Beyond the Shadow’s Grip

At the very moment N unleashed his spiritual perception and full awareness, waves of unseen energy rippled across existence.

Somewhere else…Where dimensions bleed into each other.Where time frays like worn parchment.Where gravity forgets its purpose, and thought takes form.

There stood Zas, motionless amidst a storm of stillness.The ground beneath him was endless.The air was dense, heavy with silence.And before him — a wall that was not a wall, but a curtain over truth.

His body trembled.Not from fear — but from the weight of standing before something beyond the scale of strength.Zas closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and gripped his sword.

Mental Perception: Focused Beam.

Energy surged through his mind, his arm, his blade—And in the instant it fired—It shattered.

His perception was crushed before it could even breathe.Like a thought silenced before birth.

"Impossible…"Zas muttered, stepping back.

He knew only one kind of being could emit such power.Behind the massive gate, time itself had frozen.Even the guardians who had once transcended spacetime now stood still — suspended.

With a raised voice, Zas called out:"Is this your doing?!"

A hollow voice replied, not through sound — but inside his skull:"Who else could it be?"

The ground trembled.The gate — once ancient and immovable — collapsed like broken glass.And from the ruins emerged a figure.

Human in form —But nothing about him felt human.

The aura surrounding him wasn't breathing… it devoured breath itself.

"A human who commands dogs?" Zas spat."You traitor… what are you doing with the enemies of mankind?"

The figure stepped forward, his voice laced with disdain:"My name is Darvik Luz.But for that tone — you will kneel first."

He raised a finger.

Mental Perception: Structural Collapse.

A psychic wave burst forth — wide as continents —meant to crush the mind, unearth every buried fear.

But before it reached Zas —It dissolved.

Darvik tilted his head."Interesting… You're not just some infiltrator, are you?"

Again, the finger rose.And this time,the ground beneath Zas cracked wide open.

From the abyss emerged a gigantic hand of perception,formed from consciousness and raw force, reaching to obliterate him.

Total Perception: Defensive Discharge.

A translucent barrier exploded from Zas.But the hand pierced partway through.It hurled his body against a wall.

The stone cracked.Dust fell like rain."Shit…" Zas growled, pulling himself up.

Spiritual Perception: Earth Rift.

He tore the ground beneath his feet,leapt out like a lightning strike to the far side.

Physical Perception – Calf Muscle, Layer Eight: Acceleration.Physical Perception – Forearm Muscle: Weight Control.

He launched forward — no longer bound by inertia.A blur, a spear, a living projectile.

"You'll know your end, you idiot!!"Zas roared, blade aimed at Darvik's heart.

But Darvik, calm as dusk, conjured a massive black warhammer —its presence bending the air around it.

"You'll see your end first, fool…"

Partial Perception – 10% of Upper Shoulder Muscles.

A single swing.

It wasn't an attack — it was the rewriting of reality.The swing cracked space, tore silence, andZas —Zas was thrown into the unknown,cast into a fate without name.

Sound faded.But the echo remained — engraved in memory.

Somewhere between destruction and awareness,a whisper brushed against Zas' soul:

"This is not a fall…It is the beginning.And beginnings always arrive broken."