The last thing he remembered…
Was the blade.
Not the pain… but the cold.
And the coldness of the gaze that came with it…
Nayan's gaze.
Those steady eyes, devoid of tremor.
There was no hatred in them… not even regret.
As if she was looking through him, not at him.
Then… he fell.
Fell inward, not outward.
As if his body had slipped off him,
Leaving him to slide into a dense silence…
A silence like death, but not quite death.
No sound. No body. No time. No gravity.
Something in that darkness swallowed him without resistance.
The void did not embrace him… it pressed on him.
As if every atom in his being was disassembled and crushed… with a cruel calm.
Then suddenly…
A faint ringing.
It thickened in his ears… then turned into a muffled scream.
Not human screaming—but sounds with no language.
Languages forgotten before time began.
Letters danced before him like broken light,
Swarms of symbols dissolving before they could be understood,
And every pulse of his torn heart echoed in the void, like a final plea for existence.
Then… images.
Flickers—like glimpses of the universe's birth and death.
A sky torn with stars,
Planets being born and crushed for no reason,
Galaxies moaning as if burning from within, caught in an eternal whirlpool.
Then something else…
A single eye, vast as the sky, staring not with depth—but beyond existence.
Then…
Flame.
Not real flame…
But energy.
Fierce, dancing, poisonous.
It seeped through his being,
His hollow chest trembled,
And suddenly he felt his body again—
But it was burning from within and without.
One half melting in unbearable heat,
The other freezing in absolute void.
And then… a voice.
"You are the bridge."
Silence.
"The Void remembers you."
A whisper, but heavier than gravity, held him still.
"The blood… is not yet forgiven."
The whispers did not come from outside—
But from within. From the core of his existence.
As if something ancient—so ancient it predates time—
Had been waiting for him to awaken.
Something that knew him… more than he knew himself.
Now he saw himself.
Not his real body, but a torn image.
One part crawling toward a pale light, begging for salvation,
Another part smiling within thick darkness… eyes split open, arrogant in strength.
And the closer he drew to the light…
The shadows pulled him with irresistible force.
And the deeper he sank into darkness…
The light called him with persistence.
And in the moment he was about to be torn completely between light and shadow…
He felt it.
The power.
Not energy…
But awareness.
A presence.
Something awakening within him.
Something that had not been asleep… but watching since his birth, waiting for this moment.
Without warning…
A gasp.
As if air had stormed into his lungs, forcing life back into him.
He opened his eyes—or thought he did.
Still in darkness…
But this time, it wasn't existential void.
It was tangible darkness, heavy.
A cold surface beneath him… sharp breaths…
His heart beating as if returning from a long death—or a distant journey.
Everything was still unclear…
But he felt something different.
As if new parts had been planted within him, foreign entities woven into him,
Or as if the self he'd known… was merely a shell, hiding the truth.
Elsewhere, far from his awareness,
There were those who had watched every moment of that fall.
And now… they were speaking in an underground chamber.
In a basement floor beneath the ancient imperial palace, three men sat in a narrow chamber lit by dim blue light.
The walls were soundproof, layered with incomprehensible seals, and the air did not move—as if trapped.
At the center of the table lay a black rectangular case. One of them opened it silently and pulled out a flat glass plate. Its surface flickered with distorted images, showing a boy collapsed on the ground… shattered energy rings around him. Strange data danced across it.
The first man, his face half-hidden behind a white mask, spoke in a calm tone:
"This is Farro. The boy who passed the trials—and exploded in the end with something unexplainable."
The second man, tense and low-voiced, rubbed his hands together:
"The data is unstable. The energy readings are momentary… but far beyond standard Nen. Not energy—pressure. As if his body became a temporary gravity center… sucking in everything around him."
The third man, finely bearded with aristocratic features, finally spoke in a composed, commanding tone:
"I want to hear about the blood first. What do the tissue analyses say?"
The first replied quietly:
"The Institute's report came an hour ago. Half the genetic material doesn't match any imperial database… The other half is… complex. Technically human, but distorted by an unknown influence. Not a mutation. More like something… passed through him."
A heavy silence followed, absorbing the weight of that revelation.
Then the third man, the royal throne guardian's special advisor, said with certainty:
"So we have two options. Either the boy had brief contact with a pre-Institute force… or he was born with it."
The second man asked with obvious doubt:
"Are you saying… he's a threat?"
The advisor replied with utter calm, but icy clarity:
"I'm saying… he's exceptional. And likely doesn't even know who he is.
So… we won't lose him."
He closed the black case with decisive quiet and issued a clear, unquestionable order:
"Register him in the Royal High Academy. Coded identity. New persona. Under direct supervision. We watch him closely… but we don't cage him."
The masked man asked, hesitantly:
"And do we allow him access to the Academy's Core?"
The advisor answered without pause, in a firm voice:
"Not yet. We test him first. Feed him the serums of loyalty: respect, recognition, and belonging.
No fear. No threats."
Then added, his tone tinged with cunning:
"The intelligent are not tamed by violence. But by status."
The three exchanged silent glances… a shared understanding.
Before the glass screen dimmed, plunging the chamber into semi-darkness.
And the last words of the advisor echoed in the still air:
"Let us capture this boy… before he grasps something we do not wish to awaken."
Hello heroes
I know I'm late updating the chapters so I'm sorry for the delay. I've been having some family issues lately.🤧
The important thing is that the update will change from two chapters to one chapter, three days a week. This means that there will be three chapters in each week, meaning there will be 12 chapters in the month. 🙂