The grotto felt smaller now. Or perhaps I was just larger. My new limbs felt like coiled springs made of dark matter, and the saffron veins in my fur pulsed with a heat that wasn't quite fire—it was the Ashura's Breath, a living energy that demanded to be spent.
The three Silent Hounds hung from their silver threads like spiders, their sewn-shut eyes twitching. They didn't need sight. They tracked the displacement of Dom energy, the heat of a heartbeat, the very scent of a soul's fear.
Internal Monologue: They're S-Rank trackers. On Earth, I would have hidden in a closet and prayed. Here? I want to see what happens when I bite back.
[System Notification] Combat Mode Engaged: Ashura-Touched Shadow-Stalker Targets: Silent Hounds (Tier 4 Human Cultivators) x3 Tactical Analysis: Their silver wires are coated in "Spirit-Numbing Salve." One scratch will paralyze your Dom flow. Recommended Action: Utilize Void Step to disrupt their formation.
One of the Hounds flicked his wrist. A silver wire hummed through the air, vibrating at a frequency that shattered the nearby jade pedestal. I didn't dodge. I thought myself into the darkness.
[Skill Activated: Void Step]
The world turned grayscale. For a fraction of a second, I was no longer in the grotto; I was in the "Between," a cold void where the screams of PatalLok were a dull murmur. I reappeared three feet behind the lead Hound.
I didn't growl. I didn't warn him. I lunged, my jaws opening wide as Hell-Fire Fang ignited. My teeth glowed with a sickly, necrotic violet light. I clamped down on the back of his neck.
The sensation was sickeningly satisfying. His armor crumpled like parchment. The necrotic energy surged into his spine, turning his scream into a wet rattle before it could even leave his throat.
[Target Neutralized] Experience Gained: +500 Soul Essence Harvested: 10%
The other two Hounds reacted with mechanical precision. They didn't mourn their comrade; they adjusted. They dropped from their threads, their wires weaving a "Caged Sun" formation—a net of silver energy that began to shrink, cutting through the bone-trees and stone alike.
The Obsidian Spire: The Sovereign's Displeasure
Arjun Pandit stood before his crystal orb, his brow furrowed. The image within the orb was flickering, obscured by a sudden surge of saffron interference.
"The Silent Hounds are dying," Arjun whispered, more to himself than to his attendants. "How? He was a Tier 1 cub an hour ago. No evolution—not even a Forbidden One—grants this much growth in such a short window."
"It is the Shard, High Sovereign," the Librarian croaked, his ink-stained fingers trembling. "The boy didn't just absorb the Shard; he synchronized with it. He is drawing power directly from the PatalLok seals. Every time he kills, the seals weaken. He is a walking key."
Arjun's golden eyes flashed with a dangerous light. "Then he is more valuable than I imagined. If the Hounds fail, activate the 'Vajra Perimeter.' I will not have my key running wild in the Hollow."
Beside him, the Celestial Wyrm let out a low, mournful lowing sound. It sensed the damru. It sensed its old master, Raghav, reaching out from the veil.
First Person POV: The Hunger of the Ashura
The silver net was closing in. The air smelled of ozone and the Hounds' strange, sterile incense. My Void Step was on a 10-second cooldown. I was trapped.
The hunger... it's not just in my stomach. It's in my soul.
The Soul Shard in my internal inventory began to vibrate. A voice—not the system's mechanical drone, but something older, raspier—whispered in my mind: "Blood for the breath. Death for the depth. Let the Ashura feast."
I felt a surge of Dom energy that shouldn't have been possible for a Tier 2 beast. My Shadow-Stalker form began to expand, my shadow stretching across the grotto floor until it rose up like a physical wall.
"You want to cage me?" I snarled, the words forming in the air through sheer Dom vibration. "I'll show you a cage."
I slammed my front paws into the ground.
[Hidden Skill Unlocked: Shadow Aegis] Effect: Converts 50% of incoming physical damage into Soul Pressure.
The silver wires struck my fur. They didn't cut. They sparked, the Spirit-Numbing Salve burning off in clouds of saffron steam. The Hounds' eyes—the sewn-up lids—began to bleed. They were being crushed by the sheer weight of my presence.
I moved like a blur. I wasn't just a beast; I was a predator of the higher planes. I tore through the second Hound, my claws leaving trails of violet fire in the air. The third Hound tried to retreat, throwing a smoke bomb infused with "Void-Salt," but I was already there.
I caught him mid-air, my weight slamming him against the grotto wall. I looked into his blind, bleeding face.
"Tell Arjun," I whispered, my voice a chorus of a thousand echoes. "The cub is dead. The Shadow has arrived."
I snapped my jaws. Silence returned to the grotto.
Third Person POV: The Damru's Warning
Raghav Pandit stood on the edge of the Saffron Plane, his silhouette flickering like a dying candle. The damru in his hand was cracked.
"He has tasted human soul-essence," Raghav lamented. "The path of the Ashura is a one-way street. Once you begin to feast on the cultivators, the Dominion will never let you rest."
He looked toward the Crimson Hollow, where the violet fog was now being stained with a dark, oily black. The "Dom Crisis" of two thousand years ago had started just like this—a single entity gaining too much power, too fast, breaking the ecosystem of the gods.
"I must find a way to reach him," Raghav murmured. "Before Bali offers him a deal he cannot refuse."
The Grotto: 11:15 AM IST
I stood among the corpses of the Silent Hounds, my chest heaving. The adrenaline was fading, replaced by a cold, calculating clarity.
[System Notification] Evolution Points: 5/20 Note: Soul Shard Fragment (3/12) detected nearby. Location: The Weeping Falls. Warning: The "Vajra Perimeter" is being established. You have 30 minutes to exit the Crimson Hollow before the containment field solidifies.
I looked at the Hounds' silver wires. They were high-grade Dom tools. I couldn't use them, but the system could "recycle" them.
"Recycle everything," I commanded.
[Recycling Complete] Materials Gained: High-Grade Dom Silver, Spirit-Numbing Essence. New Crafting Recipe: Venom-Tipped Shadow-Claws.
I turned toward the exit of the grotto. The forest outside was no longer a place of fear. It was a hunting ground. Arjun Pandit thought he was the master of this realm, but he had forgotten one thing: a tamed beast is a tool, but a wild one is a force of nature.
I stepped out into the crimson fog, my amber eyes glowing. The "Vajra Perimeter" was a wall of golden light in the distance, slowly closing like a noose.
I didn't run away from it. I ran toward the Weeping Falls. I needed that third shard. I needed to grow.
Because deep down, I could feel Bali's hiss in my marrow, and it was starting to sound like a lullaby.