The moon was partially hidden behind thick, pale clouds, yet its light still managed to shine through, illuminating the night sky alongside a scattering of stars. There was no longer any sound of battle from the above. Only the quiet rustle of the cold wind remained.
Down on the ground, a crowd had gathered around the rubble of the fallen building. Police, detectives, and emergency crews had taken over the scene, frantically investigating the cause of the destruction. Yellow barricade tape circled the perimeter, holding the murmuring crowd at bay.
The flashing lights and wailing sirens of ambulances and police cruisers bathed the wreckage in chaotic red and blue. Rescue workers in high-visibility vests navigated the unstable ruins, while officers in protective gear covered their faces with handkerchiefs to block out the rising dust.
A foul, metallic smell had already begun to spread through the area. Deep inside the rubble, crushed bodies were becoming visible to the authorities.
"What happened here?" A young woman stood beside a young man, both wearing police uniforms. Her expression twisted with utter helplessness as she stared at the devastation, unable to comprehend the sheer scale of the destruction or what could have caused it.
The man stood perfectly still, smoking quietly as he surveyed the carnage. His internal reaction was no different from hers. He pulled the cigarette from his mouth and slowly turned his head toward her.
"I don't know. But we found one person unconscious on the adjacent roof, and she's still alive. She is our only witness. She might be the only one who can answer our questions."
He turned back toward the ruins. He could hear the faint, desperate cries of survivors and grieving relatives nearby. His fingers tightened around the cigarette, crushing it to a pulp before he threw it violently to the ground.
"But if someone did this on purpose... I'll find them and kill them myself."
The young woman could see the raw rage burning in his eyes. It was unmistakable. Yet she said nothing. Deep down, she felt the exact same way, but she was simply too overwhelmed to say it aloud.
A gentle breeze swept through the concrete valley between the buildings. Far away from the crime scene, the distant horns of passing vehicles echoed through the dark.
Arun stood over the fallen woman at his feet.
He had recognized her immediately. He had spoken to her before, trying to help her only moments ago when she was stumbling, but she had fiercely resisted, refusing to accept his assistance. Because of her stubbornness, she was now lying unconscious on the cold pavement, sick and covered in vomit. The foul odor reached Arun's nose, though her face was mostly hidden beneath her long, dark hair.
Arun gazed down at her with mild disgust. But he had no choice. He couldn't simply abandon her in a place like this; leaving her to die in the gutter would have left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Why me? What have I done to you, God?" he muttered, complaining about the messy situation he had been dragged into.
Sighing, Arun crouched beside her. He gently placed a finger against her tangled hair, slowly brushing it aside to fully reveal her face. She was completely unresponsive, entirely unaware of the dangerous world around her.
Slowly, a small, peculiar smile curled onto his lips.
Even in the pitch darkness of the alley, with only a few hours remaining before dawn, her beauty seemed to radiate. He could finally see the face he had been missing for over a year. He had been friends with her before her graduation, and even back then, he had been deeply drawn to her. But she hadn't possessed this kind of magnetic, overwhelming beauty back then.
She used to be an average girl, filled with bright curiosity about anything she found interesting. But now, she had transformed into something so alluring that he could practically hear her heartbeat pulsing in the quiet air. Even the foul odor of sickness no longer bothered him. To his twisted senses, it almost felt like a heavenly scent. He hadn't felt this kind of dark obsession for her before.
"Lavanya, you have changed, dear. I missed you as a friend," Arun whispered into the dark.
He slipped one arm behind her neck and the other beneath her knees, effortlessly lifting her into his arms. He cradled her delicately, like a princess.
Then, suddenly, he sensed it.
A lethal chill ran down his spine, raising goosebumps across his skin. He violently turned his head, staring into the dark mouth of the alleyway.
Killing intent!
The smile instantly vanished from his face. He didn't wait another second. Holding Lavanya tightly against his chest, Arun blurred into the shadows, disappearing completely from the alley before the threat could arrive.
Yug stood in the cold night air, surprised by the sudden realization that he was still alive.
He had been violently expelled back into reality. Lavanya's shadow dimension had failed to contain the sheer weight of his Existential Vision, eventually collapsing and reflecting him back into the physical world. Yug remained perfectly still, waiting for his fragmented memories to reorient him and give him a sense of the world he had just returned to.
In the void, he had fully believed he had died again and transmigrated into yet another world—another vision, another exhausting identity. Yet, checking his internal state, his name and his body remained exactly the same. The disconnect left him disoriented, making it difficult to distinguish what he was actually feeling. His eyes remained tightly closed. He hadn't opened them even once since being ejected back into reality.
After standing in the exact same spot for several minutes, a coherent thought finally surfaced in his mind.
What is happening? Why can't I get anything straight in my head? Is this a good thing, or have I finally lost my memor—
"YUG!"
A voice suddenly snapped him out of his spiraling thoughts. It was breathless and desperate. Someone had clearly been searching for him for a while, their voice laced with raw concern.
"Kruti?" he whispered, instantly recognizing the tone.
His tense body curled slightly as a wave of relief washed over him. But at the exact same moment, his heart skipped a beat, a heavy, deeply uneasy sensation settling in his chest. He recognized the feeling immediately.
I got my third curse and reward… Hahaha.
A splitting ache bloomed inside his head. He wanted to cry out, to collapse onto the ground and beg to return to the dark, peaceful void of Lavanya's shadow. It had been a place of absolute quiet. A place where he could finally escape reality—or whatever broken version of reality he was forced to endure.
He wanted to escape the new power coursing through him. The very thing he categorized as both a reward and a curse. It was a reward because it granted him a perspective far beyond the limits of ordinary humans. And it was a curse because it only ever brought him insurmountable suffering.
As he sank deeper into his grim thoughts, he suddenly felt the warmth of a soft body crashing into him.
Kruti held him tightly yet gently, her desperate embrace filled with unguarded affection.
"Why didn't you return to the restaurant? I waited for so long, and then... then I saw you in that condition," Kruti complained, her voice breaking as she rested his head against her chest. The sheer relief of finding him alive had sapped her strength, her body trembling so violently that it was difficult for her to even stand properly.
Yug felt her warmth radiating against his skin, forcing his analytical mind to focus on Kruti again.
He feared her.
There was something inherently dangerous about her—the scent of her Authority, her unpredictable actions, even this desperate affection she was showing him right now.
She is a massive danger to my goals and my life. Yet... I can't resist her.
Slowly, he raised a hand and stroked her hair, silently reassuring her. Even though he fundamentally didn't trust her, nor the intense feelings she projected onto him, her presence still brought him an undeniable sense of relief. She grounded him, proving that he hadn't lost everything yet. He could still complete his ultimate dream in this world.
Even though, across his lives, he had lost his normal Death, his normal Vision, and his normal Hearing—and today, he had seemingly lost his normal Sound as well. In return for those mortal limits, he had gained the Vision of Rule, the Hearing of Nothing, the Sound of Space, and the Death of Time.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Oh, dear," a mocking voice echoed through the night. "I just followed a couple of frantic little birds all the way here. I must say, I was expecting much more from you!"
Kruti had sensed his presence approaching for some time, but she had aggressively ignored him, refusing to spare him even a fraction of her attention until she confirmed Yug was safe. Now that she had her Yug back, however, she was forced to step up and clean up the mess she had created.
She slowly turned around, her posture shifting from a worried lover back into a lethal predator.
Her cold gaze traveled from his head to his feet. He was a young man in his twenties with handsome features, pale skin, jet-black hair, and unnerving, bright purple eyes. A soft, arrogant smile rested comfortably on his face.
Kruti said absolutely nothing. She simply stared at him through her mask, offering zero reaction.
Yug stood silently behind her, his closed eyes hiding the fact that he was finally sensing how suffocatingly tense the atmosphere had become. Yet, instead of feeling threatened by the newcomer, his twisted, newly awakened senses found the situation fascinating. He simply wanted to observe and understand what was about to happen.
"Oh, you definitely deserve better," Vivek commented lightly, his purple eyes shifting between Kruti and the weakened Yug.
Something about the two of them standing together fundamentally disturbed his Cultivator instincts. It was as though they were completely incompatible, like two opposing forces forcing themselves to coexist, or perhaps something vital was missing between them. He couldn't quite put the feeling into words.
"..."