The Abyss3

The forest seemed to shift as Kuro followed Lucien deeper into the abyss-touched lands. The trees twisted unnaturally, their bark blackened, their branches curling toward an unseen force. Shadows slithered along the ground, stretching and recoiling like living things.

Alice and Aurora flanked Kuro, their steps cautious, weapons ready. Neither trusted Lucien, and Kuro didn't blame them because he didn't fully trust him either.

Lucien led them toward an ancient ruin, its stone walls half-consumed by creeping darkness. The air crackled with unseen energy, thick with something unnatural.

He stopped before a massive archway, its surface covered in jagged runes that pulsed with faint violet light. "This is where it all began."

Kuro's grip on The Eminence tightened. "Where what began?"

Lucien turned, his expression unreadable. "The war between the Demon King and the abyss."

Alice scoffed. "What, you expect us to believe this place is some ancient battlefield?"

Lucien smirked. "Not a battlefield. A prison."

Kuro's eyes narrowed. "You mean…"

Lucien stepped aside, motioning toward the archway. "Go inside. See for yourself."

Aurora put a hand on Kuro's arm. "This feels like a trap."

Kuro exhaled. It did feel like a trap. But if he was going to understand his connection to the abyss, he needed to know the truth and that meant he had no choice.

He stepped forward prepared for what was beyond the archway.

The moment he passed beneath the archway, darkness swallowed him whole.

Kuro found himself standing in a vast, endless void. Stars flickered in the distance, swirling like galaxies trapped within the abyss. But beneath his feet, the ground was solid—smooth, obsidian-like stone.

Then, a figure emerged from the shadows, from the darkness.

It wasn't Lucien. It wasn't any enemy he recognized.

It was himself. Weird right?

A perfect mirror image. But where Kuro's eyes burned with determination, this doppelganger's gaze was cold, emotionless. And in its hands, an identical version of The Eminence pulsed with abyssal energy different from that of kuro's.

"You finally came."

Kuro's breath hitched. "Who are you?"

The shadow-Kuro tilted its head. "I am what you could be. What you should be as the one chosen by the abyss"

Kuro's heart pounded. "A part of the abyss."

The shadow smirked. "I am your true potential."

The whispers in Kuro's mind grew deafening.

Embrace it. Take what is rightfully yours. Don't make the same mistake he did

Kuro took a step back. "I don't need the abyss to be strong, i have my own ways to gather strength."

The shadow-Kuro raised its sword. "Then prove it, show me what feats you have."

Without warning, it lunged forward. Moving towards kuro with impressive speed and agility.

Kuro barely had time to raise his own blade before the first strike came—a blur of abyssal energy, faster than anything he had faced before. The force sent him skidding back.

The shadow attacked relentlessly, each swing laced with raw power. Kuro deflected blow after blow, but he could feel the difference betweeen them. This wasn't just an opponent. This was him, without restraint.

Alice and Aurora's voices were distant echoes, lost in the abyss.

This fight was his alone.

Kuro gritted his teeth. If he wanted to defeat this version of himself, he couldn't just resist the abyss—he had to understand it and be one with it.

He tightened his grip on The Eminence.

Time to see if I can control it.

Then, he turned towards shadow kuro. "Let's see what this baby can do"