Liam''s Perspective


    "Join me, Liam." Zion''s blood-stained hand remained extended. "The Umbral Covenant offers power beyond your wildest dreams."


    I stared at his hand, the divine seal crushing me against the courtyard stones. My muscles screamed under the pressure, but my mind remained clear.


    "You killed Colt." I nodded toward the corpse cooling on the ground.


    Zion shrugged. "He served his purpose. A tool, nothing more."


    "And that''s what I would be? Another tool?"


    "No," Zion''s eyes gleamed with dark ambition. "You would be my sessor. The Shadow King''s son, leading the Umbral Covenant into a new era."


    A harshugh erupted from behind us. We both turned to see Colt somehow pushing himself up, blood pouring from the hole in his chest.


    "Betrayed..." Colt choked out, his face contorted with rage. "You promised me power!"


    Zion sighed. "You''re still alive? Impressive constitution for such a weak man."


    Colt staggered forward, hatred zing in his dying eyes. "We had a deal! Knight dies, I get the ancient texts!"


    "ns change," Zion replied coldly. "Your usefulness ended the moment you delivered Liam to me."


    "Three years!" Colt screamed, blood spraying from his lips. "Three years I served your Covenant!"


    I watched this exchange with growing interest. So Colt had been Zion''s puppet all along.


    Colt lunged at Zion with surprising speed. Zion didn''t even bother to dodge. He simply flicked his wrist, sending a de of dark energy slicing through Colt''s neck.


    The head of the Knightwood family toppled to the ground. His body followed a momentter.


    "Now, where were we?" Zion turned back to me, stepping over Colt''s headless corpse.


    "You were about to tell me why I should join the people who want to drain my girlfriend''s blood for power," I replied.


    Zion''s expression softened - a calcted move. "The girl is aplication, I admit. But attachments are temporary. Power is eternal."


    "Isabelle isn''t aplication. She''s everything."


    "Everything?" Zion scoffed. "You limit yourself, Liam. With the Covenant''s resources, you could be a Martial Saint within a year. The world would tremble at your feet."


    Despite the divine seal crushing me, I managed a smile. "And all it costs is my soul."


    "Soul? Please." Zion crouched before me. "You speak like a child. There is only power and those too weak to seek it."


    He reached out, gripping my chin with cold fingers. "I''ve studied you, Liam Knight. Your father''s blood runs strong in you. The capacity for darkness, for true power, it''s there - waiting to be unleashed."


    I stared into his eyes, searching for humanity but finding only endless ambition.


    "You don''t know me at all," I said quietly.


    "I know you better than you know yourself." Zion stood, circling me like a predator. "Your father faced this same choice once. He chose wrong."


    My heart skipped a beat. "My father?"


    "The great Shadow King," Zion nodded. "He could have ruled the martial world at my side. Instead, he chose love." His lips curled with disgust. "And look where that got him. Dead, his techniques lost, his son raised in ignorance."


    The weight of the divine seal seemed to increase with my anger. "You''re lying."


    "Am I?" Zion smiled. "Ask yourself this - why have you progressed so quickly? Why does darknesse as naturally to you as light? You were born for this, Liam."


    He leaned closer, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Join me. Abandon the girl. Embrace your destiny."


    For a moment, I said nothing. Let him think his words were having effect.


    "And if I refuse?" I finally asked.


    Zion straightened. "Then I take what I need by force. Your body still holds secrets - even in death."


    "You''re not the first to threaten me," I said calmly. "Yet here I stand."


    "Lie, you mean." Zionughed, gesturing to my pinned form. "The divine seal cannot be broken. Not by you, not by anyone below Martial Saint level."


    He turned away, examining the ancient scroll still glowing with power. "Once I harvest what I need from you, I''ll use this seal on others. Imagine - an army bound to my will by divine power."


    "You talk too much," I muttered.


    Zion spun around, his expression darkening. "What did you say?"


    "All viins have this problem. Too much talking, not enough action."


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    His face twisted with rage. Heshed out, driving his fist into my chest with enough force to shatter granite.


    I didn''t flinch.


    Zion''s eyes widened in surprise. "Impossible. You shouldn''t be able to withstand that."


    "There''s a lot I shouldn''t be able to do." I smiled up at him, revealing blood-stained teeth. The blow had hurt, but my Chaotic Body had absorbed most of the impact.


    Confusion flickered across his face. "The divine seal should have weakened your physical form as well as your qi."


    "Should have," I agreed.


    Zion recovered hisposure, masking his unease with a cold smile. "It doesn''t matter. You''re still trapped."


    He gestured to Colt''s headless body. "Perhaps a demonstration will change your mind."


    With a flick of his wrist, he animated Colt''s corpse with dark energy. The headless body rose jerkily to its feet.


    "Impressed?" Zion asked. "This is but a taste of the Umbral Covenant''s knowledge. Dead flesh, moving to mymand."


    "Disgusting," I spat.


    "Practical," he countered. "The dead don''t question orders."


    Zion turned to the animated corpse. "Knightwood was so eager to kill you himself. Let''s grant his final wish."


    He gestured, and the corpse shambled toward me. In its hand materialized a sword of pure darkness.


    "This de severs not just flesh but spirit," Zion exined casually. "One cut, and your soul will be extracted for study. Your body will remain intact for my other experiments."


    The corpse raised the sword above my pinned form.


    "Last chance, Liam," Zion called. "Join me willingly, or die here."


    I looked up at the headless body, at the de of darkness poised to strike, and at Zion''s confident smirk.


    "You know what your biggest mistake was?" I asked quietly.


    Zion raised an eyebrow. "Enlighten me."


    "You assumed the divine seal affected everything."


    His eyes narrowed. "What do you mean?"


    "Have you ever heard of techniques that attack the divine sense directly?" I asked, my voice deadly calm.


    rm shed across Zion''s face. He lunged forward, shouting, "Strike now!"


    But it was toote.


    "Divine Judgment," I whispered.


    My divine sense exploded outward like an invisible tidal wave. It bypassed the physical realm entirely, targeting the puppet master controlling the corpse.


    The headless body froze mid-strike, then copsed in a heap as my divine sense obliterated the dark energy animating it.


    The sword of darkness dissolved into wisps of ck smoke.


    Zion staggered backward, clutching his head. "What... what did you do?"


    "Divine Judgment," I repeated. "A technique that attacks the soul directly. No physical defense can stop it."


    Blood trickled from Zion''s ears. "Impossible," he gasped. "That technique was lost centuries ago!"


    "Not lost," I corrected. "Just waiting for the right person."


    Zion tried to gather his dark energy, but his qi cirction was in chaos. My divine sense attack had disrupted his entire system.


    "You can''t..." he stammered. "The divine seal..."


    "Restrains my body," I acknowledged. "But not my mind. Not my divine sense."


    I focused my will again, sending another wave crashing into him. Zion screamed, dropping to his knees.


    "That''s for threatening Isabelle," I said coldly.


    His face contorted with pain and fury. "You... you''ll never save her. The Guild will drain her dry before you ever reach her."


    "We''ll see about that."


    I channeled my divine sense once more, concentrating all my power into a single, devastating strike. The attack mmed into Zion''s consciousness with the force of a mountain.


    His eyes rolled back in his head. Blood poured from his nose, ears, and eyes as his divine sense shattered like ss.


    Colt Knightwood''s corpse had served as a puppet. Now Zion''s body was just an empty shell.


    The divine seal flickered, weakening as the mind that powered it died. With a final surge of effort, I broke through the crushing pressure, rising to my feet.


    I stood over Zion''s body, watching thest sparks of life fade from his eyes.


    "It''s your turn now," I said quietly.


    His lips moved soundlessly, trying to form words that would nevere. Then the light in his eyes extinguishedpletely.


    I drew a deep breath, flexing my muscles as feeling returned to my limbs. The ancient scroll that had powered the divine sealy on the ground, its symbols fading.


    I picked it up carefully. Such a weapon could prove useful in the future.


    As I turned to leave the ruined courtyard, my thoughts returned to Isabelle. Zion''s words echoed in my mind: "The Guild will drain her dry before you ever reach her."


    A cold determination settled in my chest. Every obstacle removed brought me one step closer to her.


    And now, with the divine seal scroll in my possession and the knowledge that even the Umbral Covenant feared my potential, I was stronger than ever.


    "Hold on, Isabelle," I whispered to the morning air. "I''ming for you."