The message didn't fade.
It stayed.
Burned into his thoughts like something carved into his mind.
[Path Awakening: Incomplete]
[Condition: Devour More]
Kael exhaled slowly.
The air didn't move.
Didn't exist.
But the motion grounded him.
"So that's the rule…"
Power wasn't given here.
There were no gifts.
No mercy.
Only consumption.
Kael lowered his hand slightly.
The shadows followed the motion.
Obedient.
Fluid.
No—
Not obedient.
Willing.
Another ripple spread through the darkness.
Closer this time.
Stronger.
Kael didn't turn.
Didn't need to.
"They're coming."
Shapes began to emerge.
Not one.
Not two.
Many.
Five figures pulled themselves out of the shadows.
Each one twisted.
Incomplete.
Wrong.
Hollows.
Kael's heartbeat slowed.
Not from calm—
But control.
"If I kill them… I get stronger."
Simple.
Brutal.
Perfect.
The first Hollow lunged.
Kael stepped forward.
Not back.
The moment his foot moved—
The shadows exploded outward.
Faster than before.
Sharper.
More precise.
A tendril shot forward and pierced through the creature's torso—
If it even had one.
The Hollow froze—
Then collapsed into darkness.
[Fragment devoured.]
Kael didn't pause.
Another attacked from his blind spot—
Before he could react—
The shadows did.
They moved on their own.
Intercepted.
Crushed.
Devoured.
[Fragment devoured.]
Kael's eyes sharpened.
Something inside him was… aligning.
Adapting.
The remaining Hollows hesitated.
Their distorted forms flickered.
They felt it.
The shift.
Kael wasn't prey anymore.
He was something worse.
He raised his hand slowly.
The darkness gathered instantly.
Condensing.
Compressing.
Power.
Then—
He released it.
A spear of shadow shot forward.
It tore through two Hollows at once.
They didn't even have time to react.
They simply—
Vanished.
[Fragments devoured.]
The last creature tried to flee.
It turned—
Its form breaking apart—
Kael's eyes darkened.
"Too late."
The shadows surged like a tide.
They swallowed it whole.
Silence.
Total.
Then—
[Multiple Fragments Devoured]
[Path Progress: 37%]
[New Ability Unlocked: Shadow Grasp]
Kael blinked once.
Slowly.
"Shadow… Grasp?"
The darkness responded immediately.
It rose from the ground.
Forming shape.
Structure.
A hand.
Large.
Distorted.
Not human.
But connected to him.
Kael flexed his fingers.
The shadow hand mirrored him perfectly.
He clenched his fist.
The shadow tightened—
Crushing the empty air with silent force.
A breath escaped him.
Low.
Controlled.
"This place…"
He looked into the endless darkness.
"…isn't a prison."
The shadows pulsed.
"…it's a beginning."
His gaze hardened.
"…and I'm going to take everything from it."
The darkness shifted.
Wrapped closer around him.
Like armor.
Like a throne.
Like something that had finally found its owner.