The next dawn in the portal world was painted in cold hues—violet mist curling along the obsidian cliffs, and an eerie hum pulsing through the fissures like a heartbeat beneath the stone. Nathan stood at the edge of the plateau, his breath visible in the frost-laden air. The world around him seemed to whisper, as if anticipating blood.
Selena approached silently, her cloak rippling with energy. "They're here," she said simply.
Nathan didn't ask who. He already knew.
The Zealand Guild—top-ranked across the continents—had sent scouts. S-Rank operatives specialized in evaluating potential threats and assets for recruitment or elimination. Their methods were surgical, efficient, and rarely merciful.
From the mist, three silhouettes emerged. They walked with a confidence that transcended arrogance—measured steps, eyes like sharpened glass, energy signatures burning like small suns.
The first was Kael, the tall man in the center, wrapped in layered black armor laced with golden veins of energy. His eyes glowed faintly blue, and his weapon—a halberd humming with compressed mana—rested easily against his shoulder.
To his left, Rhea, a woman draped in silver, her twin daggers faintly vibrating in their sheaths. Her aura was light and deadly, like a storm before the lightning.
And behind them, silent as smoke, came Varus, his cloak concealing most of his face except for a single glowing red eye.
Selena folded her arms. "Zealand's scouts. Not opponents you can treat lightly."
Kael's voice broke the silence, calm but cold. "Nathan. The Shadow Ascendant, they call you now. We've heard of your performance against the Alkham hunters. Impressive for someone unranked." He tilted his head slightly, evaluating. "But we need proof that your strength isn't a fluke."
Nathan felt his shadows stir, tendrils whispering like restless serpents around his boots. "So this is a test."
Kael smirked. "Call it an evaluation. You impress us, you live. You fail—your corpse feeds the portal."
Selena stepped aside, silent approval in her eyes. "Show them, Nathan. Show them what you've become."
Nathan didn't hesitate. The moment Kael's energy flared, his shadows burst outward like black lightning, slamming against the ground and rising into towering forms.
The battle ignited.
Kael moved first, his halberd cleaving through the air in a wide arc. The strike released a shockwave that tore through stone. Nathan countered, shadows coiling into a barrier that absorbed the impact but cracked under the pressure. He darted forward, shadows whipping toward Kael in coordinated strikes, each tendril sharp enough to cut steel.
Kael deflected them effortlessly, his halberd spinning like a wheel of light. "Fast," he muttered, "but predictable."
Rhea vanished. A flicker—and she reappeared behind Nathan, daggers slashing toward his neck. The shadows reacted instinctively, forming an armor-like carapace around him. Sparks erupted as the daggers met the black energy.
Nathan twisted, countering with a burst of concentrated shadow force that sent Rhea tumbling backward. She landed gracefully, a smirk tugging at her lips. "Not bad. You actually made me move."
Then came Varus. Silent, deadly. His presence barely registered before his energy pulse surged through the ground. A tremor cracked the plateau beneath Nathan's feet, followed by a distortion in the air—a spatial slash that tore through shadow and space alike.
Nathan leapt aside, barely avoiding the invisible cut. The ground where he had stood split open into a bottomless rift.
They're on a different level.
But he didn't retreat. Instead, he closed his eyes for a split second, letting his senses expand. He felt the shadows in the fissures, in the air, in the faint traces of energy left by his opponents. He breathed in deeply—and became the shadow itself.
Darkness rippled outward. The temperature dropped. Even the Zealand scouts paused, sensing the change.
When Nathan opened his eyes again, they glowed violet-black, and his tendrils no longer moved like extensions—they moved like instincts.
He attacked.
Shadows surged from every direction, wrapping around Kael's halberd, seizing Varus's cloak, slashing at Rhea's afterimages. The plateau became a symphony of chaos—black energy against light, raw power against refined precision.
Kael grunted as one of the tendrils pierced his armor, drawing blood. He retaliated instantly, unleashing a burst of golden energy that obliterated everything within ten meters. The explosion threw Nathan backward, smoke and dust swirling around him.
He landed hard but rolled to his feet, coughing. Still alive.
Selena watched silently from the ridge, her expression unreadable. She wasn't here to help. She was here to see if he could survive the guild's crucible.
Kael advanced, his weapon glowing brighter. "Your power's raw but unstable. You lack control."
Nathan wiped blood from his lip. "Then let's see how control looks under pressure."
The shadows erupted again—but this time, they didn't come from his body. They rose from the fissures, from the darkness itself, pulled from the portal's core. A vast shadow form began to manifest behind Nathan, its outline monstrous, its presence oppressive.
Varus's single visible eye widened. "He's pulling energy directly from the rift. That's suicidal."
"Or brilliant," Rhea countered.
The shadow titan roared, its echo shaking the cliffs. It moved when Nathan moved, struck when he struck—a living extension of his will.
Kael lunged, halberd glowing with celestial fury. Nathan countered, the titan's hand intercepting the weapon. The resulting explosion sent shockwaves that flattened nearby stones and sent Rhea flying backward.
The ground fractured. Air screamed. The energy between them built to a violent crescendo.
Nathan's shadow tendrils intertwined with the titan's limbs, amplifying every strike. His vision blurred, but his focus never faltered. Each movement felt instinctive, pure, inevitable.
Finally, with a roar that tore the silence apart, Nathan unleashed everything—his full control, his raw power, his rage. The titan's punch collided with Kael's halberd in a blinding clash of black and gold.
For a moment, the entire world seemed to split in half.
When the dust cleared, Kael stood panting, armor cracked, his weapon dim. Rhea's daggers were broken, Varus's cloak torn to shreds. And Nathan—bleeding, barely standing—was still there. Shadows flickered weakly around him, but his gaze remained unwavering.
Kael exhaled slowly. "Enough."
He lowered his halberd. The others followed suit.
Selena stepped forward, her voice cutting through the tension. "You've seen his potential."
Kael nodded reluctantly. "More than potential. That kind of resonance with the portal's core… it's dangerous. But it's also powerful."
Rhea smiled faintly. "He'll make enemies in Zealand before he makes allies."
Varus's red eye glowed once. "He already has."
Nathan didn't respond. His entire body trembled from exhaustion, but his mind burned with clarity. He had faced the top guild's best scouts—and survived. Barely, but enough to prove one thing:
He belonged on this stage.
Kael approached, extending a hand. "The guild will want to watch your progress. But remember this, Nathan—power without purpose becomes corruption. Don't lose control."
Nathan met his gaze. "I don't plan to."
The scouts turned and vanished into the mist, their presence fading into the pulse of the portal.
Selena placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder. "You did what few ever could. You fought Zealand's elite and lived. But don't get comfortable. Now that they've seen you, your path will be watched—and tested."
Nathan looked toward the glowing fissures below, where the shadows seemed to beckon him deeper into the abyss. His pulse synced with the world's heartbeat.
If they're watching me… then I'll give them something they'll never forget.