The world turned monochromatic.
As Kang-woo's mana circuits fractured, the gray-silver energy didn't just leak; it flooded the street. The ground beneath the Hounds didn't crack—it dissolved into a tar-like shadow.
[Skill: 'Abyssal Cage' (Forbidden) activated.][Cost: Permanent reduction in Maximum Stamina.]
Spikes of solidified shadow erupted from the ground, weaving together to form a dome of jagged obsidian. The two remaining Hounds and the massive Grave-Vulture were trapped inside with Kang-woo. Seol-ah was pushed outside the perimeter, her hand hitting the cold, translucent wall of the cage.
"Kang-woo! Stop! You're tearing your soul apart!" she screamed, hammering on the barrier.
Inside, the silence was suffocating.
The Grave-Vulture let out a muffled shriek, its shadow-wings beating against the cage walls. It lunged, its bone-beak aimed at Kang-woo's skull.
"Centurion," Kang-woo whispered.
The skeleton didn't move to parry. It merged into Kang-woo's back, its four skeletal arms sprouting from Kang-woo's own shoulders like a grotesque mechanical rig.
[Synchronization Rate: 95%][You have gained the trait: 'Undying Sovereign'.]
Kang-woo caught the Vulture's beak with two of his skeletal hands. The impact shattered the pavement beneath his feet, but he didn't budge. With his human hands, he summoned the Grave-Hook.
The black chain wrapped around the Vulture's neck, pulsing with a hungry light.
"You're not a hunter," Kang-woo hissed, his silver eyes bleeding into total white. "You're just fuel."
He yanked the chain. The Vulture's neck snapped with a wet crunch. He didn't stop there. He turned to the two Hounds. They lunged simultaneously, but Kang-woo moved like a blur, the Centurion's extra arms wielding the violet-flamed greatsword in a chaotic, lethal dance.
Slash. Rip. Crush.
In the confined space of the cage, there was nowhere to run. It was a slaughterhouse.
[Souls Devoured: 3][Mana Restored: 60%][Level Up!][Current Level: 13]
The cage shattered.
Kang-woo stood in the center of a pile of gray ash, the Centurion's arms slowly receding back into his shadow. He coughed, but no blood came out this time—only a fine, dark mist.
"Kang-woo!" Seol-ah ran to him, catching him as his knees buckled.
Her touch felt like fire against his cold skin. He looked at her, and for a moment, he didn't recognize her. All he saw was a flickering candle in a world of darkness.
"I'm... okay," he lied, his voice sounding like two stones grinding together.
"You're not okay. Look at your reflection."
He looked into a puddle of black ichor. His skin was the color of slate. The white streak in his hair had completely taken over the left side of his head. He was becoming the very thing he hunted.
Suddenly, a slow, rhythmic clapping echoed through the fog.
From the shadow of a collapsed skyscraper, Han-sik stepped out. He was alone. His red coat was charred, and he was missing his custom jeep. Behind him, the bridge they had destroyed was visible in the distance, crawling with Iron Fang reinforcements.
"Impressive," Han-sik said, his eyes glowing with a frenzied, murderous greed. "A G-rank trash turns into a King of the Dead in one night. The Association doesn't know what they have. But I do."
He drew two curved daggers, the air around them vibrating with heat. "That cage... it took everything you had left, didn't it? You can barely stand."
"Stay back, Han-sik," Seol-ah warned, raising her glowing hand. "I'm an officer of the Bureau."
"You're a traitor in a mini-skirt, Seol-ah," Han-sik laughed. "The Bureau won't find your bodies in District 5. Now, move aside. I want to see what's inside that boy's chest."
Han-sik blurred. He was an A-rank specialist in speed.
Kang-woo tried to raise his hand, but his muscles locked. The 'Abyssal Cage' had left him paralyzed.
Clang!
The strike didn't hit Kang-woo.
Seol-ah had stepped in front of him. She didn't use a bow. She had formed a shield of pure, blinding silver light. But as Han-sik's daggers struck the shield, something strange happened.
The silver light didn't push him back. It turned gray.
[Warning: Resonance detected.][The Investigator is reacting to the 'Life-Debt Bond'.]
Seol-ah's eyes turned a piercing, metallic silver. The bandage on her neck disintegrated, revealing the mark—no longer a brand, but a glowing crest of a dragon biting a skull.
"He told you to stay back," Seol-ah said, her voice echoing with the same hollow resonance as Kang-woo's.
A shockwave of gray energy exploded from her, throwing the A-rank Han-sik back fifty feet into a brick wall.
Kang-woo watched in shock. She wasn't just helping him anymore. She was becoming his counterpart.
[New Party Role Defined: 'The Twilight Priestess'.]
"What... what did you do to me?" Seol-ah whispered, looking at her glowing, gray-stained hands.
"I didn't do it," Kang-woo gasped, looking past her. "The Zone did."
Far above them, the purple fog parted. A massive, floating fortress made of bone and cold iron began to descend from the clouds.
The King wasn't sending messengers anymore. He was moving the Throne.