Shadows Beneath the Moon

The battlefield lay still in the aftermath of Shin Noragetsu's victory. The shattered ruins of the temple stood as silent witnesses to the clash that had shaken the very air. The defeated warrior's body had long since vanished, dissipating into void energy, leaving only his broken cleaver behind.

Shin stood amidst the destruction, his breath steady but his mind uneasy. The power he had unleashed in that final moment still lingered within him, coiling in his veins like a living thing. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his katana as he stared down at his own reflection in the polished steel. His eyes still shimmered with abyssal energy, but something felt… different.

Then, a whisper.

Soft, almost imperceptible, yet unmistakable. It slithered through the air like a wisp of shadow, curling around his senses.

"More… You can take more."

Shin's grip tensed. The voice wasn't his own. It came from deep within—the abyss itself.

He exhaled sharply, forcing the energy back down, suppressing the eerie sensation clawing at the edges of his consciousness. He couldn't afford to lose control now. Not when the real battle was still ahead.

A rustle in the distance made him turn sharply. He wasn't alone.

Emerging from the rubble was a familiar figure—Hana. Her crimson eyes flickered with concern as she approached, her steps careful as if she feared what she might find.

"You're hurt," she observed, noting the bruises forming along his arms and the gash along his side where the cleaver had barely missed a fatal blow.

"I'll live," Shin muttered. He sheathed his katana, though the unease in his chest did not fade. "What are you doing here?"

"I felt your chakra spike," Hana answered, stopping just a few feet away. "That fight… It was different from your other battles. I could sense it from miles away."

Shin said nothing. He knew what she meant. The way he had fought—how he had moved in that final moment—hadn't been normal. It had been something else entirely.

Hana studied his expression before stepping closer. "Shin, what happened?"

He hesitated, the memory of the abyssal voice still fresh in his mind. He wanted to say it was nothing. That it was just another fight. But something in Hana's gaze told him she wouldn't accept that answer.

Instead, he simply said, "I used more of the void than I should have."

Hana's expression darkened. "You pushed yourself too far?"

"No," Shin admitted. "It pushed me."

A brief silence hung between them. Hana exhaled, her fingers twitching slightly—a sign that she was restraining herself from saying something harsher. "We need to be careful," she finally said. "The deeper you go into the abyss, the harder it will be to come back."

Shin nodded. He knew that better than anyone. But something about the way the void had responded to him felt different this time. It wasn't just power—it was… a presence.

A disturbance in the abyss.

Before he could dwell on it further, a new chakra signature flared in the distance. Both he and Hana turned sharply, their senses alert.

"More of them?" Hana asked, her hand already on the hilt of her blade.

Shin focused, feeling the unfamiliar chakra pulse through the ruins. It wasn't Tenka's disciples, nor did it belong to any of the shinobi factions. No… this presence was old. Ancient, even.

And it was moving straight toward them.

Without a word, they both leaped onto the crumbling remains of the temple, taking higher ground. The air had grown heavy again, thick with an energy neither of them could place.

Then, out of the shadows, it emerged.

A lone figure, draped in tattered robes of deep violet, stepped into the moonlight. Their face was obscured by a hood, but the air around them warped subtly, as if the very fabric of reality bent to their presence.

Shin and Hana remained poised to strike, but the figure simply lifted a hand—a slow, deliberate gesture.

"You tread a dangerous path, child of the void," the figure spoke, their voice smooth yet layered with something unnatural, as though multiple voices spoke at once. "The abyss does not grant power freely. It takes."

Shin felt his muscles tense instinctively. "Who are you?"

The figure chuckled. "A messenger. A harbinger of what is to come."

Hana's grip on her blade tightened. "You're with the Void Cult."

"No," the figure corrected, tilting their head slightly. "They serve the abyss, but they do not understand it." Their gaze—or what Shin assumed was their gaze—settled on him. "But you… you are different."

Shin didn't move. Every instinct in his body screamed that this person was dangerous, yet something about their words struck a chord deep within him.

"What do you want?" he asked.

The figure took a slow step forward. "To offer you a choice."

Hana immediately moved in front of Shin, her stance defensive. "He doesn't need anything from you."

The figure chuckled again, seemingly unbothered. "That is not for you to decide." They turned back to Shin. "The void has stirred, and it has taken notice of you. If you continue down this path, there will be no turning back."

Shin met their unseen gaze without flinching. "I made my choice the moment I picked up my blade."

The air stilled for a moment. Then, the figure sighed, almost disappointed. "So be it."

Without another word, they raised a single hand. The space around them shattered—not like glass, but like reality itself had fractured. A ripple of dark energy spread outward, and before Shin or Hana could react, the figure vanished into the void, as if they had never been there at all.

The ruins were silent once more.

Hana let out a slow breath, relaxing her stance only slightly. "That was…"

"Not normal," Shin finished, his fingers curling slightly. His connection to the abyss had always felt distant—like a power to be wielded. But this? This was different.

Something had changed.

And the abyss was watching.

-----------

For Advance chapters visit : patreon.com/Oskin