The Possessor stood.
Percy's body moved with eerie grace, his limbs no longer his own. The entity inside him — ancient, iridescent, unknowable — relinquished control. It stepped back, unseen, unfelt, but not forgotten. Percy's right eye, once blazing with divine light, dimmed. The glow faded. Color returned. Flesh reclaimed itself.
He stared at his hand.
It trembled slightly, slick with blood and dust. His fingers curled inward, as if unsure they still belonged to him. The sensation was foreign — like waking from a dream where you were someone else.
[Your Abilities have been possessed completely.]
[You have now gained a title: Possessed.]
[You have gained a Spiritual Aspect Name (Possession): The Iridescent Memory.]
[You have gained a Spiritual Trademark (Possession): Brilliant Light.]
[You cannot harness any of these abilities.]
Percy's expression twisted — a mix of awe and frustration. His lips parted slightly, a thin stream of crimson drooling from the corner of his mouth. The taste of iron lingered on his tongue.
He limped forward, each step a battle. His legs felt like rusted metal grinding against bone. Behind him, the Bird of Forgotten Songs glided silently, its wings slicing through the air like blades of moonlight. It didn't chase. It listened — drawn to the faint chime of the wisp bracelet.
Percy's thoughts spiraled.
I have a spiritual aspect… same as Certis.
A smirk tugged at his lips, crooked and bloodstained.
I can do this. Come on. Push.
He dragged himself toward the altar, a shattered monument of stone and shadow. He hoped it would be enough — a place to hide, to bleed, to survive.
But survival was never simple.
The smiling entities had regrouped. Their numbers had thinned, their bodies broken, but desperation made them dangerous. They screamed — not in pain, but in fury.
[The Smiling Entities have used their skill: Scream of Death.]
The air split.
Their voices rose in a chorus of madness, shrill and layered, like glass shattering inside his skull. They sprinted toward him, limbs flailing, mouths stretched wide.
Percy limped faster.
His breath came in wet gasps. His vision blurred. His body screamed for rest.
One entity reached him — a twisted figure wielding a rusted hoe. It stabbed his wrist.
The pain was immediate, electric, blinding.
Percy screamed.
He couldn't help it. The sound tore from his throat, raw and primal.
The Bird heard.
It lunged.
The sky cracked as it descended, talons glowing, wings folding inward. It struck the ground with a thunderous impact, a shockwave rippling outward. The smiling entities were torn apart — limbs flung like rag dolls, blood misting the air.
Percy was thrown.
He hit the earth hard, skidding across stone and dirt. He reached for his stomach — instinct, desperation — but his hand didn't respond.
He looked down.
Blood poured from the wrist. The skin was shredded. The bone was visible. His fingers twitched, then stilled.
He screamed again.
Tears spilled from his eyes, hot and bitter. His body convulsed. The pain was too much. He nearly blacked out.
The cat hadn't returned.
It had saved him once. But now? It watched. It waited. It tested.
Percy crawled.
Each movement was agony. His knees scraped against the ground, leaving trails of blood. His breath came in sobs. The Bird turned toward him, its gaze locking on the source of the scream.
It flew.
Its beak pierced his back, driving him forward like a spear. He crashed into the altar, blood splattering across the broken stone.
He reached for the sword.
It was massive — a black odachi, its blade buried deep in the altar's heart. The metal shimmered with shadow, slick and beautiful. The hilt was carved into twin dragons, their eyes glowing purple, their bodies coiled in eternal battle. The handle was warm, wrapped in shadowy leather that pulsed with life.
Percy's blood soaked the blade.
It drank.
He gripped the hilt, knuckles white, body trembling.
Please… give me the strength to kill that thing.
Please… let me go home.
He pulled.
The sword didn't budge.
The Bird descended again, claws slashing. Percy screamed, but held on. The blade was his anchor. His prayer. His last hope.
The slashes tore into his back — flesh ripped, bones cracked. Blood sprayed. But he didn't let go.
His vision dimmed.
His breath slowed.
His body stopped hurting.
So this… is death?
His eyes blurred. His grip loosened. His heart stilled.
The wisp bracelet chimed one last time
[ You have died ]
Darkness.
He floated.
The void was endless — a pool of black ink stretching in every direction. He couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. But he didn't panic.
It was peaceful.
He drifted.
The only light was within him — faint, flickering, defiant.
Then the darkness moved.
It surged around him, engulfing him in flames that didn't burn. They wrapped around his body, staining him. He was no longer light. He was shadow.
He opened his eyes.
The odachi was in his hand.
It was different now — darker, sharper, alive. The blade was obsidian, slick and flawless. The twin dragons on the hilt stared at him, their eyes glowing with sentience. The handle pulsed with warmth, like a heartbeat.
He looked down.
The Bird was dead.
Its body lay split in two, severed cleanly. In its severed claw, it still gripped the odachi — the same blade now in Percy's hand.
His wounds were gone.
The dark flames retreated, swirling into his right hand. They formed a black crescent moon, glowing faintly.
He now bore two marks.
A white crescent on his left hand, glowing with spiritual light.
A black crescent on his right, pulsing with nightmare energy.
The wisp appeared, radiant and reverent.
[Incredible. Absolutely astonishing.]
[You have been praised for your survival.]
[You have fulfilled all requirements to pass your trial.]
[You have severed your connection to your soul.]
[You have died and successfully been reborn.]
[You have been bestowed your Nightmare Aspect: Born From Darkness.]
Percy's eyes widened.
'What is a Nightmare Aspect?!'
[Congratulations. Now time for your rewards.]
[You have been severed from spirit energy upon your death.]
[The Iridescent Memory is the last spirit energy you have left.]
[You have pulled the Lord of Darkness Blade and have gained the Black Heart.]
[You have been possessed by the Iridescent Memory and have gained the White Heart.]
[You now have three hearts.]
Percy blinked.
Three hearts? I must be incredible now!
[You are now connected to the Nightmare Realms.]
[Your Black Heart gives you half Nightmare energy.]
[Your spirit core has been rebuilt using the core of the Bird of Forgotten Songs and shards of your old dormant core.]
[The Lord of Darkness and the Iridescent Memory have forged you a Nightmare Core — half spiritual, half nightmare. Yin and Yang.]
[You now possess both Spiritual and Nightmare energy.]
[You have one Nightmare Aspect and two Nightmare-Ranked Trademarks.]
[The Iridescent Memory does not wish to lend you their abilities.]
[The Lord of Darkness is allowing you limited use of their abilities.]
[You have gained a Nightmare Trademark: Monarch of Darkness — You can control darkness. Mastery: Zero.]
[You have obtained one skill for unlocking the Lord of Darkness's Trademark.]
[Dark Arsenal — You can now create any weapon out of darkness.]
Percy flailed his arms, overwhelmed.
"Woah, woah! Slow down! Let me process!"
He sat in silence, thoughts racing.
Does this mean I'm a hybrid now? I don't even have a soul. Not only that… I'm a little bummed out that none of these awesome abilities are actually mine!
Also… what happens now that I no longer use spiritual energy?
[Not to worry. Star-crossed Nightmare energy is far superior to spiritual energy. That's just the hierarchy.]
Percy's eyes widened.
He was naturally more powerful than any other star-crossed.
"Wait… you can read my mind?"
[to some extent.]
Percy narrowed his eyes.
"The Soulless route seems more like a blessing than a curse."
He stared at the wisp, suspicious.
[You just so happened to pull the Blade of Malaria — Moonlight Darkness Under the Heavens. The Lord of Darkness's soul was sealed inside. Your luck is unparalleled. But don't bathe in it.]
The wisp glared slightly.
Percy swallowed hard.The wisp hovered before Percy, its glow pulsing like a heartbeat in the dark. The air around it shimmered, bending slightly as if reality itself bowed to its presence.
[Now then. You have gained one Spirit Weapon: The Blade of Malaria and the spirit knife which have all been added to your spiritual inventory.]
[ Weapon: The Blade of Malaria]
[ Class:odachi]
[ Rank: Nightmare ]
[ Skill: Locked ]
[ Mastery: 0.]
[ Weapon: spirit knife ]
[ Class: Knife ]
[ Rank: Awakened]
[ Skill: Unlocked ]
[ Mastery 9.5]
[Your rewarding is now over.]
The words echoed not just in the air, but inside Percy's bones — like a bell tolling in a cathedral built from shadow.
[Star-Crossed "Rain," congratulations. Your trial is over.]
[You will return to the human realm shortly.]
Percy stood in the aftermath, surrounded by the ruins of the shrine, the corpse of the Bird of Forgotten Songs still split in two at his feet. The ground was soaked in blood — his own, the entities', the Bird's — and yet he felt no pain. Not anymore.
His body was whole, but changed.
His left hand bore the white crescent moon, glowing softly with spiritual light. His right hand pulsed with the black crescent — a mark of nightmare, of rebirth through suffering. The Blade of Malaria rested against his shoulder, its obsidian surface gleaming with a sheen that looked like frozen starlight. The twin dragons on the hilt seemed to breathe, their eyes flickering with violet fire.
He than pulled it into his Spiritual inventory.
Percy's breath came slow, deliberate.
He looked up at the sky — torn, bruised, streaked with the remnants of divine battle. The clouds swirled like ink in water, and somewhere beyond them, The Forgotten Lands stirred.
The wisp floated closer, its light dimming slightly as it prepared the transition.
Percy took one last look at the battlefield — the altar, the corpses, the blood-soaked earth.
Then the world folded.
Light and shadow twisted around him, wrapping him in a cocoon of energy. The ground vanished. The sky collapsed. Time bent.
And Rain — Possessed, Reborn, Star-Crossed — left the Trial Realm behind.
[ You have returned too the human realm ]