Consciousness slowly emerged from a chaotic darkness.
It was as if he had been asleep for a century, yet also as if it had only been a moment.
"Ugh…"
Sonic let out a low, muffled groan. The sharp pain from the back of his head made his vision blacken in waves.
This was followed by an even more excruciating physiological pain from his lower body, a heavyweight pain that even a top ninja, having undergone rigorous training, couldn't endure. It made him grimace in agony.
Memory fragments gradually pieced together. Sonic remembered being severely injured in a vital area by a hateful bald man.
Then, he was ambushed from behind and knocked unconscious by a tall, impossibly handsome, despicable scoundrel.
"Damn it… As the top ninja, I didn't even notice that guy approaching…!"
He shook his groggy head, forcing himself to concentrate, trying to make his blurry vision clear again.
Then, Sonic froze, stunned in place.
Where was this?
There was no ceiling, no walls, and it didn't even seem like there was any solid ground to stand on.
His body was floating in an ocean that glowed with a faint golden light.
This boundless ocean was not made of water, but a pure, ultimate, strange energy.
In the void at the end of his sight, a massive golden waterfall, whose source was invisible, seemed to pour down from a cracked sky, each splash erupting like a supernova!
Even across what felt like a galaxy-spanning distance, Sonic could clearly sense the terrifying energy fluctuations that made his soul tremble!
He had no doubt that if he were even grazed by the aftermath of that golden waterfall, which pierced through heaven and earth, he would probably be instantly annihilated…
Not even a speck would remain!
"Wh-What the hell?! What kind of place is this…!!"
Sonic's heart tightened abruptly, and an unprecedented sense of crisis instantly overwhelmed his entire body.
As a top assassin, his intuition far surpassed that of ordinary people.
And at this moment, every cell in his body was screaming wildly about danger and the need to escape!
He endured the severe pain and tried to move his limbs, finding that his body could still move.
He immediately mobilized all his strength, stomping hard on the undulating golden energy sea, trying to rush out of this bizarre ocean.
However, in the next second, the confidence on his face turned into astonishment.
His terrifying speed, which could easily exceed the speed of sound, was severely reduced here, becoming as ridiculous as an ordinary person jogging.
The golden energy was as viscous as solidified honey and as heavy as mercury. Every inch he moved required more effort than running ten kilometers in the outside world.
He felt like a hummingbird caught in a spiderweb, no matter how desperately he flapped his wings, he couldn't break free from the invisible yet omnipresent restraints.
"Damn it! I don't believe it!"
Sonic gritted his teeth, refusing to give in to this evil.
He pushed his ninja secret techniques to the limit, squeezing every ounce of potential from his body.
His figure finally transformed into a blurry black line, frantically shuttling through this golden world, leaving a long trail.
However, no matter how far or how long he ran, the surrounding scenery did not change in the slightest.
The waterfall torrent at the end of his vision showed no sign of getting closer, and the entire golden ocean clearly demonstrated what it meant to be boundless.
Infinite emptiness was also hell.
An emotion called fear spread through Sonic's heart.
As a top assassin who ended the ninja village era, he had experienced countless life-and-death missions and faced various heinous enemies, but he had never felt such profound helplessness and insignificance from the bottom of his heart as he did now.
Here, everything he relied on to survive—
Speed far beyond human limits, peak assassination techniques, and battle-hardened killing arts…
All lost their meaning.
What was even more terrifying was that time also lost its meaning here.
Sonic didn't know how long he had been floating in this golden ocean.
One day?
Three days?
Or an entire week?
The extreme silence was enough to drive any normal person mad, and hunger and thirst, like torture, assaulted his will in wave after wave.
Sonic was a battle-hardened ninja with endurance far exceeding that of ordinary people.
But he was still human, needing to eat and drink.
His physical strength was rapidly draining, and his spirit began to wane due to endless loneliness and despair.
Finally, Sonic gave up struggling, lying quietly on this golden ocean like a floating corpse from which the soul had been drawn.
Waiting for despair to completely engulf him.
He remembered his past, the bloody and brutal training in the ninja village, and all the efforts and sacrifices he made in pursuit of ultimate speed.
Was his life, his pursuit of the ninja way, to end in such an absurd and humiliating manner in this godforsaken place?
Unwilling.
Truly unwilling!
He hadn't even avenged himself against that hateful bald man who had subjected him to such great humiliation!
Just thinking of that bald man, just thinking of that lifelong humiliation between his legs, Sonic felt a certain vital part of his body begin to ache faintly again.
He couldn't help but shiver, and suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes.
And at that very moment, he saw it.
Not far away, a figure had appeared at some point, quietly floating above the golden ocean.
An impeccably handsome face, casual attire, and deep eyes were looking at him with interest, as if appreciating something amusing.
Who else could it be but the scoundrel who knocked him out?!
Enemies meeting, eyes red with fury!
"…It's you!!"
In an instant, all the resentment towards the bald man transformed into towering rage, accurately transferred to this bald man's accomplice!
"Bastard! You locked me in here! Where exactly is this?!"
Sonic roared.
Han Sen was not angered by Sonic's curses, but instead calmly chuckled, "This is the seam between mind and illusion, the end of reality and imagination."
"And it is my world."
—A superpower user? This damned power… it's truly unfair!
Outwardly irritable but inwardly calm, Sonic's heart sank, knowing that the man opposite him was definitely the most difficult type of enemy to deal with!
However, he still did not reveal his true thoughts, his forehead veins bulging as he angrily demanded, "…What exactly do you want?!"
Han Sen did not answer his question, but instead scrutinized him from head to toe, a playful smile on his lips.
"Good willpower. To have endured so long in a place like this without a mental breakdown, you truly live up to your name… Sonic, the one who ended the ninja village era."
"Nani…!!"
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