The fog didn't feel the same anymore.
Before, it was just cold… heavy… suffocating.
Now
It was alive.
Li Shen stood at the edge of the dock, water still dripping from his clothes. The faint golden lines beneath his skin pulsed like a second heartbeat, steady… controlled… watching.
He clenched his fist.
Strength surged through him, unnatural, unfamiliar.
Not borrowed.
Not imagined.
Real.
"…What am I now?" he muttered.
The answer didn't come.
But something else did.
A sound.
Soft.
Dragging.
Scrrrrch…
Li Shen's head snapped toward the fog.
Silence followed.
Then again
Scrrrrch…
Something was moving.
Slow.
Deliberate.
And it was getting closer.
His instincts screamed.
Run.
Hide.
Survive.
But his body didn't move.
For the first time in his life…
He didn't feel weak.
He didn't feel afraid.
He felt
Still.
Focused.
Watching.
The fog ahead began to shift unnaturally, curling inward like something was pushing through it from the other side.
A shape emerged.
Tall.
Too tall.
Its limbs were wrong, long and bent at angles no human body could sustain. Its skin looked like wet ash, stretched thin over jagged bones. Where its face should have been…
There was nothing.
Just a hollow surface that absorbed the light.
Li Shen narrowed his eyes.
"…Not human."
The thing stopped.
Then its head, or what passed for it, tilted.
As if it were looking at him.
Recognizing him.
A whisper slipped into his mind.
"…warm…"
Li Shen stiffened.
It didn't speak aloud.
It spoke inside him.
"…alive…"
The creature twitched.
Then
It vanished.
Li Shen's eyes widened.
Too fast
A sudden force slammed into his side.
BOOM!
He was thrown across the dock, crashing through loose crates before skidding to a stop. Pain flared through his ribs, but something strange happened.
The pain… dulled.
Absorbed.
The golden lines across his body flared faintly.
"…So it protects me…" he breathed.
The fog exploded again.
The creature lunged, its elongated arm slicing downward like a blade.
Li Shen reacted.
Not with panic
But with instinct.
He raised his arm.
The golden patterns surged.
CLANG!
A faint translucent barrier formed over his skin, stopping the strike.
For a brief moment…
Man and monster froze.
The creature jerked back, twitching violently as if confused.
Li Shen stared at his arm.
"…Armor."
Not outside.
Inside.
The creature shrieked.
This time, the sound tore through the air.
It wasn't just noise.
It was pressure.
Li Shen staggered, his mind rattling.
"…hunger…"
It rushed him again, faster than before.
This time, Li Shen moved first.
He stepped forward.
Not back.
Forward.
The world slowed.
He could see it now, the creature's movement, the flow of something dark around it… energy.
Corrupt.
Chaotic.
Without thinking, Li Shen reached out.
And grabbed it.
The moment his hand touched the creature
Everything changed.
BOOM!
A violent surge of energy erupted between them.
The golden patterns on Li Shen's body ignited, blazing like fire beneath his skin.
The creature convulsed.
"…NO"
Its voice shattered.
Cracked.
Breaking apart.
Li Shen's eyes widened as something impossible happened
The dark energy surrounding the creature…
Was being pulled into him.
Devoured.
Pain exploded inside his body.
Far worse than before.
His veins burned like molten metal.
His vision blurred.
But he didn't let go.
He couldn't.
It felt instinctive.
Natural.
Like this was what the armor was meant to do.
"…devour…"
The whisper echoed again.
Not from the creature.
From within him.
The creature shriveled.
Its massive frame collapsing inward, like something was draining it from the inside out.
Its limbs thinned.
Cracked.
Turned to dust.
Until
Nothing remained.
Silence.
The fog slowly settled.
Li Shen stood alone, trembling.
His breathing was ragged.
His body… burning.
Then
The golden patterns shifted.
Refined.
Sharper.
Stronger.
He dropped to one knee, clutching his chest.
"…What… was that…"
No answer came.
Only a quiet pulse.
Satisfied.
"Interesting."
A voice cut through the fog.
Calm.
Cold.
Refined.
Li Shen's head snapped up.
A figure stood a short distance away, as if he had always been there.
Tall.
Wearing a dark coat.
Gloves.
And in his hand
A slender blade engraved with faint silver markings.
His eyes were sharp, calculating… inhumanly calm.
"…You're not a sect member," the man said. "And yet you just killed an Abyssal."
Li Shen frowned. "Abyssal…?"
The man ignored the question.
Instead, his gaze dropped to Li Shen's arm
where the golden lines faintly glowed beneath his skin.
For the first time
His expression shifted.
Just slightly.
"…That," he said quietly, "does not belong in this world."
The air grew tense.
Dangerous.
The man lifted his blade.
Not rushed.
Not reckless.
Certain.
"By authority of the Crown's Hunter Division," he said, voice steady as steel, "you will come with me."
Li Shen slowly stood.
His body still burned.
But his eyes…
Were calm.
"…And if I refuse?"
The man's grip tightened slightly.
The fog seemed to recoil around him.
"Then," he replied, "I remove the threat."
The golden lines on Li Shen's body pulsed once more.
This time
Sharper.
Hungrier.