The night was still burning — not by the sun, but by the flames devouring the village with a hunger that knew no bounds. Ash fell from the sky like a rain of burned memories. And there stood Adlov, unmoving, like a statue carved from the remains of a better time.
The houses were broken. The ground was cracked. The air reeked of blood and smoke. Bodies were scattered across the street like discarded paper dolls — torn not by fire, but by something sharp, precise, and intentional.
This wasn't a tragedy. It was a slaughter.
And something inside him — long dormant — awakened.
Before he even unleashed his perception, his memory exploded.
Every shard, every flash, every technique the old man had drilled into him… came back in one overwhelming storm. The screams, the pain, the lessons. Everything he'd forgotten returned all at once.
An old self was reborn.And a present self resisted.Two souls — in one body.
Then he saw it.
A hound.
Massive, grotesque, soaked in blood. Muscles bulging like knots of raw power, fangs dripping, eyes void of pity. It tore through the guards — and among them was the old man, fighting in cold, precise silence.
The guards faltered. Their eyes shifted.They saw Adlov. But they didn't know him.
Then… it began.
Muscle Amplification — front group. Perception fully released.
Adlov vanished from sight — no sound, no trace.In 0.6 seconds, he was behind the alpha hound.
Horizontal slash — blade carved into the beast's side, blood bursting like a geyser.
The beast roared, turned, jaws wide — a double trap.
Deep-layer flexibility amplification.Adlov evaded the bite with an unnatural fluidity — his body moved like flowing water.
Low strike — tore through the beast's hind tendon.
It staggered. Still alive.
Double burst — extensor muscles.Adlov leapt high, spun mid-air, then…A vertical slash from above.
The blade drove deep into the hound's skull.
Silence.
Even the fire seemed to pause… to listen.
The guards froze.The old man closed his eyes — said nothing.
Then Adlov moved again.He was no longer hidden.He was a storm — revealed.
More hounds charged.But Adlov wasn't alone within himself.
Surface layer amplification — full external burst.
He dashed, slashed, evaded, countered.Each beast that approached… lost its head within seconds.
But inside… the storm raged louder.
"Excellent... This is what I've been waiting for."The voice returned. Deep. Vile.
A searing headache tore through Adlov's skull.It felt like blades carving into his mind from within.
He dropped to the ground.Tried to scream — but the voice wouldn't go silent.