Zigrid and Hades emerged from the cave, their footsteps echoing in the silence of the night. The moon was half full, pouring a pale light on the twisted trees that surrounded the place. The air was cold, biting the skin, and the darkness was so dense it felt as though the world itself was holding its breath, waiting for what was to come.
Hades, his features tense and his mind flooded with questions, repeated his inquiry with a tone mixed with unease and impatience:
"Where exactly are we going?"
Zigrid turned slowly, his ember-like eyes glowing in the darkness like burning coal. A faint smile curved his lips, offering no comfort, as he replied:
"I will show you… the Mana Zone."
He fell silent for a moment, as though his words alone had caused the air to tremble. Hades' heart raced, caught between excitement and dread. That technique he had not stopped thinking about since he saw Oungan use it… at last, he would uncover its secret.
But before he could respond, a thunderous roar tore through the silence from between the trees, shaking the earth beneath their feet. The darkness split open to reveal a colossal beast—a wolf of terrifying size, unlike anything Hades had ever seen. Its body was as massive as a bull's, its dark gray fur rippling like smoke, and from its head sprouted enormous twisted horns that cut through the air like demonic weapons. Its eyes blazed with scarlet fury, burning with hunger and rage.
Zigrid spoke calmly, as though the sight was hardly worth reacting to:
"This will suffice."
Hades stepped back, watching the beast breathe like a volcano on the verge of eruption. He raised his voice in bewilderment:
"And what is the point of fighting this thing?!"
But Zigrid did not answer. He simply extended his left hand, gripping Hades tightly, his grasp as cold as ice:
"Do not stray from me."
Then, in a sudden movement, he plunged his right hand into his own chest.
Hades shouted in shock:
"What the hell are you doing?!"
Yet Zigrid did not turn to him. Instead, a dark smile spread across his face as he whispered words dripping with dread:
"The Mana Zone… Tartarus Prison."
---
Suddenly, the air around them shattered like a black mirror breaking into shards. Each fragment fell and dissolved into the void, as though the real world itself was being torn from its roots.
The sky transformed; it was no longer a sky, but an endless expanse covered in colossal chains stretching in every direction—horizontal, vertical, slanted—chains unbreakable, as if binding the universe itself.
The ground was no longer ground; it became a fractured abyss, shards of dark rock floating in midair, glowing with veins of violet magma flowing like the arteries of hell.
The air was filled with eternal screams. They had no source, yet came from everywhere… and from nowhere. Were they human? Beasts? Tormented souls? Hades could not tell, but he felt them piercing his bones, shaking his very soul.
And the horizon… there was no horizon. No walls, no limits—only an endless fall into absolute, bottomless darkness.
Hades froze, his body trembling despite himself. He looked at Zigrid beside him, but found only deadly calm on his features.
The beast staggered back two steps, its heavy breaths now uneven, its eyes widening with unnatural terror. Yet it let out a furious roar and charged at Zigrid in madness.
Each step it took grew heavier. It seemed as if the ground itself clung to it, as though the void devoured its strength piece by piece.
Hades (voice trembling):
"It's… it's weakening…!"
Zigrid raised his hand, his voice cutting through the marrow like ice:
"This is the Tartarus Prison. Here… even beasts are chained."
---
The beast leapt with immense force, its claws stretching to tear everything apart. But the ground betrayed it. Suddenly, massive chains erupted from the void, black and gleaming with violet light. They pierced its four limbs and yanked them apart, suspending its body in the air.
The beast howled wildly, its cries ripping through the darkness, only to be answered by other screams echoing from the depths. Hades covered his ears, but the wails rattled his soul from within.
The creature struggled, straining its bonds with all its strength, but every movement drove the chains deeper into its flesh. Black blood spilled from its body, dripping into the void where it evaporated like smoke.
Zigrid advanced with steady steps, his eyes blazing. Slowly he raised his hand, and with every motion the chains tightened further, binding the beast until it was utterly powerless.
The cries suddenly fell silent. Then… the beast's body began to disintegrate. First its horns, then its limbs, then its whole frame. Each piece crumbled into black ash, scattering with strangled screams before the void carried it away into nothingness.
---
Silence reigned. The only sound was Hades' ragged breathing.
He stood rooted to the spot, his eyes wide at the horror he had just witnessed. His heart pounded violently, a storm of terror and awe consuming him.
Then he burst into laughter, short but laced with disbelief:
"Magnificent…! This… this is unbelievable!"
Zigrid did not smile, but spoke with coldness:
"What you saw was nothing but a shadow of its true power. The Mana Zone is not merely a battlefield… it is a reshaping of existence itself, bent to the will of its wielder."
He stepped closer to Hades, placing a hand on his shoulder, his ember-like eyes burning into his depths:
"But remember, boy… the Mana Zone is a double-edged blade. Those who unleash it without absolute control… imprison themselves before they imprison their enemy."
Hades swallowed hard, trying to hide his trembling. Inside him raged an endless conflict: the dread of what he had seen, and a blazing desire to wield such power.
He whispered to himself:
"I will reach it… no matter the cost."
Zigrid turned away, the chains still glimmering in the sky before gradually fading, restoring the real world. The forest returned, the night returned, the moon still hung above—as if nothing had happened.
But Hades knew… that something immense had changed within him.