Black Panther smiled faintly, looking at the bodies lying lifeless on the ground. The blood-red light in his eyes shone like an unquenchable flame in the midst of the carnage. The silence in the street had become heavy with the last breaths of the dead.
He raised his head to the sky and growled softly.
"Tch, when did they get so close?" The distant energy pulse caught his attention, even if it didn't send a shiver through his body. He began to take action when he realized that The Luminous Spirit users were getting closer.
As he prepared to retreat, a thought suddenly appeared in his mind. He couldn't make the mistake of leaving the child he had just tortured alive. Before leaving, he killed that child and left a few things behind, aiming to buy time.
He quickly turned around, and his eyes caught him immediately. He noticed Ryu trying to lift the child lying on the ground. When their eyes met, they were both suddenly struck by lightning.
As Black Panther looked into Ryu's yellow eyes, he felt the energy flowing around him. "Why do I sense a similar energy in him?" Black Panther asked himself.
When Ryu looked into the Black Panther's eyes, he couldn't hide his surprise as he realized that the energy surrounding his body was visible to his naked eyes. "What are those lights?" he began to ask himself questions because he had never seen anything like them before. He shook his head and began to think.
Black Panther remained motionless for a moment. The shine in his eyes faded slightly, his mind drifting into the shadows of the past for a few seconds. An uncertain expression settled on his face as he relived those moments. Then he turned his eyes back to Ryu and, watching the fear on the boy's face, he tilted his head slightly to the side with a thin smile.
"Look at this surprise... I never thought I'd see you again, kid."
His voice carried a mocking coldness. Ryu's entire body began to tremble. Just seconds ago, he'd been able to move, but now… He tried to move his legs, but his muscles wouldn't respond.
"Why can't I move?!"
He continued to command his legs, but nothing changed. The panic, growing with each passing second, was turning into profound despair.
"Did this guy always have this aura? He's like a completely different person than before…!"
A cold bead of sweat dripped from his forehead and fell to the ground, as Black Panther suddenly disappeared. Unable to follow his gaze, Ryu could only sense it with his instincts. And a moment later…
Bang!
Pain shot from his shoulder like lightning through his entire body. In a single motion, Black Panther placed his right hand on Ryu's left shoulder and, with a light pressure, dislocated the joint. Without warning, without needing any show of force…
Ryu's eyes widened. He opened his mouth to scream, but the fear in his throat swallowed the sound. The deathly aura surrounding his body had him paralyzed. The faint smile on Black Panther's face only deepened Ryu's fear.
Before the sharp pain reverberating through Ryu's shoulder had subsided, Black Panther's hand slowly slid down, reaching for his throat. Warm, iron-hard fingers gripped his skin like a gentle threat, and Ryu's breath was suddenly knocked out of him.
The pressure in Black Panther's hand intensified, slowly lifting him off the ground. His chest tightened as he was lifted, and every breath he tried to draw in felt like a jagged knife stabbing him in the throat. His vision began to blur, and the smile on the man's face deepened. The Black Panther's golden eyes continued to glow.
"You little bastard," he muttered in a mocking tone. "Do you know what I've come to because of you, you little rat? Bastards like you should know what happens when they steal someone else's stuff," he said, and began to squeeze even tighter.
Ryu gritted his teeth, trying to break free from Black Panther's grip, but it was no use. The iron fingers gripping his hands wouldn't loosen. His chest was tight, his lungs protesting.
"Fuck you! Why couldn't I move my body back then?!" he sighed angrily.
At that moment, Black Panther began to speek with a sly smile rising on his lips.
"I'm not going to kill you now," he said in a calm but threatening tone. "There's something I want to know first."
Ryu felt the pressure in his throat ease a little, and he sucked in the air greedily. The fact that he could breathe was a slight relief, but that didn't mean the danger he was in had diminished.
He cleared his throat, raised his head slightly, and glared at Black Panther. "What do you want to know?" he asked, his voice weak and hoarse.
Black Panther focused on Ryu's eyes for a few seconds. "Because of this kid I was humilated by a fucking lion. The damn rat happened to be right around the time my powers were sealed." He finally looked away and spoke.
"My first question is… Where's the clock?"
Ryu's heart began to race.
"And don't you dare lie to me, kid!" Black Panther's voice suddenly hardened. "Maybe depending on your answer, I can keep you alive for a while longer."
Ryu cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth. "Heh, keeping me alive… Just go and lie to someone else about that! You're just going to kill me no matter what I say."
He swallowed. Gathering all his strength, he looked Black Panther straight in the eyes and parted his lips to answer. "The watch is in my right pocket," he replied. Black Panther's eyes narrowed and stiffened as he heard Ryu's words. Without a moment's hesitation, he plunged his left hand into Ryu's pocket. The corners of his lips quirked up slightly as he felt the cold metal. However, the moment the watch touched his hand, his expression changed instantly. Shock and disbelief turned his smile into bitter disappointment.
Ryu was thrown roughly into a corner, while Black Panther's attention was completely focused on the watch in his hand.
"W-The watch… is shattered?!" His eyes widened, his voice trembling. His slender fingers caressed the watch's cracked surface, trembling.
"How… is this possible? How can an heirloom shatter?!"
His voice was angry, yet also confused. The precious object in his hands felt like it was suddenly losing all its weight and turning to brittle dust. Fearful, he clutched the watch tighter, but this only sped up the process.
Fine, gray grains of dust began to slip from his palms. Black Panther watched helplessly as the dust slipped through his fingers. No matter how tightly he gripped it… "No, no, no! This can't be happening!" he snarled, his voice rising in despair.
When the last vestiges of the clock vanished into thin air, only silence remained.
Black Panther's breathing became ragged, his eyes blazing with rapidly growing anger. As the last vestiges of the clock vanished into thin air, he clenched his fingers and pounded the ground with his fist.
"This… shouldn't be happening…" he whispered, his voice caught between shock and anger.
His face tightened, his brows furrowed. He turned to the damned child whose very existence he couldn't stand. Ryu was slumped against the wall, his face pale and his body trembling.
"You…" Black Panther's voice was a deathly whisper. He took a step, then another. The dark aura radiated from him in waves.
Ryu's heart pounded as if it couldn't fit in his chest. His breathing quickened, his muscles tensed with fear. He reached out his hand, but suddenly, as suddenly as he had seen Ryu for the first time, he felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He lay motionless for a few seconds, the anger leaving his face, replaced by anxiety.
"So you chose him," Black Panther asked in an agitated tone. Ryu, however, was confused.
"Black Panther's voice was different than usual. Angry, yet also… confused?" he asked himself.
Ryu looked at him before even having a chance to wipe the sweat from his forehead. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice trembling but trying not to reveal the fear within him.
Black Panther tilted his head slightly, his eyes taking on a deep look that seemed to bore deeply into Ryu's. Then, smiling slightly, he murmured:
"I see, it turns out you've been planning this all along. So, let's see where this choice takes you, cursed legacy."
Ryu was thoroughly confused. "Choosing him? Cursed legacy!? What does that even mean?"
Black Panther turned his back to Ryu and walked slowly towards the boy lying on the ground, unable to move due to his crushed leg. The stones crunched slightly under his feet, his eyes darting to the sky.
"Hm? This energy I sense... must be the knights coming. "I don't have much time. I should leave something around here before I run off," Black Panther thought to himself.
He sighed softly, then laughed quietly. "Ah… If only I could have stuck around a little longer." There was a slight hint of disappointment in him, but his voice was filled with careless amusement.
"I wish I could have played with that kid some more." Black Panther sighed again and came to a stop in front of the boy.
Just as he was about to crouch down next to the boy, he stopped abruptly. His eyes widened slowly, then he muttered under his breath,
"Huh?!"
Surprise was evident on his face. Black Panther lightly touched the boy's pale cheek, his fingers moving slowly as if he were touching play-Doh. It was cold… and numb.
"Are you serious?!" he shouted. He was momentarily excited, like a child who has found something to play with, but that excitement faded when he lost his toy. He rolled his eyes when he realized the boy was no longer responding.
"Tsk. I wasn't done playing yet."
He sighed and looked at the boy. He had already bled to death. Black Panther's eyes held the expression of a disappointed child.
Black Panther grabbed the boy's throat with his left hand as he lay motionless on the ground and easily lifted him into the air with one hand. The boy's lifeless body was as light as a baby's. His head slumped to the side, his eyes staring blankly into space.
At that very moment, the index finger of Black Panther's right hand was slowly coated in a thick, black liquid. The liquid swirled around his finger like a swirling vortex, thickening. A suffocating pressure spread through the street as the dark, tar-like substance completely adhered to his finger.
Ryu had unconsciously held his breath as he watched this terrifying scene. His throat had gone dry, and an inexplicable fear gripped him. Finally, he pulled himself together and asked in a shaky voice,
"H-hey... What are you doing?"
Black Panther turned his head slightly, his back to Ryu. A playful yet terrifying smile was on his face. His eyes were narrowed, as if he had absolute control over everything he saw.
"Just a little gift," he whispered, his voice echoing through the room.
And at that moment, Black Panther's index finger, coated in black liquid, swiftly plunged into the boy's forehead. The moment the liquid touched the boy's skin, a piercing sound echoed—like a knife slowly sinking into flesh. The boy's lifeless body twitched slightly for a moment, then lapsed into silence.
Ryu's eyes widened in horror. He had a sickening feeling. This… this wasn't just stabbing a corpse. He didn't know what Black Panther was trying to do, but his instincts screamed that this was something extremely dangerous.
The finger that had pierced the boy's forehead had unleashed the darkness within him. At first, thin, black lines that looked like veins began to appear on his forehead and quickly spread throughout his body. His skin began to take on a purplish hue, as if poison were being shed from within.
Ryu watched, his eyes wide. "This... what is this?" he whispered, his voice shaky and weak.
The Black Panther's grin widened. As the boy's body gradually grew darker, he let out a soft laugh. Then his voice grew louder, the laughter rising from his chest echoing wildly, filling the entire street.
"Hahahaha! Magnificent! This is even better than I expected!"
His laughter, combined with the gloomy air, created a suffocating sensation. Black Panther's eyes gleamed with a poisonous delight. It was as if years of anticipation had finally paid off.
Meanwhile, the boy's body was deteriorating further. When the black veins reached his fingertips, the boy's eyes snapped open—but they weren't his own. His pupils had turned completely pitch black, and an indescribable void had appeared within them.
Ryu was frozen in place with fear. Something inside him was telling him to run away immediately. But his legs still wouldn't obey. "F-fuck! Why can't I move yet?" Ryu began to beat his legs, his eyes still fixed on them as he continued to beat his legs helplessly.
Black Panther tilted his head slightly, a satisfied expression on his face. A smile appeared on his lips, as if accepting that everything was going as he wanted. "That's it..." he murmured, slowly withdrawing his finger from the boy's forehead.
When his finger, coated in black liquid, left the boy's skin, the small body quivered like a puppet whose strings had been cut. The pitch-black void in his eyes glowed like a presence from the depths of nothingness.
"I'm done now." Black Panther said, tossing the boy over his shoulder like a piece of trash. A harsh thud echoed as the small body hit the stone floor, but the boy didn't react in the slightest.
Ryu felt his heart pounding wildly. His instincts told him to run, but he couldn't even blink. "What just happened?" he thought, shivering.
Black Panther let out a low laugh when he noticed Ryu's frozen state. "What happened, kid? Are you curious about what I did?"
Ryu swallowed the words that were trying to escape his throat. Fear had seized his entire body. The boy's body was still motionless, but the dark aura around him was growing thicker.
And suddenly...
The boy on the ground suddenly began to bleed, as if the surroundings were suddenly turning into a bloodbath.