The air hummed with tension.
Kael's body thrummed with newfound strength, his abyssal power no longer a chaotic force but something he could command at will. Yet, beneath it, he sensed something else a power that wasn't just darkness.
It was balance.
The warrior across from him, his golden aura pulsing like a living sun, studied him carefully. The slight smirk on his face wasn't arrogance it was acknowledgment.
"You feel it, don't you?" the warrior said, resting his greatsword against his shoulder. "The shift. The transformation."
Kael rolled his shoulders, feeling the raw energy flowing through his veins. It wasn't just the Abyss anymore. The darkness inside him no longer felt like something corrupting his soul. Instead, it was fused with something deeper, more ancient.
A perfect balance of light and dark.
Kael smirked. "Yeah. And I'm guessing you knew this would happen."
The warrior nodded. "It was inevitable."
Lyra, still gripping her blade, looked between them, her brows furrowed. "What the hell is going on? One second, you're trying to kill him, and now you're having a casual conversation?"
Kael exhaled, his breath steady. "Because this wasn't just a fight." He turned to the warrior. "Was it?"
The warrior's smirk widened slightly. "No. It was a test."
Lyra's eyes flared with anger. "A test?! You nearly killed him!"
The warrior lifted his sword, planting it into the ground. "If he wasn't strong enough to survive, then he wasn't ready." His gaze locked onto Kael's. "But now, he is."
Kael's fists clenched. "Ready for what?"
The warrior's golden aura pulsed again, but this time, it wasn't an attack. It was an invitation.
"To claim your destiny," he said simply.
Behind him, the crimson rift that had brought the warriors here began to shift. The fire within it twisted, changing color, turning into something deeper, more ancient.
Kael felt a pull. A calling.
It wasn't just a portal. It was a path.
A choice.
The warrior stepped aside, gesturing toward it. "The Abyss was only the beginning. If you want to know the truth of what you are… step through."
Kael's heart pounded.
He had fought, survived, and evolved. But now, standing before this threshold, he knew—
This was just the start of something far greater.
He took a deep breath and stepped forward.