The system notification still hung in the air, glowing faintly and cold against the chaos of the ruined warehouse in front of Raiden.
{Ding!! Congratulations, Host, For Awakening The Dormant Ashen One Bloodline!!}
Raiden didn't read it.
He didn't need to.
Something had already woken inside him, and it was not him.
The pressure that had thrown everyone across the warehouse hadn't faded. If anything, it had grown, thickening the air until every breath felt like swallowing water. The cracked concrete beneath Raiden's feet continued to spread in thin, jagged lines, and the dust falling from the ceiling hung suspended in mid-air, caught in the invisible field radiating off his body.
Bai Zheng pressed himself harder against the wall, his broken glasses hanging crooked on his face, his breath coming in short, panicked bursts. He had seen this before. Years ago. A glimpse of something he had spent the rest of his life trying to forget.
And now it was standing in front of him again.
