The wilderness swallowed me.
Mountains flashed past beneath my feet.
Broken valleys.
Dead forests.
Endless stretches of barren land.
Everything became a blur as I continued forward.
Yet my mind remained clear.
The hunger was still there.
Constantly.
Like a second heartbeat buried beneath my thoughts.
But now I understood it.
It wasn't simply an appetite.
It was an instinct embedded within my bloodline.
The more Energy I consumed...
The stronger it became.
And the stronger it became...
The more difficult it would be to control.
That made Devour dangerous.
But danger had never been a reason for me to stop.
I slowed down.
My feet touched the ground.
THUD.
The surrounding dust settled.
I raised my head.
My senses spread outward.
The wilderness was silent.
Too silent.
I could sense hundreds of creatures nearby.
Some weak.
Some considerably stronger.
But none of them were moving.
They were hiding.
Watching.
Waiting.
My eyes narrowed.
"They sensed me."
I could feel their fear.
The moment my consciousness swept across them, their Energy signatures became chaotic.
Some fled.
Others remained completely still.
But one particular presence...
Didn't retreat.
Instead—
It was approaching.
Slowly.
Confidently.
My mouth curved upward.
"Interesting."
THUD.
My left heart beat.
The red stripes across my body burned.
THUD.
My right heart answered.
The two energies flowed through my body.
This time, they didn't collide.
They moved together.
A strange balance formed.
My aura became heavier.
The ground beneath my feet cracked.
Then a shadow appeared in the distance.
It grew larger.
Larger.
Until—
BOOM!!!
A gigantic creature landed several hundred meters away.
The impact shattered the ground.
It looked like a cross between a wolf and a reptile.
Its body was covered in black scales.
Six limbs supported its enormous frame.
Two long horns curved backward from its skull.
Its mouth opened.
Rows of sharp teeth appeared.
But what caught my attention wasn't its appearance.
It was its Energy.
Far stronger than the previous creature.
The beast stared at me.
I stared back.
Neither moved.
Then the creature disappeared.
BOOM!!!
My pupils contracted.
Fast.
Its body tore through the air.
A claw appeared before my face.
I tilted my head.
WHOOSH!
The claw passed by.
I grabbed its wrist.
The creature's eyes widened.
I pulled.
BOOM!!!
Its enormous body flew toward me.
I stepped forward.
My fist slammed into its stomach.
BAM!!!
The creature folded around my fist.
Blood erupted from its mouth.
Before it could recover—
I grabbed its horn.
BOOM!!!
I swung it into the ground.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
The wilderness trembled.
The beast roared.
Its six limbs suddenly wrapped around my body.
Its jaws opened.
A massive sphere of demonic Energy formed inside its mouth.
My expression remained calm.
"Too slow."
My body erupted with Energy.
BOOOOOOM!!!
The creature was blown away.
I appeared above it.
My fist descended.
BOOM!!!
The impact created a massive crater.
The beast's body lay motionless at the bottom.
I landed beside it.
For a moment, I simply watched.
Then—
The hunger returned.
Stronger than before.
My fingers twitched.
The red stripes across my body burned.
DEVOUR.
I raised my hand.
Demonic Energy began pouring from the creature.
But this time...
I didn't immediately consume it.
I studied it.
The Energy was violent.
Chaotic.
Yet beneath that violence...
There was something else.
A strange connection.
A faint resonance with my bloodline.
My eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
The System appeared.
> [Foreign Energy Detected.]
> [Compatible with Host Bloodline.]
> [Devouring recommended.]
I frowned.
"Recommended?"
The System didn't answer.
Instead—
> [Warning.]
> [Continuous consumption may accelerate Bloodline Awakening.]
My expression became serious.
Bloodline Awakening.
That was something I had been trying to understand since the beginning.
My bloodline had always been sealed.
Even after everything I had gone through...
I had barely scratched the surface.
And now Neraphyx was forcing something awake.
The two hearts inside my chest beat together.
THUD.
THUD.
The red and blue energies circulated through my body.
The answer was becoming clearer.
Zeraphyx had given me one side.
Neraphyx represented the other.
Light and darkness.
Creation and destruction.
Calm and violence.
Two opposing forces...
Existing within one body.
My body wasn't rejecting the demonic Energy.
It was recognizing it.
That realization sent a strange chill through me.
"What exactly am I?"
No answer came.
Only the wind.
I looked down at the defeated beast.
Then back toward the horizon.
There were still countless questions.
But I didn't come to Neraphyx for answers alone.
I came to become stronger.
So I raised my hand.
The beast's remaining Energy surged toward me.
WHOOSH!!!
My body absorbed it.
This time...
I didn't fight the hunger.
I controlled it.
I allowed the instinct to rise.
Then I forced it beneath my will.
The Energy disappeared into my body.
My muscles tightened.
My bloodline roared.
The red stripes burned brighter.
And for a brief moment—
The blue and red energies inside me intertwined.
Not fighting.
Not merging.
Simply coexisting.
The sensation disappeared almost immediately.
But I had felt it.
Balance.
A balance that shouldn't have existed.
I smiled.
"So that's what you want."
My gaze turned toward the endless wilderness.
The first creature had been powerful.
The second had been stronger.
But neither was close to the limit of this world.
Far away...
I could sense something.
A presence that made the beasts around it remain silent.
A presence that caused even the demonic Energy in the atmosphere to tremble.
My smile disappeared.
My instincts sharpened.
That was different.
Much stronger.
Perhaps thousands of times stronger.
The hunger inside me exploded.
DEVOUR!
My red eye burned.
The tiger phantom appeared behind me.
Its enormous body stretched across the sky.
Its crimson eyes stared toward the distant presence.
For the first time...
The phantom wasn't hungry.
It was excited.
I understood that feeling.
I felt it too.
I lowered my body.
Energy gathered beneath my feet.
The barren ground cracked.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
I launched forward.
The world exploded behind me.
My body became a streak of red and blue.
I didn't know what waited ahead.
I didn't know how strong it was.
I didn't know whether I would survive the encounter.
But for the first time since entering Neraphyx...
I felt alive.
The wilderness stretched endlessly before me.
The Land of Endless Death had finally opened its jaws.
And I was stepping directly inside.
My left heart beat like a war drum.
THUD.
My right followed.
THUD.
The hunger whispered inside my mind.
Devour.
I smiled.
"Not yet."
My eyes sharpened.
"First..."
The distant presence suddenly released its aura.
The entire wilderness trembled.
My smile widened.
"...let's see what wants to eat me."
BOOOOOOM!!!
I disappeared into the horizon.
And somewhere far beyond the mountains—
Something opened its eyes.