Darkness.
And pain.
A man lay on the ground, broken and barely breathing. His breaths were uneven, yet a strange obsession burned in his eyes.
He laughed.
A weak, shattered laugh.
"Maybe… I was the strongest," he muttered.
"Or maybe… I only believed I was."
His fingers trembled.
"But this won't happen again."
He closed his eyes and gathered what little strength he had left, one final time.
"O god who governs time…
O spirit of time…"
His voice faded into a whisper.
"I beg you… grant me rebirth in another world.
I will remain indebted to you forever."
With his words, time itself seemed to stop.
Then, the scene changed.
Another man.
Another world.
His eyes were filled with exhaustion. Deep, unbearable exhaustion.
"I just wanted… a normal life," he said to the empty room.
"But even here… I couldn't have that."
His eyes slowly closed.
"Maybe… in the next life…"
His voice dissolved into silence.
And then—
darkness.
A strange, hidden place.
Where there was no sky, and no ground.
A body lay there.
Lines of light suddenly ignited around it.
Abruptly, the body sat up.
"What… is happening?"
He grabbed his head.
"So much pain… why does my body feel so heavy?"
Panting, he looked around.
"Wait…"
His eyes widened.
"Am I… Raijin?"
The pain eased slightly.
He took a deep breath and began to think.
"In my previous life… I cast a spell."
"Is that why I'm here?"
Then he froze.
"Hold on…"
His expression hardened.
"The body I'm in… its name is Raijin too?"
And then—
another shock.
"And… a third soul as well?"
Pain surged through his head again.
Memories of three lives crashed into his mind all at once.
One—
Raijin, Sora's friend.
Second—
Raijin from a modern world, a man crushed by life.
Third—
himself.
Slowly, the truth became clear.
Sora's friend—
his soul was almost destroyed.
Only one emotion remained.
Revenge.
The soul from the modern world—
it couldn't endure this body either.
It slowly faded away.
He closed his eyes.
"So… only I remain now."
A faint smile appeared.
"Thank you, my friend."
"You were betrayed… just like I was."
His voice turned cold.
"Your revenge… I'll carry it out."
Then—
the pain returned.
He clutched his head and groaned.
"No… not yet…"
He sensed it.
A consciousness.
Dormant, deep in sleep.
The real Raijin.
"So that means…"
he murmured.
"There are two of us… in one body."
Two-in-one.
But for now—
control belonged to him.
He looked around.
"First… I need to get out of here."
"I need to hide."
"And I need to reclaim my old powers."
He moved forward.
And as soon as he stepped outside—
"Wait…"
He looked down.
"Was I inside some kind of ruins?"
He shook his head.
"That doesn't matter right now."
He tried to cover his body.
"I need clothes… and a safe place."
The next moment, he ran toward the forest.
In the darkness.
One body.
Two wills.
And a revenge—
capable of shaking the entire world.
In a secret city of the north, deep beneath the ground, there existed a massive chamber built of stone and metal. It lay far beyond the reach of ordinary people. The organization seated there was known to the world as the Aegis Covenant, but only to those deemed worthy of knowing.
At the center of the circular chamber stood a colossal crystal array, recording the fluctuations of the Ethereal Nexus.
Suddenly—
The entire chamber shook.
The crystal flared violently, as if time itself had been struck. In that same instant, not just here… but across the entire world, something happened.
An unknown pressure pressed against every human's chest.
Breathing grew heavy for a brief moment.
Hearts pounded as if a warning had been sounded.
This was not an attack.
It was an SOS.
Sweat formed on the brows of the Aegis Covenant members.
"This… this pressure…"
"Not just ordinary people… even we can feel it."
A senior member spoke with a trembling voice.
"Lord must be feeling it too."
Another swallowed hard.
"And everyone who knows the truth of the Nexus… all of them."
Across the world, heads of noble houses, ancient warriors, secret organizations—
all felt the same emotion rise at once.
Unease.
Someone whispered,
"This isn't the sign of an awakening…"
"It's the sign of something… that should never have awakened."
An image appeared within the crystal.
A name.
Raijin.
Complete silence filled the chamber.
"Three souls…"
"Then two…"
"And now an existence outside the rules."
The leader of the Aegis Covenant spoke,
"Observation will continue."
"But remember… if it stabilizes completely, it won't seek only revenge."
At that very moment, inside the castle—
Sora suddenly staggered.
A sharp burning sensation erupted within his Nexus Seed.
This wasn't just a feeling.
It was fear.
His heart pounded violently, as if something was gripping him from the inside.
Cold sweat covered his forehead.
"No…"
His voice trembled.
Raijin's face appeared in his mind—but this time, it was different.
Not empty…
but heavy.
For the first time, Sora truly felt fear.
A fear that no sword could cut through.
As he stepped back, a thought surfaced.
"If he were truly gone…"
"Then why does this pressure exist?"
Even the air around him felt frozen.
One of Lord's tails twitched slightly.
His eyes narrowed.
"It has awakened," he said in a deep voice.
"And it's announcing its existence to the world."
Sora's throat went dry.
For the first time, a thought crossed his mind—
Was what he did… a mistake?
And far away, deep within a dense forest—
Raijin opened his eyes.
At that very moment, the pressure covering the world slowly faded, as if the message had been delivered.
He held his head.
A faint, dangerous smile formed on his lips.
"So everyone felt it…"
There was no longer just anger in his eyes.
There was awareness.
"Fear has begun,"
he whispered.
Somewhere deep inside him, another voice murmured—
Revenge.
And the world, which believed it understood everything…
was trembling for the first time.
Thank you for reading this chapter.
Author: Mohammad Zaid Saifi