Two more days had passed… two days that Nyx spent inside the apartment, mostly in the narrow backyard, which had become his temporary training ground.
He had barely left except to fetch some water or food, but most of his time was focused on one thing: adapting to the power coursing through his new body.
The morning was gray; heavy clouds hid the sun, making the air cold and crisp. Nyx stood in the middle of the yard, breathing steadily as he slowly extended his arms, as if listening to an inner voice that only he could hear.
"Mana…" he murmured, closing his eyes.
He hadn't reached the level of control he wanted, but his progress in just two days was unnatural.
The current he felt flowing through his body seemed like a part of him, not an external force he had to drag forcibly.
Smooth… flexible… vast as the sea.
Whenever he directed it to his extremities, his muscles responded quickly, as if they already knew what to do.
He opened his eyes, clenched his fist, and muttered softly to himself:
"This body is exceptionally gifted… as expected, that entity made a perfect vessel."
It wasn't arrogance.
It was just an observation.
Even in his original story, he never wrote about a body capable of harmonizing with mana so effortlessly.
Most beginners struggled for months just to open a single mana channel.
As for him… he already had a stable flow in just two days.
Yet, not everything was under control.
He raised his right hand, and a thread of faint violet lightning sparked between his fingers, crackling softly.
The lightning element… fast, sharp, difficult to handle.
Although relatively rare, he had managed to shape it without much effort.
He extinguished the violet light slowly, then exhaled.
"But the Void…"
That part still wouldn't respond.
---
After that, he pulled the sword hanging by the back door.
It wasn't fancy; just a simple weapon he had from the original belongings of "Nyx Faren."
Still, it was suitable for training.
He planted his feet firmly and began basic movements:
Quick downward strikes, angled lifts, lateral slides…
He was clumsy at first, but he wasn't that bad now.
His body was learning… or perhaps remembering, even without memories.
His reflexes became faster, more precise.
He hadn't reached mastery, but he was steadily improving.
An hour passed… then two… then three.
His breathing remained steady, sweat glistening on his forehead, yet he wasn't exhausted.
In fact, he felt his body could endure much more than he had expected.
He returned the sword to its sheath and sat on the ground, placing a hand over his chest.
"I'll adapt to everything… step by step."
By noon, he refocused on the element that had eluded him for the past two days:
The Void.
He sat cross-legged on the ground and slowly closed his eyes.
"Lightning responded… and basic mana too. But the Void…"
It was like trying to touch something that didn't exist.
A force with no shape, no sound, no heat… nothing at all.
He stretched his right hand forward.
"Come on… just respond once."
He tried to summon what he had read in the Status Window:
[Element: Void]
No further description was given.
He didn't know its exact properties.
Was it a destructive force?
A transportation force?
A pulling force?
Or something entirely different?
He swallowed and began directing mana to his hand—not as lightning, but as raw energy searching for a "suitable direction."
Yet he found nothing.
Once…
Twice…
Five times…
Ten…
Nothing happened.
He opened his eyes, feeling irritation creeping into his chest.
"I shouldn't have expected it to be easy."
The Void was never mentioned in the story.
No character… no enemy… no historical trace.
It was something Kyle never wrote.
A completely unknown force.
And perhaps for that reason… he felt even more determined to understand it.
"Again…"
He pressed forward with more patience, trying once more.
Minutes passed.
Then an hour.
The sun began to descend, casting long shadows across the yard.
Suddenly…
He felt something.
Not warmth… not cold…
but "the absence of everything."
The Void… a small dark space, as if the world around his hand had lost its color for a moment.
He opened his eyes quickly and looked at his palm.
And there…
Very slowly…
black-violet particles began to gather, like smoke condensing in a single spot.
The mass started to take shape…
And finally appeared:
A small sphere of darkness surrounded by faint violet threads, rotating slowly above his hand.
His eyebrows lifted… then he smiled for the first time since arriving in this world.
"I did it…"
It was the first time he actually used the Void.
But the moment didn't last.
"…Finally."
A faint voice came—not from outside, but inside his head.
His face froze, his breaths catching.
Then the voice became clearer.
A rough… cold… and ominous voice that made his skin crawl.
"Kill…"
His heart raced.
"…Kill…"
He stood abruptly, the black sphere trembling above his hand.
He looked around, even though he knew he would see no one.
The voice didn't stop:
"Kill… kill… kill…"
As if a dark presence was trying to embed itself deep within him.
He tried to shut down his mana, to suppress the element, but the black sphere didn't disappear.
Instead… it began to grow slightly, undulating as if about to explode.
"Stop…" he murmured, pressing his temples, but the voice grew louder.
"Kill—"
"STO- P!!"
He shouted with all his might. The black wave shook, then… vanished suddenly.
But the echo remained in his mind.
Under the intense pressure, he collapsed to his knees, panting, sweat pouring despite the cold air.
His eyes widened… contracted… as if he were fighting something inside.
"This… isn't normal…" he whispered between breaths.
The power he felt wasn't just energy.
There was a consciousness behind it…
or something like consciousness.
Something that wanted to take control.
Something that had been dormant… and awakened when he summoned the Void for the first time.
"This element… is not natural at all…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
The world around him darkened… then spun… then slowly faded.
He fell to the ground, resisting nothing, his eyes half-open.
And the voice… despite disappearing… left a heavy mark in his chest.
The last thing he felt before losing consciousness was a strange cold creeping along his spine, as if something was smiling inside the darkness.
Silence fell…
While his body lay stretched on the ground, and night slowly approached the apartment.