The entrance didn't change.
It never did.
Dark stone. Cold air. Silence that felt heavier the closer you got.
Elios stood there for a moment—not long, just enough for the memory to surface.
Blood.
Steel.
The feeling.
That moment where his body had moved without him.
He tightened his grip around the blade.
"…That."
The word came out quietly.
Not a question.
A decision.
Elios stepped forward.
The cave swallowed him again.
The air inside was colder than outside, pressing lightly against his skin, creeping through his clothes.
His steps echoed faintly against the stone.
He didn't go far.
Just enough.
Then he stopped.
The silence settled around him.
Familiar.
Waiting.
Elios exhaled slowly.
"…I need that again."
Not the fight.
Not the anger.
That feeling.
The one that had pushed his body beyond what it should've done.
He closed his eyes.
Not fully.
Just enough to shut out the cave.
He remembered—
The moment he was on the ground.
Breathing breaking.
Body refusing to move.
The thought—
*Kill it.*
Something inside him tightened.
His breathing shifted.
Not steady.
Not controlled.
Forced.
He focused on it.
That pressure.
That alignment.
That unnatural response.
"…Come on…"
Nothing happened.
Elios frowned slightly.
His grip tightened.
He tried again.
This time—
he didn't just remember.
He forced it.
His muscles tensed.
Not naturally.
Not like preparing to fight.
Something deeper.
Something wrong.
His breathing broke.
"…Tch—"
His body resisted.
Pain surfaced.
Sharp.
Immediate.
His chest tightened.
His vision flickered slightly.
"…Again…"
He didn't stop.
He pushed harder.
That same pressure built again—
Unstable.
Violent.
His fingers dug into the hilt of his blade.
"…Move…"
The word came out strained.
His body responded.
Not smoothly.
Not correctly.
But it responded.
Something shifted inside him.
A sudden surge—
Not strength.
Something else.
His senses sharpened.
Too much.
Too fast.
The cave felt different.
Closer.
Clearer.
Elios' eyes opened.
And for a moment—
he froze.
Something was… moving.
Not around him.
From him.
A faint black mist.
Thin.
Unstable.
Flowing from his arms—
his shoulders—
his body.
"…What…"
His voice dropped.
The air around him felt heavier.
Not like pressure.
Like presence.
Elios lifted his hand slightly.
The black flow followed.
Not separate.
Connected.
"…This is…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Because he didn't understand it.
But he felt it.
Something inside him was… increasing.
Not painfully.
But noticeably.
Like something was filling space that wasn't there before.
His grip tightened again.
"…So this is it…"
The feeling wasn't stable.
It flickered.
Rose—
then dipped—
Like it could disappear at any moment.
Elios stepped forward.
Slowly.
Testing.
His body moved differently now.
Not faster—
But sharper.
More responsive.
The cave didn't feel overwhelming anymore.
It felt—
readable.
A sound broke through.
Elios turned.
Instantly.
A goblin stepped into view.
Its eyes locked onto him.
It screeched—
and lunged.
Elios didn't think.
He moved.
The blade cut.
Clean.
The goblin dropped before it could react.
Elios stood there.
His breathing steady—
but something else wasn't.
The black flow around him flickered.
Unstable.
"…It's slipping…"
He could feel it.
The moment he stopped pushing—
it weakened.
"…No…"
Elios tightened his grip.
Forced it again.
The pressure returned.
Stronger.
Rougher.
The black flow thickened slightly.
Not much—
But enough.
Another sound.
Two this time.
Elios moved forward.
Faster now.
Not clean.
Not controlled.
But enough.
The goblins rushed him.
Wild.
Messy.
Elios stepped in.
Too close.
Too aggressive.
But it worked.
One fell.
Then another.
He didn't stop.
Didn't slow down.
The movement continued.
Each step forward—
each swing—
felt heavier.
Stronger.
But wrong.
His breathing broke slightly.
"…This…"
It wasn't stable.
It wasn't natural.
It felt like his body was being pushed from the inside.
Not guided.
Forced.
Elios stepped back slightly.
Just for a moment.
His chest rose.
Fell.
The black flow flickered again.
Weaker.
"…Tch…"
He clenched his jaw.
"…Not enough…"
He didn't know what it was.
Didn't know how it worked.
But he knew one thing.
This—
was what he needed.
Elios stepped forward again.
Deeper into the cave.
Forcing it.
Holding onto it.
Even if it broke him.
Because this time—
he wasn't going to lose.
Not to them.
Not again.
End.