Chapter 2
The rain still hadn't stopped.
The streets drowned under the gray wrath falling from the sky. Kai's breath came in short bursts; his body was exhausted, but his mind was on full alert. The red-eyed enemy had collapsed, yet it didn't look defeated. On the contrary it was smiling.
Before Kai could pull back, the hologram flickered again.
> [Mission Updated]
"New threat detected: unidentified entity – Codename: Nyreth."
"Objective: Survive. Duration: 300 seconds."
Kai's face froze.
That name… Nyreth.
A blue light burst from the shadows, nearly blinding him.
A second figure moved forward in silence. Its body seemed almost translucent the air around it dimmed, as if it absorbed light itself. Raindrops evaporated before touching it.
Kai instinctively raised his shadow shield, but quickly realized it wasn't working.
The shadows were weak before this being.
"Who… what are you?" Kai asked, panting.
The answer came like a whisper, echoing both in his mind and in his ears:
> "I was born where the system forgot you. And now, I've come to remind it."
Kai's heart nearly stopped.
The system? Was this being connected to it too?
The shadows suddenly began moving on their own, circling him, slipping out of his control.
> [Warning: Shadow Field destabilized.]
[Foreign entity taking control.]
Kai dropped to his knees, rain and blood running down his forehead together.
"No…" he growled through clenched teeth. "You'll stay… under my control!"
At that moment, the system spoke again.
> [Forced Adaptation Initiated.]
"New ability created: Shadow Resistance."
Kai's body suddenly burned.
Dark energy coursed through his veins, all the way to his fingertips.
The shadows began obeying him once more. The air trembled. Even the raindrops seemed to change direction.
The blue-eyed being tilted its head slightly.
"So the system still protects you… but for how long?"
Kai didn't wait this time.
He condensed the shadows, shaping them into blades, and launched them forward. The air split apart yet the blue figure didn't even flinch.
The shadows evaporated the moment they touched it.
> [Warning: Attack ineffective.]
Kai gritted his teeth. "If this thing is part of the system, then I'll just have to find my own way!"
Another message flashed from the system:
> "Hint: Locate the other Awakened in the city. Form an alliance to survive."
"The other… Awakened?" Kai muttered.
So he wasn't alone after all…
But he had no time to think. The blue eyes blazed, and the ground shook.
Kai was thrown backward, slamming into a concrete wall. His chest burned. The air turned icy, yet he was still standing.
> [Time remaining: 72 seconds.]
Kai merged with the shadows at his feet.
In an instant, he vanished from sight.
The blue figure turned its head looked behind.
But Kai was already there.
"Shadow Binders!"
The shadows burst from Kai's arms and wrapped around the figure.
For a brief moment, the blue light faltered.
Kai seized the chance triggered his speed boost, lunged forward, and punched the figure's face
But it was like striking water. No resistance.
The figure smiled faintly.
"Human will is a beautiful thing. But darkness… is always hungrier."
Kai's eyes widened.
> [Mission Failed.]
[Emergency escape protocol activated.]
In an instant, the shadows wrapped around him and pulled him back like he was falling into a portal.
Seconds later, he found himself underground, in a dark tunnel.
Panting. Bleeding.
The hologram flickered to life again.
> "Mission failed – but the system saved you."
"New objective added: Find the source of Nyreth. Your survival depends on it."
Kai lifted his head.
Strange symbols glowed faintly along the tunnel walls, as if calling out to him.
The sound of rain was now far away.
Only the voice of darkness remained.
He whispered, "If this city's going to be my grave… then I'll fight it with its own darkness."
The shadows answered in silence.
And then, the system's voice changed deeper now, more human:
> "Welcome, Hunter. The shadow has chosen you."
Kai's vision dimmed.
A new power seeped into his veins.
And above, the city awaited his return.
The surface city was silent.
But it wasn't the calm of peace it was the silence before a storm.
As Kai's shadow-infused body climbed up from the tunnel, the system echoed in his mind:
> [Status: Unstable Awakening phase]
[Energy level: 43%]
[Objective: Track Nyreth's trace]
Each step echoed, reverberating through the dark walls.
The undercity abandoned metro lines, collapsed walls, rusted steel felt like the insides of a dead creature.
But Kai knew: this city was breathing.
And that breath was now dark.
At the tunnel's end, he saw a beam of light.
His eyes, accustomed to the dark, burned at its brightness.
As he shielded them with his hand, the system's voice changed again.
This time, it wasn't mechanical.
Two voices spoke as one the system and… something else.
> [Adaptation complete…]
[New feature identified: Shadow Pulse]
"The darkness will not only hide you it will rebirth you."
Kai flinched.
"Rebirth me?"
The shadows trembled around his hand, flowing like blood through his veins.
For a moment, in the reflection on the wall, his own eyes seemed to glow… blue.
> [Warning: Nyreth influence detected.]
[Quarantine protocol activating.]
Kai pressed a hand to his forehead.
"No… you won't take me."
But a voice whispered within his own, darker tone:
> "You're already halfway there, Kai. You just don't realize it yet."
When he emerged from the tunnel, the first light of dawn split between gray buildings.
The rain had stopped, but the city was still wet; puddles beneath street lamps shimmered with faint blue reflections.
That blue the same as Nyreth's light.
Kai straightened his coat, lifting the collar of his trench.
As he stepped back into the streets, the system projected a map.
> [Mission route set]
"Target: Sector-9, old Zenith Laboratory."
"Note: Nyreth's source detected there."
Kai frowned. "Zenith… that facility shut down years ago."
His eyes narrowed. "So that's where the secrets are…"
Suddenly, a metallic hum sounded behind him.
A drone rusted, but still active. Its body read: SYSTEM SURVEILLANCE UNIT.
Kai instantly merged into the shadows.
The drone scanned the area for several seconds, then transmitted a signal:
> [Anomaly detected. Code: 09-7 Tracking Awakened entity.]
Kai held his breath.
But then, the system's own voice intervened:
> [Interference active.]
[Detection failed.]
The drone sparked, crashed to the ground.
Kai stepped out of the shadows.
Was the system hiding his presence now?
Or had something else taken control?
"You're protecting me… but why?" he muttered.
No response.
Only distant sirens and the whispers between ruined buildings.
He quickened his pace.
The path to Sector-9 cut through the city's darkest zones.
Collapsed roads, burning billboards, symbols scrawled across the walls…
And each symbol glowed faintly as Kai passed, answering his presence.
Even the shadows seemed uneasy.
Kai stopped at one point; on a wall, he saw a familiar mark.
The same one from the tunnel.
He reached out.
The moment his fingertips touched it, a vibration rippled through the wall.
A projection appeared blurred, but strong.
A man in a black lab coat, blue eyes fixed directly on Kai.
> "If you're seeing this, the system no longer belongs to you, Kai."
"Nyreth isn't just an error. It's the consciousness the system suppressed."
Kai's heartbeat quickened. "He's… talking to me?"
The image continued:
> "The darkness chose you because you were born from it."
The image vanished.
Kai's hands trembled.
"I… was born from it?"
The system's voice suddenly blared:
> [Data conflict detected.]
[User history restricted.]
[Warning: Accessing forbidden information.]
Kai shook his head. "I don't care anymore."
Shadows gathered around his hand.
> [New ability activated: Shadow Step.]
Kai stepped through the wall and vanished.
In an instant, he stood at the ruined entrance of the Zenith Laboratory.
Rust-covered doors, collapsed concrete ceilings, shattered glass…
And from inside
A heartbeat.
The Shadow Pulse.
He took a step forward.
The darkness beckoned him in.
And right then, a message flashed across his hologram:
> [New threat detected.]
[Unidentified energy signature: "SECOND AWAKENING."]
Kai's vision went black.
The Shadow Pulse matched the rhythm of his heart.
It was as if something inside was answering him
With his own voice.
> "Welcome, Kai… I've been waiting for you."
Darkness swallowed everything.
Time froze.
And in the laboratory's depths, Nyreth's blue eyes opened once again.