Rin awoke, but something was terribly wrong.
His body was gone. He hovered in an endless black void, his form glowing faintly,a translucent outline of who he once was. No heartbeat. No breath. Just the eerie silence of existence without flesh.
He was hovering in space.
Then came the voice.
[ALERT: Host in unstable state.]
[Soul cohesion critical.]
[Chance of survival: 0.01%. Initiating emergency stabilization—failed.]
Rin blinked,or thought he did. The void pulsed around him, then twisted.
A figure stepped into view, the darkness parting like mist around him.
Valen Solas.
He was different now. Less a man, more a looming giant dragon. His body radiated oppressive pressure, his eyes glowing with ancient, unfathomable knowledge. His smile, however, was unmistakable.
"Awake, are you?" Valen said, his tone casual, as though greeting an old friend.
Rin's soul flickered. "W-What is this? Where am I?"
Valen smirked. "This, boy, is where truth lives. Where masks are stripped. Soul and nothing else."
He took a step closer. The void trembled.
"You're probably the most unfortunate living being I've ever met. You clawed your way up, pretended to be something you're not, tricked my entire guild… and yet, here you are. Back to your core."
"I knew who you were the first time i saw you,but i wanted to give you false hope,thinking maybe i can escspe after the three years.Maybe you could have escaped if it was anyone beside me who saw you but you are very unlucky."
Rin tried to speak but pain exploded through him. His very essence writhed and twisted.
It was like being set ablaze from the inside out. Every shred of him screamed.
"You don't get it, do you?" Valen continued, watching him writhe. "Above blood lies the soul. The moment you reach a certain level of purity, the soul can't hide. Since you don't wanna talk i will destroy your soul piece by piece and i will know everything about you."
He raised his hand again, and Rin felt it,a tearing, a ripping. Not skin, not bone, but him.
Valen said with a dark chuckle. "I expected your soul to burn away in hours. But it's resisting… interesting."
Rin screamed. The void swallowed the sound.
Hours passed. Days.
The pain of your soul being torn apart was so bad that rin started begging for death after the first day.
By the second day, he stopped begging.
By the fourth, he could no longer tell what was real. The pain became his world.
On the sixth day, even Valen grew irritated.
"What the hell are you made of?" he muttered. "You're not strong. You're not skilled. But something keeps rejecting my will. Something I've never seen…"
Then came the seventh day.
Your bad luck keeps surprising me,I will have to do that technique.
—
Rin gasped.
The air was crisp.
The sound of wind returned.
He looked down,hands. Legs. Skin. Armor.
He was alive.
He stood at the entrance of the gate.
Valen stood beside him, staring ahead, oblivious.
It was seven days ago.
He was back.
[Survival Rate Recalculated: 64%. Proceed with Caution.]
Rin's heart pounded.
He was not just alive. He had been sent back.
By what? The system? Something else?
He didn't know.
But he knew this: Valen Solas had tried to kill him.
And next time... he had to be ready.