Kurai lunged forward—then stopped.
A sudden realization struck him like a blade to the mind. Physical attacks… they were useless. The horror before him wasn't something flesh and steel could harm. Only the soul could touch it.
His body reacted before his thoughts could catch up. He twisted to the side, trying to evade—
Too late.
---
He barely managed to cling to the wall, his fingers digging into cold stone as his body trembled. Survival—nothing more than that—was all he had achieved. And even that was only possible because of his attributes.
[Brave] Attribute Discription: [A will unbroken granted resistance against assaults on the mind.]
[Sword Master] Attribute Discription: [With a blade in hand, he could not be defeated in a fair fight.]
[Bloody] Attribute Discription: [His blood was alive. It could guide him… or consume him.]
Three gifts that had carried him this far.
In three months, he had obtained three memories. One had already been lost—shattered along with the armor it embodied when an awakened demon tore through him. He had killed that demon in the end… but it left nothing behind. No reward. No compensation.
Now, only two remained.
Memorie: [Moon Blade]
Memorie Rank: Awaken
Memorie Type: weapon
Memorie Discription: [A sword born from the tale of a brave knight who slew a creature of snow and silence.]
Memorie: [Night Fall]
Memorie Rank: Awaken
Memorie Type: armor
Memorie Discription:[A relic of a quiet night, where a demon's longsword ended the life of an ice beast.]
They were all he had left.
---
His soul was weak.
He knew it. Worse—he had no soul-based aspect to rely on. When the horror attacked, it wasn't his body that suffered, but something deeper. Something fragile.
His vision swam.
When he forced his eyes open, the world felt distant—wrong. No blood. No wounds. Yet the battlefield had become a graveyard of the living. Soldiers lay collapsed across the wall, their faces pale, their bodies unmoving. Others swayed where they stood, barely clinging to consciousness.
Only the generals remained standing.
Even they wouldn't last long.
Moments ago, everyone had been ready. Weapons raised. Spirits unbroken.
And now—
Silence. Collapse. Defeat without a single strike.
Kurai swallowed, his thoughts spiraling.
Run?
Where would he go?
Stay?
And do what—wait to die?
"Anyone still conscious—come to me!"
The shout cut through the fog in his mind.
A general.
Kurai turned toward the voice. The distance wasn't far. Close enough to reach—if not for the thing standing in between.
An awakened demon ghost.
It drifted silently, its presence warping the air around it. Kurai felt it then—a suffocating certainty.
It could sense him.
Not his body.
His awareness.
His gaze.
He tried to look away. Tried to shrink his presence, to slip past unnoticed.
For a moment, it seemed to work.
Then—
The ghost turned.
And rushed him.
Kurai froze.
Just for a heartbeat.
Then instinct took over.
He threw himself aside, barely avoiding the attack, and ran—stumbling, desperate—toward the castle. He didn't look back. Couldn't.
Inside, he found a room and collapsed against the wall, his breath ragged. His vision flickered in and out. Darkness crept at the edges.
No… not yet.
Clenching his teeth, he bit into his own arm.
Pain exploded through him—sharp, grounding.
Blood spilled onto the floor.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
The stone beneath him darkened.
Then blackened.
A faint mist began to rise, coiling like something alive. The air grew heavy. Thick. Suffocating.
And then—
A roar.
Not from the outside.
From the blood itself.
Darkness swallowed the room whole.
Kurai exhaled weakly, his body finally giving in.
'So this is the end…'
But just as his consciousness began to fade—
A voice echoed.
Cold. Distant. Absolute.
The Spell.
[You have sacrificed your blood to the Master of Darkness]
[The Master of Darkness is dead]
[He cannot hear you]
[Yet a blessing answers from the dark]
[You have received the blessing of the Master of Darkness]
The voice faded.
Then—
The castle trembled.
A deep, violent shudder ran through the walls. Somewhere in the distance, the horror's roar—unceasing until now—suddenly cut off.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Total.
Even the faint sound of water dripping seemed loud in its wake.
Kurai's eyes fluttered open.
And once more, the Spell spoke—softer this time.
[You have slain...]
[Wake up, Kurayami. Your nightmare is over.]
[Prepare for appraisal…]