The silence that followed the man's words was like a cold blade piercing the air, weighing heavily on everyone's chest. It was not ordinary silence—it was charged, tense, as if the world itself had held its breath, waiting for the next move.
Rain Irthon did not move. His glowing eyes, shrouded in a dark and ominous aura, remained locked on the mysterious man, who stood with an unsettling confidence.
"So, you want me to accept this lie?" Rain's voice was low, yet within it raged a deadly storm.
The man tilted his head slightly, his smile unchanging. "A lie? No, Rain… this is the truth. You are merely an extension of a cycle that has persisted for centuries before your birth."
There was something in his tone, something that made Rain's blood boil.
"If you think you can plant doubt within me, you're mistaken," Rain replied coldly.
The man chuckled softly. "Doubt? No, Rain… I am merely here to show you the path. The choice is yours."
But Rain was not the type of man to accept being a mere chess piece in someone else's game. That was never part of his nature.
If fate sought to control him… then he would break it.
In the span of a heartbeat, Rain moved.
There was no warning—no change in his aura, no surge of energy before the attack.
It was as if the world itself had skipped a moment, and the man suddenly found himself facing Rain's fist directly.
But the man was ready.
With a speed beyond comprehension, he leaned back, narrowly dodging the blow—but what he hadn't expected was that Rain wasn't relying on the punch alone.
The black butterfly behind him flickered for a moment before launching forward, like a blade forged from darkness itself.
"Clever," the man muttered before raising his hand.
And in an instant, time stopped.
Or at least, that's how it seemed.
Rain felt as if his body had suddenly become unbearably heavy, as if an invisible force had bound him, freezing him in place.
But that wasn't all.
For a brief moment, he felt something else.
As if… he was no longer alone inside his own body.
As Rain struggled to break free, he heard a voice—not the voice of the man before him.
It was deeper… older… and far more terrifying.
"The change has begun."
Rain wasn't sure if the voice was coming from inside his head or from the world itself.
"The decision has already been made, whether you realize it or not."
"What is this…?" Rain muttered, his eyes widening slightly.
But the voice did not answer. It simply faded into the darkness, leaving behind an unsettling feeling—an undeniable sense that something had changed forever.
At that moment, as Rain became aware of this eerie transformation, something else happened.
The black butterfly behind him… changed.
It was no longer just a shadow—it became a being of its own, as if it had awakened from a long slumber.
And more importantly, the man before him noticed.
"So, you've finally reached this stage." For the first time, the man's voice was no longer as calm as usual.
This time… there was something else in it.
Anticipation.
Rain didn't fully understand what was happening, but he didn't need to.
There was only one thing he knew for certain:
He would never allow anyone to control his fate.
And with that resolve, he moved.
This time, it wasn't just an attack.
It was a declaration of war.
And so began the battle that would decide everything.
To be continued…
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