"Much respect for your comment. 🦅 Ma shaa Allah, Chapter 8 arrives now — brace yourself. 🗡️🖤
And if you want me to write the chapters faster, show more support and share it with your friends and people you know...
Let them truly understand what it means to be the King of Darkness. 👑🌑"
.....
In the heart of the sky, floating above the clouds, rose the black fortress...
A heavy silence pierced the wind, carrying within it the distant murmur of lightning.
The grand throne hall shimmered with a false halo of glory, buzzing with poisoned laughter.
Ha ha ha ha...
Hollow laughs echoed between walls shrouded in layers of shadow.
Four leaders sat on thrones adorned with the teeth of dead dragons, and before them, a holographic screen displayed the scene of the destruction of City S...
Fzzzzzz...
The image flickered, showing the city transformed into ashes.
The laughter stopped suddenly... silence.
Then, malicious laughs erupted, low at first, then rising like a funeral dirge...
"Show us the map, Advisor!"
One of the leaders shouted loudly, his voice echoing like thunder.
"At once!"
The advisor replied swiftly, raised a small orb in his hand, and threw it upwards...
Bzzzzzz!
A blinding blue light burst from the orb, forming into a three-dimensional map of the world of Fariyon...
The leaders began to remember...
"Fariyon was a rather peaceful world... no superpowers or anything miraculous..."
But one day, a small rift appeared in the sky... no one noticed it.
It kept growing... and growing... until it became the size of a giant mountain.
Fear began to creep everywhere; even the inhabitants of the surrounding areas couldn't sleep.
"All the world's authorities were summoned, but to no avail..."
"All they knew was that the rift's frequencies... were natural."
The population was evacuated for their safety and moved to other areas.
Days passed... then months... then years...
Until the tenth year came... and with it, disaster.
The rift suddenly began to vibrate, and a red aura emerged from it, draining life from its surroundings.
Fffffffff!
Everything turned to dust... then a huge hand emerged, slowly widening the rift.
And then, from within the rift... emerged a giant creature carrying an axe engraved with strange patterns on its back.
Two meters tall, muscles like rocks, long black hair, white skin, flaming skulls around its neck, and the skin of a giant bear on its chest...
Its eyes were thirsty for blood, and its aura... was lethally red.
Rooooooar!!!
It roared a cry that shook the heavens, BOOOOOOM!!!
Billions of monsters emerged from the rift...
"Exterminate them, commit massacres... leave not a single human alive.."
The creature spoke and shouted loudly...
"And because of that, humanity was on the brink of extinction."
But then a woman appeared from a rift in the sky... calling herself the "Queen of Light, Lucy."
She gave humans power and hope... but it was too late.
The monsters occupied 40% of the world's land.
The land was divided into three zones:
Zone One (35%): The Slums.
Zone Two (25%): The Cities of Nobles and the Heroes' Union.
Zone Three (40%): Monster Territories and Danger Zones.
When humans adapted to the energy emanating from the rift, they were able to evolve rapidly... for what distinguishes humans from other beings is adaptability...
The Queen of Light returned after another ten years... and issued a decree... that humans must gather and form an organization in the world of Fariyon... named it the "Union."
She controlled the heroes like her own fingers... making them do whatever she commanded.
At an unbelievable speed, this news spread to every corner of the planet Fariyon... and heroes rushed to join the Union.
The Union issued its first mission... to cleanse that continent controlled by the monster.
Tales say the Union sent an elite group of S and SS+ ranks to reclaim the land.
With them were A and B ranked media personnel to document the campaign.
But... it was an ambush!
The monsters were smarter... they seized the cameras and slaughtered the cameramen savagely.
And the problem wasn't just that... they managed to understand how the cameras worked and filmed the entire elite squad being brutally killed...
Amidst all this... the one leading them was the same monster that opened the rift... and because of it, millions of people died...
It stepped forward, holding the head of one of the elite heroes, dead... he had died the most gruesome death in Fariyon's history. It grabbed the camera and spoke words... that still echo in the ears of every hero in Fariyon...
"Humans, I am the leader of the monsters, my name is Barbaros... and I declare from this moment that this world, this planet, belongs to us..."
It stepped back while still holding the SS-ranked hero's head in its hand and said in a resonant voice, "...As for humans, they have no place here."
And as they were still remembering the past...
BOOOOOOM!
The fortress suddenly shook... walls trembled... debris scattered!
From within the smoke... emerged a figure.
Clad in a black cloak with pulsating purple lines like the veins of a dying star, a black mask with three purple stripes on his face, behind which glowed two purple eyes shining from the depths of darkness.
Kurgami...
He stepped forward with confident strides. His voice emerged faintly... like a blade being drawn from its sheath:
"What do we have here? Four old men deluding themselves into being kings..."
"How did you find our fortress, you fool?!"
One of them shouted... his pressure suddenly exploded, FOOOOOSH!
Kurgami smiled faintly... whispered to himself:
"All thanks to that soldier of the shadows... Ragnar."
He told me many things while I... was in that hellish cell."
"Now come on, let's end this quickly..." Kurgami's eyes ignited as...
One leader lunged, drew a sword gleaming with green energy, and charged at Kurgami at high speed...
"Mana Dispersal!"
Zzzzzzzz!
It aimed directly at Kurgami's neck, but he moved...
FOOOOOOM!
Time seemed to slow.
He tilted his head.
The energy passed by his neck without touching him.
He looked at that leader while dark energy swirled around Kurgami's hand, attempting a counterattack, but...
Another leader moved towards him and unleashed, "Blast Cannon!"
The hall exploded, glass shattered, iron flew, and the ceiling split open to reveal the moon...
The four leaders raised their pressure, CRAAAAAAACK!
The air tore, time warped!
"Fighting us alone?"
"This isn't bravery, it's stupidity..."
But from within the smoke... Kurgami appeared.
He raised his head, his purple eyes gleaming in the moonlight, and his voice came out coldly:
"Stupidity? What stupidity? This is real combat... there's no justice in a world that breathes chaos."
"Allow me to show you... the meaning of combat."
He vanished.
Appeared behind one of them, a kick!!
The leader fell, piercing through the castle's layers towards the ground.
"Aghhhh!!"
He groaned as he crashed through the castle's floors, being crushed bit by bit.
The second tried to punch him... but his fist was too slow to save him.
A slap!
Kurgami's slap hit his face and sent him flying towards the castle wall. He crashed, leaving a crater in the wall, then slid down and fell unconscious...
Kurgami's pressure escalated, until even the ground itself shook...
Only two remained...
They attacked together!
But Kurgami vanished... appeared outside the flying castle, but as he was...
"Damn..."
"I haven't mastered my dark power yet... it's draining me."
A leader appeared behind him. He drew a weapon from the void:
"Show me if you can dodge this."
He swung his weapon... cutting through the wind at high speed, aiming for Kurgami's back...
But Kurgami smiled... vanished suddenly and appeared behind him!
"Fist of Darkness."
BOOOM!
The blow sent him flying like a black meteor towards the castle... and he collided with it forcefully... black and purple marks appeared in the sky behind Kurgami...
A massive explosion... extending for miles; even the Heroes' Headquarters felt it.
In the sky...
The floating fortress, a piece of drifting shadow, began to tilt slowly... as if falling asleep. Energy supports ignited... gravity engines lost balance.
Kurgami stood on the edge of the shattered platform, his cloak fluttering in the fierce wind, his cold gaze following the remaining wreckage.
"The fortress... won't hold any longer."
The fortress pillars began to collapse, piece by piece.
It fell... like a giant comet piercing the sky...
It plunged downward, and beneath it was a dense forest...
Silence reigned...
The breeze passed through the trees as if they were breathing.
Birds flew high, but suddenly... utter silence.
Forest animals fled unconsciously, grasses shrank, and even the light seemed to retreat a step.
A huge shadow fell over the forest... the fortress struck the earth.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
An earthquake...
Mountains trembled, the forest shook, rocks tumbled from the heights.
Giant trees shattered, a massive dust explosion surged skyward like an inverted volcano.
A colossal ash cloud covered the horizon, engulfing everything in gray visibility.
After moments... calm returned. The sky was clouded with smoke. The air saturated with ash.
Amidst the devastation... among the wreckage and smoke rising from the collapsed fortress...
Stood Kurgami, silent, unmoving, while dense black shadows danced around him, breathing like living beings.
"Even if castles fall... kings do not kneel."
He said it while looking at the wreckage before him.
Slowly, he raised his right hand, and WOOOOOMMMM!
The darkness expanded like a living sea, swallowed the castle ruins, then sank into the depths... to emerge with four human bodies, exhausted, battered, their bodies suffering many wounds, but still alive.
The four leaders...
Kurgami, in a low voice resonating in the air:
"Wake up... for I wish to tell you something... so regain your energy."
Darkness surged into their chests, as if watering their souls with indescribable power.
Their pressure suddenly soared.
The earth shook, trees groaned, and the air was crushed by the sheer density.
"Aghhhh... what power is this..."
"I can't breathe..."
"How can an unknown person surpass us in everything... power... speed..."
"And he still... to our eyes... looks no older than nineteen..."
The leaders screamed loudly, unable to believe what had just happened to them...
Kurgami began advancing towards them.
His steps were slow but heavy, as if each step fell upon their souls.
The dark aura around him widened, rose, raging against everything.
His eyes ignited with purple. His gaze sharp as knives.
"Was it you who truly destroyed that city?"
Kurgami spoke in an active tone...
Silence... then he continued:
"When I heard the news from that old man in the hellish cell... I coincidentally told Ragnar to get me out immediately."
"I was excited... I wanted to meet you... I wanted to see some people who hated justice as I once thought... but you disappointed me greatly."
One leader, coughing up blood with difficulty:
"What?! *We* disappointed *you*?! We *did* destroy the city... we annihilated its people, killed nobles and heroes... even one of them was begging us not to kill his student..."
"And why didn't you kill her?" Kurgami spoke coldly.
"We were going to kill her... until a young man with blond hair appeared and vanished suddenly."
"I also remember... that little girl, she was fifteen years old... long black hair... and her eyes... I don't remember them."
"She was S-rank despite her young age..."
Kurgami froze.
If anyone could achieve that rank at such a young age, it would undoubtedly be his sister only...
His mind screamed, his heart trembled.
His pressure intensified!!
The aura exploded, blanketing the entire area...
Mountains cracked... the earth fragmented... the sky darkened.
But suddenly... he breathed slowly.
Calmed himself.
Then, with an aura of majestic dignity, he removed the mask from his face.
His long hair fluttered with the wind's movement, and his eyes blazed purple...
The four leaders were stunned.
"You... you're that boy... who caused an uproar at the Academy... then got expelled... then disappeared!"
"Is this what heroes create? When they imprisoned me, truly, what else could I expect?!" one leader screamed... "What?!"
Kurgami's gaze burned with anger.
But he didn't explode... he smiled sarcastically instead.
He pulled out an old paper, covered with a black seal, bearing pictures of the four of them, and beneath each picture:
100 billion Crystal Shards.
The leaders weren't surprised.
"They knew the Union would do more than this, after what they did to that city... it was a pillar of Fariyon."
But what they didn't expect... were Kurgami's next words.
"I'm not punishing you for justice's sake... nor for this bounty."
"I want you... to become my followers."
Silence.
One leader, rising laboriously:
"You want us to be your followers? The Union will pursue you immediately if they know we're under your protection."
"Will you protect us from them?"
A deep, mocking laugh escaped Kurgami's lips.
"Protect you? Why?"
"I will create copies of you... matching you in appearance, age, and power... and I will hand them over to the Union."
"They will imprison them... and I will collect the bounty."
"And I'll give it to you... for I don't want it."
"What I want... is for you to join me, and disappear from sight."
"Because I am going to the other continent... and I won't return until I make the world kneel."
The four leaders bowed...
"Your command, my lord..."
Then they vanished from their spots as if they had never been there...
And at that moment...
Kurgami heard a child's cry nearby...
He stopped.
Turned slowly... and walked towards the sound.
As ash clouds scattered around him... as if silence itself feared returning.