A cold drop of sweat slid down Akira's forehead, tracing over his injured eye to settle on the tip of his nose. He didn't blink. He didn't breathe. His body was as rigid as a stone statue, but his soul was screaming in a hell of terror.
Through the Void Perception Eye, Akira saw "danger" materialize right in front of him.
An A-minus (A-) rank monster, known as the Spotted Shadow Panther. The beast stood mere centimeters from his face. Akira could feel the heat of the panther's foul breath and saw its viscous drool dripping onto his clothes. The monster's claws were dug into the dirt right next to Akira's leg, ready to shred him in the blink of an eye.
[Warning! Pulse rate exceeds safe limits.] [Severe psychological pain detected: "Terror of Death".] [Emergency Activation: Memory of Pain.]
Suddenly, the pain was no longer physical.
Akira felt immense pressure building inside his skull, as if the mortal terror he was experiencing had liquefied into an energy that burned his nerves. The fear didn't disappear, but the System began to "absorb" it.
[Processing fear... Converting it to spiritual energy.] [Void Perception +10%.] [Temporary state unlocked: Heart of Nothingness.]
In that moment, something strange happened.
The noise of the forest faded from Akira's ears. The sound of his racing heartbeat vanished. The gray world he saw through the Void Perception Eye began to change; he no longer saw the panther as a "predatory beast," but rather as an unstable "mass of energy."
Akira realized something vital through sheer intuition: The monsters are attacking me because they can sense my fear. My fear is the "scent" that attracts them. If I become a "void," they will find nothing to attack.
Exerting a superhuman mental effort, instead of pushing his Soul Shards outward like a net, Akira "pulled" them inward. He enveloped his heart and mind with them, attempting to erase his presence completely.
The Spotted Panther, which had been opening its jaws to bite off Akira's head, suddenly stopped.
The beast tilted its head in confusion. The scent of "prey" emanating from this human had abruptly vanished. Before the panther now, there was no living being... there was only a spiritual "black hole."
The panther growled in bewilderment and took a step back. Its wild instinct, which had just commanded it to eat, was now screaming at it to "flee." The thing sitting on the rock no longer seemed like a human; it felt like a silent "abyss."
The panther slowly retreated into the shadows, followed by the giant spider that had been dangling overhead. One by one, the monsters began to distance themselves from the rock, as if Akira had become a "restricted zone" within the forest.
Hours passed... and the sun began to set behind the towering trees, casting pale purple threads through the mist.
"Open your eyes, boy."
Hakuro's calm voice echoed beside him.
Akira slowly opened his eyes. He felt a total numbness throughout his body, and his eyes were bloodshot from the intense concentration. He looked around to find the forest peaceful, the monsters completely gone.
He tried to stand but immediately collapsed to the ground; his legs were completely dead.
"They... they left?" Akira whispered in a hoarse voice.
Hakuro stood before him, astonishment evident in his single open eye. He had seen everything from atop the tree; he had seen how Akira had nearly died, and how, in a single moment, he had transformed from panicked prey into a "nothingness" that terrified the beasts.
"You did something I haven't seen in a very long time," Hakuro said, helping Akira sit up. "You reached the state of 'Mu' (Absolute Void). Normally, it takes warriors decades of meditation beneath waterfalls to achieve this degree of stillness. But you... you used your pain and fear to leapfrog the years."
Hakuro shook his head with an enigmatic smile.
"It seems that the System inside you doesn't just strengthen your body; it forges your soul to build a vessel capable of holding that black energy I saw with Souei."
[System Notification:] [Completion of 'Stillness in the Heart of Chaos' training.] [Soul Stability +15. Spiritual Energy Control +20.] [Skill Evolution: 'Soul Shards' -> 'Void Raiment'.] [Description: The ability to completely conceal your presence from magical and wild senses for a limited time.]
Akira felt relief wash through his body. Despite his exhaustion, he felt an unprecedented mental clarity.
"Is the forest training over?" Akira asked.
"For today, yes," Hakuro replied, looking toward the capital of Tempest, whose lights were beginning to twinkle on the horizon. "But tomorrow, we will test your 'Void Raiment' in a practical application. We won't be training here... we are going to 'The Labyrinth'."
Akira shuddered. He had heard of "The Labyrinth" from the System's memories; the place ruled by the Dragon Veldora and the Fairy Ramiris. A place entered only by the strong, or the foolish.
"But before that," Hakuro added as he began walking back, "Benimaru wants to see you. It seems a message has arrived from the Heavenly Empire... a message that mentions your name specifically."
Akira's joy at surviving instantly evaporated. The angels weren't done with him yet, and it seemed the next confrontation wouldn't be just another "training session."