Sion was trying his very best to make sense of what was going on with him while fighting for his survival. The beast seemed hellbent on wanting to kill him and he had no clue why, but he was not sure he cared enough to try and ask. He did not want to die, not when there were many paths now opening up for him.
[Umbrashift stabilized.]
[Trait: Phantom Step first—Awakened.]
From the corner of his eye, the interface flickered, text burned into the air, like branded light. Sion gritted his teeth and raised his hand. He knew something was changing within him; whatever it was, it was trying to help him win this fight and survive. He would accept that.
Shadow coiled up his arm like pulsing veins, living, sentient, not smoke, but something colder, older, and forbidden. It responded to emotion, not thought and the way his heart thumped against his chest confirmed that thought. Despite the uneasiness within him, he was willing to put it to the test.
And right now, he felt rage.
He opened his palm. The shadow obeyed, lashing out like a whip mixed with a purple and green hue, striking the beast's face. The creature shrieked in pain, staggering, one of its glowing eyes gouged by the lash.
Sion exhaled deeply, the feedback biting into his hand, like the power did not fully belong to him yet.
"Feed me… Let me bind more of you. I guarantee your survival in this fight and maybe more to come. This power, partly phantom as they call it, is only now awakening. It is tied to ancient beings that no longer exists and that of a dragon."
The mark pulsed again on his back, pain coursing through his body as he listened to those words. He knew he had to choose wisely, since from a young age, he was taught actions had consequences.
"No, this is my body, my fight; what I say goes," he muttered, clenching his fists beside him, knowing that this may backfire in the future, but at the time it was necessary.
"I am not your weapon, nor will I be the king's. I know what I need to do, and I am no vessel."
"You are right, you are not mine; I cannot control you or have you do anything against your will, even if you are a pain in the ass, but let's make one thing clear, you are the door that will bind it," the voice from the mark echoed within his head.
That reply chilled him; the very thought of what it or he was saying made him feel uneasy. He did not like the thought of it, but at the time, he could not focus on that; he had bigger problems before him, both literally and figuratively.
The beast did not wait for his fear to fade. Its jaws snapped down, he twisted out of the way, but not fast enough. Fangs raked down his ribs, tearing flesh. He fell hard, rolling onto his back, gasping.
Blood pooled under him. The stone was cold. The cavern spun and his eyes blurred; he could hear his heartbeat echoing in his ear.
But the eye on his back flared again; this time, ripples of red and violet swept across the floor like a pulse, a large eye appeared under him and the beast's eyes widened as it looked down at it; the cavern began shaking slightly.
The beast froze. Not from fear, but confusion. It, just like Sion, did not know what was going on, but one thing was certain: the darkness that he felt from it, the dread, he knew this was not right, something was off about this; however, he knew if it was not there to help, he would probably have been dead already.
Sion's body trembled… then stopped. Stillness. Silence. For one heartbeat, he felt nothing—then everything at once. It was as though his soul stepped outside of his body, and the world grew clearer, thinner.
"You walk the line between shadow and substance. You already walked the line between life and death and what will happen in the future... This is the beginning of that part, a part of something called the phantom. You will learn about it eventually, and I am a part of you, whether you like it or not."
Sion stood. It's words resonating in his head. He took a deep breath and then stood up straight...slowly.
The beast roared and charged one last time. Despite the sense of dread in the creature's body, it did not stop; its mind was stuck on one thing and that was to kill Sion, to finish the task that had been given to it, but the current situation was not in anyone's favor.
He did not flinch as the beast rushed towards him.
He vanished, letting his body move on its own and his mind went blank, only following one thing and that was to defeat the beast before him.
The beast looked around for him, confused, wondering where he disappeared to, and within less than a minute, he reappeared on the beast's back, shadows bursting beneath his feet, fast and his eye colour had changed to a mix of violet and a gray color.
With every last ounce of energy, he slammed his palm down, not with force, but with focus. Energy, a mixture of blue and purple, coiled from his hand, spreading like veins across the creature's back. The creature screeched, collapsing in on itself like it had been yanked through its own fear.
Then silence.
Smoke rose. The beast was there, lying before him but hollow—not dead, but… banished. Unmade, it was as though it could not move its body much longer; its very life force was being suppressed not only by fear but also by something else as well.
Sion fell to one knee, gasping for air.
[System synchronization… 67%.]
[Phantom Core: Waking.]
Then the world around him trembled, and the floor cracked open beneath his feet again—this time lifting him upward.
The trial had ended and the sound of a bell rang through the cavern and darkness, drawing even the other student's attention.
But something had only just begun, and Sion could feel it.