It was a quiet morning... A gentle breeze drifted softly through the open windows, and warm sunlight crept into the room.
Yuri slowly opened her eyes. She sat up from her bed, pulling her hair back into a neat ponytail, and whispered to herself:
"A new day... Let's start things seriously this time."
She took a short dagger and quietly stepped out of the room. Rin was still fast asleep, while Rio was talking in his sleep about "stealing meat pies from a slumbering dragon."
She opened the front door.
The air outside was incredibly refreshing. The sun illuminated the surroundings, and the breeze was perfect—carrying neither heat nor chill. The sky looked pristine, as clear as a pure ocean, and the clouds resembled a white gown, entirely free of flaws or stains. The only sounds were the distant rumbling of carriages and the growing chatter of people.
She took one step outside, then another, walking through the city toward...
Yuri entered the Adventurers' Guild.
The hall was crowded, but her expression remained calm as usual. She walked toward the quest board and began scanning it quietly. Before long, two massive men approached her; one carried a heavy battle-axe, while the second wore worn-out, battered armor.
The first man scoffed, "Oh, a little girl? Did you lose your way to the kitchen?"
The second man added mockingly, "Or maybe she came here to wash our weapons? Haha!"
Yuri didn't answer. She simply locked her eyes onto them with a gaze as cold as ice. The two men fell silent for a second.
Yuri spoke in a calm, flat voice:
"Outside the guild. Now."
The first man blinked, "Huh? Are you... are you challenging us?"
Yuri replied, "You won't be laughing once you lose your teeth."
Outside the Guild — In a Back Alley
The air felt heavy, and the whistling wind sounded as if the world itself was holding its breath. The two men stood directly in front of Yuri, but they had no intention of fighting fair.
The battle began.
Yuri launched herself forward like a bullet. The two men were caught off guard for a fraction of a second, but they quickly pulled themselves together before Yuri could reach them. One of them suddenly drew a poisoned dagger, while the other attempted to ambush her from behind.
Yuri initiated the engagement with a swift, lethal maneuver. The first man barely evaded her blade and swung a heavy counterattack aimed directly at her back. With supernatural speed, Yuri dodged the strike so flawlessly it looked as though she had instantly teleported.
The other man lunged, successfully scratching her with the poisoned blade. But before the toxin could slither like a serpent through her veins, Yuri used her internal mana to freeze the poison in place and force it out of her body.
Yuri was proving to be a far more formidable opponent than they had anticipated. She looked at them, her eyes filling with a fierce excitement.
"Are you two enjoying yourselves? Because right now, I feel like my heart is about to explode from pure thrill. Come on!! Let's dance until we die!"
The two men twisted their faces into ugly, sinister grins. They resorted to underhanded tactics, launching a synchronized assault from a blind spot she hadn't detected.
A sudden pierce... then a heavy impact... then...
Yuri's eyes widened in sheer shock. "...My arm?"
The agony was blinding. A spray of crimson erupted into the air... and her left arm severed, falling heavily onto the ground.
The first man noted coldly, "Foolish girl. That is the price of arrogance."
They turned and left the alleyway, laughing loudly, leaving Yuri leaning heavily against the brick wall, silently bleeding out. She felt utterly weak. Even though the fatal blow had come from a blind spot, she couldn't stop berating herself.
The thought echoed repeatedly in her mind: Look at how weak you are.
As she dragged herself down the street, a sudden realization hit her, and she forced her faltering steps to move faster.
Back at the House
Rio opened the front door only to find Yuri drenched in fresh blood, her face deathly pale.
Rio whispered in absolute, horrified shock:
"What... who did this to you...?"
Yuri offered a faint, exhausted smile. "I'm sorry... I wasn't careful enough."
Rio's voice began to tremble violently. "...Who. Did. It?"
Yuri quietly described their appearances, who they were, and the direction they had gone.
Suddenly, a resonant voice echoed inside his mind—one that only he could hear.
Rio's expression twisted into pure rage. "...Playtime is officially over."
Moving with supernatural velocity, Rio bolted from the house, tracking the thugs like a predator following a blood trail. His heart burned with pure fury, and his pulse vibrated heavily against the ground.
Without warning, he spotted the two men boasting loudly outside a small tavern.
The first man laughed, "She was crying so much, just like a little baby!"
But in the very next heartbeat... the atmosphere completely warped. The air froze solid, and the daylight vanished entirely.
Rio spoke in a deadly, quiet tone:
"Domain... Eternity."
Inside the Domain
Everything changed instantly. The sky turned into a bleak, dark ash color, the ground hardened to the consistency of solid steel, and all ambient sound was utterly erased.
The two men panicked, looking around frantically. "What is this place?!"
Rio stood directly before them, his eyes glowing with an intense, supernatural light. "Welcome to your end."
Within this domain, his raw power and speed were multiplied a hundredfold.
He slammed his foot into the ground, causing massive columns of jagged, spiked iron to erupt violently from the earth. He raised his hand, and a torrential storm of heavy stones and sharp gravel ripped through the air, tearing into them.
The men screamed, trying to run, but the steel ground fractured open, and earthly serpents materialized to ensnare them. Then, the fabric of the air itself cracked, and natural spikes pierced ruthlessly through their flesh.
Rio extended his hand toward them. To their terrified eyes, he looked like a pulsing beacon of power.
He was actively attempting to petrify their bodies, trying to turn them into solid stone. He encountered severe resistance at first, forcing him to strain hard, compressing his energy as if trying to forcefully close a clenched fist.
The two men froze in their tracks, their entire nervous systems completely shocked as a wave of absolute panic set in. Their bodies felt like a malfunctioning alarm system, stuck in a state of perpetual, agonizing high alert, completely unable to move.
But before he could achieve full petrifaction... Rio collapsed heavily onto his knees, and fresh blood poured from his eyes.
It was an overwhelmingly powerful ability, but the toll it exacted was far greater. The technique demanded an immense level of concentration, alongside a massive neural and muscular strain that no ordinary human could ever hope to endure.
The moment Rio hit the ground, the petrifaction ceased. The crust of stone fell away from the men's bodies, and the domain began to waiver.
Realizing Rio's sudden vulnerability, the two thugs seized the moment. They stepped closer.
Closer, and closer, and closer. With every agonizing step they took, Rio could feel the mortal threat looming over him.
Rio thought to himself: The blood is blurring my vision... and I don't think I can stay conscious for much longer.
His situation was critical. He could see the incoming danger clearly, but his body refused to respond. Just a few final paces remained before they would reach him. They wound up their weapons, unleashing a fatal assault meant to pierce his flesh.
But right before the strikes could land...
Massive fractures ripped through the sky of the domain. An instant later, the entire pocket dimension shattered completely like fragile glass.
The two attackers were momentarily distracted, ripped away from Rio. They turned their heads back with lingering arrogance.
But this time, the person standing before them was not Rio. It was Rin.
Rin stood completely motionless, his hands clasped calmly behind his back. A terrifying, pitch-black aura coiled violently around his silhouette, and his eyes resembled an absolute, bottomless abyss.
Rin spoke with an icy, detached voice:
"Your souls will be left to bleed out... but your bodies?"
He raised his hand. His quiet footsteps resonated softly against the earth as he declared without a single trace of emotion:
"This is the penalty for touching my family."
The air around them froze instantly, and the deep darkness behind Rin began to manifest into a massive, featureless creature. In that terrifying moment, anyone looking upon the entity wished for nothing more than immediate death rather than witnessing what was about to unfold.
In the aftermath...
Rio completely lost consciousness from exhaustion. Rin carried him carefully back to the house, placing him gently onto a bed right beside Yuri.
Inside the quiet room, Yuri lay resting, her severed arm thoroughly covered in advanced, magical bandages.
Rin stepped closer to her bedside, whispering softly:
"You are a part of us now... Nobody harms our family and stays alive."
With those words, he quietly left the room, leaving behind nothing but a lingering shadow of absolute terror in the hearts of those who had witnessed what occurred.
To be continued...