I kept panting.
My breath tore in and out, shallow and rough. My aen was nearly drained completely.
I could barely stay upright.
A sick feeling curled in my gut—not fear exactly, but unease, the kind that seeps in when your body knows you've gone too far. I stared down at the soul core still lying on the ground.
It was intact.
And I couldn't absorb it.
The frustration hit hard. I was in dire need of aen right now . I clenched my jaw and forced what little aen I had left into it, black flame rising with it.
My body screamed in protest.
Pain lanced through my arm and into my chest, like the flame was biting back. My muscles tightened. I could feel the strain building, the fracture lines threatening to split. I wanted to keep going, push further into this cursed place—
But my condition was pitiful.
Then—shadows moved.
Two.
They slinked just beyond the fog of my reach, but I felt them.
I knew that shape. That weight.
Blood Hounds.
I sighed. Of course.
It just had to be now.
I reached into my bag and pulled out the cores I'd kept. The moment they left my fingers, I threw my will into them—black flame surged.
The explosion cracked the silence.
Aen pulsed in me, and I shifted into stance. My flame trait responded slower this time, but it moved. It wrapped around my form like a second skin, before sliding down to my dagger's broken edge, trying to hold shape.
It was harder now. I was barely holding on. But adrenaline kicked in. The pain dulled.
The blood hounds stepped from the dark.
Faster this time.
Smarter.
And they weren't alone.
Tiny movements rippled through their crimson fur. Spiders. Dozens of them, crawling from their backs and down their limbs—parasites riding predators.
I looked back toward the entrance.
Silver…
I wanted to turn around.
I wanted to run back.
But… how could I?
I couldn't even protect Sylvia.
That thought split something in me. The black flames pulsed, reaching forward before I even moved.
I leapt into motion.
My feet hit the stone. I ducked under a sweeping claw. The flame surged ahead like an arrow, carving a searing line through air, snapping at the lead hound's eyes.
I slid beneath its leap and drove my blade up.
Crimson gushed as the dagger pierced its underbelly.
I twisted. Pulled. Rolled away.
The second hound snarled, and the spiders scattered like needles. They swarmed over the ground, small enough to vanish into shadows.
My heel cracked a stone as I turned.
I slammed black flame through my palm, sent it rushing toward them. The air bent. The spiders shrieked in high-pitched clicks before vanishing in a burst of silence.
Too many.
The second hound lunged.
Claws tore across my side, reopening half-healed wounds. My vision blurred. My blade slipped.
But I held on.
One breath. One step. One slash.
I brought the dagger down into the beast's back, carving a jagged line along its spine. It howled. Blood sprayed, steaming against the cold.
My knees buckled. I dropped to one arm, blood dripping fast now, too fast.
The final hound lay twitching.
I crawled forward. My hand shook as I raised the blade again.
"Ignite."
The black flame flared and detonated from the hound's core.
The force knocked me backward, breath flying from my lungs.
Then—
> [You have slain Twilight Horror: Blood Parasite]
[You have slain Twilight Horror: Blood Parasite]
[You have slain Twilight Demon: Blood Hound Stalker]
[You have…]
[Your flame becomes better defined.]
[Effects of the Black Flame are greatly enhanced.]
[You have received a Chronicle.]
The voices echoed… then died.
The world stilled.
I remained on the floor, chest heaving, arms trembling. The dagger was still in my hand, but it felt heavier than ever.
Something had changed.
I could feel it. In the way the flame whispered around my fingers. In the way the air shifted.
Maybe that's why the system's words were different this time.
Slowly, I forced myself up. My body screamed, but I moved anyway.
I couldn't figure out this place—not in one day.
But as I stood, swaying, I felt something in me settle.
A Chronicle.
Finally.
Despite everything—
I smiled.