The sky was no longer a sky, but a curtain of thick, suffocating darkness. Between the raging clouds, a golden staircase hung suspended in the horizon… It seemed close, as if a few steps could reach it, yet it soon appeared distant, like a mirage with neither beginning nor end. A staircase no one knew where it started or where it led… as if the fate of the entire world hung from its shimmering threads.
Below this celestial spectacle, amidst the blood-stained ground and scattered white bones, a battered body stirred. He rose with difficulty, dried blood smearing his tattered skin. His powerful muscles bore the marks of thousands of wounds, some healed long ago, others still bleeding. His dark red eyes reflected a coldness that knew no mercy.
He could not remember his name. All he knew was this cursed world, called the Fallen Realm, and the cold black talisman clenched in his hand. A talisman made of a mysterious metal, inscribed with an ancient language he could not comprehend, unbreakable and inseparable no matter how hard he tried.
As he lifted his head to gaze at the golden staircase once more, a terrifying howl echoed across the horizon. From the shadows emerged dark wolves, bodies formed of smoke, their eyes glowing with ravenous red hunger, and long teeth dripping black venom.
Instead of fleeing, Wu Ming—Nameless— raised his bare fist. Just one punch…
A terrifying force erupted from his hand, striking the first wolf and turning its skull into black dust scattering into the wind. Other wolves attacked from all sides, but he did not step back. Every punch he threw was devastating, every simple movement carried unmatched power, obliterating anyone who stood in his way. Within seconds, the entire pack had vanished into drifting ash, leaving only silence and the distant echo of a final howl.
Afterward, Wu Ming—Nameless— stepped away from the rubble and sat on the ground, catching his heavy breaths. The blood covering his body was more than just a mark of the fight; it was a reminder of the frailty accompanying every step in this world. Despite his superhuman strength, he felt a strange pang… a sense of something missing, a void within him he had never known before.
He looked at the golden staircase again, glowing under the moonlight, distant and close at the same time. Something awaited him there, an answer to questions not yet formed: Who was he? Why was he here? And what was the secret of this ancient talisman that had begun whispering in a faint voice he could not comprehend?
As his eyes fixed on the staircase, the eternal talisman suddenly trembled, emitting a faint light, as if it were breathing for the first time in ages. He did not understand what had happened, yet he felt a sting in his chest, as if a part of something mysterious had responded to his strength, to his blood, to his silent instincts. He did not yet know that this reaction was the first hint of its seal, and that the long road to discovering his true identity had just begun.
He smiled a cold smile, even amid this mystery:"I will ascend… even if the path is paved with the skulls of the world."