A shadow cut across the sky—swift, wide-winged, and silent. My body tensed. By the time I looked up, it was already descending.
A shriek ripped the air.
The beast struck.
Its hooked claw raked across my shoulder, tearing through the defense of the shroud and my skin. Pain bloomed—hot, deep, and immediate. I staggered back, blood spilling freely down my arm, warm against the cold air.
I hissed, dragging in breath through clenched teeth.
The bat circled again, its leathery wings beating hard enough to stir the dead leaves around me. Its eyes gleamed—a cruel yellow. It was eager to destroy me. That's how life is—someone is always the prey.
I lifted my hand, black flames simmering around my fingertips, but my vision blurred. The broken blade in the other.
Too much.
Too fast.
I blinked sweat from my eyes as the creature dove again. I dodged left—barely. Its claws scraped stone, shrieking as it crashed against the rocks. It recovered fast, wings folding and snapping open mid-air. One beat. Two. Then it soared back toward me.
I growled and thrust my hand forward. I released the black flames from my soul, spiraling it. Packing aen into it.
A jet of black flame shot from my palm, spiraling like a spear. It grazed the beast's wing. It shrieked again, but didn't stop. It twisted mid-air and slammed into me with its full weight.
We crashed to the ground.
I hit the earth hard—my back exploding with pain. The creature's teeth gnashed for my throat. I jammed my forearm into its mouth, black fire coating my blade. Like how I did earlier, I maintained the flow of aen—but this time, I tried to merge it as an extension.
Its fangs sank in anyway.
Pain. Again. And again.
My body screamed, but I didn't let go. The aen in me churned.
"I said—burn."
My flames surged. Wild. Uncontrolled. The creature screeched and twisted, trying to flee, but I held fast. I poured aen and hope into my broken blade. Please work, the hex echoed.
> [MORPHSTEEL has been activated.]
The blade readjusted into a half-broken dagger, with black flames completing its shattered part.
The world dimmed for a moment. My breath came ragged. My arm trembled. It was like setting fire to my own soul just to hold the beast back.
The bat beat its wings wildly, lifting us both off the ground. I clung on, seared by my own power, until I found the strength to scream—
Ignite.
A pulse of black flame exploded outward.
The bat howled—its body split mid-air, shredded by the force of its soul core exploding.
It dropped.
I landed hard. My knees cracked against stone. My body folded, coughing blood into the dirt. I stayed there—hands trembling, shoulder torn, breath shallow.
Then the message blinked before me.
> [You have slain Twilight Demon, Rift Cutter.]
[Your flames grow stronger.]
[Title unlocked: "Flame Cuts the Soul"]
[Effects of Black Flame are slightly enhanced.]
I didn't smile.
Didn't feel happy, because I knew—this world would find a way to take my happiness.
I spat blood and looked at my hand—still smoking. My body screamed in pain, but my soul? My soul just whispered one thing:
Keep going.
I stood on top of the rubble.
Wind howled.
Snow fell in pale silence, brushing across the broken ruins like forgotten whispers. My breath steamed in the cold, shallow and uneven. Blood still clung to my arm, dried and flaking from the fight with the Rift Cutter. The ache hadn't left.
Then—
"Why…"
Her voice cracked through the hush.
Silver.
I turned slightly at the sound of her—soft, trembling, desperate. Her boots crunched through frostbitten stone, hair sticking to her wet cheeks, eyes glossy.
"Why, Night? Why do you do this?"
"Why!!"
The snow fell heavier. Everything felt distant. Blurred. Except her voice. It rang inside me louder than any system message.
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
"I'm sorry, Silvie..."
My voice barely left my lips.
"But I have to grow stronger... so I won't lose you too."
I stepped off the rubble. My boots crunched into the frost, each footfall heavier than the last. I was moving toward a pulse—an unstable energy up ahead. Something old and forgotten. Judging by my shadow range, I could tell—there was something about this place in there.
"Don't you get it?!"
Silver's voice broke behind me.
"You're already losing me!"
I stopped.
"Please…"
Her voice cracked.
"Just stay. Stay with me this time, Night."
I didn't look back. Couldn't.
"I'm sorry, Silvie. But right now… staying with me will just put you in harm's way."
She sobbed. I ran.
Leapt off the ruins.
Ducked beneath broken beams.
Sprinted through collapsed streets.
The frost bit at my skin, but my body didn't stop. My soul couldn't.
My mind was clear—but the tears still came.
Why?
Why did this feel familiar?
Like something lost was tugging at me from behind the veil.
The wind roared. The snow stung my eyes. The world blurred.
And then—
A memory slipped in. Soft and shattering.
> "I miss you... Asuna."
Her name echoed like a song long forgotten. A name I hadn't spoken in ages. But the pain hadn't aged a day. My chest clenched. My steps slowed.
I dropped to one knee behind a cracked wall. My hand clenched into the ice. My other held my bleeding side.
The snow kept falling.
I breathed in silence—harsh, broken silence.
Then I rose.
I stepped forward—
One last time, as Night.