The ancient stairwell spiraled endlessly downward, swallowed by layers of silence and shadow. Every step Kael took felt heavier, as if the darkness thickened with each breath. Beside him padded his beast companion — now eerily silent. The young creature's horns glowed faintly in the dark, its body twitching with unease.
They descended into stillness, guided not by torches or signs… but by something deeper.
A pull.
A silent urge inside his chest, slow and constant, like a heartbeat echoing from another world.
At last, they reached the end.
A vast stone gate stood before them — cracked and broken with time, but still heavy with presence. Black veins of crystal pulsed within its surface, faintly glowing with violet energy. Strange runes wrapped around the arch, some shattered beyond recognition.
Kael stood before it and placed his palm upon the cold stone.
Nothing happened for a breath…
…until a low tremor stirred beneath his feet.
The gate crumbled inward, not explosively — but softly, like ash finally giving in to time.
Behind it was not a chamber.
It was a domain.
A black void, shattered ruins suspended in the air. Walkways floated without support. Broken pillars curved around a hollow abyss filled with drifting starlight. And lining the bridge ahead were twelve statues, tall and cloaked, each one wielding a different weapon: dagger, sword, palm, scythe, bow, staff…
Kael stepped forward, the instinct in his chest flaring. His beast paused at the edge of the broken platform, refusing to go further.
He understood.
This was his trial. Alone.
He moved down the stone path, silent. When he passed the first statue, its eyes lit up.
Then the second. Then the third.
As he reached the seventh, something changed.
From each statue, a phantom rose.
Not whole beings — not ghosts — but slivers of souls, remnants of long-faded warriors. They floated just above the stone, cloaked in tattered shadow, their weapons held across their chests.
Each looked at him. Some with curiosity. Others with silent fury.
One stepped forward.
He held no weapon. His hands were wrapped in chains, and his eyes were hollow pits of silver flame.
> "You carry the breath of night," the phantom said, voice echoing with centuries of weight. "But breath alone is not enough to walk the path."
Another phantom, a scythe wielder, tilted his head.
> "We once ruled the night," he murmured. "The world called us monsters. But we never kneeled."
> "Will you?"
Kael stared at them all. "No."
The phantom with the chains stepped fully into view, towering over Kael.
> "Then earn your right."
The ground shuddered. The other phantoms stepped back. The chained warrior raised his arm.
Without warning, he struck.
Kael dodged. Barely. The wind from the blow carved a deep gouge into the black stone behind him.
He moved without thought — body aching, lungs burning, muscles screaming — but he kept moving. This wasn't a battle to win. It was survival. Resistance. A test of refusal to break.
Every time the phantom knocked him down, Kael got up.
Every cut, he ignored.
Every blow, he gritted through.
Until his blood coated the floor and his beast roared faintly from beyond the chamber's edge.
He stood again.
Face bloodied. Legs trembling.
But his eyes — dark and sharp — did not falter.
The chained phantom looked at him for a long moment… then nodded.
> "You do not kneel."
He raised his hand and pressed a single finger to Kael's chest.
Kael gasped.
Not from pain. From influx.
Darkness surged through him — not external, but drawn from within.
The Imperial Dark Star Technique ignited in his dantian like a slumbering flame.
It spun slowly — a black star forming behind his soul.
Its presence was silent, yet heavy — as if the cosmos now watched him from within.
Then came the second force.
Something coiled into his spine, flexing with ancient weight.
Muscles cracked. Bones twisted. Veins screamed.
His back arched — and behind him, faint and roaring, a phantom Devil Bull formed. It pawed the air once, then vanished. But the strength remained.
The other phantoms stood silent.
> "You may fall," one said at last, "but you will not be forgotten."
They raised their weapons in silent salute.
The world around him fractured.
---
Kael woke in the forest again — mist clinging to the trees like breath on glass. The pool of light was gone. The earth beneath him pulsed faintly. His beast was curled beside him, eyes glowing faintly, a ripple of strength now running through its bones.
Kael sat up.
The Imperial Dark Star burned inside him. The Devil Bull Technique rumbled through his limbs.
And though no voices spoke…
His instinct told him where to go next.
The path was long.
But he had begun walking it.
Alone.
Unbroken.
Unseen.