge—and then collapsed in pieces, dissolving before they touched the ground.
Orion stepped over the fading dust.
More hands began rising from the soil.
This wasn't an ambush.
It was a message.
The ground cracked behind him. In front of him. To both sides. The entire forest floor trembled like it was alive, forming dozens of shapes, all crawling upward.
He could feel it now.
A presence beneath the earth. Deep. Heavy. Watching.
"So," Orion said quietly, "you're using puppets again."
A massive rumble—like distant thunder inside the ground—responded.
The creatures rushed him again. Faster. Sharper. Some wielding branches. Some their own hardened arms like blades.
Orion flicked his wrist.
His Black Bamboo Domain bloomed. Bamboo spears shot from the shadows, impaling rows of the creatures and pinning them to the soil. The forest shook as the Dominion power spread like roots.
Still… more kept coming.
He narrowed his eyes.
"That's enough."
His wings spread, and for the first time in this place, he stepped with the strength of his Rivers and Mountains Domain. The earth cracked beneath him. Invisible weight crushed downward.
The creatures froze, unable to lift even a finger. The pressure broke them apart—quietly, like crumbling sand.
The presence underground retreated.
Afraid.
Orion lowered his blade.
"You knew you couldn't fight me directly," he murmured. "So you tested me instead. How disappointing."
The forest lightened slightly, the pressure loosening its grip.
Whatever Sovereign was hiding below had backed away for now.
But it wouldn't stay hidden forever.
Orion resumed walking—straight toward the direction where the underground presence had fled. His eyes remained sharp, wings rustling faintly.
This chapter of his journey would lead him deeper into the heart of this land—toward the true center of corruption.
A place where the soil bled.