The Mana Fiend tilted its head.
It didn't need a mouth to sneer.
I felt it–clear as words pressed straight into my skull. A cold, alien amusement. Like it had finally decided what I was.
"Defective."
My knees buckled, but I forced myself to remain standing, swaying as blood dripped down my chin and soaked into the snow-dusted stone beneath my feet. Every breath burned. My ribs screamed. Something warm and wet spread across my side with each shallow inhale.
The fiend raised one limb slowly.
And then… it paused.
The air changed.
I felt it way before I understood it. Mana– thick, oppressive and suffocating, began to surge toward the creature's arm. It flowed unnaturally, bending around it, spiraling tighter and tighter like a vortex. The pressure alone made my skin prickle.
My eyes widened.
"Shit." I rasped, the word tearing out of my throat. "You–"
This wasn't a casual strike.
Every previous attack had been effortless. Instinctual. Just thoughtless violence. But this one? This one was deliberate, measured even.
'Final.'
My chest tightened as panic swallowed everything else. My thoughts blurred, screaming over each other uselessly.
'That attack will kill me! I can't let it hit–'
I knew it with terrifying certainty.
The Mana Fiend leaned forward, its posture relaxed, almost indulgent. The mana around its limb condensed further, glowing faintly as the air itself seemed to warp under the pressure.
It was showing me.
Mocking me.
'This is what real power looks like' the silence seemed to whisper. 'And this is the moment you end.'
"No." I croaked.
The warmth in my chest flickered weakly, barely more than an ember now. I reached for it again out of pure desperation, not even thinking anymore—just clawing inward like a drowning man grasping for air.
'Please.'
Nothing answered.
The Mana Fiend moved.
It crossed the distance instantly.
The impact was apocalyptic.
Pain ceased to be something I felt– it became something I was.
The blow slammed into my torso, and the world shattered.
I was airborne before my mind could register it. My body punched through a stone pillar like it was made of chalk, debris exploding outward as the force carried me straight through and beyond. The sound was deafening, stone screaming, metal tearing and bones cracking.
Then the ground vanished beneath me.
I fell.
The earth gave way as I crashed through it, plunging down into darkness. My body hit hard. Once, twice– before finally slamming into solid ground with a force that drove the air violently from my lungs.
Everything went silent.
For a long moment, there was nothing.
No pain.
No sound.
Not even thoughts seemed to form inside my my own mind.
Then sensation rushed back all at once.
Agony detonated through my body in waves so violent I nearly blacked out again. I gasped, choking as blood flooded my mouth, coughing weakly as my chest spasmed.
I couldn't move.
I lay there, half-buried in shattered stone and dirt, staring at nothing, my vision swimming wildly. Every breath felt like dragging broken glass through my lungs.
Footsteps echoed above, slow and heavy.
The Mana Fiend peered down into the crater I'd made, its glowing eyes cutting through the dust-filled darkness. It watched me for several long seconds.
I waited for the next strike, unable to move even an inch. Yet, it didn't come.
The creature tilted its head again, studying my motionless body. The mana around it slowly dispersed, the crushing pressure lifting as if the effort no longer interested it.
It had decided.
'Dead.'
The footsteps retreated.
One step.
Then another.
Eventually, even the vibrations faded and I was left alone.
I lay there, staring at the cracked ceiling above me, my chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths. Blood dripped from the corner of my mouth, warm against my chin.
And then?
I laughed.
It came out dry, broken, barely more than a wheeze—but it was laughter nonetheless. Each breath made my ribs protest violently, but I couldn't stop.
"Ha… hah…"
'It hurts.'
'It hurt so badly.'
But not as much as it should have.
The realization crept in slowly, cautiously, like a fragile thought afraid to be crushed.
That attack.
The one meant to erase me–
It had done less damage than the others.
I blinked.
The pain was still unbearable, yes. My body was wrecked, fractured beyond anything I'd experienced before. But I was alive.
More than that, I wasn't as broken as I should be.
My chest throbbed faintly, that strange warmth pulsing weakly but steadily now, no longer flickering chaotically. It felt… settled. As if something inside me had finally understood.
I coughed again, blood splattering onto the rubble beside my head.
"…You've got to be kidding me." I muttered hoarsely.
The absurdity of it all pressed down on me until another weak laugh escaped my lips. I'd been beaten half to death. Crushed. Thrown through stone. Buried underground.
And yet...
The strongest attack I'd faced so far had hurt me less than the weaker ones.
My vision blurred as exhaustion and pain finally began to take their toll. Darkness crept in at the edges, threatening to pull me under completely.
But before it could claim me, one final thought anchored itself firmly in my mind.
'It worked.'
'Whatever my Legacy was, whatever this cursed, stubborn power inside me wanted...'
'...It had finally started moving.'
'Not enough to kill that abomination.'
'...yet.'
'But enough to prove one thing beyond any doubt.'
'I wasn't ordinary. And I wasn't done.'
I lay there, broken and bleeding, staring into the dark as my breathing slowly evened out–too injured to rise, too stubborn to pass out.
And somewhere deep within my chest, something patient continued to adapt.
Time passed.
How much, I couldn't tell. Minutes, maybe hours. Down here, buried beneath broken stone and cracked earth, time felt like a suggestion rather than a rule.
My breathing slowly steadied. Pain was still everywhere–sharp, dull, throbbing, screaming–but it stopped escalating. That alone felt like a miracle.
"Hah…" I exhaled weakly. "Guess… you hit like a Bitch after all."
The darkness didn't laugh back.
'Rude.'
I lay there, eyes half-open, staring at nothing while my thoughts crawled back into something resembling order. Every inhale dragged fire through my chest, but each one also felt… easier than the last.
That was strange.
No, that was suspicious.
I focused inward again, not forcing anything this time. Just… observing. The warmth in my chest was still there, faint but steady, like embers buried under ash. It pulsed slowly, rhythmically, syncing with my heartbeat.
It didn't feel wild anymore.
It felt… busy.
"…You're doing something, aren't you?" I muttered.
My fingers twitched.
I froze.
Then my hand clenched, slowly, painfully, but deliberately.
I blinked, staring at it like it had personally betrayed me.
"Oh. So now you listen huh?"
A weak laugh escaped my throat, ending in a cough that splattered blood against the rubble. My head spun, but the dizziness faded quicker than it should have.
Something was wrong.
No. something was working.
I shifted slightly, bracing myself for agony.
It came, but muted. Blunted. As if the pain had been wrapped in thick cloth. Still awful. Still enough to make me hiss through clenched teeth.
But survivable.
"…Adaptation?" I whispered.
The word tasted strange. Kind of Heavy. Unexpected.
I didn't know how my Legacy worked, not really. But I wasn't stupid. The pattern was impossible to ignore now.
The stronger the attack.
The harsher the environment.
The worse the damage–
The faster my body learned.
Not instantly. Not cleanly. But steadily. Persistently. Like something inside me refused to accept reality as it was.
"…That's useful." I murmured. "I wonder what else my legacy allows me to do."
Another minute passed.
Then another.
I became painfully aware of small changes. My breathing deepened without me forcing it. The stabbing pain in my ribs dulled into something closer to pressure. My shattered side still screamed when I moved, but it screamed less.
My aether Core pulsed once.
Twice.
Then it surged.
Not explosively. Not dramatically.
Just… enough.
Warmth spread outward from my chest, threading through my limbs like liquid light. My muscles tightened instinctively, knitting themselves together just enough to function. Cracks didn't vanish, but they stabilized. Bleeding slowed. Shock retreated.
I gasped sharply as sensation returned in full, overwhelming detail.
"Oh—oh that's—" I wheezed, eyes widening. "That's new."
My body moved before I could stop it.
My elbow dug into the rubble.
My knee followed.
I pushed.
Pain roared in protest, but my limbs held.
I froze halfway up, heart hammering, half-expecting everything to collapse again.
It didn't.
"…Alright I think I get the gist of it." I whispered, awe bleeding into disbelief.
My body had adapted.
Not to the Mana Fiend.
Not to the attacks.
But to being broken.
It had learned how to function anyway.
A shaky laugh bubbled up, louder this time, reckless and unhinged.
"Throw me through a building..." I murmured hoarsely. "And if i dare survive it, you have to throw me through two buildings to get the job done?"
It took several long minutes, painful, humiliating minutes– but I managed to haul myself fully upright. I leaned heavily against a slab of broken stone, legs trembling violently beneath me.
Standing hurt.
Standing hurt a lot.
But standing meant I was alive.
I took a step.
Nearly collapsed.
"Easy," I muttered to myself, clenching my teeth. "No rush. No dramatic hero walk. Save that for later."
I limped forward slowly, carefully, navigating the rubble with the patience of someone who knew one wrong move could undo everything. Every step sent shocks through my nerves– but with each one, the pain softened, adjusted, yielded.
The exit wasn't far. Cracked stone gave way to open night, the faint glow of the Mana Zone's edge visible in the distance.
Freedom.
I dragged myself toward it.
The air changed as I crossed the boundary. The oppressive pressure of ambient mana thinned, replaced by something cleaner, lighter. My lungs filled more easily. My head cleared.
I staggered forward another few steps– then finally collapsed onto my knees just outside the zone.
I laughed again, breathless and exhausted, staring up at the stars barely visible through the haze.
"…I still got it," I muttered. "Didn't even die. That stupid beast really has no brain in that uglyexcuse of a head."
My body slumped forward, every muscle screaming as fatigue crashed down on me all at once. But this time, I didn't pass out.
I rested.
And when I finally pushed myself back up, I turned toward the distant lights of my town—small, dim, and painfully ordinary.
Home.
I began limping toward it, one careful step at a time.