Chapter 0.130 Flashback – The Dark Forest

Night fell in the forest, but the darkness was not normal.

It was thick... unsettlingly warm... as if the shadow itself was alive.

Nox walked heavily among the trees, each broken branch beneath his feet a cry of rebellion against this world. The air was thick with the smell of rot and decaying mana. The ancient trees seemed to whisper to him, bending toward him, touching him with their branches as if they knew him... or were waiting for him.

In front of him, a pool of water was black like a dark mirror... it did not reflect the moon above it.

The light was swallowed.

Dedicated to Knox.

Then he heard it for the first time.

"You...you..."

A whisper... not human.

Broken, as if falling from the mouth of a corpse.

It came from underground.

The blood froze in his veins.

"Who's there?" he said, but he could barely hear his own voice.

Then...the water moved.

Something black, like liquid smoke, rose slowly from the pool. They weren't just shadows... they were energy. Alive. Hungry.

It formed into wiggly fingers... faint, writhing like mist, until it touched nox's foot.

In an instant, he felt iron roots piercing his veins.

He screamed.

Or try.

But the voice choked in his throat.

His eyes widened, his heart leapt... as if every cell in his body was alerted to something... **very old... and beyond comprehension**.

"Zacharoth..."

He whispered... but it was like thunder inside his skull.

The pond shook.

Then it **exploded**.

Not with water.

Rather, it is a being.

**Lion.**

Huge. Enormous. Made of living shadow, in which light is not reflected but absorbed.

Eyes of gold... not wisdom, but condemnation. As if they had seen a thousand civilizations collapse... and mocked them.

His breath was ashes, and his roar was the barking of wrath from the beginning of creation.

Nox stood paralyzed.

The lion did not attack.

Rather, **speak.**

*"I am... Zacharos!"*

His voice shook the forest.

"Dark Lion!"

"I am the beginning... and I have no end!"

"I am the despiser of the gods! I am the greatest! I am the strongest!"

"Zaccharus... the Black Lion... the God Hunter... the Demon Lion!"

Every sentence was like a thunderbolt striking the rock of Knox's heart.

The air burned.

The mulberry trees seem to be forced to kneel.

The ground beneath Knox's feet **opened up**.

And just a second later... the abyss was beneath him.

then...

**He fell.**

His body disappeared.

But the shadow remained.

nox's image rippled in the shattered pool...

In it, nox wasn't crying.

He was smiling.

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