The training grounds were silent.
Kelvin Nox moved alone beneath the pale shimmer of moonlight.Each step was a sentence. Each breath, a cut in time.His katana reflected the moon like a blade-shaped mirror, and the dark aura emanating from it seemed alive — as if it breathed along with him.
Mist slithered across the ground — thin, restless, as though waiting to witness something forbidden.
Kelvin stopped.The air thickened.He closed his eyes and whispered:
— "Hidden Shadow: Silent Fall."
The blade sliced the air, and the impact burst outward in waves of darkness, splitting the ground.The shadows stretched, pulsing like the veins of some hungry creature.
For a moment, silence returned.
Until he saw it.
There, leaning against a broken wall — a cracked mirror stared back at him.
But the reflection wasn't his.
It was taller. Broader. A distorted armor covered its body, and within its eyes burned two crimson beacons.
Tyrus.
Kelvin froze. His throat went dry.
The reflection smiled — a smile that wasn't human.
— "Do you carry my burden… or are you simply my continuation?"
The voice came from everywhere, whispering, echoing inside him.
— "Legacy…"— "Ruin…"— "You feel it, don't you? The call of what you truly are?"
The air vibrated.Kelvin staggered, his hand trembling. The shadows around him reacted to his emotions, rising like living tendrils.
Then — a presence of light cut through the darkness.
Lorien Valtier landed softly on the field, his blue mantle flowing like waves. His expression was firm, yet concern lingered in his golden eyes.
— "Has this happened before?" he asked, descending the slope.
Kelvin hesitated, then simply nodded.
Lorien approached, placing a hand on his shoulder.
— "Fighting yourself won't silence the darkness."A pause.— "Show me what's clawing at you. Let's train."
The metallic clash of two blades echoed.
The duel began.
Kelvin attacked with cruel precision — but his strikes were stained with unstable darkness. Each swing was fast, but uneven.Lorien moved through them like a dance, dodging until, with one clean motion, he disarmed Kelvin.
The tip of Lorien's sword stopped an inch from Kelvin's throat.
Silence.
The golden glow of his aura illuminated the cracks in the earth.
— "This isn't just shadow power," Lorien said, voice low. "It's a corrupted inheritance."
Kelvin looked away.
— "You feel it, don't you?" Lorien continued. "Like a part of you… doesn't really belong to you?"
Kelvin's silence was answer enough.
Lorien exhaled, eyes drifting toward the moon.
— "Your link to Tyrus…" — he hesitated — "…it might not just be energy. It might be blood. Or something much older."
A chill ran through Kelvin.The thought burned in his mind.What if Tyrus wasn't just the enemy?What if he was… his father?
[Phoenix Guild Headquarters]
Boots and weapons clattered through the halls.
Diana Flamesoul stood before Inavy, Rose, and Darius — three young heroes with straight postures and fire in their eyes.
— "Your first Rank-S field mission," she announced.A projection lit up behind her — a forest wrapped in violet mist."Destination: The Elkaris Region. An ancient forest… dead for centuries. Now corrupted."
Silence fell heavy.Inavy simply nodded, calm and resolute.
The journey was long.The air grew colder as they advanced. Trees petrified. Rivers reduced to dry scars.The wind carried a metallic scent — rust and sorrow.
Rose raised her hand, a translucent ring of water spinning around her fingers.Darius hovered slightly above the ground, gravity shifting under control.Inavy led, eyes sharp, scanning every shadow.
Then they heard it.
A noise — like bones dragging.
From within the mist, a shape rose — a creature made of twisted bone and living shadow. Empty eyes. No light.Where it stepped, the earth withered.
— "A Void creature…" Diana muttered, already in stance.— "Spread out!"
The ground trembled.The beast roared, warping the air itself.
Inavy surged forward, conjuring crimson lightning — but the creature absorbed it, feeding on the charge.Rose reacted instantly, lashing out streams of boiling water to bind its limbs.Darius altered gravity's pull, forcing the monster to stagger.
The creature screamed, cracking the air with a surge of violet energy.Diana's barrier shattered. She fell to one knee — but raised another just before the claws reached her.
The Chaos within Inavy stirred.
His body trembled. The pendant around his neck glowed in a strange violet hue.
And then…A voice echoed inside him.
— "Do not destroy. Observe. Your weakness… is not what it seems."
Nion.
Inavy's gaze locked onto the creature's chest — where the mist condensed into form.He inhaled sharply.Then focused all his chaotic energy into a single point.
A silent bolt pierced the air.The strike hit the core.
The creature froze.Then crumbled into dust.
But something remained.A residue.An ancient presence, retreating slowly — as if slipping back into the world itself.
Rose looked around, sweat dripping down her face.— "It's not over, is it?"Diana replied coldly:— "No. That was just the echo."
That night, Kelvin dreamed again.
He stood in an endless field.Darkness surrounded him.Tyrus stood before him — faceless, only a silhouette.
— "Do not fight the result…"The voice was thunder in the distance.— "We are one."
Kelvin awoke with a gasp, drenched in sweat.The shadows on the walls danced — watching him.
Elsewhere, in the Hall of a Thousand Lights, Lorien observed the crystal Diana had sent from the field.The violet glow pulsed irregularly — like a wounded heart.
He narrowed his eyes.That energy… ancient, familiar.The same one he had felt a decade ago.
The air around him warped.The entire sanctuary seemed to breathe.
A crack opened — not in the ground, but in the veil of reality.A spiritual tear.
The Primordial Aura wept.
And in that instant, a whisper spread across the world.From north to south, from heroes to shadows, all felt it.
"The Ruin has awakened."
The silence after the whisper was unbearable.In the heavens, a star went dark.
And the true enemy… finally drew breath.