Hello friends, I'm the author of this story. Before you start reading the chapter, I want to say something. I see the story has 13,000 views, but I haven't seen any comments, magic stones, or anything else. So, I'm asking everyone who's reading the story or waiting for the next chapters to leave a comment, whether it's criticism, talking about a character you like, or whether you enjoy the story's world and characters. Please share your honest opinion in the comments below. Good luck with reading the chapter! 🤗
Page 1
The black knight looks at Mabu — pinned to the tree.
"I think our fight is over."
He turns. He walks toward the sound of the distant battle.
Mabu watches his back growing smaller.
Inside his head, one voice only:
I can't lose. I can't leave grandfather and Thian.
Blood runs down his face. The world turns red.
Page 2
"I haven't learned the truth yet."
He grabs the sword buried in his stomach.
He screams.
He pulls.
He can't — the sword is stuck.
"Grandfather… turn around. He's behind you."
His voice doesn't reach. The distance is too great.
The black knight arrives behind the old man.
He draws his knife.
Page 3
A stab in the old man's back.
The old man freezes.
The knight pulls the knife out — slowly.
The old man drops to one knee. His hand touches the ground. Blood pours from his back.
Ginzo steps back one pace. He looks at the knight.
"Why did you interfere, Marnos? This fight was only between us."
The old man raises his head.
He looks at Mabu from a distance.
Page 4
Mabu looks at the old man on the ground.
He looks at the old man's red hand.
He looks at the old man's face.
In the old man's eyes — something he has never seen before. Something that resembles surrender. Not to death. To truth.
Something breaks inside Mabu with a sound no one can hear.
His tears fall onto the sword hanging in him.
Page 5
The black knight ignores Ginzo.
He looks at the old man on the ground.
"I remember you, old man. At the festival. In front of everyone."
He grips his sword handle.
"I remember the humiliation."
Ginzo: "Step aside. This is my matter."
The knight doesn't turn: "No. Not anymore."
Page 6
Ginzo raises his voice: "I order you to stand down!"
The knight turns toward him slowly.
"You order me?"
He looks at Ginzo's chest wound. At the blood.
"You were about to die when I arrived. This isn't an order. This is delayed gratitude."
In the background — Mabu grips the sword buried in him with a trembling hand.
I will kill him. I will definitely kill him.
Page 7
The Stone Mantle begins to appear across Mabu.
But it's different this time.
Black. Darker than any time before. It spreads across his entire body without stopping. His face splits — two pieces emerge. Beneath them — two eyes. A red circle in each.
He grabs the sword buried in his stomach.
He pulls.
He drops to one knee.
Then he stands.
Page 8
His voice when he speaks is different. Deeper. As if two voices speak at the same moment.
The black knight is mine. I will kill him.
Something black passes through the air like a bolt.
BOOM.
One punch.
The knight flies.
Everyone freezes.
Page 9
The knight crashes into a tree. It breaks. He continues flying into the second. It breaks. The third one stops him.
The black thing reaches him.
Punches from every direction. Fast. Nothing between them.
The knight deflects what he can. His hands hurt with every block.
A kick from the right. He goes down.
Page 10
The tree behind him splits down the middle from the force of the impact.
The knight stands. He raises his head.
He sees the black thing for the first time — up close.
Mabu's body. But not Mabu.
Red eyes. Darkness that moves as if it breathes. No expression. No anger. No pain.
Only one target.
"What the hell are you?"
Page 11
A punch from the right. Mabu catches it. He pulls him forward.
BOOM.
A punch to the stomach with everything he has.
Blood comes from the knight's mouth for the first time.
He flies into the sky — rising above all the trees. He sees the forest from above.
He looks down.
The black thing looks up at him from the ground.
Page 12
He climbs up through the trees at impossible speed. As if gravity doesn't know him.
He reaches the knight's level.
He leaps at him.
They grapple. They trade strikes in the air. Trees shatter beneath them as they fall.
The knight throws him to the right. He continues falling alone.
The black thing leaps from tree to tree. It follows.
Page 13
A punch drives the knight into the ground.
A massive impact. The earth cracks around him.
He raises his head from the crater.
The black thing in the sky. Descending at full speed from above.
"Damn."
BOOOOM.
The earth explodes. Dust fills everything.
The black thing stands in the middle of the crater. No visible breathing. Just watching.
Page 14
It punches. Punches with full force.
The earth shatters layer after layer beneath the knight.
The knight — a white aura around his arms — deflects with everything he has.
One punch gets through despite the aura. Then another.
The aura cracks.
Page 15
The knight finds an opening.
He twists at speed and kicks the black thing with full force.
It crashes into a massive tree. The tree cracks from the root.
Smoke fills the space.
The knight stands. He gasps. He puts his hand on his chest.
The first time he has gasped in this entire story.
"This has become very dangerous."
Page 16
He looks around.
The forest is moving. Sounds from a distance. Someone watching from above the trees.
"I have to leave."
This place is no longer safe.
He turns toward the smoke.
He launches into the forest. He disappears.
Page 17
The smoke fades slowly.
Mabu standing. Leaning against a tree.
He raises his hands in front of him.
He stares at them.
He looks right.
He looks left.
Then he understands.
Page 18
Close-up.
Mabu without hands.
Where his hands were — emptiness.
No blood. No wound. Just emptiness. As if they were never there.
The Stone Mantle consumed what it consumed when he pulled it back inside.
Mabu looks at the emptiness with eyes that don't move.
He doesn't scream.
He doesn't cry.
He just stands.
Page 19
Number Five sees Marnos fleeing.
"I won't let you escape. You're more important than a medium-priority criminal."
The old man looks toward the dust from a distance.
"Mabu."
He pushes himself upright with difficulty. He pulls a piece of cloth from his robe. He wraps his back wound and pulls it tight to stop the bleeding.
His hand is completely red.
Ginzo rises. He grips his chest wound. He looks at him.
"Shall we continue?"
The old man raises his head.
"Until one of us is finished."
Page 20
Elsewhere in the forest.
Thian watches Patrice from between the trees.
The steel ball in Patrice's hand. That is the key.
He grabs a branch from the tree beside him. He pulls. He tests its strength.
He moves quietly between the trees. He approaches from behind.
Page 21
Patrice turns: "There you—"
He finds no one.
Thian drops from the other side.
The branch is jammed into Patrice's hand at speed.
The steel ball drops.
Patrice's hand touches the wood.
It stops.
Then it begins to transform. Wood spreads through his fingers. His hand. His arm.
"Nooooo—!"
He tries to tear the branch free. But his hand has become wood — it doesn't move.
Page 22
The wood keeps rising. His chest. His neck.
Patrice looks at the steel ball on the ground with widening eyes.
His face stiffens.
Then it shatters.
Wooden pieces fall onto the ground in silence.
Thian stands alone.
He looks at what remains.
He turns toward the other battle.
Page 23
The old man and Ginzo.
Ginzo releases a fire-lightning charge. The old man dodges. He advances.
Ginzo surges forward behind it — punches from every direction.
The old man in his usual stance. Deflects. Deflects. Deflects.
Every punch that reaches him pushes him back one step. But he doesn't fall.
Ginzo gathers everything he has left.
A larger charge. It builds in his hand.
Page 24
A punch comes from the side.
It connects with Ginzo's face — with unexpected force.
Ginzo turns slowly. He absorbs some of the damage.
He catches the fist.
He spins its owner.
He drives them into the ground with force that splits the earth.
He follows with a heavier punch.
The attacker's head goes into the dirt.
Dust rises.
Thian — face in the ground.
He raises his head slowly.
Continued in Chapter Twenty-Five