The forest reeked of blood and smoke. Ash clung to Ragnar's tongue, and every sound cut too sharp, like the world itself was on edge. He staggered back, chest tight, muscles ready to snap, eyes darting between the three sect heirs that circled him like wolves.
Each heir burned with the brilliance of awakened Laws. One strode in a storm of crackling lightning, each footstep hissing with violent sparks. Another carried a fortress of earth, stone plates fusing with flesh until he looked carved from a mountain. The last heir moved like the wind itself, his outline warping with invisible blades sharp enough to split the air.
They were heirs of power, sons of sects and clans that had raised them on pills, treasures, and bloodline secrets. Their arrogance wasn't emptyit was inherited.
And him?
Ragnar's throat tightened. No divine aura. No radiant Law. Only the cursed shadow that had clung to him since childhood, writhing at his heels like a chain he couldn't shake.
"Law Thief!" the lightning heir snarled, sparks dancing across his arm. "Xu Yan's Law vanished the moment you touched him. That is forbidden!"
The earth heir's lips curled in disdain. "Doesn't matter what trick he used. Kill him. Whoever takes his head earns ten thousand spirit stones."
Ten thousand. Ragnar's stomach twisted. That was more than his starving village could ever dream of in a hundred lifetimes. In their eyes, he wasn't a man—he was a walking treasure chest.
There would be no mercy.
Run, instinct screamed. But the shadow's voice crawled into his mind, low and hungry.
Stop running. Devour them.
"No…" Ragnar muttered, his jaw trembling, hands shaking violently. He had never killed before. Never crossed that line.
The lightning heir lunged, fist blazing with thunder.
The world blurred.
From beneath Ragnar's feet, the shadow burst forth. Black claws tore through soil, slicing armor and flesh like parchment. They skewered the lightning heir's chest and lifted him into the air like a broken doll. His eyes bulged, mouth opening in a scream that collapsed into a wet gurgle. Blood sprayed, only to be sucked into the darkness below.
Lightning sputtered, then died. The boy's body fell limp and vanished into the black abyss.
Ragnar froze, horror clawing up his throat. He hadn't chosen. He hadn't moved. Yet the blood was his. His first kill—taken without consent.
Then came the voice in his skull, cold and metallic:
[ Law Fragment: Lightning Fist — Acquired. ]
[ Fusion Detected: Shadow + Lightning = Shadowlight Step. ]
Power exploded inside him, cold and burning all at once. Darkness coiled around his legs, lightning laced through the shadows like veins of living thunder.
And in an instant—
He vanished.
The two remaining heirs staggered back, eyes wide, terror shattering their arrogance.
"He stole it again!"
"Impossible! Laws can't be taken!"
Ragnar reappeared behind them, gasping, his body trembling from the unfamiliar speed. His hands flickered with shadow and lightning, arcs of black thunder dancing across his skin.
Monster.
The word rang louder than any system prompt. Maybe they were right. Maybe he was something that should never exist.
The earth trembled. A suffocating pressure crashed down from the treeline, so heavy the air itself seemed to freeze. The two heirs collapsed to their knees, faces pale, their Laws quivering like candle flames in a storm.
Ragnar turned, dread freezing his blood.
An elder stepped forward. His robes gleamed with sect insignia, every thread woven with power. His face was lined with fury, eyes sharp enough to pierce bone. His aura rolled out like a tidal wave, flattening the forest, bending branches, crushing lungs.
"You," the elder spat, his voice cracking like thunder. "You dare break the Laws of Heaven? You dare defile the Dao itself?"
He raised a trembling hand, veins bulging with rage.
"A Law Abomination!"
The words slammed into Ragnar harder than any strike. His knees wavered. His chest seized. The world itself seemed to recoil from him.
The elder's killing intent pressed against his skin like knives. Ragnar's shadow writhed at his back, whispering, urging, begging him to flee. His body screamed to run. But his legs would not move.
The elder's palm rose, gathering force that made the heavens dim.
"Die where you stand."
The shadow pulsed. Ragnar's heart hammered. The air warped.
The elder's strike fell
and the world itself seemed to stop.