The horizon was a jagged, alien scar, where the sickly, neon-green of the sky met the endless, cracked blackness of the earth. There was no sun, no recognizable landmark, only an infinite expanse of ruin and dead air.
This was a desolate plane, a pocket of existence where the laws of reality had been warped into a gauntlet—the crucible for his very destiny. Kai stood alone at the absolute center, his posture deadly calm, yet every fiber of his being was coiled like a spring.
He could see it now: a massive, undulating wave of darkness cresting the broken terrain in every direction. It was the Horde, an oceanic tide of unknown creatures, their forms a horrifying amalgam of corrupted flesh and sharp, crystalline armor.
He didn't recognize their physiology or their rank structure, but their power was unmistakable. Every single one of them—from the scuttling nightmares at the vanguard to the towering behemoths at the back—pulsed with an overwhelmingly strong aura, an endless, black malevolence that pressed down on his spirit.
He drew a slow, deliberate breath, the stale air doing little to ease the tightening in his chest. He knew, with the chilling certainty of fate, that this was the Legacy Trial. This brutal, impossible test was not just a battle for survival; it was a cosmic checkpoint.
He could die or live here, but there was no third option. This would be one of the toughest battles he would ever fight. The sheer scale of the enemy, the relentless pressure, the knowledge that failure meant complete erasure—it was enough to shatter the will of any normal man. Yet, Kai remained deadly calm.
His internal clock, always running, began to tick against the roar of the approaching tide.
Two questions always arise in the human mind, he thought, his gaze sweeping across the overwhelming sea of black flesh. Why were we born? When will we die?
He continued his silent, chilling contemplation, watching the horde draw closer, their inhuman roars beginning to fill the static air.
There is no need to find the answer to the first question. It was irrelevant and we already know it. The apocalypse had made all philosophical inquiries moot. Survival was the only truth.
We don't think about finding the answer to the second question. We shield ourselves from that ultimate finality, living under the fragile illusion of tomorrow.
But at this time, I am forced to find that one.
He remembered the screaming, the terror, the sudden, violent shattering of the world. The moment the calamity struck the earth half a year ago, the philosophical luxury of wondering about life's purpose was violently stripped away. The only question that mattered became: How long until my end?
In the face of life and death, my countdown had begun.
He felt the familiar, cool weight of his twin blades in his hands, each a beacon of contradictory energy. The right blade flared with a fierce, unstable fiery red light—the Aether of destruction, of raw, kinetic annihilation. The left blade hummed with a pure, focused ice blue glow—the Aether of control, of defensive barriers and absolute precision.
My family is still waiting far away for me, he thought, the image of his Mother, sisters and others are flashing across his mind's eye, a painful anchor in this sea of nothingness.
They don't know whether I am alive or not.That single thought—that profound guilt and enduring love—was the wellspring of his resilience.
There are two routes for me: kill or die. And he had questions—too many to leave unanswered. The secrets behind the Calamity, the origin of the Aether, the nature of his own unique power. To die here was to accept ignorance.
The leading edge of the black horde was now within striking range, their claws flexing, their eyes glowing with hungry malice. The air vibrated with their oppressive, combined aura.
Kai lunged forward, not with a battle cry, but with the cold, silent fury of a man enacting an inevitability.
Half a year ago, a deadly calamity hit the Earth, where everyone was forced to evolve or die. In that chaotic situation, the only thing is I need to do is survive and go to find my family trapped far away.
His first move was a dance of absolute destruction. He brought the two blades together in a seamless, lightning-fast arc.
Elemental Fusion Technique: Searing Frost Blitz.
The fiery red Aether and the ice blue Aether did not clash; they merged, forming a brief, brilliant violet shockwave that exploded outward. The wave of fused Aether was a phenomenon of balanced chaos: the red provided the explosive force, and the blue provided the paralyzing cold, slicing through the first ten charging creatures. The creatures did not just fall; they were shredded and flash-frozen simultaneously, their black, crystalline forms shattering into dust.
As the dust settled, the Primal Decree reacted. The pure, reclaimed soul essence of the ten creatures surged toward Kai, rushing into his body not as a passive reward, but as a direct, violent restoration. He felt a portion of his expended Aether and physical strength return, a brutal, immediate cycle of death feeding life.
The Horde paused for only a fraction of a second—a mistake the higher-rank creatures quickly rectified. They compensated, attacking faster, their formations reforming into a crushing spearhead aimed at his isolated figure.
He moved again, a flurry of controlled, rhythmic violence. He used the Red Blade for broad, decapitating strikes, consuming the lesser corrupted in gouts of destructive heat. He used the Blue Blade for precise, defensive cuts, freezing the claws and teeth of the faster beasts before they could connect.
The sheer mental and physical pressure was tremendous. It was an infinite-stamina fight against an inexhaustible foe. Any other person in his position—even a powerful evolver—would have collapsed from sheer exhaustion, their mind breaking under the stress. But Kai was the unique one. His will was burning—a cold, steady flame fueled by his need to live and his promise to his family.
I will not be defeated here. This legacy is my only path.
He dodged a massive, crushing blow from a behemoth, pivoting on the heel of his boot and driving both blades into its exposed spine. He ripped them out, the fused Aether leaving a searing, freezing tear, and the creature dissolved with a final, choked gurgle. More soul essence flooded him. It was a vicious, necessary dependence.
In this period of time, I need to win this legacy. It will change my destiny. I will not lose.
He executed the elemental fusion technique again and again, the red and blue Aether screaming together, clearing swathes of the enemy, only for the breach to be instantly filled by the next wave. He was fighting, minute by grueling minute, against impossible odds, against the very universe itself.
My death is standing everywhere around me. Every claw, every jagged tooth, every foot of terrain surrounding him was a potential executioner. But fear was a luxury he could not afford. His mind was only screaming: Fight! Fight!
He was the man who dared to stand against the inevitable.
Every story has one hero. But he becomes a hero only when he overcome the challenges before him.
This was his challenge. This was his reckoning.
This is my story.
So dear readers, let us hear the story of this man, Kai.