A very spacious sterile white room stretched out before Nova. There wasn't a single piece of furniture visible in that room, only a white expanse that confused the eyes and made anyone who stared at it too long dizzy. Nova stood calmly in the middle of the room with his usual flat expression, but there was slight confusion in his eyes.
"Strange..." he muttered while carefully scanning his gaze across all corners of the empty room.
"After successfully completing the first level, I should have been brought to a study room equipped with desks and chairs like in the cartoon. But why..."
His sentence was cut off by a sudden very strong vibration that shook the entire room. The floor beneath his feet trembled violently like an earthquake, as if there was something very large and powerful moving right beneath him.
"What is—"
*GRRRRRR...*
A heavy and deep, very terrifying sound echoed from all directions, making Nova's hair stand on end for the first time. That sound was like a combination of deep painful groans and very intense anger from an unknown creature.
"WHY... WHY CAN'T I CONTROL YOUR BODY?! WHY... WHY... WHY?!"
Nova froze with eyes wide open when the white walls around him began to slowly change color. The sterile clean white changed to thick blood red, then its texture began to change into something wet, moving, and very disgusting.
Living raw flesh.
The entire room was now made of raw flesh that pulsed like a giant heart still alive. From the surface of the flesh that moved with irregular rhythm, eyes of various sizes began to appear one by one. Dozens, hundreds of eyes staring directly at him with empty gazes yet full of malicious intent. Among those terrifying eyes, large mouths with rows of sharp teeth like sharks opened wide, releasing hot breath that smelled rotten.
And that's when Nova felt something completely foreign and never experienced before.
His heart beat very fast. Cold sweat poured profusely from his entire body. His breathing became short and choppy. His muscles tensed until they felt stiff and couldn't be moved.
"What... what is this?" Nova stared at his trembling hands in disbelief.
"Why do I feel like this? What is this strange sensation? Ah!"
"Is this what's called... fear? So this is what humans feel when they're afraid?" Nova immediately understood it.
The eyes on the flesh wall moved with synchronized movements, following Nova's every movement with intense and frightening gazes. Then those mouths began speaking in a language he didn't recognize, but strangely Nova could understand every word spoken clearly.
"Who are you? You strange child. Are you different from other humans?"
The flesh on the walls began to merge and unite, forming a giant figure that towered high until it touched the ceiling. The creature had a body as big as a multi-story building with large eyes scattered across the entire surface of its disgusting body. Its mouth opened wide like a dark cave, displaying rows of teeth as sharp as knives.
The creature moved toward Nova with heavy steps that made the entire room shake violently. Its arms slowly changed shape, elongating and hardening into sharp blades.
Nova wanted to run with all his might. However, his legs wouldn't move at all, as if stuck to the floor. His body seemed to freeze completely.
"Move... move! Why won't my body move?" he thought, but his body still didn't react and remained still in place.
The giant creature raised its arm that had transformed into a deadly sharp weapon, preparing to attack Nova who was frozen helplessly in place.
A deadly attack came at high speed toward Nova, but suddenly—
The black bracelet on Nova's right wrist suddenly shone with very intense thick black light. That black energy formed a strong and solid shield in front of Nova, easily blocking the giant creature's deadly attack.
"What?! This bracelet... what's happening?!" Nova stared at his bracelet.
The black energy from that bracelet didn't stop there. The black light spun rapidly in the air right in front of Nova's face, then slowly took the shape of an elegant sword. The sword was pitch black without any gleam or energy radiance, as if absorbing all light around it like a black hole.
"Wh... what sword is that?! I've never seen a weapon like that before!" The giant creature stepped back.
Nova stared at the sword floating calmly in front of him. Somehow he felt like the sword wanted him to hold it. Without hesitation, his hand reached out to grasp the sword's handle.
The moment his fingers touched the sword's handle, thick black energy began flowing around Nova's body like thick living fog. An amazing transformation began from his toes to his head with astonishing speed.
His face was covered by a white mask. The mask had no mouth or nose holes, but strangely Nova could still breathe normally and comfortably. The eyes behind the mask shone with sharp and cold white light.
His hair also changed to become slightly longer, covering both his ears.
His body was now wrapped in a black robe like an open black hoodie. His right hand gripped that black sword tightly.
"What... is this? What happened to my body?" Nova's voice sounded different from behind the mask. "My body feels... very strange."
The giant creature in front of him stepped back several more steps, all the creature's eyes staring at Nova.
"What power is that? Why does its power look strange and what is that sword really?"
The creature could sense something very strange from that child. Not only was the child strange, that black sword was also very strange in the creature's eyes.
Nova raised his black sword. Even though it was his first time holding it, he felt as if he had already trained with this sword.