Alfie's footsteps echoed faintly as he walked deeper into the forest. The air was different here—too silent, too heavy, too unreal. His mind wrestled with questions.
"This place… it's no ordinary forest. How the hell did I even get here? I was walking with the others, then we got attacked… and somehow, I ended up lost. What was the last thing I saw? A tree? A shadow? Dammit… none of this feels right."
He gritted his teeth, scanning the warped trees around him. That was when the shadows began to move.
From the twisted trunks emerged figures—wooden mockeries shaped like beta darkside spirits. Their hollow eyes burned with a faint green glow as they stepped forward in silence.
Alfie raised his fists and forced a grin.
"Hey, hey… give me a break. This isn't real, right? Just illusions. I'm not wasting energy fighting fake darkside spirits."
But the forest wasn't listening.
Four wooden darkside spirits lunged at him from behind. Alfie's instincts kicked in—he twisted, rolled, and sprang back just as wooden blades carved into the earth where he stood. Before he could catch his breath, dozens more surged from the trees, surrounding him in every direction.
Tightening his fists, Alfie's smile sharpened.
"…Even if it's fake, I'm not letting these morons beat me down. Fine. If this is some kind of game, then let's play."
The ground trembled. Twenty-four darkside spirits in the distance stretched their wooden arms, morphing them into long ropes bristling with sharp edges. The ropes lashed out like serpents, slicing through trees, aiming straight for Alfie. At the same time, thirty more darkside spirits charged head-on, each wielding jagged wooden blades.
The forest became a storm of attacks.
Alfie dashed between trees, jumping high, twisting low, flipping across roots and branches as the ropes cut through the air. Sparks of splintered wood flew whenever they struck. The thirty blade-wielders pressed from all sides, forcing Alfie into relentless defense.
His body moved faster with every dodge, every counter.
"I can see it… the angles, the timing. My body's getting sharper, quicker… Am I really fighting illusions, or am I getting stronger for real?"
With a roar, Alfie shifted to offense. He lunged forward, fists blazing. His knuckles cracked against wooden skulls, splintering faces apart. Seven of the darkside spirits fell in rapid succession. He weaved between incoming ropes, punching, kicking, and smashing through their ranks.
But the enemy wasn't slowing down.
The twenty-four rope-darkside spirits quickened their strikes, their wooden tendrils whipping with brutal speed. Alfie's dodges grew narrower, but his eyes locked on them. Closer… I need to get closer.
Then the thirty melee-darkside spirits changed tactics. Fourteen of them leapt into the air, landing ahead of him, cutting off his path. The rest closed in from behind. Before Alfie could adjust, seven of the darkside spirits grabbed their allies, swung them around like flails, and launched them at Alfie like human projectiles.
The air howled.
"Shit—!"
He dodged four with split-second reflexes, but the last three smashed into him. The impact thundered through the forest, sending him flying. He crashed through several trees, splinters exploding in every direction. His body twisted uncontrollably, blood trailing from fresh cuts.
Clawing at the air, Alfie managed to grab hold of a thick tree trunk, halting his flight. He coughed, spitting blood, then forced himself upright. His eyes burned with defiance.
"I'm done taking your bullshit!" he roared.
The remaining twenty-three blade-darkside spirits were already upon him, swords swinging with ruthless precision. Alfie charged back with explosive speed, crashing into their formation like a meteor. His fists slammed into torsos.
But for every one he struck, another cut landed on him. Wooden blades carved into his flesh, leaving crimson trails across his arms and chest. Alfie winced but refused to falter.
"I don't care how many times you cut me… I'll hit back twice as hard!"
Blood spraying from fresh wounds, Alfie accelerated, weaving through attacks. His fists blurred as he punched relentlessly, mixing dodges with counters. Meanwhile, the twenty-four rope-darkside spirits unleashed a storm of lashes from the distance, tearing through the forest as they aimed to pin him down.
The ropes slithered like vipers, closing in. Alfie bounded up trees, leaping from branch to branch, barely staying ahead. Behind him, the twenty-three melee- darkside spirits gave chase, matching his speed.
Suddenly, eighteen of them leapt high into the air, spinning like wheels, their jagged limbs turning into whirling blades. The last five broke formation, rushing to flank him as decoys.
Alfie's eyes narrowed.
"Tch. You think I'll fall for that cheap trick? My target's still the rope bastards!"
The eighteen wooden Darkside Spirits hovering above Alfie twisted their bodies unnaturally, wrapping their arms around themselves until their edges became razor-sharp. In an instant, they began spinning like bladed wheels, dropping from the sky with murderous speed.
Alfie tilted his head, a smirk tugging his lips.
"I see through your lame strategy, weirdos," he muttered, eyes gleaming.
With fluid motion, he sprang back, weaving between the spinning wheels of death that plummeted toward him. One after another slammed into the earth with thunderous impacts, kicking up splinters and dirt. But every time they landed, they didn't stay down—each one unfurled and came at him again, blades flashing.
Alfie ducked, rolled, kicked off a tree, and countered with quick jabs, all while dodging the five persistent distractors trying to slash his sides. For every second that passed, the forest rang with cracks of wood clashing against fists and the whir of spinning blades cutting air.
Then, all eighteen landed. A solid wall of wooden darkside spirits surrounded him.
"Tch… still nothing? You guys are just wasting my time." His smirk vanished into a hardened glare. "I don't know what's happening to Master and Rebekah… but don't tell me these creeps separated me just to buy time. Nah— I can't waste another second here."
Alfie's muscles coiled,force energy flaring as his whole frame seemed to vibrate with power. With a sudden surge, he doubled his speed, fists moving faster than the wooden darkside spirits eyes could follow.
BOOM!
The first Darkside Spirit's head exploded under his punch.
CRACK!
The next shattered apart like dry timber.
Every strike Alfie threw broke one clean. In fifteen seconds, twenty corpses littered the ground, splinters scattering like rain.
But three remained.
Alfie vaulted upward as ten spiked ropes lashed out from all directions. In mid-air, he twisted and seized two of the wooden darkside spirits mid-spin, slamming them straight into the ground with bone-breaking force. Their skulls cracked like kindling.
The last one came screaming forward, a blur of jagged wood. Alfie sidestepped, seized a whipping rope, and—without hesitation—jammed it straight through its chest.
"Caught you," he growled, yanking the creature behind the wooden rope forward. The wooden body snapped against his fist as he crushed it with a single blow.
"One down… how many more?" he muttered, eyes already scanning.
But the forest answered him. From every shadow, twenty-three more darkside spirits stepped forth, their arms morphing into writhing ropes. They lashed at him like serpents, striking from above, below, and the sides.
Alfie didn't retreat. He dashed straight in.
He bent low, leapt high, spun between the ropes—each movement tight, precise, feral. He pulled one rope in close, dragged the darkside spirit flying straight to him, and drove his fist into its face with a thunderclap. The darkside spirit exploded in a shower of shards.
The rest retracted their ropes, shifting arms back into jagged swords. A wall of blades closed in on him.
"Perfect," Alfie muttered, crouching low. His aura burned hotter, every punch sharper than the last.
He met them head-on.
Every block rattled the ground. Every strike tore apart another foe. With each shattered body, Alfie's force energy pulsed stronger, his force energy layering like waves of thunder building on top of each other.
Unaware of the truth—that this battlefield was unreal, a construct meant to trap him—Alfie fought as though every second mattered. And with every kill, his strength was evolving for real.
Thirty seconds later, silence. The last darkside spirit splintered beneath his knuckles.
Alfie stood in the wreckage, chest heaving, sweat dripping. He dropped against the nearest tree, sitting with his back pressed to the trunk as he fought to catch his breath.
"Hah… hah… damn pests… I need to get out of here. That wall of darkness I saw earlier… maybe that's the exit."
He pushed himself up, still panting, and began walking toward the endless void he had glimpsed before—a wall of shadow swallowing everything.
---
Meanwhile, far away at the border between the Kingdom of Sunflower and Eminence, Lucy, Sasaki, Bash, and Lyon pressed forward. The Renshi signature Lucy had sensed earlier had only grown heavier, undeniable now.
"The user's close. No mistake about it," Lucy said"Don't let your guard down."
All three men nodded.
Then the air tore open.
A giant teleportation circle spun into existence above them, crackling with eerie light. Three men from Guhan stepped out. Before the group could react, another circle ripped open beneath them, and Pascal emerged, his grin sharp.
"You people shouldn't always make such flashy entrances," Pascal mocked, brushing dust from his cape. "The kid's already in my grasp. No need to show off."
A voice echoed from the trees. Calm, venomous.
"Indeed."
A lone figure emerges from a near by tree.
Lucy froze, eyes widening. Lyon, Bash, and Sasaki stiffened, their expressions shifting from caution to raw shock.
"Bastard!" Lucy shouted
"What kid are you talking about?"
The man sneered. "Don't raise your voice at me, Lucy. There's nothing you can do about your precious student… who's already inside my Limbo Mundo."
Lucy's eyes blazed.
"Limbo Mundo…? Wait. No—it's you?!"
Her face twisted in shock, disbelief, and fury. "The five of you… you actually betrayed Golden Katana? What a disgrace!"
The figure's grin widened, his aura spilling into the air like black smoke.
"Betrayed?" he scoffed. "Fool. We were never serving Golden Katana in the first place.