The world burned.
The sky itself seemed to shudder as the beast opened its maw and released a torrent of molten flame. It wasn't just fire—it was destruction given form, heat so intense the air warped and the stone plaza bled red light like the veins of a dying star.
The torrent fell toward us, and for an instant, I thought there would be nothing left but ash.
But shadows rose to meet it.
The Inkblade screamed in my grip. Not one voice, not two, but a thousand, all howling, all clawing against my skull. Black tendrils lashed upward, stretching unnaturally, wrapping around the torrent of fire. The flames bent, twisted, fought back—before being swallowed whole into the abyss the blade had become.
The fire vanished.
Gone.
A silence fell, sharp and wrong, broken only by the beast's confused hiss. Its molten eyes flicked toward me, smoke rising from its jaw where the fire had been stolen.
The whispers surged, triumph boiling in my veins.
"…flame consumed… marrow yet untouched… anchor deeper… devour more…"
The Inkblade pulsed. Black veins crawled up my arm, each one searing like molten ice beneath my skin. I hissed, staggering, but I didn't let go. I couldn't.
✦
The survivors had seen everything.
The boy's voice cracked, breaking the silence. "He… he ate it. The sword ate fire."
The girl stared, crowbar clenched so tight her knuckles had gone white. Her whisper carried, thin and fragile. "Is that even possible…?"
The old man's breath came in ragged bursts. His lips moved as if to pray, but the words that came out were venom. "It isn't human. He isn't human."
The mother silenced him with a glare sharp enough to cut. She held her son close, shielding him with her body, but her eyes never left me. Not with fear. Not with relief. With calculation, like someone trying to weigh whether I was monster or savior.
Her gaze almost hurt worse than the beast's.
Dev stumbled closer, his burned arm trembling at his side. His face was pale, lips cracked, but his voice was steady. "Reed… tell me you're still in there."
I forced my jaw shut against the Inkblade's laughter. "Mostly."
✦
The beast broke the silence.
It roared, tail sweeping across the plaza with the force of a battering ram. Stone shattered, rubble flying like shrapnel. Statues that had stood for centuries collapsed in an instant. The forgotten ducked behind cover, some screaming, others too stunned to move.
The system's cold chime cut through the chaos.
[ Survivor Cohesion Critical. ]
"Damn it," I muttered. If they scattered now, if fear broke them, the trial would collapse before dawn.
"Dev!" I shouted. "Keep them together!"
His head snapped toward me, disbelief in his eyes. "Keep them—? Against that!?"
"Just do it!"
He swore, but he moved. He shoved the survivors together, dragging them behind broken stone, herding them like frightened animals. His burned arm shook violently with every step, but he didn't stop.
The beast's attention flicked toward them.
Good.
Because I was still here.
✦
I lunged. Shadows coiled around my legs, propelling me upward. For a heartbeat, I was weightless, hanging in the glow of its molten gaze.
The dragon's claw swung, black and crimson scales flashing. I ducked beneath it, the air splitting as it tore past me. I drove the Inkblade into its chest with all my strength.
The impact was thunder. Scales shattered. Black fire burst outward, racing across its body like veins of rot. The beast shrieked, staggering back. Its wings unfurled, beating against the air with such force the plaza cracked beneath us.
Its flames sputtered mid-breath, twisted unnaturally, half-swallowed before they even left its throat.
The Inkblade laughed inside me, louder than before.
"…yes… more… let me drink deeper…"
It wanted everything. And for a moment—so did I.
✦
"Reed!"
The shout cut through the haze. Dev's voice, raw, desperate.
I blinked, vision swimming. The world had gone dim at the edges. The whispers pressed tighter, urging me to let go, to surrender completely.
"…devour… claim… no dawn will chain you…"
I gritted my teeth and ripped the blade free. The beast reeled back, molten blood spilling across the stone. It hissed, smoke curling from its wound.
That was when I saw her.
The girl. She had moved. Her crowbar arced through the air, spinning end over end. It struck the beast's eye with a sickening crunch.
The weapon barely pierced, but it was enough.
The beast shrieked, thrashing violently, tail smashing into the ground. The shockwave knocked me to my knees.
And then—another sound.
A hollow thunk.
The boy had swung his crutch against the beast's foot. Utterly useless. Except it wasn't. Because the beast turned, molten gaze locking on the small, defiant figure below it.
Even the old man, hands trembling, had picked up a stone and hurled it. It bounced harmlessly against scale, but he had done it.
Pathetic, desperate, laughable acts.
And yet, together, they mattered.
The system pulsed.
[ Survivor Contribution Recorded. ][ Trust Value Increased. ]
I froze. The system had acknowledged them.
The forgotten weren't baggage anymore.
✦
The beast roared again, raising its claw high. Shadows of death stretched across the survivors. One blow would be enough.
"No!" I roared, shadows surging. They rose thicker, darker than ever, swallowing the firelight. The Inkblade blazed black in my hand, burning even the shadows around it.
The whispers screamed like a chorus of mad gods.
"…devour its heart… claim its flame… anchor unbroken… no dawn… no gods… only you…"
I leapt. The world narrowed to the arc of my blade.
And I struck.
Black light split the plaza.
The beast shrieked, molten blood spraying gold across the stone. Shadows tore into its chest, into its core.
And for the first time—The beast stumbled.
The beast staggered.
Its molten chest split open, cracks glowing like fault lines of a dying star. Shadows crawled through the wounds, devouring the fire from within. The plaza, once a ruin of ash and heat, trembled under the weight of the clash.
The Inkblade pulsed in my hand, drinking deep, laughing louder.
"…heart breaking… marrow mine… the fire bows…"
I gritted my teeth. The whispers weren't just in my head anymore—they pressed into my bones, into my breath, like the blade was fusing with me. Each pulse crawled higher up my arm, into my shoulder.
If I let go now… would the sword even leave my hand?
✦
The survivors were screaming. Not just from fear of the beast, but of me.
The boy clutched his mother's leg, eyes wide as he pointed. "The sword—it's eating him—"
The old man backed away. His voice shook, broken, but still loud enough to cut through the chaos. "I told you! I told you he's no man! That thing—he'll devour us too!"
"Shut up!" the girl snapped, planting herself between the others and the beast. Her crowbar was gone, her weapon lost in the dragon's eye, but she didn't falter. "He's fighting for us! If you can't see that, then keep your damn mouth shut!"
The mother didn't move. Her eyes never left me, gaze sharp and unreadable. She held her son close, but her voice was quiet. "If he loses control, none of this will matter."
Dev clenched his burned arm, sweat dripping down his jaw. He shouted at them, at me, at the world. "Then don't let him lose control!"
✦
The beast's tail whipped forward. I barely raised the Inkblade in time. The impact cracked stone, sent shockwaves splitting through the plaza.
I flew backward, slammed into the remnants of a broken statue. My lungs screamed for air, blood burning in my throat.
The whispers coiled tighter.
"…weak… fragile flesh… let us take more… surrender, and the dragon's marrow is yours…"
The Inkblade wanted control.
No—more than that. It wanted me.
I pressed the blade to the ground, forcing myself upright. My vision swam, heat and shadow blurring until I could barely tell where I ended and the blade began.
The beast roared again, but it wasn't the same. Its voice was raw, ragged, the sound of something being eaten alive from the inside.
Black fire spread from its chest wound, racing across its body. Its wings twitched violently, one tearing as shadows devoured the sinew.
The forgotten gasped.
The boy whispered, "He's… he's winning…"
The old man shook his head. "No. Look at him. Look at it. We'll be next."
[ Trust Value Shaken. ]
The system's warning nearly broke my focus.
Damn it. They weren't wrong. I could feel it too—the line blurring, slipping.
If I win like this, do I lose anyway?
✦
The beast struck again, claw tearing down like a guillotine. I raised the Inkblade, shadows rising in a wall. The impact shattered the plaza beneath us, stone splitting into rivers of molten cracks.
The whispers screamed louder, drowning everything else.
"…finish it… heart… flame… destiny waits… anchor eternal…"
I lunged. The shadows carried me higher, faster. I drove the blade toward its chest again—
—and froze.
The girl was still there.
Not hiding. Not running. She stood in the open, blood streaking her forehead, hands empty. Her voice cut through the chaos, cutting straight to me.
"Reed!" she shouted. "Don't let it take you! Don't let them win!"
Them. The whispers. The system. The chains of the trial.
Her words struck harder than the beast's claws.
✦
The Inkblade screamed, furious at hesitation.
"…we are you… you are us… no dawn… no anchor… only hunger…"
I clenched my jaw, blood dripping down my lip. "Shut. Up."
The shadows faltered, but only for a heartbeat. Enough. Enough to remind me the blade wasn't invincible. That I wasn't just a vessel.
I wasn't.
✦
The beast lunged, molten blood spraying, body cracking under the weight of the shadows tearing it apart.
I surged forward one last time, driving the blade through its chest with every ounce of strength I had left.
Black light split the plaza.
The whispers reached a crescendo, screaming triumph, hunger, eternity—
And then silence.
The beast convulsed, body splitting apart as shadows tore through its core. Its molten heart flared once, golden fire bursting outward, before the Inkblade swallowed it whole.
The dragon collapsed. Stone shattered beneath its weight. The plaza fell quiet, save for the hiss of molten blood cooling in black veins across the ground.
✦
I staggered, the Inkblade trembling in my grip. My chest burned, my vision fading. The whispers were quieter, but not gone. Never gone.
The survivors slowly rose from behind cover. The boy stared at me, mouth open in awe. The girl wiped blood from her face, eyes wide but steady. The mother held her son tighter.
The old man whispered, "Not human…"
But the system cut across his words.
[ Beast of Ashes Defeated. ][ Survivor Cohesion Stabilized. ][ Trust Value Increased. ]
The survivors… had contributed. The system had seen it. They mattered.
I almost laughed. Almost.
✦
Dev limped forward, burned arm hanging limp, his face pale but his voice firm. "Reed… you still in there?"
I looked down at the Inkblade. Its surface writhed with black veins, still pulsing, still whispering.
I tightened my grip.
"Mostly."
The whispers chuckled in my head.
"…for now…"