Chapter 59: The Fire in His Bones

CLANG—

Jinsei's blade screamed as it clashed against Drayth, the Bone Ape. The beast's four arms crashed down with ferocity, each blow strong enough to rattle the cavern walls. Jinsei ducked under the final strike and rolled to the side, gasping for breath.

Blood dripped from a cut above his brow. His left shoulder burned. But he was still standing.

Three days.

That's how long he'd been trapped here—fighting, dodging, surviving.

Not sleeping.

Not eating.

Just surviving.

The five beasts circled like predators in rotation—never together, always one at a time, as if Zaros wanted to grind him down slowly.

And it was working.

His vision swam. His muscles screamed with every motion. But deep inside his chest, Kael's voice echoed in memories—

"The moment you believe you can't go on… is when you must rise."

Jinsei growled and pushed forward, aura flaring. His Will exploded from his core, forming sharp arcs of red energy across his blade. The cave pulsed with heat as he met Drayth head-on, parrying a hammering strike and slashing across the beast's arm.

Drayth roared, reeling.

Jinsei pivoted midair, slamming his foot into the ape's jaw before backflipping away.

One down. Four to go.

But before he could breathe, Veltrus, the Spined Serpent, slithered from the shadows—its obsidian scales glinting. It hissed once—and then lunged.

Jinsei barely had time to react. He raised his blade, but the serpent coiled around him, fangs descending toward his neck.

"No—!"

A surge of Will burst from Jinsei's body, pure and uncontrolled. The serpent shrieked and recoiled, steam rising from its burned flesh.

He fell to his knees, coughing, eyes wide.

That wasn't just his energy.

It felt… foreign. Something else had pushed it through him.

Then—

A slow clap echoed from the cavern entrance.

Zaros stood there, watching.

"You're finally awakening."

Jinsei didn't answer. He barely had the strength to stand.

Zaros walked toward him, stepping past the injured beasts with no concern. "You've lasted longer than most. But survival isn't strength. Endurance isn't mastery."

He crouched beside Jinsei, eyes sharp.

"If you want to defeat me one day… you'll have to do more than survive."

Jinsei spat blood to the side and met his gaze. "I don't want to defeat you… I want to destroy you."

Zaros smiled.

"Good."

Then he stood and snapped his fingers.

A sixth beast emerged.

Not summoned. Not created. But born—deep from within the cavern itself.

It looked humanoid, but twisted. A mirror of Jinsei himself, wearing black armor with crimson edges, eyes glowing with the same color as Jinsei's Will.

Zaros turned away. "Fight yourself. Or die trying."

The mirror-Jinsei unsheathed its blade.

And charged.