From deep within the underground sewer, Jurgard stepped cautiously through the murky water. The sound of dripping echoed off the damp walls, where swarms of cockroaches crawled and rats scurried wildly, their claws scraping against rusted iron.
The air was thick and sour — every breath felt like it was biting into his lungs.
He had been walking for nearly half an hour. Jurgard stopped, exhaled slowly, and pulled a scroll from his backpack.
No pen. No ink. With nothing but sheer thought, lines began to etch themselves onto the paper, glowing faintly like marks burned by lightning.
-"Maybe... I should report this to Master Yakur first."
He looked ahead.
Three tunnels — three black mouths leading to nowhere.
The air grew colder, yet sweat still dripped down his forehead.
Then, suddenly — everything stopped.
The dripping ceased.
The current froze.
Even time itself seemed to tighten around him.
On the scroll in his hands, a new line of writing appeared, slow and deliberate — though he hadn't written a single word.
- "What... the hell is this...?"
At that moment, the ground shook.
The walls twisted and convulsed like living flesh. Pipes coiled, cracking like breaking bones, then burst apart — turning the entire sewer into a living maze devouring itself.
- "What the—?! What's going on?!"
A deep, metallic voice echoed through the chaos:
-"Surprised, are you?"
Jurgard spun around.
From the darkness emerged a towering figure.
Each step it took sent water crashing against the walls like gunfire.
Its muscles rippled beneath dull steel skin, and its emerald eyes cut through the dark like blades.
- "Who the hell are you?!" — Jurgard shouted, gripping the scroll tighter as energy began to surge through his body.
-"Who am I...?" — the man lowered his head slightly, his voice low and chilling.
"No. I am simply... me."
He took another step forward.
The entire sewer trembled. Water exploded upward, rats and roaches swept away in a violent flood.
For an instant, Jurgard realized he was facing something that didn't belong to this world
All at once, the cockroaches burst into flight, their wings snapping violently as they swarmed through the tunnel, blinding Jurgard's vision.
The buzzing filled the air, and the foul stench was so strong it nearly made him retch.
Jurgard raised his arm, blocking a barrage of insect strikes.
With a sharp sweep through the air, a wall of ink materialized in front of him — thick and gleaming — absorbing the impacts with a crackling hiss that echoed down the tunnel.
- "What the hell?! He can control these things?!"
He took a cautious step back, eyes darting around.
Above him, rats emerged from the pipes — their eyes glowing crimson, staring down at him with feral hostility.
BOOM!!! — The ink wall exploded!
Jurgard barely rolled aside in time, dodging the violent strike of a massive rat.
- "How... how can a rat destroy that wall?! That's impossible!"
Sweat ran cold down his temple as he gritted his teeth.
Without hesitation, he conjured a spear of ink, the weapon swirling with dark green energy.
With a single flick of his wrist, the spear shot forward, piercing through the charging rats — the sound of squealing echoing in the dark before vanishing into the black mist.
- "Hey! You monster! Who the hell are you?! Why are you attacking me?!"
From the shadows, a deep, gravelly voice replied — slow, heavy, and cold:
- "Who am I...? I ask myself the same question."
His emerald eyes flared, slicing through the darkness and reflecting off the black water below.
His massive frame filled the entire tunnel, and for a fleeting moment, Jurgard felt as if he were standing before a nightmare given human form.
The morning light pierced through the forest canopy of Gustavo, scattering shards of brilliance across the damp soil.
The wind howled through the trees, carrying with it the metallic scent of blood and the haze of smoke — the air itself trembling from the battle raging between Kazru and the man known as "Shark."
The forest quaked with every clash.
Kazru swung his blade, slicing through the air — silvery-blue arcs of light tore through tree trunks, splitting the ground beneath his feet. Sweat ran down his cheek, but his eyes still burned with fury and resolve.
From somewhere in the shadows, a faint sound — like a breath — flickered.
Then suddenly, a flash of steel struck from behind!
Kazru spun around — CLANG! — his sword met the assassin's blade in a burst of sparks.
But when he looked again... the enemy was gone.
- "Tch... he slipped away again."
A surge of frustration clawed at his chest.
Shark — the predator cloaked in darkness — fought like his namesake, vanishing into the gloom, attacking from every blind spot, pushing Kazru closer to rage.
- "Coward! If you're a man, come out and fight me one-on-one!
Stop hiding and striking from the shadows!" Kazru shouted, his voice cracking with anger.
He tightened his grip on the hilt. The sword flared with light.
One swing — whoosh! — and a wave of energy cleaved through the forest, exploding in the distance with a brilliance rivaling the sun.
Even though it was morning, the entire forest glowed as if set ablaze at dusk.
As the dust settled... Shark stepped out.
His clothes were torn, dirt clinging to his skin — yet his calm, mocking smile never faded.
- "Hmm? So you like to talk about being a 'real man,' huh?"
"Fine — let's play your way, man to man."
His voice was low, dragging each word with quiet menace. The silver earrings dangling from his ears caught the sunlight — cold and derisive.
Then, from the shadow beneath his feet, dark shapes began to crawl out — a swarm of shadow archers, each raising their bows toward Kazru.
Kazru's eyes widened in disbelief.
- "This is what you call fair?!"
- "Of course," Shark replied with a shrug, lips curling into a smirk.
"You use your strength... and I use mine. Isn't that fair?"
In an instant, a storm of poisoned arrows tore through the air — faster than sound.
Kazru leapt aside, his sword flashing as he deflected hundreds of arrows mid-flight.
- "You bastard!!" he roared, his voice echoing through the trembling forest.
Kazru darted through the forest canopy, his sword swinging relentlessly, cutting through the air like streaks of silver-blue lightning.
Shark remained calm, standing in the shadow of the trees, his cold eyes tracking every step Kazru took. With a single furrow of his brow, the darkness beneath him twisted and coiled into countless solid black shapes, attacking from all directions.
Every movement Kazru made seemed to slow, the shadows bending space around him, making his path and attacks unpredictable.
A leap to the left, and the dark tendrils immediately wrapped around his leg, almost tripping him.
A swing of his blade, and a shadow twisted around the sword, making it vibrate, sparks of blue flickering off the edge.
- "What the hell…?!" — Kazru roared, sweat beading on his forehead.
Shark smirked, his voice low and cold:
- "I control the shadows… you're just a fish swimming in a dark pond."
Before Kazru could react, dozens of other shadows surged forward, twisting along unpredictable arcs.
He had to jump, flip, slide, even swing his sword to block each strike — but they came from every angle, relentless like a downpour of black steel.
Kazru's sword flared, slicing through a cluster of shadows, but in an instant, another tendril coiled around his arm, yanking him off course.
His entire body tensed, his heart pounding, yet he didn't stop. Every leap, every swing had to be calculated, because Shark didn't just attack — he locked Kazru's movements with the shadows themselves.
- "You can't escape, Kazru…" — Shark's voice echoed, mocking and icy.
Kazru spun, swinging his sword through the writhing shadows, breaking apart several attacks.
But as soon as one wave fell, dozens more surged upward, bending space, splitting into multiple directions, driving him toward rotting tree trunks, where every strike of his sword carried the risk of hitting a trap.
He panted heavily, hands trembling, yet his eyes burned with determination.
Kazru leapt, spinning his sword overhead, creating a silver-blue vortex — shattering countless attacking shadows, sending sparks of light streaking like fireworks.
Yet Shark remained unfazed, taking a few steps, and the shadows at his feet once again twisted into countless black arms, spears pointing toward Kazru, forcing him to constantly shift his trajectory.
- "This guy… he's not just fighting dirty, he's controlling the shadows too…!" — Kazru muttered under his breath.
"No more playing around." Kazru said seriously, taking a deep breath and exhaling evenly.
His body flared with light — blazing like the sun in the middle of the ancient forest.
- "Perhaps I should take you seriously." — Kazru's face was stern, his wounds beginning to heal, adapting to Shark's poison.
Shark licked the blood at the corner of his mouth, his voice low but full of curiosity:
-"Oh, interesting. I want to see what you're capable of too."
The two stood a full hundred meters apart, their gazes taut like drawn bows.
BOOM!!!
The Gil of both clashed, winds swirling like a tornado. Forest creatures panicked and fled, but within seconds, one by one, they began to tremble, scream, and collapse, blood staining the forest floor red.
Kazru's eyes glowed a golden hue as he spoke:
- "Your Gil… is on par with mine?"
Shark smirked maliciously:
- "You think so? That's for you to decide…"
Suddenly, hundreds of thousands of black shadow arms shot forward, stretching out to engulf Kazru.
Instantly, light erupted from his body, shredding them into fragments.
- "Useless! My ability adapts to everything I've ever experienced once!" — Kazru roared.
Shark shrugged, chuckling darkly:
- "Is that so? Fine, I'll use a different move."
He slowly appeared on a large branch, and from behind him sprouted a skeleton of dragon wings — Kazru's jaw dropped in shock:
- "Wh-!?"
Shark laughed lightly:
- "Don't be surprised. I was never human to begin with."
One side of his body had transformed into a dragon, scales covering his skin, and his eyes were black as an endless void.
- "Alright, maybe I'll have some fun with you before Griot completes his mission." — Shark said casually.
- "Griot? Who is Griot—?"
Before he could finish, Kazru was blasted away by a punch from Shark, huge branches exploding around him.
Shark smiled, voice calm but deep:
-"Sorry, but I won't hold back."
"Ten!" Jurgard's voice rang out in the underground tunnel.
He summoned ten armored knight-soldiers made of ink to take the blows for him — they charged forward and slaughtered the rats and cockroaches in his stead.
-"Finally I can fight you one-on-one, huh? So what exactly are you — a lump of mud and sludge?" Jurgard said.
The giant was pinned in place by several ink arrows Jurgard fired through its body.
-"Tell me — who are you? What do you want from me? What's your name? Who do you serve? What are you doing? Speak up!" Jurgard demanded.
-"...I don't serve anyone..." the creature answered.
-"Huh?"
-"I... I was made by Lord Shark."
-"Shark? Who's that?"
-"He said I was born from the destruction and the fear of creatures like the sewer rats and cockroaches."
-"Oh? A symbolic existence, huh? Interesting — I've read of such things in books: a monster forged from something abstract. Do you represent destruction? Or fear? I don't really care — tell me, what do you want?"
-"I... I want... I want... I want you dead. Lord Shark will be pleased if you die," the creature said, a muddy grin stretching to its ears.
-"...You have no freedom at all?"
-"Freedom..? What is that? Will it make Lord Shark happy?"
...He was just a big child.
-"All right. Shark is lying to you — come with me. I'll take you somewhere safe; Shark will be happy to see you there."
"Okay... okay," it nodded, comforted by the thought that Shark would be pleased to have it there.