Geremisz hurled himself at the Wolf Leader with a single, earth-splitting roar.The clash of the two beasts shook the stones of the throne hall.His axe carved into the wolf's flank, and with a savage cry he knocked it out of the chamber—through the very opening where Rintal and Areday had entered earlier.
Debris and bone-dust erupted from the broken passage as the two monsters vanished into the dark corridor beyond.
Rayuka slowly lifted his head from the throne.
— "Gnatz. Xnaider. Stand."
The two warriors, dripping with blood and gasping for breath, obeyed instantly.Rayuka didn't even look at them.
— "Out."
The two shadow-fighters left in silence, and the air grew unnaturally cold.
Rintal and Areday were now alone with Rayuka.
Rintal could barely stand.The seal on his arm twitched violently, red sparks racing across it—as if it feared the being standing before them.
Areday's throat was bleeding, bones cracked beneath his skin.
Rayuka rose from the throne.
— "You're lucky you weren't my only target today."His voice was slow, bored… yet deeply threatening.
— "Something has appeared on this island… something even I don't fully understand. A presence that cannot be ignored."
He stepped closer, his cloak swirling behind him like black smoke.
— "Geremisz and I were hunting it. You two… are just garbage lying around in this house."
His eyes narrowed on Rintal.
— "But the orb… I cannot let you keep that."— "And I have vengeance to take. You killed two of my brothers. The Sons of Dawn… are my family."
Rayuka slowly drew his sword.Dark shadow trickled across the blade, as if the night itself crawled along its edge.
The seal on Rintal screamed in response.
Areday limped forward, ready to die if he had to.
— "I guess… there's no other way."
Rayuka nodded.
And in the next instant, Rayuka vanished.
He didn't run.He didn't leap.He simply dissolved into black mist.
Areday instinctively stepped back toward Rintal—and then:
His own shadow grabbed his ankle and yanked him to the floor.
— "What the—?!"
Rayuka's voice echoed from every direction at once:
— "No living being can fight me. Give it everything you have… if you want to live."
Rintal charged, but the seal sensed the danger—it jerked him backward, just as an invisible shadow-flick created a blade that would've taken his head.
Rayuka materialized in the air before him.The black mist around his arm lashed out with telekinetic force—and slammed Rintal across the room like a rag doll.
Areday sprang up, striking toward Rayuka's back—
…but Areday's own shadow rose from the floor and seized his wrist.
— "Too obvious," Rayuka whispered.
Then he teleported behind Areday and stabbed him in the side.Black smoke spread around the wound, Areday's eyes darkened—and black vapor seeped from his mouth.
"See? This is how someone becomes my little puppet.""My twins… I've never had them before." Rayuka laughed.
Rintal screamed, the seal blazing crimson.
— "ENOUGH!!!"
Rayuka reacted instantly—but not with his legs.
His shadow snapped him backward, like his own body was a marionette.
His expression barely shifted.
— "The seal is awakening… but you're still weak."
Rintal leapt up.The floor cracked beneath his feet.
The seal was nearly in full control.
Areday staggered sideways, blood across his face, whispering:
— "I won't… ever… leave you…"
Rayuka lifted two fingers.
Two shadow-arms erupted from the ground:
One seized Areday's throat.The other clamped onto Rintal's chest.
Both were lifted into the air.
Rayuka stepped forward, sword lowering toward the ground.
— "Time to end this."
Areday's breath tore at his ribs.The pain didn't scare him.
What broke him…
…was seeing his brother.His other half.
He knew: If Rintal died now, Areday would not survive it.
"Is this… the end?" he thought.
The air tightened.The shadow-arms held them suspended.Rayuka's sword slowly rose.
Then—
The seal detonated on Rintal's arm.
Red light burst out like a newborn sun.The shadow gripping him shrieked and crumbled to ash.
Rintal fell—barely touching the floor before the seal dragged him forward,pulling him like a demon puppeteer.
Areday hit the ground, trembling.The infection from Rayuka's strike poisoned his body—he could barely breathe.
"My body… it feels like he cursed me with shadow…"
Rayuka stepped back, still bored.
The moment shattered.
Rintal vanished.The shadows split apart.Crimson lightning slashed through the throne hall—
He was already in front of Rayuka.
The sword swung—
—but Rayuka disintegrated into mist.
The blade sliced nothing.
Rintal smashed into a wall.
Rayuka's voice drifted behind him:
— "Faster."
Rintal twisted midair and attacked again—the seal drawing dark lines across his chest, his movements both lethal and unstable.
His blows shattered stone, cracked the floor, shook the entire hall.But Rayuka evaded every single one.
Not once was he touched.
Rayuka finally whispered:
— "That's it?"
Rintal blurred again—faster than before.
The seal carved a red comet trail across the room.
He aimed for Rayuka's head—
—but the blade stopped in midair.
Not because it hit.
Because Rayuka held it with two fingers.
Telekinesis.
Rintal's eyes widened.The seal screamed.
Rayuka flicked his hand—and hurled Rintal ten meters away into broken stone.
Rayuka approached calmly, sword dangling loosely.
— "Not bad. But this…"He gestured at Rintal.— "Still isn't enough to touch me."
Rintal rose, trembling.
The seal surged.
Red lightning turned black.The lines on his arm twisted and deepened.
Rayuka actually froze for a split second.
— "What is this…?"
Rintal convulsed, as if something inside was tearing free.
The seal sucked in shadow.
Not from the room.
From Rayuka.
The black mist around Rayuka's cloak stretched toward Rintal—then snapped into his body like angry serpents.
Rayuka stepped back for the first time.
— "It consumed my ability…?"His voice barely audible.
Rintal looked up.
His eyes were no longer just red.Black rings—Rayuka's own shadow patterns—bloomed inside them.
The ground warped around him.The space folded inward like reality was being ripped apart.
Rayuka raised an eyebrow.
— "Interesting."
The seal spun behind Rintal like a swirling singularity,drinking in both shadow and light.
Rintal extended his arm.
The seal devoured every shadow around Rayuka—from the walls,behind the throne,from beneath Rayuka's feet.
For a moment, Rayuka had no shadow.
And his teleport rhythm broke.
Rayuka smiled faintly.
— "Dangerous."
He conjured a shadow blade and swung at Rintal—
The blade hit—
—and vanished.
Reappeared beside Rayuka's ribs with a crack.
Rayuka narrowly dodged.
— "So you reflect now…"
Rintal didn't understand what he was doing.The seal was acting on instinct.
Black veins wrapped his arm.Space collapsed in a line before him.
He lunged.
Not running—but tearing distance itself apart between them.
He almost hit Rayuka.
A strand of Rayuka's hair floated down.
Rayuka actually reacted with movement, not mist.
— "You're finally getting interesting."
Rayuka stood untouched—not a scratch on him.
When Rintal got within a breath—
Rayuka's fingers twitched.
A lazy motion. Barely a thought.
Rintal froze.
Not pinned by force—but caught by a shadow Rayuka conjured with no anchor, no source.
The seal tried to devour it.
And failed.
Rayuka tilted his head.
— "You're faster… but not fast enough."
Rintal's body trembled, the seal tearing reality, stealing shadows, bending the air—
Rayuka simply watched.
Calmly. Curiously.
— "Your seal… it tries to imitate me. Fascinating."He sighed.— "Shame I can't wait for you to grow up."
He vanished—
—and appeared behind Rintal.
His blade touched Rintal's throat.
— "If only you had reached a little further," he whispered.
Rintal could not breathe.The seal was confused.The air screamed but did not move.
Shadow claws yanked Areday into the darkness.
— "IKREM! NOOO!"
His voice was swallowed by choking shadows.Blood and tears streamed down his face.
Rayuka didn't look back.
— "Watch, Areday.This is your fate."
He raised the sword.
Black light spiraled along the blade—like a hundred nights gathering for one kill.
His arm descended.
The blade sliced through the air—halfway to Rintal's neck.
The world froze in terror.
— "Sleep, Rintal," Rayuka murmured.
The sword fell—
AND THEN THE CASTLE SHOOK.
Not the stones.Not the walls.
THE WORLD.
From the corridor where Geremisz fought the Wolf Leader,a blinding white light erupted—
Not magic.Not flame.Not lightning.
Something ancient.Something divine.Something demonic.
The throne hall drowned in it.
Time stopped.
Dust froze.Falling stones halted midair.The seal dimmed.Rintal's eyes locked wide, unable to blink.
Areday's body stopped mid-struggle.
The shadow claws froze.
EVERYTHING STOPPED.
Except…
Rayuka.
He lowered his sword, eyes widening slightly.
— "…Time stop?"His voice was a whisper.
From the light came a voice.
Geremisz's voice.
But not ragged.Not hurt.Not shouting.
Cold.Soft.Like wind crossing a grave.
— "Rayuka…"
The light pulsed.
— "We found it."
Rayuka tightened his grip on his sword.
— "What?"
A single heartbeat of silence.
Then:
— "This is the Demon Prince."