"What is happening to me?"Kai whispered, breaking the thick silence of the basement. His trembling fingers clutched the fabric of his worn jacket across his chest as he felt the searing heat right behind his ribs. He could no longer feel the cold night air on his skin."It hurts..." he muttered softly, trying to draw in a breath that felt stuck in his throat.Suddenly, the old stone floor beneath Kai’s body began to vibrate gently. Purplish-black streaks of light rapidly formed a circle of intricate carvings around his body from the remains of the shattered coffin. Tiny stones floated in the air.A deep, heavy voice echoed inside his head once more, as if bouncing off the walls of his skull."The Shadow Core inheritance process has begun.""Wait..." Kai shook his head weakly, his eyes tightly shut. "Stop!"His body rose a few centimeters off the floor. A burning pain shot from his chest and spread rapidly through his bloodstream to his fingertips. A black shadow burst forth from his

"I have come to reclaim the Shadow Core."The man in the black cloak emerged from the thick fog with a faint, cold smile. The silver crescent moon emblem on his cloak's chest glowed dimly, as if absorbing the dungeon's last remnants of warmth.Darius stepped in front of Kai. The hinges of his iron armor clanged loudly as he raised the giant sword in his hand.“I recognize that emblem,” Darius said. His voice turned icy, as cold as the layer of ice creeping up the walls. "Eclipse."The robed man’s eyes narrowed slightly. "So there's still a knight's corpse that remembers our name."Kai stood frozen behind Darius’s broad back. His chest rose and fell erratically as he struggled against the oppressive weight of a thick aura that made his head feel as though it were being crushed.“Who...who are you, really?” Kai whispered hoarsely.The man chuckled softly. The sound of his laughter rippled gently, carrying a strange sense of sorrow."Ten years ago," the man said, stopping his laughter an

"I smell my king..."The giant’s booming voice echoed throughout the city of Arcadia, shaking the streets' very foundations and pounding the eardrums of thousands until they ached. The voice cut through the nighttime darkness, spreading pure terror and bringing all movement to an abrupt halt.The Rank B and C Hunters on the dark streets froze in place. The weapons in their hands trembled violently. Soldiers behind barricades of armored vehicles held their breath, unable to pull the triggers of their rifles. Even the small monsters crawling out of the cracks in the Shadow Gate dropped to their knees, stiffly kneeling on the cold asphalt.Every creature in the district fixed its gaze on a single point:The collapsed Obsidian Building. The place where Kai Ashborn stood.Through a gap in the building’s shattered roof, Kai looked up. There, a giant, red-eyed figure stood tall at nearly fifty meters high. Two curved black horns adorned its terrifying head. A pair of tattered wings fluttered

"Don't move, Kai Ashborn!"The command cut through the cold night air above the Obsidian Building ruins, shattering the silence. Dozens of mana-powered gun barrels were aimed directly at Kai’s temple and chest just a few steps away. The metal tips of the guns sparkled with a bluish glow, signaling danger that could explode at any moment.The atmosphere around the area suddenly froze. On the streets below, a black-scaled giant named Barak remained kneeling, motionless, his head bowed as tall as a five-story building. Meanwhile, atop the rubble of the collapsed building, the Hunters closed ranks around a young man in a tattered jacket whom they accused of being the mastermind behind the city’s destruction.Captain Leon Hart limped forward. Each step felt heavy, dragging his already exhausted body. The man in the white cloak wiped the thick red liquid from the corner of his lips with the back of his trembling hand.Leon stared intently at Kai, suppressing the stabbing pain in his chest.

“The traitor who stabbed you ten years ago is still alive.”Malphas’s final words continued to echo loudly in Kai’s ears, refusing to fade from his mind. Though the emissary from the Shadow Dimension had dissolved into smoke and vanished into the night air, the mana pressure it left behind still hung thick in the atmosphere. The air above the Obsidian Building’s ruins felt heavy and cold, making every Hunter’s chest feel tight.Kai clutched his head with both hands. His fingers clenched tightly around his dirty hair as excruciating pain squeezed his temples once again. It stabbed him from within, as if a red-hot iron needle were being forced into his head.Amid the swarm of dark memories, a strange voice suddenly screamed in fear and despair from the back of his mind.“Don’t trust anyone!”The warning echoed repeatedly, tearing through the walls of his consciousness. Kai’s body suddenly staggered. His knees buckled, and he nearly collapsed onto the sharp concrete debris."Your Highnes