🩸 Chapter 1 — Destiny Strikes a Dramatic Pose
The night wind sliced through the streets of San Velorio, making the streetlights flicker as if fate itself were winking at someone chosen.
That someone was Lorenzo Valente.
He walked with steady steps, his long overcoat swaying behind him like the cape of a condemned king. His gaze was cold, yet a fire burned within — an inherited fire, ancient, passed down through generations.
— So this is the place… — Lorenzo murmured, stopping in front of an abandoned church.
The moment he touched the rusted gate, the air grew heavy.
An invisible presence pressed against his chest.
— You have finally come, heir of the Crimson Mark.
The voice echoed without a mouth, without a body.
Lorenzo smirked, striking an exaggerated pose, one arm raised and his body slightly leaning back.
— Heh… anyone who talks like that usually gets beaten first.
The ground behind him cracked open.
A humanoid figure emerged, translucent, with golden lines running across its body like fractures in marble. Its eyes glowed with an intense blue light.
— HORIZON: VITA ETERNA — Lorenzo declared out loud.
The Horizon positioned itself behind him, perfectly mirroring his pose.
From the other side of the church, a man stepped out of the shadows, slowly clapping his hands.
— Magnificent… — the stranger said. — Your Horizon is beautiful. It will be an honor to destroy it.
The man snapped his fingers.
— HORIZON: BLACK SERENADE.
Shadows took shape, like arms dancing around him.
The air vibrated.
The first clash of destiny had begun.
Lorenzo adjusted the collar of his overcoat and declared with absurd confidence:
— No matter what your power is…
👉 anyone who dares challenge my blood… will fall in less than five seconds.
And for an instant, time itself seemed to stop.
Silence fell like a heavy curtain inside the church.
The ancient candles flickered all at once, even without any wind.
The man standing before Lorenzo smiled, leaning theatrically, one arm open like a maestro.
— BLACK SERENADE… play louder.
The shadows around him stretched, undulating like living ribbons. One of the black arms lunged forward, fast, slicing through the air toward Lorenzo's chest.
Lorenzo did not retreat.
He took a single step to the side… and then stopped.
— You've already crossed it, — he said calmly.
Behind him, EVENT HORIZON raised its arm.
Space vibrated.
An invisible point formed in the air, two meters above the ground.
The shadow arm crossed the boundary.
Instantly, the shadow stiffened.
The enemy tried to pull it back.
Nothing happened.
— What…? — the man's smile fell apart.
The shadow continued advancing on its own, ignoring the user's will. It stretched beyond its natural limit, the Horizon itself being forced to complete the action it had begun.
The black arm tore through its own user's chest, ripping through flesh and bone.
Blood splattered across the church floor.
— I TOLD YOU TO STOP! — he screamed, staggering.
Lorenzo slightly turned his head, striking another exaggerated pose, hand on his chin, eyes filled with disdain.
— Orders don't exist beyond the Horizon.
The man dropped to his knees, gasping — yet he laughed.
— Heh… so that's how it works…
A fixed point… irreversible…
He raised a trembling finger.
— But tell me, Lorenzo Valente…
what happens if YOU cross it?
The shadows of BLACK SERENADE spread across the floor like a living pool, advancing behind Lorenzo.
EVENT HORIZON moved to protect him — too late.
Lorenzo's heel touched the invisible point.
The air collapsed around him.
— Tsc… — blood ran down from his nose.
His body was dragged forward, even as he tried to stop.
Every muscle screamed.
— So that's it… — he murmured. — It doesn't discriminate.
The enemy forced himself to stand.
— Your power is perfect…
because not even you can escape it.
Lorenzo took a deep breath.
Then he smiled.
— Exactly.
EVENT HORIZON raised its hand.
A second Horizon began to form — unstable, trembling.
— What?! — the enemy's eyes widened.
— I never said I had to cross it completely.
Lorenzo hurled his own overcoat forward, still in motion, sending it through the new point.
The fabric was violently pulled, dragging along the shadows restraining him.
BLACK SERENADE was forced to advance with it.
— NO—!
The user was dragged forward once more, crossing the Horizon completely.
The sound that followed was dry. Final.
Lorenzo fell to his knees, breathing heavily.
The Horizon vanished as if it had never existed.
EVENT HORIZON remained behind him, motionless, observing.
— …Fate confirmed, — Lorenzo murmured.
Outside, sirens began to echo in the distance.
But within the shadows of the bell tower, someone was watching.
— Interesting… — a new voice said. —
A man who turns decisions into sentences.
The moon emerged from behind the clouds.
And the true game
had begun.