Chapter 17: The Echo of Rebirth

The first thing Vanta felt was the weightlessness. Not numbness—but an eerie stillness, like the world had paused and was waiting for him to catch up. Then came the ache—a dull, throbbing reminder of the night before. But something was different.

His eyelids fluttered open, and the world poured in—not just light, but everything.

The chirping of birds wasn't just sound; it was layered, textured. He could hear the rustle of a beetle crawling beneath damp leaves a dozen paces away. The wind brushing the scorched treetops had a tone. The trees groaned faintly, charred bark splitting under morning heat.

He sat up slowly. His body felt strange—lighter, but denser. Every muscle thrummed with energy, coiled like a spring. His heartbeat wasn't frantic—it was steady. Purposeful. Even his breaths felt longer, deeper—his lungs no longer just filling with air, but drinking in the world.

Then came the whisper.

> [Name: Vanta.]

[Clan: Black.]

[Core ability: Shadow Darkness.]

Sub ability: Shadow Forge

> [Kismet: Two born as one. Darkness flows through the city. Crimson moon radiates crimson light. The one in white.]

> [Xue: Congratulations!! Searching for power, you've achieved the curse of the Xue Sense.]

> When shadows dance upon the wall,

A son's cry echoes, beyond recall.

The vessel broken, the spirit astray,

A mother's love, lost in endless gray.

Beyond the veil, a shadow lies,

A heart once whole, now shattered in sighs.

The keystone seeks its rightful place,

When darkness reigns, a new path unfolds in space.

His eyes widened as the words settled like hot iron in his chest. The pain he had endured, the mind-breaking repetition of death and rebirth—it had led to this.

The agony had faded, but what replaced it was… potent.

Vanta stood, wobbling slightly, his legs shaky but alive. The aches of yesterday had vanished, replaced by something deeper—more primal. As he flexed his fingers, tendrils of shadow coiled around his wrists like serpents—natural, familiar. They didn't waver or fizzle like before. They obeyed. They wanted to move.

The color inside him wasn't just present—it pulsed. A deeper hue of black, more viscous, more volatile. It swirled beneath his skin like ink caught in a current. He could feel it responding to his thoughts, his mood, his breath.

"What the hell is this? What did—"

The words caught in his throat as an explosion of pressure detonated in his skull.

A savage headache slammed into him, as though someone had taken a hammer to his temples. He gasped, stumbling forward, clutching his head as colors blurred and the trees swam. His knees buckled, and he hit the blackened earth hard.

Time passed in fragments.

When his vision cleared again, dawn had fully broken. A shaft of light cut through the trees, painting golden lines across the scorched forest floor. The air was thick with the scent of ozone and burnt foliage.

The battlefield was a ruin.

Ashes floated lazily in the sunlight. Trees stood snapped and splintered, their roots clawing out of cracked earth like broken bones. The charred corpse of the abomination lay nearby, its mass steaming and slowly dissolving into mist. Nothing about it seemed alive anymore. It had served its purpose—like a vessel meant to break him and birth something new.

The silence was heavy—not peaceful, but hollow. Like the forest itself was watching.

Vanta stared at his hands. Small tendrils of shadow still danced lazily between his fingers, curling and uncurling like smoke.

'This... is the Xue Sense?'

It was more than just a power-up. It was as if a lock had been broken, and something inside him—something vast, bitter, and ancient—had been unshackled.

He took a breath. The air felt richer, thicker with detail. He could smell the iron tang of his own blood drying under his armor, the faint scent of pine and burnt moss from meters away. He could hear the distant snap of a twig far off in the trees, not by sight or sound, but by sensation—pressure.

He felt connected.

A smile crept onto his lips—not one of triumph, but one of knowing.

He wasn't the same Vanta Black who had crawled into this cursed forest.

He wasn't a boy anymore.

He turned toward the cave entrance, where the stone and shadow met in a jagged arch.

He wondered how Ash would react—if she'd sense it like he did. If she'd see the change written on his skin and buried deep in his eyes. Maybe she'd fear it. Maybe she'd understand.

But one thing was clear now.

This exam wasn't just about survival anymore.

It was about awakening.

And Vanta Black… had just begun.