Ashen walked toward the gate with heavy steps, as if the earth itself trembled under the weight of his body that had reached twelve thousand kilograms of raw strength. The air around him felt heavier than usual, as if the gate was pulling every breath, every fragment of his soul. Before his hand touched it, a solemn voice descended, deep and vast, not like a cry or a chant, but like the screech of hell's doors:
"To reach the savage intent… your soul shall be sealed. No techniques, no energy, no inheritance. You will fight with what the weakest creature possesses: instinct. If you survive, you will gain the foundation of savagery. If you die… your soul will be devoured and erased forever."
Ashen suddenly felt a cold blade pierce his chest. It was not metal but a seal of Dao energy that sank into the depths of his soul. His breath dried, and the link between him and his skills and techniques was cut, as if the whole universe was pulled away, leaving only the raw body and the instinct to survive.
His body was pulled into the gate.
---
The Blood Calcium Arena
Ashen opened his eyes and found himself standing in a massive arena. The ground was made of cracked black stone, as if thousands of souls had been shattered on it. The towering walls were polished with dried blood, each wall telling the history of countless massacres. Above the walls stood colossal statues, each carved in the form of a primal beast, with exposed fangs, stretched claws, and hollow eyes that radiated living darkness.
From the mouths of those statues poured rivers of blood, dark red and flowing like waterfalls, falling into twisted canals until they filled parts of the arena, forming small stagnant blood lakes.
Ashen's muscles trembled as he took in the scene. Every corner of the place reeked of ancient savagery, as if it had not been built for life but only for slaughter.
His silence did not last. From dark side gates came the sounds of heavy steps, roars, and twisted cries. The first creatures appeared:
Beasts with twisted horns and half-decayed human bodies.
Deformed monsters with long arms made of multiple joints, their nails shining like daggers.
Skeletal wolves with torn hides exposing rotting flesh and bones.
Each creature was not just an enemy but a mass of embodied primal savagery. With every step they took into the arena, a thin black thread rose from above their heads, like pure bloodlust preparing to surge.
Ashen let out a deep breath. He had no plan, no technique, no skill. Only instinct.
The first monster rushed at him, its fangs dripping with sticky blood. At the moment it neared, Ashen charged with his body, not a skill but raw power. He grabbed its head with one hand, and his grip shattered the skull instantly, exploding like an empty gourd.
A black thread rose from the corpse and pierced into Ashen's chest, sinking into his soul. It felt like a cold fire embedding inside him, scratching at his mind, pushing him to drown in madness.
But there was no time to think. Five more monsters rushed at him together.
Ashen roared, a roar not human, a primal echo that shook the arena. He stepped forward, seized the arm of a deformed beast and tore it off from the joint, then used it as a weapon to smash another, breaking its skull.
Hot blood splashed, covering his face and chest, making him look like a demon from the deepest hell.
With every corpse that fell, another black thread entered his soul. One, two, three… The shadows in his mind multiplied. He heard whispers he could not understand, savage voices calling him to kill more, to tear without mercy.
He kicked the corpse of a skeletal wolf, scattering its bones. He seized a horned beast, lifted it into the air, then smashed it into the ground again and again until its skull became nothing but a paste of blood.
The ground itself began to crack under his strikes. Every movement of his heavy body released waves of dust and broken stone.
The fight was pure savagery, the instinct of a beast struggling to survive.
But what he had seen was only the beginning. From other gates, larger hordes poured out:
Deformed humans with half-burned faces.
Giants with animal heads, each step shaking the ground.
Swarms of black crows with metallic claws.
They all descended at once. The roars and cries filled the air until the arena turned into a living hell.
Ashen stood in their midst, a single drop of blood in a raging ocean. But his eyes burned with a dark light… He knew: there was no return, no choice, only to fight until the end.