The recent nights had been heavy for humanity…
A darkness unlike the darkness of night, nor the absence of the sun—but the darkness of ignorance and chaos.
Inside a shattered shelter, two men sat before a broken window, watching the strange sky whose color had changed since the two worlds merged.
The first spoke with a trembling voice, as if the words were being dragged out of a chest weighed down by fear.
"Do you think we'll live until the end of this month?"
The second man did not answer immediately.
He kept watching the people outside—pale faces, eyes desperately searching for anything to cling to.
Then he finally said,
"I don't know… but humans always find a way to survive. Even when they don't deserve to."
The first let out a short laugh, bitter and broken.
"That doesn't sound like hope."
The second slowly shook his head.
"It isn't hope… it's habit. We know nothing except survival—even if that survival becomes something twisted."
He fell silent for a moment before adding quietly,
"Maybe there's something waiting for us in the middle of all this ruin… something that might lift us up… or swallow us whole."
A heavy silence followed… as if the world itself had stopped to listen.
Then the first man leaned his head back, his voice carrying both resignation and defiance.
"Let tomorrow deal with tomorrow… let's just try not to die today."
Time passed slowly, weighed down by exhaustion.
As the days went by, the terror of the first week began to fade slightly.
Despite the devastation surrounding humanity from every direction, there was one thing that gave people a small measure of relief:
The disciples had not started killing humans the moment they arrived.
They occupied the vast territories surrounding the gigantic stones, raising the banners of their sects and displaying their laws before the public—but they did not spill blood.
A week passed after that disastrous day.
Most journalists and writers began calling it "The Day of Catastrophe," an attempt to understand the impossible—or at least give meaning to the new world.
As the wave of panic calmed somewhat, people began approaching the territories controlled by the sects.
They asked questions.
They sought explanations.
They desperately tried to understand what had happened.
But the truth they discovered was shocking:
Even the disciples themselves knew very little.
No history.No prophecy.No explanation for why the worlds had merged.
The only thing they truly understood…
was how to join their sects.
A series of harsh tests awaited anyone who wished to try.
A test to measure spiritual strength.
A test to measure willpower.
And the Marrow Test, which read something humans themselves did not understand—yet according to the disciples, it represented the central mechanism responsible for purification and strengthening throughout all stages of growth.
People rushed to take the tests.
Some driven by curiosity.
Others by greed.
Many simply trying to escape their fear.
But the response from the sects came quickly—and brutally.
The Righteous Path sects killed anyone with moderate talent who refused to join them as servants.
Terror spread rapidly.
Many people stopped participating in the tests altogether, forcing the sects to settle for collecting money from applicants and letting them leave afterward.
The Demonic sects, however, were far from merciful.
Anyone without talent was killed.
Often after long periods of torture.
Sometimes even eaten—as if such acts were perfectly normal.
But those with talent who refused to join were not killed.
Their philosophy was simple:
"The weak are devoured… and the strong do as they please."
As the sects revealed their true nature, the world slowly realized a terrifying truth.
Survival was no longer merely a matter of life or death.
It had become a new law of existence.
A law where the weak had no place.
Day after day passed with no guarantee of tomorrow.
Gradually, humanity began to lose its fragile grip on hope.
Yet within that endless darkness… a faint light appeared.
The Neutral Sects.
They were not angels.
But they were not as monstrous as the others.
They raised the cost of their tests to exhausting levels, yet they did not force anyone to submit, nor did they kill those with weaker talents.
For a brief moment, humanity felt that perhaps… this might be a small window of salvation.
But reality soon struck them again.
Transportation had vanished.
Roads were broken.
Cities were isolated.
Obstacles everywhere.
What had once been a simple trip or ordinary journey had become an almost impossible challenge for ordinary people.
And so the hope they had briefly clung to turned into nothing more than a distant mirage…
A mirage that made them realize one harsh truth:
Survival was no longer a matter of choice.
It was a long battle that would soon begin.
A battle where only those with power, luck,or something else yet unseen…would remain alive.