The Marauder came like a freight train—eight feet of nightmare, talons raised, howling through a mouth that wasn't there. It wanted him dead. No. Worse. It wanted him broken.
Kieran didn't wait.
Shadow surged from his fingertips, spiraling around his arm like living smoke. His body screamed in pain, ribs cracked, lungs burning—but something inside him had changed. The moment he accepted the Graveheart, he had felt it:
The hunger.
He moved on instinct.
The Marauder's claws slashed through the air where he'd just been. Kieran twisted to the side, shadows propelling him faster than he thought possible. He felt the wind from the strike, the raw force enough to dent steel.
His feet skidded across the ash, and he lunged in—
---
[Active Skill: Soul Lash — Activated.]
---
The shadows wrapped around his fist and struck.
The blow wasn't physical. Not entirely. It passed through the Marauder's chest like a black whip, dragging with it a chunk of something invisible—its essence.
The Marauder screamed.
It stumbled back, twitching violently, its smoky eye-sockets flaring wide.
Kieran panted, vision shaking. His arm felt like it had been dipped in molten lead. But he was still standing. That was a win. Maybe.
The creature came again, roaring with fury. It slashed at him, tearing open his coat and the skin beneath. Blood hit the ground, steaming in the cold air. He nearly dropped.
Almost.
But not yet.
Not when he could feel its death so close.
---
[Soul Integrity: 57%]
[Vitality: 33/100]
---
Kieran let the shadows surge again—this time not in his fists, but through him.
They crawled across his shoulders, down his spine, over his chest. His veins pulsed with something dark and ancient. Every instinct screamed that he wasn't just fighting. He was becoming something else.
He ducked a second blow and countered.
One. Two. Three strikes.
Each hit sapped more strength, but he could see the cracks forming in the Marauder's body now. Its skin flickered like a glitching hologram. Its movements turned erratic. Desperate.
Kieran grinned through bloodied teeth. "Not so scary now, are you?"
Then the final blow came.
He leapt, shadows propelling him into the air, and drove both fists into its head as hard as he could.
---
[Fatal Strike Landed.]
[Wraithborn Entity Destroyed.]
[Absorbing Essence Fragment…]
---
The Marauder collapsed into black dust.
The world went silent.
Kieran landed on his knees, chest heaving, the ash beneath him stained crimson. The dust swirled around him in a small vortex, then rushed toward his core like iron filings drawn to a magnet.
He screamed—not in pain, but in change.
---
[Graveheart Level Up: Rank F → Rank E]
[Trait Gained: Ashborn Instinct — Slightly increases reaction time and evasion when Vitality drops below 50%.]
[Sigil Slot: 1/1 Unlocked]
[New Ability Imprinted: Shadow Bind — Conjure shadow chains to slow or trap a target. Duration: 3s. Cooldown: 90s.]
---
Kieran collapsed onto his back, gasping for breath. He stared up at the swirling black sky, the cracks in the heavens glowing faintly like ancient scars.
Was this hell?
No.
Hell wouldn't give you power.
This was something worse—and better.
He closed his eyes and laughed weakly. It hurt.
He was still alive.
But more than that… he had won.
---
The air shifted.
His eyes snapped open.
There, at the edge of the ruined plaza, stood a figure.
Human—maybe.
Cloaked in ragged armor. Masked. Watching.
When Kieran sat up, the figure raised a hand.
A symbol burned in the air between them: a jagged black circle split by a vertical line.
Then the figure vanished into the fog.
---
[Warning: Tier 2 Threat detected within 2km radius.]
[New Objective: Reach a Safe Point — "The Hollow" — within 1 hour.]
[Tracking Path…]
---
Kieran stood slowly, dragging his broken body forward.
The ash whispered underfoot.
Veyruin was only just getting started.