Kelvin stood still, his breaths measured as he watched the shifting rubble.
The fiend wasn't dead yet.
Through the settling dust, he saw movement—a twitch of a clawed hand, the faint scrape of metal against stone. The creature tried to rise, its body broken but not yet lifeless.
Kelvin didn't hesitate.
He stepped forward, raising his sword, and brought it down onto the fiend's exposed neck.
The blade struck deep, severing muscle and bone, but the creature still writhed. Snarling, he pulled his sword free and swung again. And again. Each strike was brutal, deliberate. He didn't stop until the fiend's head finally separated from its body, rolling lifelessly onto the rubble.
A chilling silence followed.
Then, a voice echoed in his mind.
---
"Kill confirmed. Reward granted."
---
Kelvin tensed as an unnatural pressure filled the air. A ripple of dark energy swirled around him, forming into a shape—solidifying into something tangible.
Before him, a shield materialized, floating just above the ground.
He stepped closer, eyes narrowing as he examined his reward.
It was unlike any shield he had seen before. The surface was dark, almost black, but when the light caught it at certain angles, faint silver veins shimmered across it, as though the metal itself was alive. The edges were jagged, resembling broken obsidian, yet the structure felt solid, unyielding.
A strange emblem was carved into the center—an intricate design resembling an eye, hollow yet staring.
Kelvin reached out and gripped the shield's handle. The moment his fingers wrapped around it, a cold sensation ran through his arm, like the lingering touch of something beyond human understanding.
It wasn't just a shield.
It felt like something was watching through it.
Kelvin tightened his grip. Whatever it was, he wouldn't reject it.
This was his reward.
And he had earned it.