I exhaled slowly and tried to steady my mind. Then I knelt and placed my hand on the chain beneath me. It was solid. Extending my perception as far as I could, I found nothing but endless darkness and more chains stretching in every direction. There was no trace of anyone else.
I stood and began walking, one careful step at a time, keeping my senses sharp. Ten minutes passed. Nothing happened. No presence, no distortion, no sound, just the faint hum of the chain beneath my feet.
Finally, impatience took over.
I rose into the air and shot forward along the same chain, flying faster and faster until the links blurred beneath me. Yet, even after several minutes, I realized I wasn’t actually getting anywhere. The scenery refused to change, and the distance ahead remained exactly the same.
I stopped and dropped back onto the chain. I looked around, still the same. Endless darkness. Endless chains.
With a frown, I turned and flew toward the next chain on my right. The space between them was vast. When I finally crossed it and landed, the surface felt the same—crimson light, same faint vibration.
Seeing no immediate danger, I took off again, crossing from chain to chain. One, then another, then another. But the more I moved, the more it felt like I was caught in a loop, each chain identical, each direction leading nowhere.
But suddenly, my perception picked something ahead, a faint fluctuation of Essence moving along another chain. I pushed my speed and soon saw him, a Feran Grandmaster, gliding forward with sharp focus, lightning crackling faintly across his skin.
I landed on the same chain behind him, boots clicking against the metal.
The reaction was immediate.
The chain shuddered violently under my feet, deep metallic groans echoing into the void. The links around me began to quake as if something living inside them was awakening. A faint web of cracks glimmered across the metal surface, spreading fast.
The Feran spun around, eyes narrowing. "You—!"
He crouched slightly, trying to leap away, but the instant he pushed off, an invisible force slammed him back down. His boots clanged against the chain, and his expression shifted from fury to confusion.
"What is this...?" he hissed, straining, Essence roaring around him. But no matter how much he tried to fly, his body refused to lift.
I tried the same, just a small push upward but the force hit me too, dense and crushing, dragging me back down to the chain. The realization hit me instantly.
We couldn’t leave.
The chain trembled harder now, cracking louder, and faint crimson light bled from between the links as if the abyss below was hungry for collapse. The message was clear.
I steadied myself, eyes locked on the Feran Grandmaster. His fangs bared, rage flaring.
"So that’s how it is," I muttered.
The Feran Grandmaster kept struggling, trying to take off, but it was useless. He couldn’t rise even an inch above the chain. The metal beneath him trembled harder with each passing second, the shaking growing violent and deep, as if the entire structure was warning us both.
His eyes met mine and for the first time I saw it, real fear. He roared, spun, and began to run away down the length of the chain.
I stood there, watching him go, the meaning of it all settling in like cold water. If others who had fallen into this place were on nearby chains, they were in danger. If Vaelix found any of them... they would not survive. North and Steve could be cut down by grandmasters before I even reached them.
My hand curled into a fist. The chain under us shook again, louder, as if warning that time was short. I had to move, now.
I pushed off, launching forward along the chain after him. My speed sliced the void, Essence burning behind me. As I ran, my mind raced through possibilities, where everyone might be, who I had to reach first, how to pull them out. There was no time for doubt. Only action.
In an instant, I was right behind the Feran grandmaster.
"No, wait! We can talk!" he shouted.
I blurred past him and stopped in front of him, blocking his path. "Speak."
"Please," he said quickly, his tone trembling. "Let’s think of a way out. We don’t have to fight."
I exhaled slowly. There was no way out. I could feel it, the same unseen force pressing down on the chain.
Even when I pushed with all my strength, I couldn’t lift myself more than a foot above it. A constant pull from below kept dragging at my body. That meant if this chain broke, I’d be dragged down into the abyss with it. I had no intention of testing that theory.
"Once I kill you," I said quietly, "it’ll be clear if I’m right or wrong."
I raised my finger toward his forehead, gathering Essence to form a light beam, something quick and clean. But nothing happened. My Essence stirred, yet the moment I reached for my laws, they didn’t respond. My control over light was completely gone.
I tilted my head slightly, confused.
But the Feran didn’t give me time to think. He roared and unleashed his full power. A shockwave burst from his body, his skin darkening as both his claws turned pitch-black.
’Law of Hardness... and Reflection,’ I realized as I felt the pressure radiating from him.
He lunged forward with a thunderous uppercut, his claws coated with a reflective force that made my skin crawl. But my mind was elsewhere, why couldn’t I use my laws?
"[Absolute Domain]. [Right to Insight]."
The words left my lips, and the world shifted. My surroundings flickered, runes appearing faintly in my vision.
The Feran’s fist came crashing toward me. I lifted my hand and caught his uppercut mid-swing.
BOOM!
The impact sent waves of force through the void, my hair blowing back, but that was all it did. My eyes stayed fixed on the runes, and in that instant, I understood, the chain only allowed his laws to exist, not mine. This place... was his domain, not mine.
The Feran struggled, trying to free his hand, but I met his eyes calmly. I raised my left hand, calling on the Knight’s ability. My palm darkened, covered in a glowing black claw.
Before he could react, I thrust it forward.
My hand pierced through his chest. His eyes went wide, then dimmed as the life faded from them.
I exhaled and pushed him off me. His body hit the chain with a dull thud.
The trembling of the chain stopped immediately.
Then, before my eyes, the Feran’s corpse began to sink, his body dissolving, merging into the crimson metal until nothing was left.
And the chain went still once more, as if nothing had happened.