The stone forest shook as if an earthquake from hell had split its heart in two. A massive crater, three hundred meters wide, opened like the mouth of a primordial beast that swallowed the earth, with dust rising from it like smoke from a burning corpse.
In the depths of that crater…
something moved.
First the stones trembled.
Then shards of rock exploded upward.
Then a body appeared… the body of a man who no longer resembled a human.
The imperial guard climbed out of the dust with no arms, both torn off from the shoulders, blood pouring out like a wild fountain. But his face did not show suffering… it showed a smile.
No—he was not smiling.
He was laughing.
A deep laugh, mixed with madness, pleasure… and awe.
The laugh of a man who saw his end and chose to embrace it.
"Ha…"
He lifted his head toward the sky, then toward Ashen.
"I never imagined… that anyone could do this to me…"
His widened eyes carried a pure spark of insanity.
Even without arms, he looked proud.
Grateful.
Fascinated by the monster in front of him.
He did not see a beast.
He saw a treasure. An opportunity. A curse. A miracle.
Something the imperial city had never produced.
"You…" He wiped blood from his mouth. "Your strength… exceeded all my expectations… but the fight…"
He smiled again.
"…is not over yet."
Suddenly, an aura rose from his body.
It was strong and bloody at first—the aura of a seasoned warrior.
But it changed.
The red…
turned black.
The air…
became heavier than lead.
The rocks around him did not just tremble—they bent, as if bowing before a power that should not exist.
"This power…" he said in a low voice from deep in his throat, "no one has ever seen it… not even the imperial family knows about it… I never thought anyone on this continent deserved to witness it… but you do."
He shook his head, his smile growing wide and twisted.
"Today… I will show you my truth."
Then he screamed.
It was not a human scream.
It carried yin and yang, darkness and light, ruin and creation.
Something ancient. Something that did not belong to reason.
"Yin Yang Body!"
"Twin Devil Transformation!"
The aura exploded.
Stone trees shook.
Dozens of rocks split apart in circles.
Then his body transformed before Ashen's eyes.
His skin turned pitch black—not normal black, but a black that absorbed light.
From his shoulders, his arms regrew, forming from black flesh and evaporating blood.
His height rose until he reached three meters, matching Ashen's monstrous form.
His eyes became pure white, without pupils or mercy.
And on his head… the skin split open, revealing two black horns bending forward like those of a mythical bull—but their power was not animalistic, it was demonic.
Golden symbols spread across his skin, glowing and fading like a demon's heartbeat.
A wave of frenzy rose from him…
His blood frenzy jumped from two stars to four in an instant.
Even the air began to vibrate like water.
"This…" he whispered, "is the real me."
Vanishing.
He disappeared.
Simply vanished.
No sound of movement.
No trace.
No dust rising.
No rocks breaking under his feet.
He evaporated as if he had never existed.
But Ashen…
the blood beast…
vanished as well.
Vanished with the same deadly silence.
The first collision was unheard by anyone.
It was not a normal sound.
It was a shockwave that shook the entire stone forest, blowing layers of rock apart.
They appeared suddenly inside a cloud of dust—arms locked together, Ashen's claws digging into the guard's forearm, and the transformed guard gripping Ashen's jaw trying to tear it apart.
With every movement…
the air detonated.
Strike.
Strike.
Strike.
One body charged and the other blocked.
Kicks shattered stones that exploded like glass.
Claws sliced the air, leaving red lines on space itself.
Chunks of flesh flew.
Blood evaporated instantly from the force.
The battle was primal.
A battle that broke law, structure, and logic.
They disappeared, then reappeared, then disappeared again.
The fight was too fast to see, too deep to understand.
But one thing became clear:
The balance was tilting.
The imperial guard's strength…
was rising.
Constantly.
Terrifyingly.
Unnaturally.
Every second he became faster.
Heavier.
Fiercer.
His blows emitted a demonic aura that made the air scream before being torn apart.
Ashen stepped back.
Then he calmed down.
Yes—amid the chaos… he became calm.
His monstrous body bent slightly.
The blood on his skin formed into lines.
The aura around him condensed.
Then two massive eyes appeared above him.
The first eye—five meters wide—filled with crimson savagery, focused on the guard's body.
The second eye—also five meters—made of pure killing intent, focused on his soul.
Two attacks…
at the same time…
made only for killing.
"This again…" the guard said as his voice cracked.
Then the two eyes struck him.
Dozens of savage energy lines fell on him like invisible blades—blades that cut not only flesh but the soul.
His body began to break—threads of flesh separating, limbs fading for moments before returning, his chest collapsing, his neck twisting backward.
And his white eyes…
trembled for the first time.
But only for a moment.
He shook his head violently, his roar splitting the sky.
Then darkness erupted from his horns.
His horns ignited.
Between them…
a sphere began to form.
A black sphere…
compressed…
wrapped in bloody energy threads.
It was not just energy…
it was death condensed.
The guard thrust his head forward—then the projectile fired at a speed dozens of times faster than sound.
Ashen did not see the sphere.
He did not sense it.
The only thing he felt was…
impact.
A blast that threw him across dozens of rocks, crushing his monstrous body and embedding him into a stone wall at the edge of the forest, before smashing him through it.
Hundreds of meters.
Hundreds.
Ashen finally stopped, carving a fifty-meter trench across the ground as his body rolled through dust and stone.
But before he could breathe—
the imperial guard arrived.
He did not walk.
He did not run.
He did not jump.
He appeared.
Then struck.
Then vanished.
Then struck again.
Then vanished.
Ashen defended…
but his body began to crack.
Muscles tore.
Bones shattered.
His monstrous skin split like stone under immense pressure.
The guard kept increasing his strength… endlessly.
As if the demonic transformation was feeding on fear and reason and turning them into pure power.
The fight had become… a slaughter.
Bones flying.
Claws breaking.
Blood painting the rocks.
The ground reshaping under merciless blows.
And every strike…
pushed Ashen closer to falling.
Ashen stood with difficulty.
His monstrous body was now a mass of blood and fractures.
Half his chest was split open.
His right arm trembled uncontrollably.
His blood evaporated from the heat and energy.
At last…
for the first time since the fight began…
he felt real danger.
He felt his body…
would not last.
"Hm…" he muttered weakly. "My body… is starting… to break…"
"It seems it cannot endure the savage intent anymore."
The guard's aura was approaching.
Heavy.
Suffocating.
Demonic.
With each step…
the rocks exploded under his feet.
He was coming to end everything.
Before he reached him…
a voice rang inside Ashen's head.
A familiar voice.
The voice of the leader of the Corpse Purification Faction.
"Boy… listen to me carefully. The time has come."
As Ashen staggered, the man's words formed clearly in his mind:
"The spell is complete. After we teleport, the spell stone will remain for thirty seconds. You must push that guard away, then destroy the stone before it disappears. It will send you to a random place, but far from here. I will leave a contact spell. It will activate if we get within a hundred kilometers of each other. Take it. If you survive, you must repay the favor of saving you. I will be in the Black Death Market. I will stay there for ten years. If you live, come there."
Ashen froze.
A deadly silence filled the air.
The imperial guard was only one step away.
His black hands rose to kill.
The world shrank.
The air stopped.
And suddenly—