The corridor twisted sharply to the right. Adam followed the turn. The walls began to bleed. Thick, dark blood oozed out of the cracks in the black stone, dripping onto the floor."But you are not a hero," the entity hissed. The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. "You are a predator. You belong to the dark. Why do you fight for the humans? They hate you. The Headmaster locked you in a toxic wasteland. The Inquisition wants to cut your head off. The Princess tried to use you as a medical leech."Adam stopped walking. He stared at the bleeding walls. The ancient monster was telling the truth. Every single human in power had tried to use him, destroy him, or cage him."They call you a monster," the grinding voice tempted him softly. "So be a monster. Let the gate open. Let the Void loose. Eat the walls. Eat the school. Eat the King. If you let me out, little King, we can eat the whole world together. We will never be hungry again."The temptation was incredibly strong.Adam wa

Adam tried to fight back. He opened his own Gate of Hunger. He released his own dark aura, trying to push against the clone’s gravity.BOOM.The two dark auras crashed into each other in the center of the room. It was like two black holes colliding.The mirrors on the walls screamed and shattered. Thousands of glass shards flew into the air, swirling around them in a violent, deadly tornado.But Adam was losing.Adam was holding his aura back, trying to keep control. The clone had zero control. The clone’s hunger was wild and infinite. The clone’s aura began to eat Adam’s aura.Adam felt the dark violet ichor in his veins being physically pulled out through his pores. His skin burned. He fell to one knee. The gravity was crushing him flat against the floor.A bright, flashing purple screen exploded inside Adam’s mind.[SYSTEM WARNING: FATAL POWER DEFICIT.][The enemy output is 100%. The Host output is 15%.][Host is suffering critical energy drain.]The System text flashed red, then g

The clone lunged forward. It expected a magical barrage. It expected Adam to panic and unleash the Void. It raised its hands to absorb a massive magical attack. But Adam dropped his guard completely. He let his arms fall to his sides. He relaxed his shoulders. The clone was caught totally off guard. It hesitated for a tiny fraction of a second. The clone’s magical brain could not understand why Adam was not defending himself. That single second was all Adam needed. Adam relied on pure, base physical instinct. Before he was a mage, he was a street fighter. He was a survivor who fought wild dogs for scraps of food. Adam stepped to the left, slipping past the clone’s magical hands. He did not cast a spell. He just moved his arm. Adam thrust the rusty dock-worker’s knife forward. The dull iron blade moved with incredible, brutal human speed. It slipped right past the dark smoke. The Void aura could not eat the knife because the knife had zero magic. It was just an object. CRUNCH.

"Why do you fight for them?" Valerius asked. He walked slowly toward Adam. The red static formed a thick, buzzing shield around the noble’s body. "They are weak commoners. They do not matter. If you join me, Adam, I can give you real power. I know you have the dark Void inside you. We can rule everything together. Just stand back. Let them die. It is so easy to let go."The dark monster in Adam's brain cheered. Yes. Say yes. Let the weak die. Take the power.Adam closed his eyes for one second. He pushed the monster back down into the dark box in his soul. He turned the key. He locked it away. "No," Adam whispered softly. He opened his eyes. They were completely human and brown. "I do not want your dirty power. I want my friends."Adam charged forward again. He ran straight at the buzzing red static shield. Valerius laughed wildly. "You are a fool! The static will melt your skin right off your bones!"But Adam did not use magic to break the shield. He used his rusty, ugly iron knife

Adam did not dodge. He raised his left hand. He opened his palm toward the flying blade. He dug deep into his chest. He grabbed his dark Void magic. But instead of pulling the magic inward, he pushed it outward with all of his mental strength. He inverted the aura. A pitch-black, spinning spike of pure anti-magic shot out of Adam’s palm. It did not suck the air. It pierced it. The dark Void Spike hit the giant red blood blade right in the center. CRACK. The giant blood blade instantly shattered into a million pieces of harmless dry ash. The anti-magic completely destroyed the Blood Art. The Vampire Mage took a step back. Its blank face looked confused. It had never seen magic like this before. Adam did not stop. His dark brown eyes were completely calm. He felt no anger. He felt no wild rage. He was perfectly in control. Adam aimed his left hand directly at the Vampire Mage’s chest. He pushed his magic outward again. He fired a massive, invisible wave of inverted Void magic.