The beast attacked.
The boy didn't move. Not right away.
Its claws carved the air in front of him, a blur of black fur and raw muscle. But just as it should've collided, he sidestepped, letting it pass by like a gust of wind.
"Slow."
He whispered it, almost bored.
The beast skidded across the mud, gouging deep lines in the ground as it spun, charging again. This time, it twisted mid air, trying to feint left then strike from above.
He parried the claw with the flat of his blade. The black aura around the sword pulsed, repelling the strike with a crackling hum. The force sent the beast sprawling back, limbs scrambling for traction.
"That all?"
The beast didn't answer it never did. No growls. No roars. Just a silence that made everything around them feel thinner, emptier. Like the world itself held its breath.
It lunged again.
He moved.
A blur.
Steel met fur no, cleaved through it. A shallow cut across the monster's side. It howled, but only in its movements, not its voice. Its body twisted with fury, swiping again and again, tearing trees in half, flattening the earth with each miss.
The boy danced around it. A flick of his wrist. A feint. A low sweep of his blade carving into the beast's leg. Another strike across its shoulder. Precision cruel precision. He was dissecting it slowly, enjoying the struggle.
The black aura rippled, growing darker.
"You're not even worth fighting."
The beast reared back and slammed both its front limbs into the ground the shockwave cracked the earth. A jagged spike of stone jutted upward, catching the boy off guard. His foot slipped.
A claw clipped his shoulder, tearing flesh.
He stumbled back, eyes narrowing.
Pain.
His body this body felt it now. The strain. The torn muscle. The wound where the branch had stabbed him still leaked blood beneath his ribs. It was failing.
"Tch."
The boy gritted his teeth and forced the sword down. Black lightning surged along the blade's edge. His hand trembled the host body wasn't built for this level of power. It was burning from the inside.
The beast didn't wait.
It charged again.
Fangs bared. Horns lowered.
He ran straight toward it.
And vanished mid step.
The air cracked the sound of displacement.
He reappeared above the beast, upside down mid flip, blade poised like a guillotine. Before the creature could even react, the sword dropped. A clean slice it carved across the monster's back, severing muscle and bone.
It collapsed, knees buckling, blood staining the mud.
But it wasn't dead.
It rose again.
Broken, slower but still alive.
The boy landed hard, knees shaking. His hand slipped on the hilt, blood coating his fingers.
"Almost there..."
The sword flickered.
"Not yet."
The beast snarled silently and lunged again, mouth open wide this time, ready to crush him whole.
The boy didn't back away.
He stepped forward.
One final strike.
His body roared in protest bones grinding, muscles tearing, vision flickering.
But the sword it moved like thunder.
A vertical slash.
Down the center of the beast's head.
It split clean through from horn to jaw.
A second passed.
The beast twitched… and fell. Its body against the mud, still and heavy.
Silence.
The boy dropped to one knee, panting. The aura around him vanished, sucked back into his body like smoke returning to fire.
He looked at the corpse.
"...Still too weak."
Then his vision blurred. He collapsed forward, right into the mud.
Darkness followed after he lost consciousness.
He drifted in a void, unsure if this was death. Maybe the afterlife. But then the scene lit up and he saw himself. His own body, just standing there. He couldn't move. Couldn't feel it. Just watched from somewhere else.
"…Crazy."
It was shocking, seeing what his body could handle. Someone else was in control, pushing it beyond its limits. He couldn't stop it. Couldn't even choose his fate.
"!!!"
His head turned again, not by his will. The same beast from before was there, charging in fast.
"R-run!"
He shouted, panicked. But the thing inside him didn't hear. And even if it could, there was no promise it would listen.
"C-crazy…"
He watched, stunned, as his body fought. It moved like it wasn't even human faster, stronger, almost brutal. The beast was overwhelmed. When the battle ended and his body finally dropped to the ground, everything went dark again.
"N-no!"
He screamed, thinking that was it. That it was over. But the darkness didn't last forever.
This time, light followed.
"Huh…?"
He blinked and looked around. No more void he stood in a wide, white field. Empty. Quiet. Except for the black flowers scattered everywhere. He turned fast, scanning for anything else but no matter where he looked, it was just endless white and those strange flowers.
"…"
"…How disappointing."
"Wh-who?!"
A voice. Calm but cold.
He spun around. A shape was forming a figure made of pure black energy. Humanoid, but featureless. No face. No eyes. Just darkness in a human shape.
"You don't know me?" the thing asked, its voice full of arrogance. "But you enjoyed the show back there."
"You… you're the thief."
"A thief?" it laughed. "Even after I saved your life?"
"…What do you want?"
"Oh, look at you."
It had no face, but the smugness came through loud and clear.
"…"
"Fine, fine. I'm here to make you an offer."
"An offer?"
"Let me use your body. One year. In exchange, I'll grant you a wish."
"…"
The white field went quiet. He didn't respond right away. Just stared.
"I refuse."
"What?! You dare—?!"
The black figure stepped forward and swung at him but the punch went right through.
"…You can't even touch me."
"Damn it!"
"You took over my body once. If you could do it again, you wouldn't be asking now."
"…"
"And a whole year? I have no way of knowing if I'll ever get it back… or if it'll even be alive."
"…You're smarter than you look."
"So what now?"
"I don't know. We both passed out. One of us wakes up… eventually."
"…"
If what it said was true, it was a 50/50 chance. He wasn't about to take that risk.
"What is this place, anyway? And don't say 'my world' like some fantasy book."
"Tch. It is your world. A mix of willpower and soul strength."
"So, it's my soul?"
"No. A 'world' is something knights form when they awaken their aura."
"Aura… I think I've heard of that. But I've never used it."
"You haven't. I did. Forced it."
"…So the white field was empty, and those black flowers—"
"My aura. They came from me."
"…Can I use this place?"
"You'll need power. Right now, it's just fuel."
He went quiet again, thinking until something unexpected shattered the calm.
"You dare prey on this poor human, you demonic soul!?"
"?!"
"?!"
Both the boy and the black figure turned, eyes locked on the sudden, new voice.
Someone else had arrived.
And neither of them had seen it coming.