Lyon POV:

My surroundings gradually faded into white, leaving only me and him behind. The chains tightened their grip over my limbs as I looked up into his soulless eyes.

“Accept it. This is as far as you go.”

Every time he opened his mouth, my heart wavered. The doubts would creep back inside my mind, and the chains would slowly drag me back down.

“You’re wrong!”

I clenched my teeth as my hands balled into fists that shook. I roared at him with pure rage, wanting to deny his very existence, wanting him to disappear before he could say anything else.

His lifeless face gained emotion while his lips curved into a wide smile. He pointed his bony, pale finger towards me as he opened his mouth.

“I’m wrong? Then allow me to show you just how ‘wrong’ I am.”

He flicked his hand to the side and the pure white scenery began to change. An image of a younger version of myself formed in front of my eyes; his wide grin plastered onto his face as he cut through the streets rapidly. I remembered that time clearly: I was excited. Excited to tell Tobias that I had got a job.

‘What does this prove?’

My gaze shifted back to his pale face as I struggled to figure out what his point was. He stared at my past with no emotion and the scene switched.

It now showed me getting another job as a blacksmith’s apprentice, then it changed again. A builder, a carpenter, a farmer...

The scenes continued to switch over and over until they stopped on Ivonfold; a small city in the south of Efros. It was a city where the survivors of Haiton Village had been resettled.

I watched myself hurry through the clean streets, quickly delivering orders to the correct addresses. I made a sharp turn and walked down the wide street when an old woman happened to recognize me.

“Leo?... Is that you, Leo? How are you doing now?”

“!”

She rested her hands on the cane and smiled warmly. My eyes immediately fell to the ground as beads of sweat formed on my brow. I felt my heartbeat quicken while my hands began to feel clammy.

I didn’t want to be seen like this. I didn’t want to answer her either.

“...I’m fine. Please take care.”

I bit my lip as I bolted away. I heard her call out to me, but I never looked back. The scene faded away, and once again, I saw myself devoting all of my attention to taking on different jobs.

“Incredible, isn’t it? You said you were waiting for an opportunity to arise, but that’s a lie.”

“What...?”

My eyebrows trembled as they curved inwards. I stared at him in disbelief at just what he was saying. However, those soulless eyes of his robbed me of my breath, forcing a heavy feeling to press down against my chest as I bit my quivering lip.

He folded his arms and peered down at me. His lips slowly formed a mocking smirk while he raised one of his eyebrows.

“Oh, please. The jobs were just a way to distract yourself from the past.”

“S-shut up!”

I clenched my teeth tightly as sweat poured down my face. My whole world spun while I struggled to accept the words he had just uttered.

He was wrong.

I was always looking for an opportunity; a way in which I could improve myself whether that be through the use of my body or my mind—it wasn’t important.

“Then how about this? The only reason you kept on visiting your parents is because you hoped that there would somehow be surviving monsters from the dungeon break.”

“...”

My pupils dilated and my mouth opened, but no words came out. I simply sat there in shock as I watched his grin become wider while his dark eyes peered deep into my soul.

“You wanted one of those monsters to kill you. The truth is you’ve wanted to die all along. You just needed a convenient excuse to convince yourself it was better that way.”

I felt something inside of me crack. My head smashed against the white floor as my very existence shook from his words.

‘I... I always wanted to die?...’

I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t accept it until the image of myself chasing after my disfigured father resurfaced in my mind.

The chains wrapped around me even tighter than before, sealing all of my movement as I tried to ignore the image in front of my eyes.

It stayed.

It persistently stayed while I watched the scene of water rushing into my body; while I watched me accept my fate without a single struggle.

“I don’t...”

My voice croaked out weakly as I laid there chained to the ground helplessly. He clicked his tongue and crouched down.

“The essence of humanity is doubt. Even when a person is confronted with their true self, they still deny it. They run from it and call it a lie. Why do you think they say the truth hurts?”

My pupils dilated to the extreme while I watched him cackle away to himself. The darkness covering his eyes peeled away, revealing their bright blue colour underneath.

His pale skin regained its normal hue as he spread his arms out gleefully. He stared at the white sky, shoulders heaving up and down as if he had reached some form of enlightenment.

“Now you understand why you can’t do it. You could never do it. Just live your life in the shadows of others, then you’ll die eventually, just like you want to.”

He turned around, and I watched his back grow further away as he walked off. Even if I accepted his words as my truth, I still wouldn’t be able to go forward.

I struggled to keep my eyes open while I felt an unknown force pull down on my eyelids. I winced in pain as the darkness slowly began to eat away at my vision.

“Get up, Lyon.”

A familiar voice echoed in the distance, but by the time I managed to turn my head in its direction, all I saw was darkness.

My gaze shifted to the ground as I reminisced about the past—about the times I spent with my mother and father. Tears rolled down my cheeks while memories flashed through my mind.

I recalled the various emotions I felt during those moments. I recalled their warmth every time my father pulled us into a big family hug. I recalled my mother’s affectionate gaze towards my father, and how she always supported him; she always supported us.

‘This isn’t right...’

How can a child want to die after witnessing their parents give their life for them? Ludicrous.

I smashed my fists into the ground.

How can a child be embarrassed by the decision their parents made to save a whole village? Pathetic.

I got to one knee as the chains around my body began to break apart.

How can someone overcome their doubt and truly believe in themselves? Acceptance.

I stood up and ripped off the remaining chains as I roared.

‘Be Unbreakable.’

He appeared again in the distance as if he was waiting for this exact moment. He shook his head while smirking. I watched his mouth open, but before he could even get a word out; my fingers gripped his throat tightly.

“?!?!”

His words had no value, so why should I listen to them? He clawed away at my arm, desperately trying to get a word out, but it was too late.

I smashed his head into the ground and whispered into his ear.

“Thank you for showing me my truth. Now watch me change it.”

He grabbed my arm as he continued to struggle to break free from my grip. His fingers dug deep into my skin, ripping off the flesh to no avail. I refused to let him go, and I refused to let him run his mouth.

Time crawled by, and eventually, his arms began to lose their strength. They soon flopped to the ground lifelessly as I observed his eyes close firmly shut.

The darkness faded and splashes of colour revealed the world around me. Zane stood atop the crater, looking down at me with a content smile on his face.

My gaze shifted to the crater as I realized that I was alone in its epicenter. My lips curved into a smile because that didn’t matter; all I needed to do was look up.

***

Zane gazed at me for a while as I climbed out of the crater. I smiled at him confidently while shifting my feet into the Offensive Stance; there was no need to hesitate anymore.

The corners of his mouth rose, and he widened the distance between us by jumping back. I activated the Mark of a Pantheon once more; Ki exploding all around me as I clenched my fists tightly.

The difference was obvious, but this was just the beginning. Zane nodded his head while he slowly unfolded his arms.

‘Be Unbreakable.’

He flickered forward, reappearing by my side before I could even blink. I immediately ducked and felt the force of the air violently blow past my neck. I twisted my body while jumping back, avoiding two sharp punches in the process.

‘Ghost.’

Upon landing, I entered the Ghost stance as the optimal lines of attack flooded my vision.

“!”

My eyes widened while my body arched back before my mind could register what had just happened. Zane’s foot grazed past my nose, popping the blood vessels inside.

I ignored the blood gushing out as I blocked his follow-up strikes. An optimal line abruptly appeared, and I immediately threw a left hook to his body.

Zane parried it away unsurprisingly, but that wasn’t my true aim. I used the same momentum to spin inside, throwing a high kick to his temple instead.

“!!”

Zane performed a spin of his own, moving along the inside of my leg before gently resting his palm against my chest. The force he exerted wasn’t just his own, but mine too.

My lips curved upwards as my feet left the ground; the shockwave causing a ripple of air to spread out around us while I shot back like a missile.

I breakfalled the moment I felt my body make contact with the earth again, rolling back up to my knees while I skidded across the grassy patches of land.

“Foo.”

I sucked in the air and switched my stance. I bolted forward, cutting across the clearing as I threw a barrage of strikes once I got into range. Zane parried them away effortlessly before his fist crashed into my chest.

“Keuk!”

The air left my lungs as I was launched through the sky. I dropped down, sliding across the surface of the lake while the battle ensued.

I blocked and dodged what I could see. I gave it my all to at least connect one strike, to at least be better than I was 1 minute ago—1 second ago.

Zane’s deep brown eyes rested on me firmly while his lips formed a content smile. We continued to trade blows, reaching the other side of the lake as my concentration rose higher and higher.

”Ugh...”

10 minutes.

That’s how much time had passed until I finally ran out of Ki. I was extremely fatigued and sweat drenched my clothes, but I refused to sit down. Despite my legs feeling like lead, I faced Zane and bowed respectfully.

“You’re finally at the starting line. Don’t go back, Lyon.”

“Yes, Master.”

I smiled to myself while looking up at the sky as the sun began its descent. The emotions I used to feel at the end of training were now replaced with something else.

Something, somewhere deep inside of me, had been watered, and a seed was beginning to germinate.

My parents were gone, but the lives that they helped live on—the lives that they helped save, were precious and that included my own.

‘I don’t want others to suffer the same way I did.’

It was a feeling that I always had, but at that moment in time, it became even more concrete and a new goal formed in my mind.

The monster horde back then came from a dungeon break. Once I finish my training, they will be my next target.

I’ll conquer them all.