I left the temple.
The city's cold light welcomed me back. Empty sky. Faded clouds. Quiet. I dismissed everything—the shroud, the cleaver, all the weapons that had tasted blood. I didn't need power right now. I didn't need strength. I just wanted to go back… to the only place that felt like home.
The house stood waiting. I raised my hand to knock—but the door opened before I touched it.
That little girl stood there again. Her smile hadn't changed. "Welcome back, brother."
I forced a smile. "Thank you."
It felt like a lie.
---
Days passed.
I went out. Hunted. Bled. Returned. Each time I sat at the table, ate the food, spoke the lines. It became routine. A loop I didn't break. And every time I did, the synchronization ticked higher—like a timer counting down toward something inevitable.
> [6%]
[7%]
[8%]
[9%]
[10%]
.
.
.
[29%]
And yet, with every climb, a thought haunted me—Was this truly mine… or was I just borrowing someone else's life?
Each time that thought crossed my mind, I felt it—an eerie sense that someone was near. Not watching. Not hunting. Just… waiting. As if they had something to say, but couldn't speak unless I remembered first.
---
Bloodlust spilled from me again as my blade tore through another wave of spawns. I didn't know how many I'd killed—I just kept swinging until the noise in my head stopped.
Then I felt it.
Something creeping behind me.
I didn't turn. I didn't need to. My armor moved before I did, strings lashing out like instinct, piercing the unseen threat in one breath.
> [You have slain Twilight Devil: Moonlight Stalker]
[Effects of Blood Fruit are over]
[Frenzy has ended]
By the time the hex ended, i didn't feel a change in the flame.
So i knew , it reached my limit. Every trait modified itself to its users limit. I reached it , which meant the flame couldn't grow until i surpassed my limit
And then the world shifted.
---
A wolf stepped out from the shadows. It didn't growl. It didn't threaten. It just looked at me—eyes like stars buried under ice. Its presence crushed me. Not just with fear, but with certainty. I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, because my soul already knew the truth:
I was going to die.
And then… it walked away.
Not because it spared me.
But because it didn't see me as worth killing.
The pressure faded. My legs collapsed. I gasped like a man dragged from drowning.
Sylvia's words echoed back like a whisper on the edge of memory:
"The guardian didn't use its true power.
Its pity… was the price of my victory."
I said nothing. I went home. The same way I always did.
---
But this time…
He was there.
---
The air was still. Thick. My chest tightened before I even saw him. I turned—slowly—and he stood there, just watching.
His voice was quiet, but it cut like a blade.
"Why?"
My throat dried.
"Why did you have to show up again?"
I took a step back. It didn't help. The question didn't stop.
"Why won't you leave me?"
He smiled. Not in cruelty. Not in rage. But in something far worse—grief that had grown fangs.
"I should ask you the same."
Something cracked inside me. A name, a memory, a promise—I couldn't hold it in. It broke through.
I whispered, "I forgot."
His gaze didn't waver.
"You really thought running would work?"
I lowered my head. Shame gnawed at my spine. He stepped closer. Not with anger. Not with vengeance. But with something… real.
"Even if one of us has to die…"
He looked at me one last time—eyes heavy, voice barely above a breath.
"…you'll always be my friend."
He turned.
And left only silence behind.
The name slipped from my lips like a curse and a prayer combined—
Kang Rion.