The crescent moon hung lethargically in the sky, while the sound of crickets dominated the silent night from beyond the trees. The village was deathly quiet, all residents sound asleep, or perhaps, they were not sleeping, but were afraid of what lurked outside.
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
"UGH! I HAVE TO CATCH UP QUICKLY, OTHERWISE, HE'LL GET TO THE CITY!"
A glided swiftly across the rooftops, chasing the figure ahead of him.
Ahead of him, a shadow figure resembling black, human-shaped smoke was running at lightning speed. The figure leapt high from the roof, leaving a small wake of wind on the surface of the eaves.
"DAMMIT!" A did the same. He leaped high, rivaling the distance the Figure had created.
Now, both were in the air, far above the ground. A's clothes and hair fluttered violently from the thrust of the wind.
"DON'T RUN!" A directed his hand towards the Figure. Instantly, a black shadow chain extended out, shooting rapidly from his palm.
"HIYAH!"
The Figure quickly turned back, drew out his shadow scythe, and parried the chain. The collision produced sparks.
Both of them then plunged down towards the forest below at high speed.
THUM!!!
Dust flew wide, leaving only a thick cloud of smoke surrounding them. Both stood frozen, just staring at each other in silence.
The Figure exhaled a fierce-sounding breath, followed by a terrifying, deeply horrifying voice.
The thick smoke surrounding them began to transform. Slowly, it formed four legs, arms, a massive body, and finally a head, the manifestation of a Shadow Monster.
However, A and the Figure remained silent, ignoring the Shadow Monster, as if it did not exist there.
"Weren't you the one who said not to run just now...?" A asked in a firm tone, breaking the silence.
The Shadow Monster stood erect behind the mysterious Figure, as if they were a unified team.
"Go..." the Figure commanded, speaking calmly and slowly.
One of the four Shadow Monsters moved swiftly straight towards A. A immediately summoned shadow chains from both hands, ready for a fight.
The first Monster attacked straight on. A performed a front flip and whipped his shadow chain precisely at the Monster's head.
A landed again, but immediately ducked quickly, avoiding a powerful punch that almost struck his head from the second Shadow Monster.
Without hesitation, A raised his shadow chain from bottom to top, slicing the body of the second Shadow Monster in half.
A leapt high after splitting the second Monster's body. He saw the third Shadow Monster still on the ground, preparing to jump into the air to reach him.
But A quickly threw his shadow chain downwards, shattering the third Shadow Monster before it could leap.
A then vanished in a blink of an eye. Dark blue shadow smoke flowed along A's chains like water.
Simultaneously, the chain sped towards the ground. When the chain touched the ground, the dark blue shadow smoke earlier turned back into A, a rapid shadow transfer technique.
A immediately kicked straight into the face of the fourth Shadow Monster, pushing the creature back. He quickly leapt forward and kneed the Monster's face with solid force.
The Shadow Monster flew backward, nearly hitting the Figure. However, the Figure dodged to the side, letting the Shadow Monster shatter behind him.
A breathed heavily. The Figure glanced briefly at the shattered Monster's body before slowly turning towards A.
They looked at each other again, accompanied by A's tired breathing.
"You would betray all of us just to become a Light Being? Don't you know, Baba Shadow trusted you. Cryzathar too, all the Shadows trusted you, including me as your own friend. But you betrayed us! Now just consider me your enemy who will kill you cruelly, no longer a friend who will welcome you kindly."
The Figure said firmly and angrily, while raising his shadow scythe high, pointing the blade's eye at A.
A remained silent. His eyes looked with longing at his friend, but his heart urged him to kill. He was struggling with himself, caught in a difficult choice.
"When old friends meet again after years apart, we should be having fun and laughing. But... we are the opposite..." the Figure continued in a sad, mixed with angry, tone.
A closed his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. When he opened them, he said.
"I agree. But you are wrong, Jing. I am not betraying Cryzathar. I am betraying the evil he carries. And you... you are too blind to see what you are defending."
Instantly, the shadow chains in A's hands became thicker, and the dark blue color was now mixed with an icy gleam.
Jing's scythe also became sharper, producing a metallic whizzing sound, and the red shadow on his scythe grew darker.
"If your entire journey is a trial from God, then I will be A PART OF THAT TRIAL!" Jing screamed, and without delay, he charged forward.
A attacked from a distance, whipping his shadow chain towards Jing. However, Jing was unafraid. He kept moving forward, tightly grasping his scythe.
A moment later, Jing quickly threw one of his scythes, letting the weapon spin in the air. The thrown scythe immediately struck one of A's shadow chains.
The impact of the blow caused A's body to jolt backward, his chain raised high, striking empty air.
Jing's scythe returned to its owner's hand, flying on its own. Now, Jing was getting closer and was in A's danger zone.
A, realizing this, immediately stood upright again, ready to whip his shadow chain.
CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING! CLING!
Jing parried every one of A's chain whips with incredible speed. A also did not give up, continuously sending wave after wave of attacks. The noisy clash of metal produced extreme sparks, momentarily illuminating the dark forest area.
Neither of their eyes ever left the focus of the incoming attacks, A focused on whipping his chain, Jing focused on parrying every single one.
"JIN! YOU ASKED FOR THIS! SO DON'T REGRET IT!!!!" Jing screamed with all his might. His voice was drowned out by the noise of the fight, but it was enough for A to hear.
"I AM NOT JIN ANYMORE! SO STOP CALLING ME JIN! MY NAME IS A NOW!" A retorted, equally loud.
"THEN I DON'T KNOW YOU!"
Jing threw his scythe towards A once again.
This time A tried to catch Jing's scythe quickly, but the skill caused his body to be pulled forward, approaching Jing.
A was forced to let go of the scythe when they were almost close. However, Jing did not miss the chance. He immediately launched a fold kick straight into A's chest.
BUM!
A was flung backward and crashed into the trees in the forest. The sound of scattered leaves being torn off, followed by the loud sound of tree trunks falling down.
"I won't let you hide behind this dense forest," Jing said softly while calmly gazing at the newly destroyed forest area.
He continued to throw both of his scythes around the area, cutting down all the trees that were still standing. Jing's purpose was clear: to leave no space for A to escape.
The sound of slashing, the sound of hundreds of leaves being torn off, the sound of massive tree trunks falling and repeatedly shaking the ground, created extreme noise.
After the forest was almost bald, the view became clearer. A and Jing looked at each other's faces again from a distance.
A was kneeling and coughing badly, Jing's earlier kick clearly made him choke.
"Tell me, who am I?" Jing asked calmly, without rushing, referring to his identity.
A just kept quiet, his eyes looking around, searching for a way out.
"Oi," Jing called again. This time, A raised his gaze towards Jing.
"Answer... who am I?" Jing raised his scythe again and pointed it towards A.
A still remained silent, he didn't know what to answer.
"Fine, if you don't want to answer.... GO TO HELL!"
Jing threw his scythe again.
A immediately vanished with his shadow transfer technique. The scythe attack only struck empty air. Jing was not surprised, as he was used to seeing his 'cowardly' friend disappear.
Silence returned to envelope the destroyed forest. Jing retrieved his scythe. He stood calmly, gripping his scythe in both hands.
"I'll find you after this.... Don't think you'll escape me. I will make sure you die by my own hands, and I will kill whoever tries to kill you..." Jing uttered these long words slowly and calmly, a chilling warning.
Jing wanted to leave immediately, abandoning the destroyed forest.
But he had only taken one step when he immediately stopped. Something was wrong.
The hand that had just retrieved the scythe felt as if it was swarming with ants. He quickly looked at his left hand, his eyes widening in shock. Dark blue shadow now encircled his scythe, which was originally red, and was starting to touch the skin of his left hand.
Jing immediately let go of the scythe in his left hand. He knew A would emerge from that shadow. But, he felt something coming from behind him, an attack from the back!
Jing quickly spun around, but there was nothing there. An attack from the front then harshly punched Jing's cheek. He turned back to the front, but his body was kicked from behind.
He stumbled forward, looking front and back rapidly, but A's presence was still nowhere to be seen.
"Coward, fighting from behind quietly," Jing said with a disappointed tone.
Jing looked down, anticipating the next attack might come from underground. Nothing. His eyes then looked up, towards the dark sky.
Suddenly, Jing dodged backward, and the ground he had just been standing on was immediately shattered. An invisible attack.
"Utterly useless.... but don't think you can attack me again!" Jing began using his instinct and gripped tightly, trying to catch the incoming attack from the right.
"HAH?!" He was surprised because there was no sensation of a hand or foot at all, just empty air. Simultaneously, his face was punched once more, and he was driven backward.
Jing lifted his head with an angry look, wiping the blood on his cheek. "This isn't invisibility!"
"I've realized.... HAHAHAHAHAHA," Jing burst into loud laughter. "Jin, I know you too well. Too well... this isn't invisibility, and that wasn't really you. This entire forest has become the attack area of your Shadow Physical Illusion!" Jing said with absolute confidence.
He recalled the moment when he jumped from the rooftop earlier. A had also jumped, but it was at that moment that A released half of his shadow soul from his body.
It was clear now, A was still hiding.
Jing did not say much more. His body emitted thick red hot vapor. The veins on his body were clearly visible, his skin turning red, as did his hair and eyes.
"JIN!!!! COME OUT!!!!!" Jing yelled with a voice that shook the ground. He slashed a tree in front of him with a bigger slash attack.
Jing was losing control, his anger overflowing so much that he cleaved a small hill into two. The tremor was felt by all the villagers.
"RUN!!!!"
Residents came out of their houses. Some carried children, some fell stumbling. Others pushed their food carts, trying to save what they could.
The Purifiers began running towards the location of the tremor. As usual, they would be responsible if any strange incidents threatened public safety. They were the Purifiers, the eliminators of shadow monsters.
"Where is A? He's not here! I'm worried about him!!!" said a woman, holding a small girl.
BOOM!!!
One of the houses in the village exploded, and its flames illuminated the chaotic darkness. Everyone looked at the exploding house in shock.
The owner of the house screamed as soon as he emerged from the fire, because he was tightly choked by a shadow monster. Immediately, his head burst and shattered.
The brutal incident was witnessed by young children. All the residents screamed in fear.
"Take that kid to safety with you.... let me handle this part."
A man came from behind. He was Ryu, a great Purifier with a sword. He was at the Soul Purifier rank, one of the high ranks though not yet fully achieved. He was also one of A's friends and always protected A.
"Find A, make sure he's safe when you find him," Ryu said calmly.
"PURIFIER RYU IS HERE!!" shouted a man who joyfully welcomed Ryu's presence, causing the crowd to start cheering.
However, that man's head was immediately eaten by another flying shadow creature, carrying pieces of his head away.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Ryu shouted a firm warning at them.
All the villagers followed Ryu's command, rushing to escape. Ryu was now in the middle of the chaos, ready to face the two remaining shadow monsters.
At that moment, A arrived. He appeared from behind the enraged Jing.
"If you're angry at me, attack me, not civilians," A said. Immediately after, his body was shrouded in dark blue, signaling his readiness.
"So it's you...." Jing said slowly, accepting A's appearance.
Both A's and Jing's eyes met. In front of them, Ryu and the two remaining shadow monsters also met gazes.
"Tonight is a historic night...."
PROLOGUE ENDS.