> Bloodmatch Detected… Initiating Forced Trial in 10… 9… 8…
Zephyr's grip on his spear tightened until his knuckles turned white. He stood ankle-deep in a pit of corpses, still slick with blood that had turned cold and sticky against his skin. The metallic stench clogged his nose and throat, making every breath taste like copper pennies and death.
Above him, perched on the rim like a predator surveying prey, the white-haired man waited. Too calm. Too still. Like a statue carved from bone and malice.
"Who the hell are you?" Zephyr demanded, his voice echoing off the walls of rotting flesh. His eyes narrowed, crimson light flickering in their depths.
The man tilted his head with deliberate slowness, as if the question amused him. When he spoke, his voice rolled through the death-soaked pit like thunder before a storm—deep, ancient, carrying the weight of centuries.
"I am what you were meant to be. What you failed to become." His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "The firstborn of blood. The true Progenitor."
The words hit Zephyr like a physical blow. Firstborn? How long had this bastard been alive?
> Trial Countdown: 3… 2… 1…
The air itself seemed to hold its breath.
> [FORCED BLOODMATCH INITIATED]
• Opponent: Arkan Valen
• Title: First Progenitor
• Tier: Origin-Class
• System Level: Unmeasurable
• Intent: Termination
Intent: Termination.
The moment those words flashed across his vision, every instinct Zephyr possessed screamed in unison. This wasn't a test. This wasn't training. This was an execution disguised as a trial.
The wind howled through the pit like the voices of the damned. The ground beneath his feet shifted and cracked, corpses sliding away as if pulled by invisible strings. Bones rose from the pile, clicking and grinding together, forming twisted archways and barriers. The crimson mist that had been drifting lazily through the air suddenly thickened, swirling upward in a violent spiral until it formed a dome above them.
They were trapped. Alone. With nowhere to run.
"Welcome to the Trial of the Crimson Spear," Arkan said, stepping down into the makeshift arena with fluid grace. His bare feet touched the bone-covered ground without making so much as a whisper of sound. "This world doesn't need two of us. And the System agrees."
Zephyr raised his weapon, the Crimson Bone Lance humming with barely contained power. "Guess I'll just have to prove it wrong."
The words came out steadier than he felt. Inside, his heart was hammering against his ribs like a caged animal.
> [Trial Buffs Applied: Temporary Evolution Boost]
• Blood Pool Increased: 120 → 300
• Adrenaline Surge Activated
• Limb Regeneration Enabled (30s cooldown)
Power flooded through his veins like liquid fire. His muscles swelled, his reflexes sharpened, and for a moment, he felt like he might actually have a chance.
Then Arkan moved.
He didn't run or charge. He simply existed in one place, then existed in another, like reality had skipped a frame. His spear lashed out with enough force to split the air itself, creating a visible shockwave that turned the mist around them white-hot.
Zephyr barely managed to bring his weapon up in time. The impact sent vibrations through every bone in his body, his teeth rattling in his skull. The shockwave picked him up and flung him backward like a ragdoll, his body crashing through a wall of ribcages with the sound of breaking glass.
CRACK.
Pain exploded through his spine as vertebrae shifted and bones shattered. His body spasmed, muscles seizing as agony raced through every nerve. Blood filled his mouth, metallic and warm.
But he got up.
He always got up.
Breathing hard, spitting blood onto the bone-littered ground, Zephyr stared at his opponent. That strike hadn't been a probe or a test of his defenses.
It had been a deathblow. Arkan had genuinely tried to kill him with that first attack.
> System Warning: Gap in power detected. Suggestion: Adapt or die.
"Yeah, no shit!" Zephyr growled, wiping blood from his chin with the back of his hand.
He gripped the Crimson Bone Lance tighter, pouring every drop of his Blood Essence into the weapon. The spear responded immediately, pulsing like a heartbeat. The crimson runes along its obsidian shaft flared to life, casting eerie shadows across the arena.
> [Spear Enhancement: Devour Upgrade]
• Effect: Absorbs nearby corpses to strengthen weapon
• Duration: 60 seconds
All around him, the dead began to stir.
It wasn't the shambling resurrection he'd seen before. This was different. Bones, flesh, scraps of armor and broken weapons—everything surged toward his spear like iron filings drawn to a magnet. The weapon grew in his hands, lengthening, gaining wicked barbed edges and pulsing veins that beat in rhythm with his own heart.
The sound it made was obscene—wet, organic, alive.
Zephyr charged.
This time, when their weapons met, the shockwave carved trenches into the bone floor. Sparks of crimson energy flew in every direction as Zephyr spun low, using his momentum to slash upward in a vicious arc that nearly caught Arkan's throat.
Nearly.
The older Progenitor caught the spear's tip between two fingers, stopping it cold just inches from his neck. His expression hadn't changed. He looked bored.
"I created that technique centuries ago," Arkan said in a tone that suggested mild disappointment. "You're using it wrong."
His fingers tightened—and the enhanced spear snapped in half like a twig.
The backlash hit Zephyr like a physical blow. He stumbled backward, gasping as blood gushed from his palm where the severed connection burned through his arm like acid. The broken weapon fell from nerveless fingers, clattering to the ground.
> Weapon Integrity: 3%
Warning: Host Vitality Falling
Recommendation: Access Secondary Path
"Secondary… path?" Zephyr coughed, falling to one knee. His vision blurred at the edges, darkness creeping in from all sides. He could feel his strength bleeding away with every heartbeat.
> Unlocking Forbidden System Option…
Suddenly, the red interface in his mind glitched. Static filled his vision like television snow. Lines of corrupted script flickered and writhed across the darkness of his consciousness. Then, slowly, one word burned itself across the void in letters of fire:
> [CREATE LIFE]
His eyes widened. The system could do that? "Wait, I can—?"
> Confirm creation: Yes/No
The choice hung in front of him like a lifeline. Zephyr didn't hesitate.
> Yes.
He slammed his bleeding palm into the ground with desperate force. The impact sent shockwaves through the corpses around him, and they began to move with purpose. Not shambling or twitching—flowing. Bone merged with muscle, sinew wrapped around metal, broken weapons fused with ribcages and skulls.
The mass grew larger, towering, taking on a vaguely humanoid shape. Four arms sprouted from its torso. Its eyes were stitched shut with wire, but somehow Zephyr knew it could see everything. Black ichor dripped from its mouth like poisonous saliva.
> [Entity Created: Crimson Golem]
• Class: Bloodspawn
• Rank: C
• Loyalty: 100%
• Skills: Berserker Rush, Bone Shield, Self-Destruct Core
For the first time since the trial began, Arkan's expression flickered. Just for a moment, but Zephyr caught it—surprise, maybe even concern.
"You can create life already?" The words came out slower than before, thoughtful. "That's not… supposed to happen. Not for decades."
The golem let out a roar that shook dust from the dome above them. Without waiting for orders, it charged forward on legs like tree trunks, massive fists swinging like wrecking balls.
Zephyr leaped onto its back, his broken spear still clutched in his good hand. Blood still dripped from his wounded palm, but he was grinning now—a savage expression that showed every one of his newly grown fangs.
"You said the world didn't need two of us?" he called out over the sound of the golem's thundering footsteps.
"Then die knowing I'll be the last one standing!"
The golem slammed into Arkan like a battering ram. The arena exploded into chaos—bone fragments flying like shrapnel, the ground cratering under the impact, the crimson dome above them crackling with unstable energy.
When the dust settled, both fighters were still standing.
Barely.
---
> System Alert: Bloodmatch entering final phase…
From the crater where the golem had tackled him, Arkan emerged like something from a nightmare. He was limping now, favoring his left leg. Blood oozed down his side, staining his bone armor dark red. Cracks ran through the pristine white plates like spider webs.
But he was smiling.
"You've changed the trial," he muttered, and there was something like respect in his voice. "This wasn't supposed to be possible. The system should have prevented this level of evolution."
"Yeah? Well, neither was surviving execution," Zephyr spat, pulling himself to his feet. His golem lay in pieces around them, but he'd bought precious time.
The two Progenitors stared at each other across the ruined arena—both bleeding, both breathing heavily, both gripping their weapons with hands that shook from exhaustion and adrenaline.
Then Arkan raised his free hand and pointed one finger at the crimson dome above them.
"Let me show you what a real Progenitor creates."
The sky responded to his call.
Above them, beyond the dome, the clouds turned black as pitch. Lightning split the darkness in jagged scars of white fire. And from the void between the storm clouds, something began to descend.
It wasn't alive. It wasn't dead. It existed somewhere between the two states, defying every natural law Zephyr thought he understood.
It was a weapon—but one made of screaming souls bound together with divine bone and wrapped in shadows that moved independently of any light source.
> System Emergency: Arkan has summoned [Soulbringer]—Forbidden Tier
• Host survival chance: 0.02%
• Escape route calculated…
The system was telling him to run. Every logical part of his mind was screaming the same message. This was beyond him. Beyond anything he could handle.
"Run?" Zephyr said aloud, watching the monstrosity descend through the dome like it was made of mist. The thing's presence made his teeth ache and his bones feel hollow.
His voice dropped to a whisper that somehow carried more menace than any shout.
"No."
> Unlocking Evolution Branch: Blood Requiem Path…
Requirement: Voluntary Pain. Do you accept?
The words appeared in his vision like a challenge. Like a dare.
> Yes.
Without hesitation, Zephyr reversed his grip on the broken spear and drove it through his own chest.
The pain was indescribable. It went beyond physical sensation, reaching into his soul and setting every fiber of his being on fire. He screamed—not from his throat, but from somewhere deeper, more primal.
> Pain Threshold Exceeded.
Mutation in progress…
Blood erupted from his back in twin streams that solidified mid-air, forming wings of crystallized crimson. His skin split along geometric lines, revealing something that pulsed with its own light beneath. His bones rearranged themselves with sounds like breaking branches, his spine elongating, his limbs stretching.
The Crimson Creation System blazed in his mind like a furnace, and his scream echoed into the void between worlds.
Above them, the descending nightmare stopped moving.
Even Arkan took a step back.
> New Form Created: Proto-Requiem
• Class: Unique
• Authority: Mutation
• Traits: Undying Core, Blood Chorus, Reality Slash (Locked)
Zephyr stood amid fire and ruin—his eyes now glowing like twin stars, blood wings unfurled behind him, his voice carrying harmonics that made the air itself vibrate.
"You're not the only one who can rewrite the rules."
Lightning crashed around them. The dome cracked. Reality itself seemed to hold its breath.
> Final Clash Initiated.