Warrior God With A System

Chapter 16

The smoke was everywhere.It clung to Xayn’s throat, thick and heavy, making it hard to breathe. 

His eyes stung as he struggled against the skeletal hands that wrapped around his arms and legs. 

Cold fingers dug into his flesh, pulling him down toward the floor that was no longer solid but shifting like liquid shadow. He growled and pulled, his muscles burning, but the grip was relentless. 

Somewhere in the haze, Drevik’s laughter echoed, sharp and cruel. “You thought it would be easy? The mask chooses its master. You don’t take it. You earn it.”

The skeletal hands yanked harder, dragging Xayn’s legs into the blackness, and then, the voice came.

Smooth. Familiar. Dangerous. “Still not too late, to trade.”

Xayn’s head snapped up. Through the swirling smoke, he saw the red eyes again. Bright, steady, unblinking.

The cloaked man was here. “Show yourself!” Xayn shouted, his voice echoing off the unseen walls.

The red eyes drew closer, but the rest of the man’s body stayed hidden in the smoke. “You fight against chains that were never meant to be broken,” the cloaked man said softly. “But I can loosen them, if you give me what I want.”

“What do you want?” Xayn demanded, straining against the skeletal grip. His arms trembled as he tried to pull free, but the bones clung tighter, digging into his skin.

The cloaked man tilted his head. “Not much. Just a promise. When the time comes, you will give me what I ask. One thing. Nothing more.”

Xayn gritted his teeth. “And in return?”

The smoke around him thickened, and the skeletal hands seemed to tremble. The red eyes glowed brighter.

“I will free you. I give you the strength to rip through this curse. And, I will give you a path to Shadowglass.”

For the first time, the system’s voice was louder than usual, almost sharp.

Warning: Entity detected, classification unknown.

Risk Level: Maximum.

Recommendation: Refuse bargain.

Xayn coughed against the smoke. “System, can I get out of this on my own?”

Current Strength Insufficient.

Outcome if no assistance taken: Termination in 3 minutes.

His heart hammered. Three minutes. That was all. “Decide,” the cloaked man whispered. “Do you want to die here, or live to fight him?”

Drevik’s voice cut in, closer now. “I can hear him too, you know. You’re not the first he’s tried to tempt. But none of them walked out alive.”

Through the smoke, Drevik appeared again, his pale face twisted into a grin. His blade gleamed faintly as he raised it.

“Make your choice, stranger. Fight him. Or fight me. Either way, the mask feeds.”

Xayn’s eyes darted between Drevik’s looming figure and the glowing red eyes in the darkness.

The skeletal hands pulled harder. His chest was sinking now, the black smoke rising to his neck. Every breath felt like swallowing ash.

He thought of Lia. Her pale face, the glowing seal on her arm, her faint whisper of his name.

If he died here, she died too. He thought of Kira. Her worried eyes, her voice begging him not to come home hurt. 

If he failed now, she would be alone. The system repeated in his head.

Warning. Refuse. Risk unacceptable.

But the cloaked man’s whisper cut through it like a blade. “Power always has a price. But so does weakness. Choose.” 

Xayn shut his eyes. His heart pounded. “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “I’ll give you what you want. One thing. But nothing more.”

The red eyes flared like fire. “Done.”

The skeletal hands shattered like glass, crumbling into shards of shadow that dissolved into the air.

Xayn stumbled forward, gasping for air as the smoke thinned slightly. His muscles burned, but he was free.

Drevik froze, his blade halfway raised. His eyes narrowed. “You accepted.”

Xayn straightened, his fists tightening. “I accepted survival.” The system’s voice returned, quieter now.

Power surge detected. Strength increased temporarily.

Source: External.

Duration: Unknown.

Xayn felt it. Energy surged through his veins, hot and violent, like fire and ice mixed together. His vision sharpened, every edge glowing faintly. Drevik lunged. But this time, Xayn was faster. 

He caught Drevik’s wrist mid-swing, twisted, and slammed his fist into the man’s chest with enough force to send him flying into the far wall. The stone cracked under the impact.

Drevik coughed blood but laughed, even as he slid to the floor. “Good. The mask likes you.”

From the shadows above the table, something moved. A shape. A face, no, not a face. A mask.

It floated down slowly, black iron with sharp edges, its eye holes empty and dark. It pulsed faintly, almost alive, as if breathing.

Drevik smiled through blood-stained teeth. “Take it. If you dare.”

Xayn stared at it. He could feel the weight of it in the air. The power. The hunger.

The cloaked man’s voice whispered again. “It is dangerous. But with it, you could cut through even Sean’s walls.”

The system hissed. Extreme caution advised. Object contains parasitic essence.

Xayn reached out slowly. His fingers brushed the cold metal, and the room vanished.

Darkness swallowed him. He stood in a wasteland of bones, stretching as far as the eye could see. The sky was black, torn with red cracks that bled light. The air smelled of ash and death.

A figure appeared in the distance. Wearing the mask. Moving closer. It was him.

His own body, his own stance, but the eyes behind the mask glowed red, and the movements were wrong. Too smooth. Too cruel.

The masked Xayn stopped in front of him, tilting its head. Then it spoke in his voice. “You think you can control me. But when the mask goes on, I control you.”

The figure lunged. Xayn met it with his fists, every strike echoing in the dead air. Bone shattered under his blows, but the figure only laughed. “Stronger,” it mocked. “You’ll need to be stronger than yourself.”

They clashed again, each punch sending shockwaves across the bone field. Xayn’s chest burned, his muscles screamed, but he refused to fall. “I won’t be your slave,” he growled.

The masked figure’s red eyes flared. “Then prove it.”

Xayn’s eyes snapped open. He was back in Drevik’s lair. His hand was still on the mask.

The system’s voice rang sharp. Warning: Bond initiated. Parasitic essence partially contained.

Drevik watched from the floor, grinning despite the blood on his lips. “You touched it. Now it’s yours. Or you’re its?”

The mask floated in front of Xayn now, silent and waiting. The cloaked man’s voice lingered in his ear, softer than before. “A dangerous path, but sometimes the only one.”

Xayn took a deep breath. His eyes locked on the mask. His hand tightened into a fist.

If he wore it, he could gain the power to face Sean. To protect Lia. To survive the Black Market, but if the system was right, it might take more than it gave.

The mask tilted slightly, as if watching him. The red cracks from the vision flickered faintly across its surface,and then, without touching it, the mask spoke. In his own voice. “Put me on.”