A jagged mass of shadow hurtled through the air, fast and silent like death itself.
She didn't see it coming.But he did.
Yu moved without thinking.His body threw itself in front of her——and the world exploded into pain.
Something warm and wet splattered across the floor. His leg was gone.Just… gone.
The shock barely had time to register. Blood poured freely from the stump, but he didn't scream. He couldn't.Instead, something inside him moved.
Threads.
Dozens of them—thin, black, and twitching like tendrils—shot from the bleeding wound. They snaked across the ground, grabbed hold of the severed limb, and began dragging it back.Muscle twisted. Bone clicked.Skin stitched itself shut in seconds.
His leg was whole again.The pain remained.
Yu staggered backward, breath heavy, eyes wide."What the hell…?"
He looked down at his shaking hands.It wasn't healing. It was something deeper.His power—whatever the hell it was—it wanted one thing.
To keep him alive.
It didn't care about strength. It didn't care about pride.It just refused death.That was all.
But before he could think further, something erupted beneath him.
SHINK! SHINK! SHINK!
Multiple spears of shadow exploded from the ground, aiming to impale him.
"Shit!" he cursed, barely dodging. His mind was spinning. "How am I supposed to fight that thing?! It's not even giving me time to breathe!"
Beside him, she moved.
No hesitation. No fear.
She rose to her feet, her expression blank. Focused. Dead calm.Then—she took a stance. One Yu had never seen before.
It wasn't aggressive. It wasn't defensive.It was… composed. Controlled. Cold.
Fyu Chun energy began to condense around her body. It coiled like mist, then snapped tight around her frame.
Then she spun.
Once. Twice. The air chilled.
Her left arm flowed like water—her spear slicing through the atmosphere like silk. A flash of icy light surged outward, freezing the entire wave of shadow in place.
Yu's breath caught in his throat.
Her face was still expressionless—but somehow, in that moment, she looked… beautiful. Not in a romantic way.In a terrifying way.Like watching a god move.
Then, with her right hand—bare, but heavy with unseen force—she clenched the space in front of her.
And the shadow shattered.Gone. Just like that.
Ash drifted where death had once stood.
Yu said nothing.He couldn't.Because deep inside him, he realized something:
She didn't need saving.He did.
And he was mad.
Not angry at her—no, it was deeper than that.
She had died. Twice.He had watched her die.He had suffered through those deaths.The horror, the helplessness, the way her eyes had faded in front of him—
And now?
She ended the threat like it was nothing.
No effort. No fear. No hesitation.
Yu had died for nothing.His pain, meaningless.His will, irrelevant.
His leg throbbed with phantom pain—but his heart? It didn't even beat the same way anymore.
His eyes dulled again.Color drained from them like ink in water.And without a word…He stood up.And walked forward.
The girl looked at him.She felt it——the shift in the air.
Something in him was lost.He didn't even say "thank you."
She didn't ask for it.She didn't say anything either.She simply followed him in silence.
They walked like that.Two shadows drifting through ruins.For thirty long, wordless minutes.
Until they reached it.
A door.Massive. Crimson. Lined in gold.
The colors bled royalty, arrogance, forgotten glory.And yet—something felt wrong.
Yu stepped forward and pushed the doors open.
What lay beyond wasn't a throne room.It was a tomb.
Inside, over three hundred figures knelt on either side of a long red carpet—heads bowed so low, they touched the ground.Each one wore the mark of the Ascendant.But none of them moved.
They weren't praying.They weren't dead.They were crushed.
By aura.By presence.By something heavier than death.
At the end of the hall sat a throne, its red velvet faded to brown, its gold chipped and dulled.On it slumped a skeleton, draped in tattered royal robes.A crown rested on its head, tilted awkwardly to the left——as if it had tried to fall, but changed its mind halfway.
But even that wasn't what shook them.
No.
It was the two statues behind the throne.
Titans.
Their forms carved in obsidian stone, yet pulsing with life.Even without moving, their aura filled the room like smoke—thick, suffocating, ancient.Their eyes were closed. But their presence screamed.
Yu and the girl froze.
Now they understood.
This wasn't a throne room.This wasn't a resting place.
This was a warning.
Every single Ascendant on the ground…They weren't bowing out of respect.They were being held there.Their bodies crushed by pressure, minds starving, souls cracked.
They weren't alive.They weren't dead.They were… waiting.
Yu clenched his fists.His heart didn't speed up.It slowed.
Because this time—he didn't think he'd survive.