"...You were never supposed to exist."
The White Dragon's words continued to echo inside my mind long after the hidden shadow-space had fallen silent.
Not because they carried some mysterious power.
Nor because they shook my soul.
But because...
They explained something I had experienced countless times without ever questioning it.
My gaze slowly lowered.
My thoughts drifted inward.
Every battle.
Every near-death encounter.
Every impossible breakthrough.
Pieces that once seemed unrelated were slowly beginning to connect.
I remembered the first time I completely lost control.
When death stood before me...
Something inside me had awakened.
It wasn't fear.
Nor desperation.
It was...
Anger.
An indescribable anger.
Cold.
Absolute.
It wasn't directed at my enemy.
It was directed at the very fact that something dared to stand above me.
As though my very existence rejected the idea of submission.
At the time...
I thought it was merely instinct.
Now...
I wasn't so sure.
Then there were the countless moments when beings far stronger than me spoke with arrogance.
Looking down upon me.
Treating me as though I were beneath them.
Each time...
Something deep inside my soul became strangely calm.
Not intimidated.
Not enraged.
Simply...
Unwilling to acknowledge them.
Almost as though it considered their arrogance meaningless.
I had always ignored that feeling.
Accepted it as part of my personality.
But now...
After hearing the White Dragon's explanation...
It no longer seemed normal.
"...The Beast Blood System..."
I muttered quietly.
Was it truly only helping me grow stronger...
Or had it been protecting me all this time?
Protecting me...
From myself?
My fingers unconsciously tightened.
The White Dragon had sensed it.
Not the System itself.
But the veil surrounding my existence.
Something was hiding me.
Suppressing something buried deep within my soul.
If that restraint were ever removed...
...
I exhaled slowly.
No.
There was no point dwelling on answers I couldn't obtain.
Not yet.
The future would reveal them eventually.
For now...
I needed to focus on what stood before me.
I slowly lifted my head.
The hidden shadow-space had disappeared.
The White Dragon's presence was gone.
As though it had never existed.
Only the seven black panthers remained standing before me.
Their leader quietly observed me.
Confusion flickered across his otherwise composed face.
He had clearly noticed my prolonged silence.
Yet...
He asked nothing.
The other six merely waited.
Patient.
Respectful.
Far above us—
Nyxaroth remained suspended in the sky.
His ancient purple eyes rested upon me.
Expressionless.
Silent.
Yet I could feel it.
He had noticed something.
Perhaps not the conversation itself.
But the change within me.
Not far away...
Father remained standing upon the marble platform.
Arms folded.
Watching everything unfold with quiet pride.
Both of them...
Had reached their own conclusions.
I pushed the lingering thoughts aside.
There would be time to think later.
Right now...
Something else demanded my attention.
My gaze slowly swept across the devastated battlefield.
Moments ago...
It had appeared empty.
Nothing remained.
No bodies.
No souls.
No trace of the countless shadow warriors who had perished.
But now...
Everything looked different.
Seraphim had opened my eyes.
Even though the technique had yet to be activated again...
Its enlightenment remained.
Like a window that had once been opened and refused to close completely.
Faint wisps of black smoke drifted across the shattered ground.
Countless of them.
Each so thin they would have been impossible to notice before.
Inside every wisp...
I could vaguely make out the outline of a sleeping soul.
Weak.
Unstable.
Constantly fading.
Around every soul...
Tiny arcs of static-blue lightning quietly crackled.
Not violently.
Not destructively.
Simply...
Existing.
Like invisible chains wrapped around them.
Preventing resurrection.
My pupils narrowed.
Authority.
Not attacking them.
Merely lingering.
The remnants of my final attack had become shackles.
Not by intention...
But by consequence.
An unexpected realization surfaced within my mind.
Authority...
Wasn't merely power.
It possessed frequency.
Rhythm.
Resonance.
Every Law carried its own vibration.
Destroying them wasn't necessary.
They simply...
Needed to be acknowledged.
A strange feeling washed over me.
Almost instinctive.
I slowly raised my right hand.
The air around my arm suddenly felt different.
Denser.
For the first time...
I could feel it.
Invisible streams flowed endlessly throughout space.
Laws.
Authority.
Energy.
Concepts.
Everything moved around me like rivers hidden beneath reality itself.
As my hand moved...
It was almost as though I were passing through water.
Tiny ripples spread around my fingertips.
Not through energy.
But through existence itself.
An indescribable sensation.
Fascinating.
I brought my hand before my face.
Two fingers slowly came together.
The seven quietly watched.
None of them interrupted.
Somehow...
I knew exactly what to do.
Not because someone had taught me.
But because...
The world itself suddenly made sense.
A small smile appeared on my face.
"So..."
"So that's how it works."
My fingers stopped.
Barely touching.
Then—
Snap.