The gates opened wider.
And the world beyond them revealed itself.
A barren land stretched toward the horizon.
Mountains rose from the earth like the broken bones of some ancient giant. Tall hills covered the landscape, their surfaces scarred by countless battles. Cracks spread across the ground in every direction, some shallow, others deep enough that darkness disappeared into them.
There were no forests.
No rivers.
No signs of civilization.
Only endless, desolate land.
And blood.
The scent of it filled the air.
It wasn't overwhelming.
Compared to the concentration I had experienced while fighting demons inside the Tower, it was actually faint.
But it was there.
Constant.
Embedded within the very atmosphere.
My eyes narrowed.
So this was Neraphyx.
The Land of Endless Death and Hunger.
The Silver-Winged Elven Prince stepped forward.
His armor immediately caught my attention.
High-grade.
The defensive formations embedded within it were dense enough to multiply his natural defense by at least ten thousand times.
His companions wore similar equipment.
The elves certainly weren't stingy when it came to protecting their own.
I barely paid attention to them.
Something else had caught my attention.
THUD.
My left heart beat.
Once.
THUD.
Again.
My expression changed.
The feeling was familiar.
Too familiar.
My left heart began beating faster.
The red energy within it surged.
Then—
WHOOSH!
The red stripes covering the left side of my body suddenly spread.
They didn't simply appear.
They burned.
Like flames crawling across my skin.
The crimson markings stretched across my arm, chest, neck, and face, moving like living fire.
My left iris turned completely blood-red.
Tiny points of light appeared within it.
Stars.
Countless red stars.
My body trembled.
Not from weakness.
From excitement.
Violent energy began pouring from my left side.
It was different from the Energy I had always used.
Different from the calm Energy of Zeraphyx.
This was savage.
Aggressive.
Hungry.
It didn't simply want power.
It wanted battle.
My right heart began beating as well.
THUD.
Its rhythm was slower.
Calmer.
But there was something different about it too.
The calm beast that had once slept within me was no longer sleeping.
It was awake.
Watching.
Waiting.
Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
The two energies flowed through my body simultaneously.
One violent.
One calm.
One hungry.
One controlled.
Yet neither completely rejected the other.
Instead...
They clashed.
BOOM!
A wave of Energy erupted from my body.
The ground beneath my feet cracked.
Several people turned toward me.
"What was that?"
"Who—?"
I didn't hear them.
My attention was focused entirely on myself.
Every cell in my body screamed for battle.
It felt as if a cage had suddenly been opened.
Something that had been restrained for years was finally being released.
My killing intent surged.
For a moment, it threatened to overwhelm my mind.
But my will held firm.
I had experienced killing intent before.
I had fought demons.
I had survived the Tower.
Seven years of life-and-death training had forged my mentality.
This wasn't enough to break me.
Still...
Something was wrong.
The concentration of demonic Energy outside the fortress was barely enough to register compared to what I had experienced before.
So why was my body reacting like this?
I had already encountered far greater concentrations of demonic Energy.
During my training, I had even used it to temper my body.
My Tiger God Physique.
My Dragon Indestructible Physique.
Neither had reacted like this.
So why now?
My left side continued burning.
The red markings spread farther.
Half.
Then more.
Two-thirds.
Nearly three-quarters of my body was now covered in burning crimson stripes.
Even my face was almost completely covered.
My red eye glittered like a galaxy filled with blood-colored stars.
A terrifying aura erupted from me.
BOOM!
The pressure swept outward.
Several prodigies instinctively stepped back.
Some transformed.
Others released their Energy.
Then—
I moved.
BOOM!!!
My body shot forward like an arrow.
The ground beneath my feet exploded.
Sonic rings formed behind me.
And strangely...
I wasn't the only one.
The moment I moved, the other prodigies also surged forward.
Some flew.
Some ran.
Some transformed.
Others simply disappeared into the distance using movement techniques.
Within less than a minute...
The fortress gate was empty.
Only the elder and the soldiers remained behind.
The elder watched the distant figures disappear into the barren wilderness.
His expression was complicated.
They were talented.
Extremely talented.
But talent didn't guarantee survival.
Especially here.
He slowly shook his head.
"I hope those kids don't die from their own stupidity."
His voice was quiet.
Because he knew something they didn't.
Not everyone who entered Neraphyx returned.
The massive gates began closing.
BOOM.
The sound echoed through the fortress.
The world beyond slowly disappeared.
Meanwhile...
I continued forward.
My body was overflowing with Energy.
The further I moved from the fortress, the stronger the reaction became.
And suddenly...
I understood something.
When I first entered the fortress, the faint demonic Energy had triggered my transformation.
At the time, I had assumed it was simply because of the foreign Energy.
But now...
I wasn't so sure.
The violent Energy produced by my left side wasn't something I had absorbed.
It was being generated by my body.
That realization made me slow down.
The two energies continued colliding inside me.
Yet instead of destroying my body...
They created more Energy.
Much more.
The collision itself became a source of power.
But it was also dangerous.
If my body wasn't strong enough...
It would have exploded the moment I entered Neraphyx.
I closed my eyes briefly.
Then I thought about it.
Why?
Why had this happened now?
I had encountered demonic Energy before.
Much more than this.
So why had my bloodline waited until I entered Neraphyx?
Then the answer slowly formed in my mind.
This wasn't Zeraphyx.
This wasn't some neutral plane between the two worlds.
This was Neraphyx.
The opposite side.
The world where the other half of existence belonged.
My eyes opened.
If Zeraphyx represented one side...
Then Neraphyx represented the other.
And if I truly possessed both sides within me...
Then perhaps my body had simply been waiting for the correct environment.
I looked at the burning red stripes covering my body.
The realization became clearer.
I was born with two opposing bloodline forces.
One belonged to Zeraphyx.
The other...
Neraphyx.
Light and darkness.
Calm and violence.
Order and hunger.
Two forces that should never have existed within the same body.
Yet they did.
Because I existed.
I clenched my fist.
If Zeraphyx had its own Pure Ones...
Then Neraphyx should have one as well.
And if the broken Laws prevented the two from existing independently...
Perhaps my existence had become a loophole.
A way for both forces to coexist within one body.
The thought sent a chill through me.
Because there was another possibility.
If someone had intentionally created this loophole...
Then what was stopping them from doing it again?
What if another existence appeared?
An existence with both sides...
But with greater potential than me?
My expression became serious.
Even now...
I had unlocked only a fraction of my bloodline's true power.
And my bloodline grew stronger as I grew stronger.
That meant every increase in my strength also increased the power of my bloodline.
A cycle.
A loop.
A double-edged sword.
The stronger I became...
The stronger the forces inside me became.
And if my body ever failed to keep up—
BOOM.
I could explode from within.
But I wasn't afraid.
My physiques had been forged precisely for this.
My Tiger God Physique.
My Dragon Indestructible Physique.
They were the reason my body could withstand the clash between these two forces.
I looked toward the endless wilderness.
The wind passed through my hair.
My crimson stripes continued burning like flames.
My right side remained calm.
My left side continued roaring.
Two forces.
One body.
For the first time...
I felt like I had finally stepped into the world that belonged to the other half of me.
And somewhere deep within my soul...
Something awakened.
Something that had been waiting for me to arrive.
I frowned.
Then—
DING.
The familiar sound echoed inside my mind.
But this time...
The voice was different.
And what followed made my expression change completely.