"Yes..."
"Kill her, Siya."
The voice echoed from within Clara, dripping with cruel amusement.
"If she dies..."
"Only then will I abandon this body."
"But if you can't kill her..."
"I'll rot her from the inside."
"Slowly..."
"Painfully..."
"And she'll become exactly what that fake Clara became..."
"A walking corpse."
"A decaying shell."
Silence engulfed the room.
Siya tightened her grip around the dagger.
Her expression remained unreadable.
Then—
Slash!
The blade flashed through the air with terrifying speed.
A horrifying scream erupted from Clara's body.
It wasn't Clara's voice.
It was something far darker.
Something ancient.
Something consumed by rage.
The scream shook the entire chamber.
The strike had landed.
Not upon Clara...
...but upon the darkness itself.
The force behind Siya's attack was so immense that even the surrounding shadows seemed to freeze in place, as though time itself had stopped for a single heartbeat.
Then—
Clara laughed.
A loud...
confident...
almost mocking laugh.
"You actually believed..."
"...that you had defeated me?"
She smiled.
"How foolish."
"I allowed you to trap me."
"Yes..."
"You managed to suppress half of my influence over this body."
"But you forgot something."
She slowly raised her wrist.
"The energy Siya entrusted to me..."
"...still exists inside me."
"No matter where I am..."
"No matter how deeply I'm buried..."
"That energy can always guide her to me."
"And more importantly..."
"It never allows complete darkness to consume me."
She gently touched the protective bracelet wrapped around her wrist.
"And as for how I imprisoned you inside my own shadow..."
"It wasn't because of your weapon."
"It was because of this."
She lifted the bracelet.
"Siya gave me this protective talisman."
"So that whenever my life was in danger..."
"...it would automatically release the divine energy she had stored within it."
"I simply..."
"...used it differently."
A faint smile crossed Clara's face.
"The power sealed inside this bracelet is so overwhelming..."
"...that it can erase even a living shadow."
She looked directly into Siya's eyes.
"Now..."
"Show him."
"Show him how darkness itself can be buried beneath an even greater darkness."
Siya slowly stepped forward.
Her voice became calm.
Cold.
Steady.
"Do you know something?"
"People believe that only light can destroy darkness."
She shook her head.
"That's not entirely true."
"Darkness..."
"...can also be consumed by a darkness far greater than itself."
She pointed toward the imprisoned shadow.
"I didn't destroy you."
"I merely imprisoned you..."
"...inside a darkness so absolute..."
"...that your existence became insignificant before it."
"That's why..."
"...even a fragment of shadow was enough to swallow you whole."
The imprisoned entity struggled violently.
Its furious growls echoed through the room.
Siya continued,
"Now..."
"If you tell me everything truthfully..."
"I'll set you free."
"For good."
The creature fell silent.
Then—
It laughed.
Long.
Loud.
Arrogantly.
"You still don't understand, Siya."
"Why would I regret what I am?"
"What kind of evil abandons its own pride?"
"And if evil begins to regret its actions..."
"...is it even evil anymore?"
Its laughter became darker.
"I don't take pride in possessing limitless dark power."
"No."
"My pride comes from something far greater."
"My thoughts..."
"My desires..."
"My instincts..."
"My vision..."
"My every intention..."
"Everything within me is darkness."
"I wasn't corrupted."
"I wasn't transformed."
"I didn't become evil."
"I was born this way."
"My veins have carried nothing..."
"...except darkness..."
"...since the moment I came into existence."
The room became deathly silent.
Siya stared at the imprisoned shadow without blinking.
Her expression remained perfectly calm.
Then...
in a cold, unwavering voice, she asked the one question that froze the air itself.
"So..."
"Are you..."
"...Kaal?"
She paused.
"The one they call..."
"...Kali?"
Silence.
Not a single sound remained.
Then—
A deafening laugh ripped through the chamber.
It was no ordinary laughter.
It carried madness...
certainty...
and an ancient terror that seemed older than civilization itself.
The darkness trembled.
And for the first time...
the name that had haunted legends...
stood on the verge of revealing itself.