Just as Darius stepped forward to inspect the intruder's corpse—whose name he still didn't know—something felt off.
There was blood.
But far too little.
And worse… the color was wrong.
It wasn't the vivid red of fresh human blood.It was dark. Thick. Almost black, like coagulated crimson soaked in shadow.
Darius's pupils shrank.
"What is this…?" he muttered, unease creeping into his voice.
"Some kind of experiment? Is that why he never spoke?"
He strode forward, blade ready, and swept his greatsword through the settling dust.
The crater was empty.
No body.
No remains.
Nothing.
"WHERE DID HE GO?!" Darius roared, his voice echoing through the ruined hallway.
His gaze snapped to the ground.
A faint trail of droplets led toward a corner.
Blood.
He followed it instantly, steps heavy, senses sharpened.
But after only a few meters, the trail vanished.
Gone.
Not smeared.
Not dried.
Gone.
Veins bulged on Darius's forehead as he slammed his Peak Grade 1 greatsword into the floor, cracking the tiles beneath.
He pulled out his phone.
"Bring reinforcements. Seal the entire Martial Center," he ordered coldly.
"No one enters. No one leaves. Not without my permission."
"Yes, Director."
The call ended.
Darius exhaled slowly, eyes burning.
With injuries like that—especially after taking a full Qi cleave to the back—there was no way the intruder could have escaped far.
Unless…
Elsewhere, far from prying eyes—
Rey collapsed.
His legs gave out the moment he reappeared, his body slamming against the cold floor as uncontrollable tremors wracked him.
The back of his armor was gone.
Not damaged.
Gone.
What remained beneath was far worse.
Deep, jagged gashes tore across his back, flesh shredded to the bone. In several places, white bone was exposed to the open air.
Any ordinary doctor would have declared him dead on sight.
Yet not a single drop of blood spilled.
It was as if his blood itself refused to abandon him.
Darkness clung to his body like a second skin as his regeneration activated.
Minor wounds closed almost instantly.
Muscle fibers knitted together at a visible speed.
Even the exposed bone began to vanish beneath newly forming flesh.
The regeneration was violent. Relentless.
But it came at a cost.
As the last major wound struggled to close, Rey felt it.
Pain.
Raw, burning agony that tore through his nerves and made his vision blur.
"Ahh… damn it," Rey groaned, teeth clenched.
"That guy really went all out… using something like that on me."
"What?" Aiden snapped.
"Do you think enemies will wait for you to grow stronger? In the real world, they kill first and—"
"Yes, yes, I get it," Rey cut him off with a tired sigh.
"No mercy. No waiting. Can you stop lecturing me while I'm half-dead?"
Aiden paused.
Then fell silent.
Rey pulled up his status, finally seeing the aftermath.
⟪-1347 HP⟫
[2763 / 4110 HP]
⟪Ability Activation: Abyssal Regeneration⟫
So that's why…
He had crossed from the first floor to the third in a single escape burst.
That movement alone had devoured his stamina.
Rey lay still, breathing slowly, forcing his body to recover.
Without stamina, he couldn't fight.
Without stamina, he couldn't run.
Then Aiden delivered the worst news.
"Fifty-eight guards," he said.
"Heavily armed. Protective suits. The building is surrounded. Helicopters and vehicles are on standby."
Rey exhaled.
"…So that's how it is."
Direct escape was impossible.
The only option was distraction.
Something big.
Something serious enough to force Darius to call his guards inside.
But Darius wouldn't do that unless his own life was threatened.
Which meant—
Rey had to create a situation dangerous enough to pull the Director himself into chaos.
As his HP climbed past seventy-five percent, Rey slowly rose.
The room he was in was pitch-black.
But to him, it was crystal clear.
Darkness was no obstacle.
It was his element.
An idea formed.
Not small.
Not subtle.
He moved.
Carefully.
Silently.
Avoiding Darius, who was still searching the lower floors, Rey retraced his path through memory alone.
Soon, he reached a door he had dismissed earlier.
The main electrical control room.
His lips curled into a faint grin.
"If I can't escape the dark," he murmured,
"Then I'll make the whole place drown in it."
He slipped inside.
Panels. Switches. Thick cables and junctions lined the walls.
Rey didn't hesitate.
He drew a wooden sword from his inventory.
Then he started cutting.
Slashing.
Ripping.
Cables snapped. Circuits shattered. Sparks flew—
And then—
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then died.
Across the entire Martial Center, darkness fell.
On the first floor, Darius halted.
His eyes narrowed.
He activated his radio.
"Report. Do you see any lights?"
"No, sir," a guard replied.
"The entire building is dark. Someone sabotaged the power room. Should we move in?"
"No," Darius said instantly.
"If you enter now, you'll die like the others. That man thrives in darkness. Stay put unless I order otherwise."
He understood immediately.
"He's trying to bait us. Either to escape… or to push me into a mistake."
Darius turned and sprinted toward the electrical room.
The door was open.
He entered.
The sight inside made his jaw tighten.
Total destruction.
The circuitry wasn't just damaged.
It was butchered.
Restoring power would take hours.
"That rat…" Darius muttered, veins throbbing.
"He really knows how to get under my skin."
A slow, dangerous smile spread across his face.
"Fine. One last round."
He turned and walked out.
And the moment he left—
The shadow beside the wall rippled.
Rey emerged silently, breath held.
He had finished destroying the system just seconds before Darius arrived.
There had been no time to flee.
Only one option.
{Shadowmeld}
If not for that—
That greatsword would have split him clean in two.
The hunt wasn't over.
But now—
The darkness belonged to Rey.
Now that the coast was clear, Rey slipped out of the ruined electrical room.
This place was too cramped.
Too narrow.
Too dangerous for him.
If he was going to end this, he needed space.
He moved through the building like a ghost, sticking to the shadows, suppressing his presence as he scouted floor after floor. Every step was calculated. Every breath measured.
Then he found it.
On the fourth floor stood a massive open chamber, nearly the size of three standard rooms merged together. Wide, empty, with only a single entrance and exit.
No windows.
No alternate routes.
A perfect cage.
"…Perfect."
This would be the battlefield.
This would be where Darius either fell—or proved just how terrifying a Peak Grade cultivator truly was.
With the location fixed in his mind, Rey descended back toward the first floor.
There.
Darius was still searching, sweeping the halls with a flashlight, his expression sharp and alert. Despite his confidence, he hadn't let his guard down.
Good.
Rey deliberately let his foot scrape against the floor.
The sound echoed.
He didn't wait to see Darius react.
Rey turned and ran, making no effort to hide his presence now. His footsteps were uneven, rushed, intentionally sloppy.
A wounded man fleeing for his life.
'Come on,' Rey thought.
'Chase me.'
Just as planned, Darius reacted instantly.
He followed.
In his eyes, Rey was already half-dead. A spy who had taken a direct hit from his blade had no right to still be standing. This was merely cleanup.
Because of that belief, Darius didn't push himself fully.
And that hesitation would matter.
They reached the fourth floor.
Darius watched Rey slip into the open room ahead.
Before entering, he paused.
His eyes swept the hallway. The ceiling. The walls. He checked for wires, traps, hidden exits—anything that could be used to escape or ambush.
He even radioed the guards outside, ordering them to keep the fourth floor under watch.
Only when he was satisfied did he step inside.
His flashlight swept across the room.
Empty.
"…What?"
He was certain Rey had entered.
Before he could turn back—
Bang.
The door slammed shut behind him.
Darius spun around, reaching for it—
—and pain exploded across his back.
Sharp. Sudden.
Blood splashed onto the floor.
His blood.
He staggered forward half a step, eyes narrowing as more burning lines appeared across his back.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue, more amused than alarmed. "Cheap tricks?"
His greatsword materialized in his grasp.
"You chose a fine battlefield," he said coldly, "but the wrong opponent."
He swung.
The blade howled through the air, cutting arcs of pressure through the darkness.
Nothing.
Then another slash ripped across his shoulder.
Another across his ribs.
Invisible strikes.
Again.Again.
Darius halted.
His flashlight snapped on.
And then he saw them.
Daggers.
Dozens of them, floating mid-air, orbiting him like hunting beasts.
And beyond them—
For just a second—
A figure stood calmly in the darkness, watching.
Smiling.
"Oh?" Rey's voice echoed softly. "So you finally noticed."
The daggers lunged.
Five struck at once.
Darius coughed violently as blood spilled from his mouth. His knees hit the ground with a heavy thud.
For a brief moment—
He looked defeated.
Rey stepped forward, blade in hand.
This was it.
Even Victor and Aiden, watching silently, felt something was wrong.
And they were right.
In the instant Rey raised his weapon—
A hand snapped around his throat.
Too fast.
Too sudden.
His breath vanished.
"Got you." Darius' voice was hoarse, twisted with laughter. "I didn't expect you to start talking… but walking into my reach like that?"
He rose to his feet.
The wounds on his body meant nothing.
With a flex of his muscles, the daggers lodged inside him burst free and clattered to the floor.
"Hah." He tightened his grip. "Did you really think that could kill me? You don't understand what a true martial cultivator is."
Laughter echoed through the chamber.
Then—
Pain.
Unimaginable pain.
Darius' greatsword pierced straight through Rey's abdomen, erupting out his back.
Rey convulsed violently.
His HP dropped like a waterfall.
Organs failed. Nerves screamed.
It should have been death.
But something went wrong.
Darius frowned.
The blood pouring from Rey's wounds didn't fall.
It clung to his body.
Worse—
It moved.
Slowly, unnaturally, tendrils of living blood crawled along the blade embedded inside Rey, creeping toward Darius' hand.
Darius' instincts screamed.
He ripped the sword free and hurled Rey across the room.
Rey crashed into the wall, collapsing in a broken heap.
Darius didn't relax.
Something was wrong.
That injury should have killed him.
Yet…
Rey was still breathing.
"Troublesome." Darius muttered.
He reached for his radio.
"Send a retrieval team," he ordered coldly. "Collect the body. I want it examined thoroughly."
His eyes lingered on Rey's unmoving form.
"…We might find something interesting."
But in the darkness—
Was Rey truly finished?
No one knew.