The battlefield was silent—eerily so. Smoke drifted through the cracks of the shattered heavens, and the remains of the Silver City flickered like dying embers.
Jin stood amidst the charred ruins, his armor torn, face dirtied with ash and blood, eyes hollow from grief. The corpses of his loved ones still haunted the corners of his mind. His children were gone to safety, but his soul had splintered in the cost.
Across from him, Kaelros, Lysander, Arden, Chris, and Lillian stood with blood-stained blades and false words dripping from their tongues.
"We didn't want this, Jin. We were forced," Arden said, his voice low.
"You can still join us," Lysander added. "You don't have to lose more."
But Jin did not waver. His eyes burned with a silver-red glow, and his voice carried the weight of death.
"Bellon."
From his shadow, the knight emerged, cloaked in an infernal mantle, eyes glowing like dying stars.
"Kill them all."
The traitors barely had time to scream. Bellon and the other shadow generals descended upon them. Arden's head struck the ground, lifeless. Kaelros tried to flee, only to be torn apart mid-air. Lillian, whose blade still reeked of Lia's blood, begged—but Jin did not flinch.
Their bodies fell. But the air grew colder.
A slow clap echoed through the void.
From the fractured throne of twilight, Nyreth appeared.
Draped in robes that swirled like the universe itself, eyes gleaming with abyssal knowledge, he smiled.
"Impressive," Nyreth said, "but disappointing."
Jin took a step forward. His shadow curled, ready to rise again.
"Why?" Jin demanded, voice trembling between hatred and heartbreak. "Why would you do this to me? To Lia,Velka? To my family?"
Nyreth tilted his head. "For my goal, of course."
"Why me and my family?!"
"Because you were perfect. Special, even. A divine paradox. The only being who could become the key."
Jin's breath faltered.
"Shut up!"
Nyreth smiled wider. "But you had too much control. Too much restraint. I needed to unseal your darkest self. So I gave you what every god fears... helplessness."
Nyreth lifted his hand, and a pulse of warped space radiated outward, dragging the very laws of physics into question.
Jin roared and charged. His shadow armies erupted like a storm—Bellon, Todra, Vionka, all screaming with ancient might.
But Nyreth's power consumed them.
A flick of his fingers distorted reality—space collapsed like glass, and each soilders fell one by one. Bellon was swallowed into a spiral of null-light. Vionka screeched as her flames inverted, becoming ice. Ainez collapsed into dust, disassembled molecule by molecule.
Jin's rage spiked. He leapt through dimensions, barraging Nyreth with everything—Chrono Tyranny, Requiem Chains, Zenex Pulse.
But Nyreth didn't falter.
"Is that all you have? Your wives are pieces of trash. They only know Jin will come. They are weight of your shoulder."
Jin's fury broke into anguish.
"Don't you dare speak of them," he snarled, as Nyreth whispered blasphemies about Lia, Velka.
Then—a scream split the skies.
Jin erupted.
A massive blast of dark pink-red energy exploded from him, surging beyond time and dimensions. Mountains trembled. The shattered heavens cried.
But Nyreth only laughed.
"Yes! That's it. That's the true frequency of despair I needed."
From behind him, the Dias Grimmore—a monolithic, a relic—began to tremble. Its pages flared, absorbing the energy. But it failed and shattered.
Then, with a thought, Nyreth unleashed its power.
Jin was flung to the ground, pinned by invisible force. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
"Now... kneel."
Jin growled. Shadows tried to surge again, but he sucked them back into his body, protecting them.
Nyreth approached and crouched beside him.
"Do you know why Zhel-Vorah couldn't absorb your other powers?"
Jin didn't answer.
Nyreth chuckled. "Because I didn't allow it. Those powers—Requiem, Zenex, Chrono Tyranny—they were gifts. My gifts. Now, I take them back."
He reached out. Jin screamed.
One by one, the powers were ripped from him like roots torn from flesh. His veins glowed. His bones cracked. Blood boiled in his skin.
And then— a holographic strand of helix DNA flickered out of Jin's chest.
"Behold," Nyreth whispered. "The Genesis Resonance. The divine imprint of your existence."
He clenched his hand.
It shattered.
Jin's body spasmed. He coughed blood violently. His mana surged uncontrollably, then shattered. Threads of cosmic energy tore from him like screaming phantoms.
His hair turned white. His eyes, once full of stars and time, lost all light.
He was blind.
He was empty.
Nyreth stood over him.
"Now, after so long... you are finally human. How pathetic you must feel. These eyes, which longed to see destiny—now condemned to darkness."
With a flick of his fingers, he cut off Jin's long hair, and let it fall to the broken ground.
Then he turned.
"Let me show you what true annihilation looks like."
He raised his arms.
A vast chasm opened above—the Nothingness. It was not just void; it was anti-existence. A hunger that devoured light, thought, memory, and even identity.
"This is my craziest thing. And it's not a replica. The True Orgin DNA that you once carried is actually a replica which was created by mine to control you."
From it, horrors beyond form crawled forth—faceless gods, twisted dimensions, and the unspoken forces of the True Horror Domain.
The Eternal Path cracked. The Silver City dissolved into dust. The sky became a void. The land inverted.
And Jin's body began to erode—atom by atom, his soul being unraveled.
Nyreth looked down one last time.
"Rest in peace, long-lost soul. You served your purpose."
Then he vanished into the Nothingness, leaving behind only silence—and the echo of a scream that had once belonged to a god.
But somewhere deep in that silence— Something stirred.
Only a voice whispered.
"Is it the time for rest in peace?"