The battlefield dissolved into silence.
Only the ragged breathing of survivors broke the void. The Bone Reaper's remains had crumbled into nothing, leaving behind only fractured pillars and scorched ash. The viridian fire that had painted the world slowly guttered out, leaving an endless darkness above.
Kai lay on the ground, his claws retreating, shadows peeling away from his body like smoke. He felt as though every bone in his body had been shattered and stitched back together with barbed wire.
His chest rose and fell shallowly. His vision blurred in and out. He could feel the Wraith lurking beneath his skin, satisfied but restless — like a predator licking blood from its teeth, already hungry again.
Around him, the survivors gathered. Seventeen. That was all that remained out of nearly a hundred. Their faces were ash-streaked, their eyes hollow.
The fire-wielder staggered to her feet, leaning against a broken pillar. Blood trailed from her lip, her flame wolf a faint ember flickering at her side. Her gaze locked onto Kai.
"What… are you?" she rasped.
The others whispered among themselves. None of them moved closer. They had all seen what he did. How he had become something else. How he had killed the Reaper… and one of their own.
Kai's throat was dry. He forced himself upright, every movement agony. "I'm… the same as you."
A bitter laugh escaped from someone in the group — a tall man with a jagged scar across his jaw. He had fought with dual blades, his clothes still stained from others' blood. "Don't insult us. You're no survivor. You're a monster."
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group. Fear. Distrust. Hatred.
Kai clenched his fists. Shadows writhed faintly at his fingertips in response. He could feel his Wraith pressing forward, eager to silence them all. He forced it back with sheer will, though his head throbbed violently from the effort.
Before the tension could break into violence, the air itself cracked.
Chains of flame ripped open the sky. They twisted downward, wrapping around each survivor's body. The scarred man cursed, thrashing, but the chains were absolute.
A voice thundered through the void. Cold. Mechanical. Yet almost mocking.
[Stage One Complete.][Boss Defeated: Bone Reaper.][Survivors: 17.][Proceeding to Stage Two – The City of Glass.]
The ground beneath their feet shattered like a mirror. The world fell away, fragments tumbling into endless black.
Kai was yanked upward by the chains, his body suspended in the air. Darkness stretched below him like an abyss with no bottom.
The other survivors screamed as they were dragged into the void, their voices echoing endlessly.
The fire-wielder caught his eye one last time. Her expression was unreadable — half fear, half something else. Respect? Or the wary recognition of someone who had glimpsed what he was becoming.
The scarred man, however, glared with pure venom. "If you lose control again, I'll kill you myself!"
Kai's lips curled into a grim smile. "Try it."
The void swallowed them whole.
When Kai opened his eyes again, he was lying on cold stone.
He pushed himself up, groaning, his vision adjusting to the new environment.
They stood in the ruins of a vast city — but not one made of stone or metal. Every building, every street, every fragment of the shattered landscape was made of translucent glass. Shards jutted from the ground like frozen spears, glittering under a pale, unnatural moonlight.
The city stretched endlessly, but it was silent. Too silent.
The fire-wielder whispered, her voice trembling. "Where… is everyone?"
The scarred man sneered. "Maybe this is the test. Find out what's hiding."
As if in answer, the System's voice boomed again.
[Stage Two Objective: Survive.][Threats: Glassborn, The Watchers, ???][Special Condition: Deaths strengthen the Trial.]
The words seared into their minds, heavy with finality.
Kai's heart pounded. He looked at the survivors around him. Their faces were set in grim determination, but their numbers were thin. Too thin.
The Bone Reaper had taken nearly all of them. And now, whatever waited in this city of glass would take more.
His shadow stirred faintly beneath him, alive even in this alien place. The Wraith's whisper echoed in his mind.
This is only the beginning. Feed us, and we will carry you through. Resist, and you will die with the rest.
Kai clenched his jaw, staring down the endless streets of glass. He could see faint reflections shifting in the walls. Faces that weren't their own. Watching. Waiting.
The survivors formed a loose circle, unease thick in the air. No one trusted him. But no one could deny that they might need him again.
Kai breathed deeply, steadying himself. His body still ached from the fusion, but he felt something else too — a pull. The System had offered him a choice when the Reaper died.
Two paths.
Shadow Stalker. Abyssal Tyrant.
He hadn't chosen yet. But he could feel both possibilities coiling inside him like venomous snakes. One subtle, one overwhelming. Both dangerous. Both tempting.
And soon, he'd be forced to decide.
A sharp cracking noise shattered the silence.
One of the survivors screamed as his reflection stepped out of the glass wall beside him — a perfect copy, except its eyes glowed white. It moved with unnatural speed, plunging a shard of glass straight through his chest.
Blood sprayed. The survivor collapsed, dissolving into ash.
The Glassborn raised its head, smiling with his stolen face.
All around them, the walls began to ripple. More reflections stirred, peeling themselves free, their white eyes glowing in the moonlight.
The City of Glass was waking.
And Stage Two had begun.