Arin:
I sprinted through the jungle, weaving between trees and leaping over roots as negative energy scorched my senses. The further I went, the thicker it grew—like a fog of malice pressing against my chest.
The source was close. Too close.
A pair of Emotica lunged at me from the underbrush.
Slash. Thrust. Gone.
I didn't stop to breathe. I couldn't. Something darker was waiting ahead.
And then, I saw her.
Lina.
She stood frozen in place, her dagger drawn, breath shaky. Her gaze was fixed on the figure standing before her.
Tall. Composed. Radiating an abyssal force that twisted the air around him.
The man slowly turned as I stepped into the clearing.
Lina gasped, "Arin!"
"Not now," I said, never taking my eyes off the threat.
I drew my Blood Dagger, the blade humming with anticipation.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" I barked.
He tilted his head and smiled.
"You... Are you really him? The so-called zero? Like this? This weak?"
I gritted my teeth. "What are you talking about?"
"Who gave you your power? Are you a branch creation? An experiment?"
"I don't know what the hell you're rambling about. Are you the one who brought the Emotica here?!"
"Oh, them? My little pets? They needed some fresh air," he chuckled.
I felt bile rise in my throat.
"So you caused this chaos... Why?"
He smiled wider. "Because humanity is a parasite. We are here to cleanse it. The barriers must fall. Novalis must rise again. I am one of the Four—emotions made flesh. I am Fear."
The air dropped ten degrees.
"And you?" he asked. "What primal emotion forged you?"
I didn't answer.
Instead, I lunged.
The jungle blurred as I dashed forward, dagger poised to strike.
He vanished—then reappeared behind me.
An energy pulse surged from his palm. A thin beam of black light pierced a boulder, and in the blink of an eye—it was gone. Not shattered. Erased.
"So that's your game... Negative Energy: Emission type."
He chuckled, hands glowing with unstable energy. "Precisely. Shall we dance?"
We clashed.
My dagger met his energy blasts. The earth shook beneath our feet as each impact cratered the ground. He moved like smoke—slipping, dodging, blinking out of reach. But I was faster. My strikes grew wilder. Angrier.
SLASH. BOOM.
Each block sent shockwaves into the trees, each kick shook leaves loose.
He fired a bolt—I dodged and countered with a blood arc slash. He twisted, narrowly avoiding it, but the crimson light grazed his cheek.
His smile vanished.
"You're not completely useless, then."
He raised both hands.
Ten spheres of energy formed above him.
"Disappear."
The spheres shot forward like comets. I dodged the first, rolled under the second, and used the third to vault upward. I sliced two in the air, landed on a tree branch, only to find him already above me.
WHAM!
A crushing kick to my chest hurled me to the ground.
I hit hard. The taste of blood filled my mouth.
Lina screamed my name, but I waved her off.
Not yet...
I got up, panting. My limbs trembled.
He was stronger. Smarter. And more ruthless than anyone I'd faced.
My energy... It's almost gone.
But I wasn't done.
Not yet.
I stared him down.
"Let's try a gamble."
He tilted his head. "Oh? Now you're interested in dying faster?"
I reached deep within myself.
Three forms of Negative Energy: Emission. Coating. Manipulation.
I began to merge them.
My body glowed with black-red light. My dagger screamed. The air vibrated with raw power.
This is it.
A technique I'd only practiced once.
Total Unification.
"If this doesn't work," I whispered, "I die."
But if it did—
Tenfold power.
A final chance.
He took a step back.
"That aura... What are you doing?"
I shouted:
"Purge Form: BLOOD CORE—UNLEASHED."
The sky turned red.
A massive wave of energy exploded from my body. Trees shattered. Rocks crumbled. Even the earth cracked.
He shielded his face. "Impossible! That's not a child's power!"
I moved.
Faster than light.
My dagger struck his ribs. Then his shoulder. Then his leg.
He screamed.
"STOP—!!"
I flipped backward, charged my blade, and hurled it straight into his chest.
It sank deep.
He fell to one knee, coughing black blood.
"You... You're one of us... aren't you?"
I stood over him.
"Wrong. I'm what comes after you."
Then I twisted the dagger.
The explosion consumed him.
And from it—his energy flooded into me.
My body shook violently as it surged through every cell.
I'm... alive.
My strength returned. My power multiplied.
And then—I collapsed.
Lina rushed to me, falling to her knees. "Arin! Say something!"
I opened my eyes slowly.
"I won..."
Then blackness.
Vex:
This was the worst day of my entire damn life.
I was being ripped apart by a swarm of Emotica, their claws slashing, jaws snapping, each one more savage than the last. And behind me? Two utterly useless teammates crying for help.
They screamed.
I fought.
They fell.
I bled.
My arms were heavy, soaked in blood—some mine, some theirs. My breath burned in my lungs. I was one strike away from collapse. One moment away from death.
But then...
Memories hit me like a thunderclap.
---
My past.
My mother.
She wasn't a mother. She was a nightmare.
After my father left—ran, really—she broke. A mind shattered like glass. We had no money. No food. Just her, and her pain, and her fists.
She beat me. Every night.
She screamed at me: "Why were you ever born?!"
I learned to steal. To survive. To return home with stolen bread, only to be greeted by bottles and bruises.
And then... it got worse.
One day, I came home—and she was gone.
No, not gone.
Changed.
A monster stood where she once did. Warped. Disfigured. An Emotica.
I screamed and ran. But she followed. Claws slashing. Eyes hollow.
Just as her jaws came down—
BANG!
A gunshot echoed. Her body dropped.
A man appeared, holding a rifle. "Are you alright, kid?"
I stammered, "Y-Yes… but… my mom…"
He looked grim. "Where is she?"
I pointed to the now-empty house. "Inside."
He walked in. Looked around. Came back out.
"She's gone."
"What do you mean?! She was right here!"
He knelt down. "…That monster you saw. That was her."
"No! That's impossible!"
"I'm sorry, kid. She turned. She became one of them."
I didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
My tormentor was dead.
And yet… I felt nothing.
That night, he took me to the police. He said they'd protect me.
Instead, I ended up in a lab.
A cage.
A hell.
I watched children die—one by one. Screaming. Melting. Burning.
But I survived.
Me and nine others.
We became "the Ten."
And now, I was about to die again.
Surrounded by beasts.
Just like then.
---
But I wouldn't.
Not again.
Suddenly, a burst of light exploded from the trees.
Riven. Number 1. And Eloise. Number 2.
Riven cracked his knuckles, grin sharp as ever.
"What the hell are you doing, Vex?" he barked. "You're not that weak, are you?"
I wiped blood from my eyes and hissed, "I don't need you to tell me that."
He smirked. "Then get up. These bastards aren't gonna kill themselves."
Eloise stood beside him, twin blades glowing purple.
Riven pointed his sword toward the sky. "First things first—we find out where the hell these things are coming from."
I stood.
My knees trembled.
But I stood.
"You know what?" I spat blood. "This isn't my time to die."
I tightened the grip on my weapon.
"I'm not going anywhere until the last damn Emotica is dust."
My body surged with one last wave of energy. My wounds screamed—but I ignored them. I wasn't the weak child of yesterday. I was forged in pain.
And I wasn't done yet.
---
🔥 Chapter Discussion 🔥
⚔️ How insane was that fight?! What do you think of Arin's Blood Core – Unleashed? 🧠 Who exactly was the enemy? One of the Four Prime Emotions? What are the others? 😨 And what will happen now that Arin has absorbed his power?
⚠️ Drop your theories, hype, and your precious POWER STONES to fuel the next battle! The true war begins now…
Chapter 15 –... coming soon.