THIRD FORM: Art of Crippling Regret
"Absorb…" Dark Ash whispered, his voice hollow but filled with intent.
Although the third form was primarily designed as a defensive technique, Dark Ash had hidden a contingency within it.
He had planned long ago that even if he were to die, he would not let Ash escape unscathed.
He wanted Ash to experience what he had endured—to carry the weight of his suffering, to drown in the pain he could never release.
Using the essence of his Divine Art, he absorbed all the emotions—every false feeling, every fabricated sorrow—that had once plagued him.
Though they were not truly his own, they had become real through experience… and now, they would become Ash's truth.
He also absorbed every single memory in him. Each moment of loneliness, of failure, of despair, of anger.
Then, with a voice that echoed like the last breath of a dying star—
"Transmit."
Just as the words faded, Dark Ash's soul completely collapsed, leaving no trace or echo behind.
Only a soft gray sphere of light hovered where he had stood, slowly descending until it gently touched the surface of the water below, causing a quiet ripple to spread across the vast space.
BOOM!!
Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the entire soul space, sending waves of energy through every corner.
Ash's mind was instantly overwhelmed by a flood of memories, emotions, and pain, crashing into him all at once until his thoughts went blank.
His soul space trembled violently, as if struggling to hold itself together under the intense pressure.
Above him, the sky cracked like broken glass and Ash was forced out of his soul space, thrown into darkness deeper and heavier than before.
The waters below turned pitch black, reflecting a sorrow too vast to name, and the whole space shook as if ready to collapse.
Then, the tree at the center began to glow softly, spreading a gentle silver light through its bark and branches that filled the infinite soul space with calm and warmth.
The shaking stopped.
The chaos quieted.
In that calm moment, the fight between darkness and Ash's soul was paused.
For now.
***
Time continued to pass in that silent stalemate, with each moment stretching endlessly, and few days slipped by just like that while Ash remained unconscious, showing no sign of waking up.
The sky above, still cracked and broken, was completely filled with darkness, and the waters below remained pitch black and unmoving, as if the entire space had been frozen in time.
Nothing stirred. Nothing changed. The only thing preventing the soul space from collapsing into itself was the Rune of Knowledge, which was silently holding everything together, acting as an invisible force that kept the space stable.
The silver light that had emerged earlier still glowed steadily, filling the soul space with a soft, unwavering brightness like a lone beacon that refused to fade, a gentle reminder that something within still endured.
But then, something new happened. A light appeared, one that was clearly different from the silver.
It was red in color, soft and faint at first, slowly drifting across the space like a wandering ember until it reached the base of the tree at the center of it all.
As the red light touched the surface of the tree, it began to seep into the bark as if becoming one with it, and right at that moment, the Rune of Life, which had always remained a pure white symbol among the others, suddenly started to glow more brightly than any of the rest, radiating a warmth that stood out even among the silver.
The Rune of Life also began to merge with the tree, and once again, just like before, the space around started to shift.
The black tree, which already had silver lines running through it, now began to shine with glowing white lines alongside them.
The height of the tree began to grow, expanding from the size of a three-story building to something even taller, now reaching the height of a four-story one.
Along its branches, white leaves started to bloom, fresh and soft like new life sprouting from stillness.
Yet, despite the growth, the branches were still mostly bare, with only a few leaves appearing here and there, as if the tree itself was waiting for more—waiting for all the Runes to return and gather, so that it could fully awaken and complete its form at last.
At the same time, far away from the soul space, back in the real world, a strange glowing symbol began to form inside Ash's body, who was now lying quietly on the ground.
The symbol slowly appeared on his heart, glowing faintly from within his chest, while his heart continued to beat gently, sustaining life even in sleep.
The light from the glowing symbol spread across his heart, surrounding it completely, covering it with patterns that pulsed softly with energy, and then, after a few moments, the glow began to fade and slowly disappeared as if absorbed completely into him.
With that, the soul space finally began to heal. The cracks in the sky started to mend, and the stillness no longer felt like lifeless silence but something peaceful and calm.
As for what that red light was or where it had come from, no one knew.
Not yet.
***
Ash found himself standing in a strange place that felt neither real nor entirely imaginary, a space that pulsed with an odd quietness, and his thoughts stirred in confusion as he muttered inwardly, What the hell is going on...? Where even am I...?
Then the memories returned, flooding his mind in waves, sharp and overwhelming, as he recalled what had happened just before losing consciousness.
Ah right... those memories... that bastard dumped everything into my mind before dying... all his pain, his hatred, his emotions—damn it.
His head throbbed faintly at the recollection, and the lingering heaviness in his chest told him that he hadn't been able to process it all, not even with Omni thought's help.
I must've lost consciousness because of the overload... not even Omni thought could handle that much information all at once.
He looked around the unfamiliar space again, his eyes narrowing as he asked himself silently,
But then... where am I now...?
As if in answer to his question, a man's voice echoed softly from somewhere nearby, carrying a warmth that didn't match the cold air of this strange place.
"Do you like our son, dear...?"
A woman's gentle voice responded with a soft chuckle, "Yes, dear, isn't he just lovely? I don't know what kind of people would leave such a cute child at the orphanage... those parents must have been truly heartless."
Ash turned toward the source of the voices, and his gaze fell upon a couple—an ordinary middle-aged man with dark black hair and a white haired woman who stood beside him, her expression glowing with affection.
And at that moment, Ash realized something that made his heart skip a beat.
Wait... Ash's parents...?
These were the parents of Dark Ash, the one whose memories had been forced into his mind, and probably he was witnessing those memories.
But wait, what did she mean by orphanage...? Ash frowned, the confusion in his thoughts growing sharper, and as he stepped forward to take a closer look at the child they were speaking of, the entire scene shifted without warning.
Now, he stood inside a modest, cozy house, watching a young boy with silvery white hair laugh joyfully as he ran across the room, tossing a ball toward his smiling parents.
"Father, catch the ball!"
"Here it comes!"
Their laughter echoed through the room like a melody, and Ash watched, unmoving, as the family played together in pure, simple happiness.
That boy... he's the Ash from this world... the one who lost his parents in a dungeon break… but wait, I clearly remember them saying they adopted him from an orphanage…
A chilling thought tried to form in his mind, something dangerous that would shake the foundation of what he knew, but he forcefully pushed it away before it could settle, unwilling to face that conclusion just yet.
The vision shifted again, this time showing the family eating together with warm smiles, then sleeping peacefully under the same roof, then taking little Ash to school for his basic education.
Scene after scene flowed seamlessly, showing memories that were deeply personal and far too detailed to be anything but real.
Ash saw how both parents were low-rank hunters, barely at the Apprentice Rank, and yet they had built a simple life together even without a strong foundation.
The scene changed again, showing little Ash growing up slowly, day by day.
Ash watched every moment, from small joys to bitter pain, and when the dungeon break swallowed his parents—he saw the moment that shattered everything.
Little Ash, now alone, stared blankly at the world, completely broken, as if something inside him had died along with them.
And just like it had happened to Ash back on Earth, the pattern repeated.
But instead of relatives, this time the government seized his property probably because Ash was not the real son of the couple and took away the house, and left the boy with nothing but a small apartment and a meager daily allowance to survive.
Seeing that, Ash clenched his fists tightly, rage simmering beneath his skin, his heart aching at the mirrored cruelty of two different worlds.
It's the same everywhere, no matter where you go... they hide their cruelty behind rules and order, but this is sin... this is wrong...
He continued watching as little Ash, now utterly alone, stopped attending school, spending all his time lost in his phone or drowning in music, anything to escape the silence that reminded him of what he had lost.
Then the scene shifted again, and Ash found himself watching a moment of intense suffering—little Ash was curled on his bed, screaming in pain, his hands clutching his abdomen as waves of mana surged through his body, wild and uncontrollable.
He's awakening, Ash thought, his expression turning serious as he realized what this meant.
This is the moment I transmigrated...
He leaned in closer, watching with focused eyes. Little Ash's awakening wasn't normal.
After the initial outburst of mana, the boy's hands moved from his abdomen to his chest, and then, all of a sudden, the mana flow halted completely.
Then the boy collapsed back onto the bed, completely still. Time passed, one day after another, and yet there was no change.
But on the fourth day, there was movement again. The mana returned, seeping slowly into his body once more, only to stop again, interrupted by some invisible force.
Ash took a deep breath, and as the reality of it all settled in, only one thought echoed through his mind.
I transmigrated...
***