The underworld of Shafu did not welcome visitors. It devoured them.
The air grew heavier with every step Oni and Rain took, a suffocating heat curling around them like a furnace's breath. The walls of the cavern sweated with condensation, streaked with rust-colored smears that were either dried blood… or a promise of it.
For fourteen brutal months, they'd been in Pangea. Fourteen months of near-death training. Oni could feel it in his bones now—he no longer walked like a boy. He prowled like a predator. Behind him, his pack of spectral wolves moved in eerie silence, their claws clicking softly against the stone.
The only sound beyond their footsteps was that distant, rhythmic thoom.
Rain whispered, "That's not a heartbeat, right?"
"Not yours," Oni said with a grin that showed just a little too much fang.The bridge appeared out of the dark like a scar across the abyss. A thin, cracked span of stone with no rails, no mercy, stretching across a pit that seemed to drop straight into hell. Bones and broken weapons jutted from the depths like teeth.
Rain's hand gripped his sword tighter. "I hate this place."
Oni inhaled deeply, his Werewolf Mark stirring. The stench of rot and metal filled his lungs. "I love it."
Halfway across, the world rumbled. Scrape. Step. Scrape. Step.
The Minotaur emerged from the shadows like a nightmare given muscle. Twelve feet of horned, ash-furred death, chest wrapped in pieced-together armor of fallen challengers. In his hands, a monstrous double-ended weapon—axe on one side, spiked hammer on the other—dragged against the stone, screaming metal on rock.
And then, he spoke, voice like boulders grinding in a pit.
"Fresh… meat."
Oni's Hydra Mark tingled along his spine, that subconscious predator recognition shivering through him. This was a hunter's domain. The Minotaur's weapon scraped as he stepped onto the bridge, each hoof cracking stone.
Rain whispered, "I might throw up."
"Do it after he's dead," Oni muttered, eyes gleaming gold.
The Minotaur lifted the weapon and slammed it down, sending a shockwave across the bridge. The wolves yelped and scattered, chunks of stone tumbling into the abyss.
The guardian of the underworld lowered his head, snorted, and growled: "Run. Makes more fun."
Oni's claws flexed. "I don't run."
The Minotaur grinned.
And the fight began.
The Minotaur charged. The bridge shook under its massive hooves, each step cracking stone. The axe-hammer hybrid swung in a horizontal blur that would've turned both boys into red mist if they hesitated for even a heartbeat.
But Oni wasn't a boy anymore. He dropped low, moving with that impossible lupine speed, claws scraping sparks against stone as he slid under the swing. The wind of the passing weapon ruffled his hair. Behind him, the bridge wall exploded where the axe struck, shards clattering into the abyss.
Rain was already moving, sword flashing in a perfect arc—months of Kazin's brutal drills paying off in one smooth motion. He aimed for the hamstring.
CLANG.
The blade bit, but the Minotaur's hide and armor deflected most of the force. It bellowed in irritation, not pain.
Oni grinned, teeth sharp. "Good. Makes this fun."
The Minotaur spun, hammer end swinging back in a blur. Oni's Pegasus Mark ignited in his legs—muscles surging, feet leaving the bridge in a sudden leap that felt like flying. He cleared the swing and landed on the Minotaur's shoulder, claws digging deep.
The beast roared, reaching up to grab him—Oni's tail burst into existence, spined and venom-tipped. He lashed it into the Minotaur's forearm, forcing it to recoil as poison sizzled into the flesh.
"YES!" Oni howled, golden eyes wild.
Rain used the opening, sliding beneath the Minotaur and slicing at the back of its knee. This time, Oni's Siren Mark pulsed through the cavern, a subtle thrumming hum. The Minotaur faltered, disoriented for a second, its head shaking like it was fighting off a hallucination.
Rain's blade bit deeper. Blood sprayed, steaming black in the hot underworld air.
The Minotaur's answer was rage.
"DIE!" it bellowed, swinging the hammer end straight down.
Oni leapt away, but the impact shattered the bridge beneath them, cracks spiderwebbing out as the abyss yawned below. Chunks of stone fell away, and one of the wolves slipped, vanishing into darkness with a fading yelp.
Oni's fury spiked.
His body shimmered with regenerative energy, and three spectral, snake-like appendages burst from his back, each one striking like a whip. They lashed the Minotaur's face and chest, drawing bloody streaks.
The beast stumbled back, blinking black blood from its one good eye.
"Rain!" Oni barked, voice now a feral growl.
Rain understood. They'd trained this maneuver a hundred times. Oni lunged for the front, Hydra tendrils lashing to distract, while Rain ran up a falling slab of bridge, springboarding off its edge. He launched into the air like a missile, twisting his blade in both hands.
Oni's Siren Mark pulsed again, a psychic echo that made the Minotaur's reflexes falter for a critical heartbeat.
Rain's sword sank into the Minotaur's collarbone, sparks flying where steel met bone. He hung there, screaming with effort, until the Minotaur shook him loose like a ragdoll.
"RAIN!"
He hit the bridge hard, coughing blood, but rolled to his feet. "Still… good…" he wheezed.
The Minotaur, now enraged beyond reason, gripped its weapon in both hands and spun. The horizontal arc obliterated two wolves and sheared a chunk off the bridge's edge. Oni barely caught the lip, Gargoyle Mark flaring as his skin hardened like stone to tank a glancing blow.
Cracks splintered across his arm but he didn't feel pain—just focus.
"Your turn to bleed," Oni snarled.
He climbed onto the Minotaur's back, Gargoyle strength anchoring him as his Manticore tail lashed and Hydra tendrils whipped. He went berserk, ripping at flesh, Serpent Mark letting him constrict around the beast's neck as his claws tore at its remaining eye.
Black blood sprayed in a gory fountain.
The Minotaur staggered blindly, swinging wild, chunks of bridge falling into the abyss.
Rain saw the opportunity. His ribs screamed, his hands shook, but fourteen months of hell had forged him harder than this. He ran full sprint, leapt off Oni's crouched back, and with a roar, drove his sword into the Minotaur's throat.
"STAY DEAD!"
The Minotaur gurgled, blood flooding the bridge. Its weapon slipped from its fingers, tumbling into the void below. Oni ripped the throat open with his claws as Hydra tendrils stabbed into its chest, pumping venom.
The guardian of the underworld collapsed, half on the bridge, half sliding into the abyss.
Oni and Rain leapt clear as the body fell, hitting the ground with bone-rattling impact. The echo of the fall went on forever.
Then, silence.
Rain spat blood and started laughing. "We… we fucking did it…"
Oni, still half in his marks, just grinned with bloodstained fangs. "Told you. We don't run."
The silence after the Minotaur fell was deafening.
The underworld was a graveyard of echoes, and the last one belonged to the guardian's body plummeting into the endless black. Oni crouched on the fractured bridge, claws dripping black blood, chest heaving with the aftershock of battle.
Rain lay on his back, sword across his chest, laughing through the pain. His ribs were probably cracked in three places, and his right arm trembled just holding his blade.
"We… actually killed him," he said, voice raw. "I thought… that was it. I saw… I saw us dying there."
Oni didn't answer at first. His golden eyes dimmed as his marks faded, fur receding, tail vanishing. The sudden human fragility that followed the rush of power was sobering. His hands shook. He could still feel the Minotaur's pulse fading under his claws, the wet tearing of throat and tendon.
He stared at his hands, at the faint black blood smeared across his palms.
"I wasn't… me," he admitted. "I was everything. Wolf. Hydra. Serpent. Manticore. Gargoyle. Pegasus. Siren. All screaming to kill. I liked it, Rain. I…" He clenched his fists, shame and pride wrestling in his chest. "…I didn't want to stop."
Rain turned his head, still grinning faintly. "Then don't stop. Just learn when to let go. That's what training's for, right?"
Oni huffed a laugh. "Fourteen months of it."
They sat there in silence for a while, letting the heat of the underworld wash over them. The scent of blood and metal was thick. The broken bridge creaked ominously under their weight.
Then something pulled at Rain—a whisper in his mind. A thrum, low and primal, like the beating of a distant drum.
He closed his eyes. The Minotaur's Mark flared to life inside him. He felt the weight of the beast, the unstoppable drive, the raw, punishing strength. It was different from Oni's feral marks—less about instinct, more about unyielding willpower and dominance. He opened his eyes, and for a split second, his pupils flickered with a crimson glow.
"Oni…" he murmured. "I can feel him. The Minotaur. He's… in me now."
Oni smirked, exhaustion curling at the edges of his lips. "Good. Now you can carry that weight too."
Rain sat up slowly, and that's when he saw it—the Minotaur's weapon, wedged into a crack in the bridge, barely saved from tumbling into the abyss. He staggered over and knelt beside it, running his fingers along the blackened, ancient metal.
It pulsed faintly under his touch.
Suddenly, Kazin's voice echoed in memory, crisp as a blade:
"That sword of yours, boy, isn't steel. It's Pangean Iron, tempered in the essence of the realms themselves. Only the ancients could forge it. If you find more… you'll find yourself twice the swordsman."
Rain's eyes widened. "Oni… this is it. This is the same metal. The Minotaur's weapon—it's… it's made of the same thing as my sword."
Oni tilted his head. "So… you can make another?"
Rain grinned through his pain. "Not me… but Kazin will. And if I have two…" His fingers curled around the blade's edge. "…I can grow even stronger."
Oni stood, stretching his sore muscles, his marks still whispering in the back of his mind. "Then I guess I'm not the only one leveling up."
Rain struggled to lift the weapon, managing to break free a massive chunk of the blackened metal. He almost toppled under its weight.
When they finally staggered back to Kazin's forge in the Pangean encampment, the old master was waiting, arms crossed, eyes sharp.
"You smell like blood," Kazin said dryly. Then he saw the metal. His eyes widened just a fraction. "…Minotaur steel. Hmph. Took you long enough."
Rain dropped the shard onto the workbench with a clang. "We almost died for it."
"Good," Kazin said. "Means you earned it. With this, I can forge you another blade. Dual swords… hm. That will change the way you fight entirely." He glanced at Oni. "And you…"
Oni raised a brow. "What about me?"
"You have all the power in the world now. But you still lack a weapon that matches it. A true predator doesn't just use claws—it forges a fang worthy of its hunt." He smirked. "You'll forge it with me. You will hammer the steel, temper it in your marks' essence, and birth a blade that is yours."
Oni's grin returned, fanged and eager. "A weapon for the wolf, huh?"
Kazin chuckled. "For the monster."
As the forge roared to life, both boys felt it—the weight of the battle, the taste of survival, and the first step into the next hell. They were stronger, sharper, and hungrier than ever.
And somewhere in the depths of Shafu, another guardian stirred.
The Pangean Forge roared, molten rivers of metal glowing red-hot, smoke curling like living shadows. Kazin stood between the two young warriors, his eyes sharp as flint.
Rain stepped forward first, holding the chunk of ancient Minotaur steel salvaged from the abyss. He laid it carefully on the anvil, the weight promising power beyond measure. His fingers trembled slightly, but determination burned in his gaze.
Kazin nodded. "This metal holds the essence of the Minotaur — raw strength and endurance. With it, you will forge not one… but two blades. Twin extensions of your will. Each will carry ancient sigils far beyond the Vermillion you know."
He flicked his hand, and ten shimmering sigils appeared in the air, glowing softly:
Asterion — infuses devastating raw physical might.
Phantom — creates afterimages for deceptive attacks.
Eclipse — bends light for brief invisibility.
Howl — amplifies presence to stun and intimidate.
Tempest — commands wind for blinding speed and slicing gusts.
Aegis — manifests a protective, reactive barrier.
Seraph — radiates purifying energy against spirits and corruption.
Gravebind — temporarily roots foes to the ground.
Bloodfang — converts dealt damage into healing.
Wyrmfire — channels elemental fury for a single empowered strike.
Rain's hand hovered, instinct pulling him toward Aegis, Phantom, Seraph, and Wyrmfire — sigils that complimented his refined swordplay and tactical mind.
Hammer strikes rang through the forge as Kazin guided Rain, chanting incantations to bind the marks and sigils into the metal's core. The blades sang, their edges shimmering with latent power, humming in tune with Rain's growing Minotaur Mark.
Meanwhile, Oni stood before a circle of glowing runes etched into the forge's stone floor — his training ground for mark mastery. No blade in his hands, only the primal fury coursing through his veins.
Kazin approached, voice low and commanding: "You wield power no blade could contain, Oni. Your strength is in the marks—their harmony and fury. Today, we forge you anew, not in steel, but in spirit and flesh."
Oni closed his eyes, channeling every mark he bore — Werewolf, Hydra, Manticore, Gargoyle, Serpent, Pegasus, Siren — feeling their energies swirl and coalesce. Kazin began to chant the ancient rites, weaving magic that would deepen Oni's bond to his primal weapons — his claws, fangs, tails, and his very body itself.
Light surged around Oni, and for a moment, he was both man and beast made one, the embodiment of every mark's savage power. When the light faded, Oni flexed his hands, claws longer and sharper, his senses razor-sharp, his body humming with raw energy.
The forging and training montage that followed was brutal and beautiful:
Rain mastered swift dual-sword strikes with his new sigils, phantom afterimages confusing imaginary foes, while protective barriers shimmered and fiery blades left streaks of flame in the air.
Oni tore through training dummies, each strike enhanced by his marks: rock-hard Gargoyle claws smashing stone, Hydra tails whipping like venomous whips, Siren-induced disorientation breaking opponent's rhythm.
The air crackled as Oni's Pegasus Mark propelled him into soaring leaps and devastating aerial attacks, while Rain's twin swords flashed like lightning storms.
Kazin watched, nodding, the old master's voice guiding them: "Harness your power. Be predator and weapon. Let your marks and steel sing in harmony."
At the end of the day, both warriors stood bloodied but unbroken, their weapons and bodies tempered in fire and battle spirit.
Kazin smirked. "Good. Because the underworld will not wait for the slow or weak."