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A stillness blanketed the glade.
The remains of Yuki's cocoon smoldered quietly behind him, ashes curling into the wind like lost whispers. He stood at the edge of the protective barrier, feeling the forest breathe in rhythm with his own soul. The air shimmered faintly as his aura bled into the world—uncontained, raw, and divine.
He had changed.
He could feel it in the way the trees no longer loomed over him, the way the ground sang beneath his claws. His body had shed the last vestiges of its younger form, and in its place stood a being of flame and soul—a **Soulflame Draconis Primordialis**.
Yet, this power came with echoes—**a pull**, something faint, distant, *watching.*
**\[Soulforge Pulse: Passive Echo Detected]**
**\[Unstable Soul Signature nearby]**
His ears perked. From deep within the warped forest, something was screaming—not with sound, but with fractured essence. A beast with no voice, no name. A remnant of a forgotten age, drawn to his evolution like a moth to a blazing pyre.
Yuki moved without hesitation.
He passed silently through warped trees draped in soul-touched moss. Here, the forest was no longer just a wilderness—it was **haunted**, every root pulsing with echoes, every breeze laced with whispers.
And then he saw it.
The creature resembled a massive centipede, its body half-phased into the ground. It had no eyes, but a massive spiraling mouth like a maelstrom of teeth, and antennae that glowed with phantom light. Fractured void etched across its chitinous form.
**\[Unknown Entity Identified: Hollowborn Stalker – Tier: Unique/Corrupted]**
Its mouth opened as if in recognition—and rage.
**Screeeeeeee—**
It darted forward, phasing through a tree to strike with jagged legs aimed at Yuki's neck. But before it could reach—
**Flame Phantasm Body – Activated**
Yuki vanished for a heartbeat, reappearing just above it with a spiral of soulflame gathering in his chest.
**"Obliterate."**
His breath erupted—not as fire, but a torrent of soulflame that spiraled like a drill of light. The Hollowborn shrieked as its shadow-flesh burned, writhing and flickering like a mirage.
Yet it survived—wounded, but enraged.
It screeched again and released a pulse of corrupt soul energy, slamming Yuki back with invisible force. Pain cracked through his mental shell, but his **Mindflame Dominion** activated, filtering the attack and restoring clarity.
**\[Mind-Surge Resistance Engaged]**
Yuki steadied himself.
No panic. No fear.
He closed his eyes briefly—and then let the **Soulforge Pulse** loose.
A resonant *boom* rippled outward in waves, shattering the air and tearing at the beast's twisted essence. Its antennae exploded, and for a moment, it collapsed—its soul, destabilized.
Yuki landed and walked forward, fire curling in his breath, claws radiating spiritual heat.
"Enough."
With one final swipe, his soul-wreathed claw sliced clean through its core.
The Hollowborn let out a choking rattle—and then burst into motes of grey and violet light.
Silence returned.
**\[Skill Acquired: Voidphase Tremor – A dimensional shock movement skill]**
**\[Passive Fragment Absorbed: Hollow Echo – Grants faint detection of hidden soul energy]**
Yuki exhaled slowly. The fight had been brief—but brutal.
A grin touched his maw. "This power... it's only the beginning."
He turned toward the deep woods, the faint glimmer of unknown spirit realms pulsing somewhere far ahead.
*The hunt continued.*
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