The Remnant lunged with impossible speed.
Six limbs tore through the fog, stone plates grinding like shifting mountains.
The ground cracked beneath its weight as it charged straight for Aren.
The female operative shoved Aren behind her.
"BACK—NOW!"
Her rifle roared—
BRRRRT—BRRRRT—
mana rounds slamming into the Remnant's torso.
The bullets shattered harmlessly.
The Remnant's runes pulsed.
"Resistance… irrelevant."
The older operative drew both axes, aura flaring.
"Kid, RUN!"
Aren didn't move.
He couldn't.
Because the moment the Remnant activated its runes, Aren felt the void inside him tremble like a waking beast.
A pulse.
A spark.
A pressure.
Aren whispered:
"…No. Not now."
But the void ignored him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The Remnant swung one massive arm—
WHAM—!!
The female operative flew backward, skidding across the rock.
The older operative charged, axes blazing with mana.
"BREAK!"
He struck the Remnant's limb—
CRRRK—
A tiny crack formed.
He grinned.
"Ha—!"
The Remnant backhanded him across the ridge.
Aren winced.
He felt the pulse intensify in his chest.
He staggered.
His hands shook.
"No…don't…don't react—"
The Remnant turned toward him.
"Voidscar… incomplete…
Unstable…
Useful."
Aren gritted his teeth.
"I'm not yours."
The Remnant raised all six limbs at once, the air vibrating.
The operatives screamed:
"AREN—MOVE!"
But Aren didn't run.
He stepped forward.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The moment his foot touched the cracked earth—
the void inside him detonated outward.
A pulse of violet distortion rippled across the ridge.
The fog bent.
The stones cracked.
The Remnant paused mid-strike.
Aren's vision sharpened.
He felt everything.
The wind's path.
The Remnant's weight.
The vibrations in the ground.
The threads of mana twisting around the fog itself.
It wasn't evolution.
It wasn't talent.
It was the Voidscar.
Aren exhaled slowly.
He raised his hand—
And the void flowed.
Not as a skill.
Not as an attack.
As instinct.
Voidscar Technique — Spatial Rip (Unranked)
A thin, jagged line of violet split the air.
SHRRRRK—
The Remnant's left limb jerked sideways as if dragged by an invisible hook.
Its stone plates cracked violently.
It roared:
"UNSTABLE…
DANGEROUS…"
Aren's knees buckled.
The void inside him surged like a storm—
His pulse raced—
His vision blurred—
His head pounded—
He was losing control.
The Remnant lunged again while Aren swayed.
"AREN!" the female operative cried, scrambling to her feet.
Aren forced his shaking hands up.
"No… I can control it…"
The void pulsed harder—
The world warped—
Then—
A new distortion appeared behind the Remnant.
A tear in space.
A rift.
Aren froze.
"I didn't create that…"
The Remnant stiffened.
"A second breach…
Not king…
Not heir…"
The operatives stared in terror.
"A second what?!"
The Remnant faced the rift—
—and then bowed.
Aren's blood ran cold.
"…You're bowing? To who?!"
A voice flowed from the rift—
soft, cold, feminine.
"Voidscar bearer…
You stand on thin paths."
Aren's heart dropped.
"The rival entity…"
She continued:
"You severed the king's chain…
Now your void has no master."
Her voice sharpened.
"Unstable power devours its host."
Aren gritted his teeth.
"Then teach me to control it."
The ridge fell silent.
The Remnant raised its head slowly, stone plates scraping.
"He asks…
for mastery."
The rift pulsed gently.
"Control is not given.
Control is taken."
Aren stepped forward, breath shaking.
"Tell me how."
The rift crackled.
"Then survive this."
The Remnant's runes lit up like molten silver.
Its body expanded—
stone plates shifting—
limbs thickening—
a core opening in its chest like a second mouth—
The female operative screamed:
"AREN, RUN—IT'S EVOLVING!"
Aren whispered:
"…Good."
He raised his trembling hand.
"If I can control the Voidscar—
I have to start somewhere."
The Remnant roared.
Aren braced himself.
The rift whispered one last time:
"Show me your will."
And the Remnant charged.