The battlefield still smoked.
Ash clung to my skin, mixing with the blood dripping steadily from my wounds. The knight's armor had melted into black dust. The Murim warrior's qi lingered faintly in the air, dispersing like mist. The Abyss-shadow was nothing but fading whispers.
All gone.
But the thread remained.
✦
The crimson line pulsed ahead, brighter now, beating like a heart. Each pulse sent tremors through the broken stone, like the world itself was breathing.
It wanted me to follow.
No—it needed me to.
The system's leash.
The gods' amusement.
And my only path forward.
✦
I adjusted Arjun's ember against my chest. The faint light flickered, still weak, but steady.
Alive.
That was all that mattered.
My legs shook as I forced myself up, the Inkblade heavy in my grip. Shadows curled lazily from it, purring in satisfaction after the feast of predators.
"…and still it pulls you deeper… do you not see, fracture? This isn't a path… it's a noose…"
I spat blood, grinning through split lips.
"Then I'll make sure it chokes them, not me."
The blade laughed, low and hungry.
✦
I began walking.
The ruins shifted with every step, walls rising, corridors forming, guiding me along the crimson thread. The forest loomed closer, qi shimmering between trunks. The Abyss's fissures pulsed faintly in the distance, smoke curling upward.
All three realms still pressed against each other here, unstable, raw.
And the thread ran straight through the center of it.
A fault line.
A fracture.
✦
Fracture Sense flickered behind my eyes.
The world split into threads again—white cords straining across walls, crimson cracks spiderwebbing through the ground, tangled knots glowing faintly in the air.
And the crimson path wasn't just a thread.
It was the thickest cord of all.
Binding the realms together.
Pulling them tighter.
I clenched my jaw.
If it snapped…
Everything would collapse.
✦
The system's voice rang suddenly, sharp and cold.
[ Scenario update: Crimson Path identified. ][ Objective: Reach the end of the fracture. ][ Penalty for refusal: Forced convergence. ]
I barked out a laugh, bitter and raw.
"Of course."
It wasn't giving me a choice.
It never did.
✦
The Inkblade stirred, amused.
"…reach the end, it says… but do you know what waits there? Another leash. Another chain. Another game for gods…"
"Maybe."
I tightened my grip, shadows curling tighter around my arm.
"But maybe it's also where I cut the script again."
The blade hummed, pleased.
"…then let us see what breaks first—the path, or you…"
✦
I stumbled onward, every step a battle against blood loss, every breath a ragged rasp. My wounds burned, my ribs ground together, my vision tilted.
But I kept moving.
Because stopping wasn't an option.
Not anymore.
Not with gods watching.
Not with Arjun's ember still pulsing in my arms.
Not with the crimson path pulling me forward.
✦
The air grew heavier the further I went. The ruins thickened, forest qi bled through the walls, Abyss-smoke curled across the ground.
And with every pulse of the crimson thread, I felt it—
Eyes.
Not gods this time.
Something else.
Something closer.
Predators hadn't been the end.
They'd been the beginning.
✦
I stopped, blood dripping onto stone, and raised the Inkblade.
"Alright," I muttered, shadows curling around me. "Who's next?"
The crimson thread pulsed once.
Twice.
And the ground split.
The ground split like glass under my feet.
Crimson light bled from the cracks, not faint this time—searing, alive, pulsing with a rhythm that rattled my bones. The thread ahead didn't just pull anymore.
It dragged.
✦
I staggered forward, clutching Arjun's ember tighter against me. The faint glow flickered as if struggling to breathe.
"Stay with me," I muttered.
The ember pulsed weakly in answer.
The Inkblade quivered, shadows lashing in excitement.
"…ah… deeper… closer… the marrow of the fracture… do you feel it, fracture? This is no path. This is a wound."
"A wound big enough to bleed worlds."
The blade laughed low.
"…then what bleeds also breaks…"
✦
The ruins warped as I moved. Walls twisted, collapsing into forest, forest dissolving into Abyss, Abyss splitting back into stone. Each step carried me through another realm's carcass, stitched together by the crimson cord beneath my feet.
Fracture Sense burned in my vision.
The threads here weren't subtle. They screamed.
White cords knotted until they cracked. Crimson fractures bled light across every surface. Entire planes overlapped, unstable, vibrating like stretched strings.
And the thick cord ahead was the anchor.
The only thing holding this chaos together.
If I cut it—
No.
Not yet.
✦
The system's voice thundered, louder than before.
[ Objective confirmed: The Prey must reach the Fracture's Core. ][ Warning: Predators are watching. ][ Penalty for delay: Collapse. ]
I spat blood, grinning bitterly.
"Of course they are."
✦
The air shifted.
From the forest, qi surged. Murim warriors stepped forward—not fractured ghosts this time, but echoes of masters, their stances perfect, their eyes calm.
From the ruins, knights emerged—not rusted, but whole, banners of kingdoms long dead snapping behind them.
From the Abyss fissures, shadows crawled, condensed and sharpened, their mouths whispering in perfect unison.
Dozens of them.
Hundreds.
A wall of predators.
All blocking the crimson path.
✦
The Inkblade howled with laughter, shadows surging eagerly.
"…yes… yes! Do you see? They gather not to hunt you—but to guard what lies at the end… because they know if you reach it, you will break it…"
I clenched my grip tighter, forcing my legs to steady.
Blood soaked my side, my ribs screamed, my arms trembled.
But I raised the blade anyway.
Because I wasn't here to turn back.
✦
The system pulsed again, cold and merciless.
[ Scenario escalation: Siege phase initiated. ][ Survive against the gathered predators. ][ Optional: Break through to the Core. ]
Optional.
It always said optional.
But there was never a choice.
✦
The first wave surged forward. Knights in gleaming armor, blades blazing green fire. Murim duelists cutting arcs of qi through the air. Abyss-shadows crawling low, claws scraping sparks from the stone.
I exhaled, shadows curling up my arm.
And whispered:
"Come, then. Let's see how many I can cut before I fall."
✦
The clash was immediate.
Steel slammed against shadows, qi burned into my skin, claws tore into my flesh. My body screamed with every movement, but Fracture Sense burned brighter.
Threads snapped with every strike.
Armor shattered where crimson fractures glowed.Stances faltered where white cords strained.Shadows unraveled where tangled knots bled light.
Every predator I felled dissolved into sparks, but more surged forward, endless.
Blood poured down my side. My vision swam.
Still, I fought.
Because forward was the only direction.
Because the crimson path still pulsed.
Because the Core was waiting.
✦
I staggered, cutting another knight down, his armor dissolving into ash. My knees buckled, my lungs burned, my arm nearly gave out.
And then I saw it.
Far ahead, past the wall of predators.
A sphere of light.
Crimson, massive, pulsing like a heart.
The Fracture's Core.
✦
The Inkblade screamed with delight, shadows writhing wildly.
"…yes… there it is… the marrow of the script… the heart of the wound… cut it, fracture… cut it, and even gods will tremble…"
I pressed Arjun's ember closer to my chest, gritting my teeth, blood dripping into the dirt.
Not yet.
But soon.
I lifted the blade again.
And stepped forward.