The storm had passed, leaving only the echo of dripping branches. Naro trekked north, alone, his boots sinking into deep soil as if each step were dragging him deeper into another world.
This was no ordinary swamp.
It wasn't even marked on most maps.
The place was whispered about among vampires in his past life, a secret known only to those who fed on forbidden knowledge — the Veilwood Hollow. A swampy land hidden behind layers of shifting fog, its location distorted to outsiders. To common folk, it was nothing but an endless woodland. But with the right sigil, the right path, the Hollow revealed itself.
And Naro had the memory burned into his mind.
He muttered the incantation under his breath — an old vampire phrase that split the fog like a knife. Trees twisted unnaturally, the air thickened, and before him stretched an endless swamp of pale water and skeletal trees. A raven croaked somewhere above, then fled as if sensing what walked these grounds.
"Still the same as I remember," Naro whispered, his tone calm. "A nest the kingdom never even realized existed."
The Veilwood Hollow wasn't just a place where nyx gathered. It was a breeding ground where the natural order bent and turned, spitting out spiritual entities like an endless tide. Vampires in his past life had used it as a hunting ground, gathering rank 2 nyx like cattle to feed their armies.
But the true brilliance of this place was its secrecy.
Only those with vampire ties knew the paths in. To the radiant kingdom, it was nothing but untouched woodland. To him, it was a vault.
He pulled out a thin, jagged shard of red obsidian — a vampire token, stolen from the vampire's corpse he killed a couple days ago. It pulsed faintly, resonating with the Hollow, and in return, the land sang back with low, distorted vibrations.
"Good…" Naro murmured, scanning the mist. "The veil still answers. That means the nest is alive."
The fog shifted, and he saw it: dozens of faint glows beneath the water and trees, each one the aura of a different rank 2 nyx. They were here in abundance, not yet enough to push him into the next realm, but it was decent enough to help.
One moved like a coiling shadow under the water — a Serpent Shade Nyx. Another glowed faintly red in the hollow of a tree, its roots pulsing — the Rotblossom Nyx. Further still, wingbeats echoed softly, too rhythmic for a bat — perhaps the rumored Shroud Moth Nyx.
Naro smiled thinly, a grin on his face. "Shroud moth dagger nyx indeed."
After Naro scanned his surroundings, making sure no dangers lurked, he thought, eyes gleaming. "I am lucky I haven't been sensed by any vampires."
Naro used his knowledge from his previous life and easily took hold of these nyx to himself
"These will suffice for now."
These nyx were perfect for Naro's current situation, none were blood path nyx so they can be used for his plans in radiant kingdom.
Naro didn't bother to go back to his distant castle; this time, he was decided to keep going to the radiant kingdom which was only a few weeks away.. on the same night not far from the swamp he decided to hide in a cave and begin refining himself and assessing his profit.
Naro has four rank 2 nyx's and one rank 3 nyx;
Serpent shade nyx, which allowed the user to send out serpent shadows to hold the opponent in place, rotblossom nyx, which allows the user to shoot out sharp wooden arrows, shroud moths nyx, which actually is a dagger with moth-like wings that the user can manipulate as he wishes, and finally blood dash nyx which is the most ominous and the strongest nyx he had, a movement-type nyx that allows him to dash to any direction at will.
For the rank 3 nyx, it was none other than the dark spiral nyx which is hidden within the dark iron sword.
Naro began a ritual process of separating the Dark Spiral Nyx from the shabby iron sword, his hands moving with practiced precision as he prepared the ritual to implant it into the Shroud Moth Dagger. A faint smirk touched his lips as the black essence was drawn out, threads of shadow twisting and unraveling from the blade. The weapon itself gave a final shudder before collapsing into dust, its soul long devoured.
Time passed within the silent cave. The separation demanded his full concentration—each gesture of his fingers sharp, exact, brimming with power. Aura rippled around him in faint waves, outlining his form with an ominous glow. Finally, with one last intricate seal, the ritual completed. Success.
"Heh.. I'll call you the Flying Dark Spiral Dagger." His tone carried a hint of amusement, but also some satisfaction. The fusion had weakened the Dark Spiral Nyx, reducing it from rank three down to rank two. To others, such a loss would be unbearable. To Naro, it was strategy. The more rank two nyx he possessed, the stronger his foundation—and the faster his path to stepping into the Rank 2 Realm.
"Sometimes, loss is the truest blessing," he muttered, eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "A shame so many fail to realize that loss is nothing more than a disguised road to success."
After a night's rest in the cave, Naro departed and continued on toward the Radiant Kingdom. Along the way, the remains of the dark forest slowly gave way to signs of life—lush greenery stretched across the horizon, farmland sprawled beneath the rising sun, and rivers gleamed like veins of silver. The world here seemed brighter, stable, almost deceptively peaceful.
Yet, as Naro walked deeper into this land, a crawling unease gnawed at him. This path should have been safe, yet his instincts screamed otherwise. Then, the sound tore through the quiet—screams, sharp and desperate, not far ahead.
He followed, and when his eyes fell upon the source, his pupils shrunk to pin size.
The ground was painted red. Radiant Kingdom soldiers lay scattered like discarded dolls—some with torsos carved open as though flayed for dissection, their guts spilling into the dirt. Others were beheaded, their severed heads lying inches away from their bodies, faces frozen mid-scream. Blood soaked the grass so heavily that it clung to Naro's boots as he stepped forward.
But the gore wasn't what froze his breath. He had witnessed worse in his past life. What surprised him was the figure standing amidst the carnage.
"The… Abandoned Knight!? What the hell is it doing here!?" Naro thought, dread swirling in his gut. Luck had indeed run dry.
The Abandoned Knight—rank 5, a being wrapped in mysteries. No one knew its origin, only its endless hunger for slaughter. Wherever it walked, life was extinguished. Its very name came from its existence: a knight forsaken, wandering without purpose—except for one. To kill. Always to kill.
The knight's armor was a nightmarish black, its horned helmet twisted into the shape of a dragon's skull. Though encased in steel, its body seemed unnatural—a thin waist paired with shoulders broad enough to carry death itself. The air around it roared, crushing, the aura so suffocating that the surviving soldiers couldn't even crawl away. They twitched on the ground like insects pinned beneath a boot, their eyes bulging, throats gagging, before finally bursting blood from their lips.
Naro felt it too. His legs refused to obey, not from fear, but from the weight of that murderous aura that pinned him in place like a nailed corpse.
"Shit" Naro muttered through clenched teeth.
Despite the suffocating pressure and the massacre before him, his gaze remained cold and steady. Panic was fleeting. He knew what this was. The presence of a predator so absolute it warped the air itself.
After the knight finished off the soldiers with his monstrous greatsword, it turned toward Naro. Its hollow stare locked on him, and the air split with a shrieking whistle as its aura carved through the wind. Each exhale rattled its armor, wet and gurgling—saliva bubbling audibly within its unseen mouth. The ground itself seemed to shake beneath the weight of its murderous intent.
Naro's body stiffened under the crushing presence, yet his mind remained sharp as a blade. So… this is how fate chooses to test me. Perhaps it is my death—but even death can be bent to my design. His lips curved faintly in the shadow of despair, his thoughts never straying from advantage, never from opportunity.
Just then, a blinding surge of light split the blood-soaked field.
A woman appeared, surrounded by a group of Radiant Kingdom soldiers—the long-awaited reinforcements. But her presence eclipsed them all. Her aura surged out like tidal waves, soothing and pure, clashing against the knight's oppressive aura. She was breathtaking: silver-white hair cascading like moonlight, skin as white as snow, lips pink like cherry, and on her back, wings of pure white feathers—the rare rank 4 Pegasus Wing Nyx.
It was none other than Princess Althea the Luminant, the Radiant Kingdom's famed heroine, daughter of the king himself. A rank 4 Nyx user.
Though she wore courage on her face, Naro's keen eyes caught the subtle hesitation in her stance, the slight tension in her breath. She had no wish to clash with the Abandoned Knight. Her goal was to drive it away.
The monster lunged, its blade screaming through the air toward Naro. But before it could reach him—PZZZT!—Althea flashed forward, wings cutting the air, and saved him from the knight's path.
"Worry not, child—I'm here to save you." Her voice was calm, resolute, reassuring.
Naro knew instantly what to do. A new plan was forged within his mind, His chance had arrived. He let his shoulders sag, his lips tremble, his eyes water. His breaths came shallow, broken, like a terrified youth on the verge of collapse. "Th… thank you—" he stammered, his tone dripping with fear and gratitude. Even a faint tear formed at the corners of his eyes.
In truth, he felt nothing—no gratitude, no fear. His heart was as cold as winter, and every twitch of his face, every quiver of his voice, was deliberate. A flawless act in service of his larger design.
Althea placed him gently on the ground before stepping away, her radiant aura flaring brighter to draw the knight's bloodlust toward her. The knight roared, a sound like steel grinding against bone, and pursued. She flew across the skies, her wings tearing through the wind with divine speed, forcing the beast away.
Though her Pegasus Wing Nyx made her near untouchable, the knight—without any single movement type Nyx—still kept pace. A predator driven by nothing but raw, endless instinct. At last, after a grueling chase, she lured it away from the green fields. Success. Thankfully, the knight doesn't have human-level intelligence, it seems to be only driven by instinct, which made him easily to be dealt with.. without any fighting.
When Althea returned, her soldiers felt relief. But Naro saw what others did not—the faint shakiness in her hands, the quiet quickness of her breath, the flush across her cheeks that wasn't from exertion alone. He had lived over 300 years, crossed paths with saints, devils, kings, and beggars. He could peel away emotions at a glance. And hers was no exception.
She composed herself quickly, masking all trace of weakness, and approached him. "Are you all right? What exactly happened here?" Her voice was soft, melodic, tinged with genuine concern.
Naro lowered his gaze, letting his voice tremble again, fragile and fractured. "My… my village was raided… my parents—killed, by vampires… I—I don't know what to do anymore. I'm too weak… but I want… I want to kill those accursed monsters! I thought… if I reached the kingdom's walls… maybe I could become a knight, grow stronger. But then—then I stumbled into that… that thing."
His words spilled out in broken fragments, just enough to stir sympathy. He let his voice shake, let desperation crack his throat. A picture-perfect illusion of a helpless youth clinging to hope.
And just as he intended, Althea's gaze softened. Her heart wavered. She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, her lips curving into a comforting smile. "Do not worry. You'll be safe now. I'll see to it you're given a chance to grow strong—strong enough to protect what you hold dear."
Naro nodded weakly, tears flowing down like dew. Hooked, he thought coldly about how.. Another piece moved into place jumping over many obstacles in just one move.
Originally, Naro had planned to gather enough rank 2 Nyx on his own before venturing into the Radiant Kingdom, aiming to enter the prestigious academy through the yearly held tournament and continue his plans. It would have taken him months—maybe a year—of careful preparation. But with the unexpected involvement of Princess Althea, the path had been suddenly accelerated. He could bypass a year's worth of grinding, all with a single act of carefully deigned vulnerability.
Yet even this advantage did little to ease his irritation. He was still a rank one, still far below the level he desired. The princess's intervention was a tool, nothing more; it had not changed the one truth that tore at him: Naro's power was not yet enough.