"I'm one dead guy… aren't I?"
Gray's voice barely carried through the canyon wind.
He stood at the bottom of the canyon now, staring up at the corrupted being that towered above everything like a broken god stitched together from violence.
Three heads.
Four arms.
A body that didn't feel like it belonged to the world it stood in.
It wasn't even moving yet.
And still—
Gray felt it.
Pressure.
Not on his body.
On his existence.
Like the canyon itself was trying to push him out of reality.
"…Why didn't I let Zil handle this thing?"
He let out a short breath.
"…He's way bigger than me."
The moment he finished speaking, his body reacted.
Blood slowly leaked from his eyes.
Not from injury.
From pressure alone.
Gray wiped it away without taking his eyes off the creature.
"What are you…"
The monster tilted all three heads at once.
Then—
it noticed him.
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Not visually.
But physically.
The air became heavy enough to feel like sinking into water.
A suffocating aura spread outward, pressing down on everything at once.
Gray's knees almost buckled.
"Damn it…"
His fingers trembled slightly.
"It's not even trying… and I can't move."
The corrupted being stepped forward.
The ground cracked beneath its weight.
Gray forced himself to breathe.
'Move'.
'Move'.
But his body resisted.
Then—
a fist came.
Too fast.
Too heavy.
Gray's body folded mid-air and slammed into the canyon wall so hard the stone cracked outward in a spiderweb pattern.
For a moment—
silence.
Then pain caught up.
"—gh!"
He dropped to one knee, coughing blood.
His ribs felt cracked.
His breathing uneven.
"…What the hell…?"
The monster didn't even pause.
It was already moving again.
Gray barely rolled sideways as another fist crushed the ground where his head had been.
The impact sent shockwaves through the canyon.
Gray staggered back.
"Why is something this big—this fast?!"
The monster didn't roar.
It didn't need to.
It just advanced.
Each step erased distance.
Each movement reduced options.
Gray's breathing sharpened.
Think.
Think.
Then—
Gray twisted desperately—barely avoiding it.
The air behind him detonated.
Stone exploded.
Gray staggered backward, boots scraping against fractured ground.
"Too fast…!"
A third strike followed instantly.
He ducked.
Still got caught by the shockwave.
He was thrown to the ground again.
Dust filled his lungs.
His vision blurred.
And for the first time—
he understood clearly.
This wasn't a fight.
It was suppression.
The creature wasn't trying to defeat him.
It was trying to erase him.
Another step.
Closer.
Gray pushed himself up.
Legs shaking.
"…Get it together…"
His expression changed.
The hesitation faded.
Replaced with something darker.
He slowly raised his head.
Blood still dripping from his face.
And smiled.
"…I'm really going to enjoy this."
Gray moved.
A slash cut into the monster's ankle.
Black blood sprayed.
The creature reacted instantly—an arm crashing down.
Gray vanished sideways.
BOOM.
The canyon floor exploded.
Gray reappeared mid-step, already striking again.
Steel bit into corrupted flesh.
Then again.
And again.
His movements sharpened.
No longer defensive.
Adaptive.
The monster roared—three voices overlapping, shaking the canyon walls.
Gray clicked his tongue.
"Shut up…"
A fist came from the side.
Gray slid under it, feeling wind tear past his hair, and drove his blade into the elbow joint.
The resistance was heavy.
Like cutting through half-cooled metal.
The monster staggered.
Just slightly.
But Gray felt it.
"…So you bleed."
That was enough.
He pushed forward.
The monster changed.
Its aura expanded violently.
The canyon itself felt heavier.
Gray's body slowed instantly.
His breath shortened.
His vision darkened at the edges.
"—Tch…!"
He dropped to one knee.
Unintentionally.
His muscles stopped responding properly.
The pressure wasn't physical.
It was domination.
The creature stepped forward.
Slow.
Certain.
Gray's fingers dug into the stone beneath him.
Blood dripped from his eyes again.
"…Damn it…"
Then—
movement at the edge of the canyon.
Zilders and Marie.
Zilders was fully transformed now—massive, unstable, barely controlled.
Marie stayed behind him, guiding movement instead of fighting blindly.
Zilders shouted across the battlefield.
"GRAY! WE'RE DRAWING THEM IN!"
Behind them, the puppet creatures turned, following their movement patterns.
They were being funneled.
Directly toward Gray.
Marie looked toward him once.
Just once.
And nodded.
Gray exhaled slowly.
"…Good."
He stood again.
Slowly.
The monster struck.
Gray tried to evade—
too slow.
The fist hit him mid-motion.
BOOM.
He was driven into the ground.
Stone cracked beneath him.
Another hit came immediately.
Then another.
Each impact deeper than the last.
Dust filled everything.
Sound became distorted.
His body stopped reacting properly.
He was being buried alive by force.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
The canyon floor collapsed slightly under repeated strikes.
Gray coughed violently.
Blood sprayed.
"…Ghk—!"
The world became fragmented.
Pain.
Noise.
Pressure.
Then—
silence.
The monster stopped.
Gray lay half-buried.
Still.
Zilders shouted from above.
"Shit he's going to die !"
Marie immediately responded.
"…No."
A pause.
"…Trust him."
Zilders hesitated.
Then—
Gray moved.
Slowly.
One arm pushed upward through rubble.
Then the other.
He dragged himself out of the crater of stone and blood.
Standing again.
Barely.
Blood covering his face.
He smiled.
"…That all?"
The monster hesitated.
Just for a second.
That was enough.
A black orb formed near Gray's chest.
Dense.
Heavy.
Alive.
The Shadow Core.
Gray stared at it.
"…So that's you."
The orb pulsed.
Then sank into him.
Pain exploded instantly.
Not localized.
Total.
His body bent backward.
"—AAAAAAH!"
Blood burst from his eyes.
Veins darkened across his neck and arms.
Then—
everything stopped.
Silence.
Gray's eyes opened again.
Deep purple glow.
His shadow stretched unnaturally long behind him.
"…I see."
The monster stepped back slightly.
For the first time.
Gray tilted his head.
And smiled.
"…Now we continue.
He vanished.
Not movement.
Erasure.
A slash appeared across the monster's arm.
Then another.
Then the ankle.
Each strike left a black shadow trail behind it.
Reality itself seemed to lag behind him.
The monster swung wildly—
but hit nothing.
Gray reappeared behind it.
"…Too slow."
A head dropped.
Black blood exploded outward.
The canyon shook violently.
Zilders froze mid-fight.
"…What the hell did he just become?"
Gray didn't answer.
Already moving again.
The monster staggered.
Now unstable.
Now breakable.
Zilders shouted.
"ABOVE YOU! THE SPIKES!"
Gray looked up.
Stone formations hung above the canyon like broken teeth.
"…I see them."
He turned slightly.
"Zil. How high can you jump?"
Zilders laughed breathlessly.
"High enough to regret everything afterward!"
"…Good."
Zilders groaned.
"You're insane…"
Gray smirked faintly.
"Yeah."
A pause.
"…Do it."
Zilders exhaled sharply.
"…Fine."
He grabbed Marie.
Zilders transformed fully.
His body launched upward in a brutal leap.
Marie held on tightly.
"Trust my brother," she muttered.
Zilders gritted his teeth.
"I hate this family…"
"THIS IS GOING TO HURT!"
He slammed into the spike formation.
He launched upward using the monster as a platform.
CRACK—
his arm snapped mid-air.
"FUCK!"
But he reached the spike.
And slashed.
CRACK.
Stone broke.
The entire formation destabilized.
The canyon gave way.
Massive stone pillars collapsed.
The monster turned—
too late.
It reached upward.
Slow.
Dragging.
Still refusing.
Gray stood at the edge, watching.
Breathing heavily.
Then—
he smiled faintly.
"…Told you."
The monster stretched its arm one final time.
But it couldn't reach.
Gravity took it.
Pulling it down into darkness.
Gray's voice followed it.
"…you were going to die."
Silence swallowed everything.