Darkness screamed.
Not in pain, but in birth.
Zaiyan's body floated, twisted by shadow-chains, his skin marked with glowing sigils — ancient runes of a language not spoken in any world.
Each symbol burned into his soul.
Each word… a curse.
[Drak Monarch Code Binding: 67%...][Warning: Body not suitable for this Path.][Mutating physical vessel…]
Zaiyan tried to scream — but his throat was gone.
No heart. No blood. No breath.
Only a soul.
Suddenly — FLASH!A memory.
Not his own.
A battlefield of gods. A man of shadows sitting atop mountains of corpses.Eyes of glowing crimson.A voice that shattered kingdoms:
"I am the Crown That Walks. I am Drak. I am Death's Father."
Zaiyan snapped back, heart pounding.
A black flame ignited in his chest — then spread across his limbs, burning the pain away.
His body reconstructed.
Bone → shadowbone.
Blood → eclipse ichor.
Heart → Drak Core.
He opened his eyes.
No longer brown.
Now glowing, vertical, beast-like pupils.
[Rebirth Complete.][Congratulations. You are the last Thronebearer.][Welcome back, Monarch.]
He dropped to his knees on the obsidian floor.
Breathing.
Alive.
But… wrong.
He could hear the world breathing.
The throne behind him pulsed — like a living heart.
Zaiyan looked around.
He wasn't alone anymore.
Ghostly figures sat on the thrones around him. Cloaked, chained, sealed.
All watching him.
"Another child sits the Drak Throne…""Will he fall like the last?""Or will he slay the heavens?"
Their voices were static, unreal, like thoughts bleeding into his mind.
Suddenly — BOOM!
A tear in the space above.
And through it — Yuzu.Screaming. Bleeding. Dragged by a monster.The real world called out to him.
[Emergency Override Detected.][Do you wish to return to the surface layer?][Cost: Drak Awakening - Phase 1 Release]
Zaiyan stood.
Clenched his fist.
Shadow wings burst from his back — jagged, raw, unstable.
He pointed at the tear.
"Send me back."
[Phase 1 Release Confirmed.][Skill Unlocked: Shadowstep.][Skill Unlocked: Abyssal Claw.][Skill Unlocked: Throne Authority - Fear Zone Lv. 1]
The throne behind him whispered:
"You are not ready. You are still… human."
Zaiyan grinned.
"Then I'll kill the part of me that is."
He stepped into the light.
And the world above was never the same again.
✦ END OF CHAPTER 2 ✦