Clang! Clang! Boom! Crash!
The sounds echoed across the training ground like thunder.
I was getting my ass handed to me by the commander. Every swing of his blade sent shockwaves through my arms, rattling my bones, shaking my whole body to its core.
He was a monster. A league above me. I couldn't even follow his movements only the blur of steel and the crushing weight of his strikes. I wasn't fighting him with skill, not really. I was surviving on instinct alone.
Bruises spread across my arms, cuts burned across my skin, and blood trickled down my side. Yet he didn't slow, and neither did I.
Every clash, every desperate parry, every failed dodge my body was adapting. I could feel it. The pain was sharpening me, carving something new into my muscles, forcing my reflexes to bend toward survival.
But it wasn't enough. His overwhelming power erased every scrap of progress I made. What good was recognizing a pattern if my body couldn't keep up? What use was adapting if I couldn't even graze him?
Each time I blocked, my sword arm screamed, my body trembled as if it would snap apart. But I refused to let go.
This is it. This is my chance. Even if my body breaks, even if my bones shatter I won't stop. This pain, this humiliation it's the fastest path forward. I won't waste it.
I clenched my teeth, raised my sword again, and charged
The clash was brutal.
Commander's blade met mine, and in the very next instant, I was sent flying to the side like a rag doll. My arms shook from the impact, my ribs screaming as I rolled across the ground. Before I could even push myself up, a shadow loomed over me.
The commander was already there.
His sword descended in a clean, merciless arc aimed straight for my chest.
My instincts roared. I raised my blade, channeling every drop of aura I could muster. The steel vibrated as his strike crashed against mine, the force heavy enough to split stone.
Sparks burst between us. My arms buckled, legs nearly giving out under the weight pressing down on me. For a heartbeat, it felt as if my blade would snap, as if I would be crushed beneath the power of that single strike.
But I held.
Aura flared across the length of my sword, a faint glow trembling at the edge of collapse. My teeth clenched as sweat poured down my face.
I had stopped his blade.
Even if only barely.
His blade pressed down on mine, forcing me to the ground. I gritted my teeth, my arms trembling as I tried to stop his strike. For a moment, I thought I had managed until his right leg shot forward like a hammer.
Crack.
The kick slammed into my ribs, and the world spun as I was thrown to the side. Agony tore through my chest. Blood filled my throat and I spat it onto the dirt. A few ribs were broken. I could barely breathe.
The commander stepped forward, his expression unreadable. Without a word, he uncorked a vial and pressed it into my hand. The liquid inside shimmered faintly mid-rank healing potion.
I tilted my head back and swallowed every drop. A fire spread through my veins, burning, stitching me back together. My ribs snapped into place, bruises vanished, cuts sealed as if they were never there. Within seconds, I felt whole again refreshed, stronger, almost eager.
I rose to my feet.
And we fought again.
This time, I wasn't just surviving I was adapting. His movements, his patterns, the rhythm of his strikes… my Origin Eyes were slowly unraveling them. My body moved on its own, dodging, countering, clashing. Instinct was beginning to take over.
Of course, before Commander Arvell, it was meaningless. His blade still found me, his fists still broke through my guard, and my body was battered again and again. But between each brutal fall, there was progress. I could feel it. I welcomed it.
Hours passed. Blood, bruises, pain, and healing repeated like an endless cycle. Every time I fell, he healed me. Every time I healed, I fought again.
When the sun finally began to set, the commander lowered his sword.
"That's enough for today. Be here tomorrow at dawn. We will spar again."
His tone was calm, final.
I staggered away, body aching, but not broken. After dinner I devoured everything in sight, making up for the meal I had missed earlier. At least one good thing about this fortress was the food: no limits. You ate as much as you could stomach.
And tonight, I needed every bite.
I collapsed onto my bed, my body screaming from the torturous day of training. Every muscle ached, my bones felt like they'd been shattered and pieced back together but I still smiled.
Because today… Today, I made more progress than in the entire past month combined.
It was painful, yes. Agonizing. But if pain was the price for strength, then I could endure it. I had to.
As those thoughts lingered in my mind, a familiar chill swept through the room. Shadows rippled at the corner of my vision, and then
He appeared.
Noctharion.
Silent as ever, he manifested at my side as if he'd always been there, watching. I hadn't seen him for an entire week, and now he simply came… as though time, distance, or rules never applied to him.
Came and went as he wished.
My smile faded slightly. His presence was suffocating, cold, yet strangely reassuring.
"…You finally decided to show yourself," I muttered under my breath, not sure if I was relieved or unnerved.
"What do you mean, Kael? I am always watching."
The voice was deep—simple, yet heavy. Each word pressed down on my chest, as if the very air bowed before it. Just hearing it made my existence tremble.
So… he's been watching me all along.
"I also saw you being thrashed today… by that mortal." His tone shifted, laced with something sharp, something close to anger.
He was talking about the commander.
My jaw tightened. What can I even do about that? He was stronger. Far stronger. "He's above me," I muttered back, my voice flat, unyielding. "Of course, I couldn't do anything."
But still, the memory burned.
The commander hadn't even bothered using aura today, yet he had beaten me black and blue.
"Pathetic."
Noctharion's voice echoed in my mind, sharp and disdainful. His crimson gaze burned into me, and for the first time since our bond, he spoke with open contempt.
I froze, startled. Pathetic? He's never talked to me like this before…
He didn't stop.
"For someone I am bound to, to cower before a weak mortal—it is disgraceful. To think my power is tied to you… truly pathetic."
His words dug deeper than any blade. I clenched my fists, anger and shame twisting together in my chest.
"Look who's talking," I spat, my voice low and trembling with rage.
"The most powerful being—reduced to nothing, bound to someone as weak as me. And still… you dare to speak as if you hold power."
I clenched my fists, nails digging into my palm.
"But the truth is—you can't do anything. You can only whisper in my head. You can only talk."
My words burned, laced with anger, yet somewhere deep inside, I felt the sting of desperation.
"And whose fault is that?" Noctharion's voice slithered inside my mind, sharp and merciless.
"Yes, I am bound to you. My power mirrors yours. You are weak, so I am weak. If you grow stronger, I grow stronger."
A chill crept down my spine.
"Kael," he hissed, his words like chains tightening around my chest, "in the end, it is you who is weak—and you will remain weak if you keep deluding yourself. Happy with scraps. Satisfied with little victories."
I clenched my fists.
"Even if you crawl forward at this pathetic pace… you will never reach the end."
"So… what can I do?" I asked, my voice cracking with desperation.
I knew he was right. My progress might be faster than most, faster than anyone expected—but in the end, what did it amount to? In front of truly talented people… in front of monsters who were born to be heroes, protectors, legends of this world…
My fists trembled around the hilt of my sword.
Compared to them, this progress of mine was nothing. Absolutely nothing.
For them, progress means nothing.
They are blessed—by heaven, by the world, by destiny itself.
No matter what stands in their way, even if they face someone like Noctharion, they will always win. That is their fate.
Always one step ahead.
Always the last to remain standing.
For them, progress holds no meaning. Victory is inevitable. That is the truth.
Noctharion listened quietly, then smiled—as though he had been waiting for me to say those words.
"No, Kael. You can do something. No—you can do far more than you believe."
His smile sharpened, his eyes gleaming dangerously.
"Tell me, Kael. What is your affinity?"
"…Darkness," I answered, my voice low.
"And who am I?" he asked.
My throat tightened. "Noctharion."
"Yes. I am Noctharion—the only being who ever reached the very limits of controlling darkness."
His voice rang with a chilling certainty. "Kael, I will teach you everything you want to know. And when the time comes… you will become an untouchable existence in this world."
The intensity in his tone left me speechless. For a moment, my mind went blank, caught in the sheer weight of his conviction.
Over the past week, I had thrown myself into aura training. So much so that I'd almost pushed everything else aside—perhaps even deliberately ignored it.
But now… now I had awakened darkness. An affinity cursed by this world, hated because of Noctharion's past. Progress in it had always been slow, resisted, and feared.
And yet, I had forgotten something. I wasn't walking this path alone.
I had with me the one being who understood darkness better than anyone who had ever lived. No—he wasn't just darkness. He would put even the wisest scholars of the other elements to shame.
I had the most dangerous teacher in existence.
"So tell me, Kael…"
His voice slithered through the silence, calm yet heavy, carrying weight that pressed on my chest. "Do you want to walk the path of darkness?"
The air shifted. The room dimmed, light receding as if swallowed by unseen hands. Shadows stretched along the walls, thick and alive, until they wrapped the chamber in a shroud of night. Yet—strangely—it wasn't suffocating. The darkness was calm, almost… welcoming.
I didn't hesitate. My mind had long been made up.
"Yes."
A single word, sharp as steel, cut through the heavy air. It was enough. Enough to show him my resolve.
Noctharion's lips curled into a twisted smile, his expression warping with something both cruel and delighted. The sight alone sent a chill down my spine, a primal instinct screaming at me to step back.
But I didn't. I couldn't.
Because I had already made a deal with the demon standing before me.