In the dimly lit room, Rey lay motionless on the floor. A gaping hole marred his chest, and blood seeped from his body in slow, reluctant streams—as if it, too, refused to leave him.
Darian stood a short distance away, calm and composed, waiting for his subordinates to arrive and clean up the mess. To him, Rey was already a corpse—no longer of interest. He didn't even notice the subtle changes beginning to occur in the body he had written off.
Suddenly, a faint flicker of light appeared in the air beside Rey as his system kicked in, struggling to respond.
[System Alert: Host HP has dropped to critical levels. Immediate healing required to prevent death.]
[HP: 137/4110]... [74/4110]... [12/4110]... [1/4110]... [0/4110]
[Host HP has reached zero. Vital signs have ceased.]
[Detected: Reserved Energy Core. Initiating emergency conversion...]
[Energy Effect: Regen Burst – Triggered]{Effect: Rapid regeneration of all fatal wounds to a survivable threshold.}
[Critical damage reversed. HP no longer dropping. Caution: Host still at risk. Healing recommended immediately.]
A sudden burst of energy erupted from Rey's body, like a suppressed pulse breaking free. His wounds began to close rapidly, the torn flesh knitting back together, bones realigning. But the healing was incomplete—his body stabilized just enough to prevent death, nothing more.
He groaned faintly, eyes fluttering open, but his limbs felt like stone. Even lifting a finger felt impossible.
Rey tried to activate a skill, any skill—but nothing responded.He tried to summon his elemental energy—but again, nothing.It was like he had been completely cut off.
Panic clawed at his heart.
'Why… why can't I move? Why can't I use anything?'
He could hear distant footsteps—guards, no doubt, arriving to secure the scene. He was a sitting duck.
Desperation crept in. His breathing grew shallow.
'Is this… it? Am I going to die here? Just like this?'
He closed his eyes tightly.
'Mother… Sister… please don't grieve for me too long… I'm sorry…'
He felt hollow. Helpless. As if all hope had drained from him.
Elsewhere, within the depths of his being, a hidden battle was beginning.
Aiden and the others—his contracted spirits, his allies—were struggling too. They could sense Rey's distress, but something was stopping them. Like a wall had slammed between them, severing their connection.
'Rey! REY!' Aiden shouted in the void, but his voice faded into silence.
Their bond was being sealed.
Back in the physical world, Rey's body lay still, soaked in drying blood. But beneath him, in the shadows stretching from his motionless form, something stirred.
A faint, invisible particle—infinitesimal and unnoticed—rose from the shadow. Silent, cold, and ancient.
It drifted upward and hovered directly above Rey's chest.
Without warning, it plunged into his skin.
A jolt ran through his body. He winced unconsciously, assuming it was just the lingering effects of Regen Burst.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Inside Rey's Conscious Realm…
In the vast expanse of darkness within his mind, where his elemental abilities resided, something was changing.
The particle that had entered him was no ordinary thing—it was a fragment of something primordial or something beyond.
It drifted toward the orb that represented his Darkness ability—a translucent sphere floating in a void.
The moment it made contact, the orb shuddered.
A pulse spread from the point of contact. The orb began to shift in color—its gray-black surface turning darker, denser, deeper. Far beyond normal darkness. As if it were absorbing even the void around it.
It began to radiate a presence that sent shockwaves across the conscious realm.
[System Alert: Unknown energy detected.]
[Analyzing…]
[Assessing changes in Ability Orb: Darkness.]
[Warning: Mutation detected.]
[Origin-level interference suspected. Monitoring for further evolution.]
Something ancient had awakened.
Something Rey didn't yet understand…
But it had already begun.
[System Alert: A foreign substance has taken root in the Ability Orb.]
[Ability {Darkness} (EX+), is undergoing mutation.]
[Warning: Original element core is being devoured.]
[Detected: New elemental variation forming—classification: {Oblivion Gloom}.]
[Caution: Variation is sentient. Ego formation detected.]
[Ego analyzing host compatibility...]
[Result: Host deemed unworthy.]
[Ego initiating soul corruption—attempting takeover.]
[Emergency Protocol Triggered: Bloodline Awakening.]
[Unregistered bloodline has responded. Counter-force engaging.]
[Foreign Ego... suppressed.]
[Status Update: Element has gone dormant. Host recognized.]
[Congratulations.]
[You have obtained the Unique Elemental Variation: {Oblivion Gloom}.]
[Assessment in progress…]
{Element: Oblivion Gloom}
Grade: Unknown (??-Tier)
Affiliation: Darkness (Origin-Deviant)
Type: Elemental Variation (Sentient)
Status: Bonded (Forced)
Description:
Oblivion Gloom is not a shadow—it is the graveyard of concepts. Born from annihilated laws, extinguished dimensions, and truths that no longer exist, it does not hide or blind. It devours. It unwrites the very existence of light, time, and memory itself.}
As the final notification faded, a chilling aura radiated from Rey's body. The temperature in the room plummeted. Every speck of light, even reflections on the floor, began to vanish—consumed.
Darius, standing just meters away, felt an instinctual dread creep up his spine. He turned slowly—expecting a corpse.
Instead, Rey stood.
Alive.
Barely—shoulders trembling, breath shallow—but upright.
Darius's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Impossible…" he muttered.
And then—the light vanished.
A dome of absolute black expanded from Rey, swallowing the room like a living void. The light, the walls, the floor—gone. Within seconds, only darkness remained.
Darius stumbled back, only to find the exit—gone.
Then a whisper—not heard, but felt—slithered across his ears.
"You shouldn't have touched me."
Darius roared, raising his greatsword, slashing forward with all his strength.
But it cleaved only air.
The image of Rey split apart like a mirage—an afterimage fading into the dark.
Darius spun wildly, slashing left, right—trying to find anything to strike.But everything was gone. Even the furniture had vanished. He wasn't in the same room anymore.
Then—pain.
A shallow slice across his back. Then his leg. Then shoulder.
Then another. And another.
Six cuts. Simultaneous. Perfect. Precise.
Darius's breathing turned ragged as blood trickled from unseen wounds. He growled, trying to laugh it off.
"What, brought friends? Think your little sneak attacks scare me?"
But no one answered.
Only a voice—calm, cold, and final—echoed from every direction.
"I don't need friends."
"I need you… gone."
From the darkness, daggers—shadowy, serrated, and unnatural—shot forward from six directions.
They struck all at once—each aimed for a vital joint or artery.
Darius's eyes widened as the pain became unbearable. He couldn't even scream—his breath froze mid-howl.
Rey's voice whispered one last time, calm and absolute:
"Now... fall."
The dome of darkness pulsed—then collapsed inward like a star imploding.
When it vanished, Darius was on the ground, unmoving. His body was scarred. His mind shattered.
And Rey stood alone, surrounded by silence.
Eyes glowing faintly in the fading black, lips curved into the faintest smirk.
Even someone as endurant as Darius was helpless now.
He collapsed to the ground, but the attacks didn't stop. Slash after slash rained down relentlessly. His flailing arms tried to grab his unseen assailant—but found nothing. It was as if the attacker wasn't even there.
"You really think this much is enough to kill me? Then you're a fool, kid!" Darius growled, blood pooling in his mouth. "My guards will be here in seconds. You're as good as dead!"
But then… everything fell still.
No more attacks. No more shadows dancing.
Even the pitch-black dome of darkness started to disperse.
The figure of the intruder stepped into view.
The same boy. The same face. Not even a scar. The massive wound on his chest—gone, completely healed. Far beyond the capabilities of any normal human.
"You're… a monster," Darius spat, trying to mask his fear. "But even monsters can be slain."
He glanced at the daggers—hovering midair, floating without strings. But upon closer look, he realized something chilling. Black tendrils—thick and shadowy—connected the daggers to Rey, like dark extensions of his body.
A technique beyond comprehension.
"If I had that ability..." Darius muttered, greed and regret flashing across his eyes. "But luck clearly hates me today."
Rey stepped forward, calm, cold, and unforgiving. "Who said I'm the one falling here?"
Darius's eyes widened.
From Rey's shadow, a massive hilt emerged—rising… growing… until a towering greatsword stood in his grip. Taller than Rey. Thick and brimming with a suffocating aura.
Darius gasped. ""H-How are you summoning that from your shadow? That's… that's not possible! That... that's a Stage 2 weapon?! How are you—?! That shouldn't be usable yet by the likes of you!"
But what truly terrified him wasn't the size. It was the aura—dense, heavy, nearly oppressive. He instinctively knew—this weapon surpassed Stage 1. It was reaching into Stage 2 territory.
The energy radiating from the blade nearly made him gag.
"What're you planning, huh? Kill me, and you're finished. I'm not some petty official. I'm connected! You'll be hunted—torn apart!"
Rey didn't flinch. His gaze remained steel. "I'm not killing you... yet."
He raised the blade with the help of his elemental tendrils. "But I'll make sure your master hears this."
The room trembled with the weight of his next words.
"Tell him this, and engrave it on your soul: The Raven Blade is coming. For every last one of you greedy bastards. And one day, I'll have my hand around his throat—for the scar you gave me today."
Darius screamed, "NO—WAIT—!"
But it was too late.
With a single, clean slash, the greatsword severed his arm at the shoulder. The air sizzled. Flesh burned. Blood burst forth as Darius shrieked—his scream piercing the entire building.
The wall behind him split open. A crater cracked the floor beneath.
It was chaos. Agony. Humiliation.
And Rey… just stood there.
He turned away, his revenge taken. But then he noticed the massive greatsword Darius had dropped.
"Trophy," he muttered, picking it up.
But before he could leave, a dark tendril returned—holding something.
At first, Rey didn't register it. But then… his expression twisted.
Two severed parts. Darius's arm—his shoulder down to the wrist—and the dismembered hand.
"What the hell? Throw it away. We're done here," Rey said, annoyed.
But the dark tendril didn't obey. It resisted.
"…Fine. Whatever. Do what you want."
He watched as the tendrils wrapped the entire hand in darkness and pulled it into his shadow. But oddly, the ring on the hand—gleaming with an ominous glow—was delicately removed, then also consumed into the void.
A moment later, system messages flared up in Rey's vision—something was being unlocked.
But there was no time.
The guards were nearly here.
He tucked the looted sword away and activated his escape skill.
{Shadow Meld}.
Rey vanished into the darkness and dashed out. The third floor's open bathroom window greeted him. The wind howled, but it was his path to freedom.
By the time the guards stormed in, all they found was a screaming, broken Darius—his arm gone, soaked in blood, weeping in pain.
And no one even noticed... the missing hand.
A mistake that would haunt Darius forever.
Meanwhile, the entire Martial Center was thrown into panic. Search parties were launched. Alarms rang across the city. A city-wide hunt began for the mysterious intruder.
But Rey… was already gone.
By the time he reached his home, a few blocks away, his speed had skyrocketed. Something was changing. His stats were shifting.
Outside his house, he whispered, "{Phantom Stride}."
Leaping up effortlessly, he climbed to his window and slipped inside, shutting it quietly behind him.
Locking the door, he sighed, exhausted.
"Aiden… Zero… where were you guys? Hah… whatever. I'll ask in the morning. Right now…"
He yawned, his body finally relaxing.
"…I need sleep."
And just like that, Rey, now known as The Raven Blade, drifted into slumber.
But the world outside wouldn't rest tonight.
Because for the first time in history, someone had broken into the Martial Center… defeated a Director… and vanished without a trace.
The search for the Raven Blade had begun.
And it wouldn't end until the world realized—
This wasn't just a thief or a mere intruder.
This was the beginning of a storm.
Which will consume the whole Blue planet.
- To Be Continued...