The winds of the Velquorian forest howled with rage. Blood and fire stained the canopy as ten elite assassins, cloaked in shadow magic, closed in on their prey — the wounded Second Princess Elenaria Velnara and her loyal husband, Lord Fenrel, both cornered and bleeding. Beside them, their remaining guards barely stood, forming a circle of last defense.
Then the world trembled.
A sharp vibration pulsed through the ground as if time itself had skipped a beat. Shadows parted. Air cracked.
Jorik arrived.
No sound heralded him. One moment, the space between the trees was empty. The next, a figure cloaked in black, his crimson eyes burning with lethal focus, stepped into the clearing.
> [SYSTEM NOTICE: Emergency Quest Active — "Blood in the Forest of Velquoria" — STATUS: OBJECTIVE IN RANGE.]
[WARNING: Enemies include Shadow-Class Elite Assassins – Affiliated with the Church of the Abyss.]
[REWARD: Soul Gear Unlocked – "Chrono-Banisher: Eclipsing Fang of Ruin" – 6 New Skills – 50,000 System Points – 1 Evolution Token.]
The assassins noticed him too late. The first man's head fell before he even realized his limbs were cut. The second convulsed as a hidden dagger met his spine. Then Jorik vanished—blinking forward through time like a ghost with no tether to reality.
His daggers shimmered with deadly grace as he flowed through the enemy formation with surgical precision. Not a single wasted movement. Each step was calculated, fatal.
> "W-What is he—?!"
"He's not human!"
The leader of the assassins raised his enchanted greatsword, attempting a magical burst.
> "Flames of Perdition—!"
> [SYSTEM: Soul Gear Synchronicity Rate Reached – 100%. Initiating Unlock.]
The world slowed to a crawl.
Time fractured. Jorik's eyes widened as a silvery black blade materialized before him, floating mid-air — suspended in the gap between now and never.
A voice echoed inside his mind like a god from beyond time.
> "I am the silence between seconds. The fang that severs destiny. I am your will, your fury — your soul. Take me, and devour fate."
He grasped the Chrono-Banisher: Eclipsing Fang of Ruin — and time shattered.
A wave of anti-magic erupted from him, erasing every hostile spell in a 50-meter radius. The assassins cried out, their cursed enchantments unraveling like parchment to fire.
> [SOUL GEAR UNLOCKED – Chrono-Banisher: Eclipsing Fang of Ruin]
[10 Combat Functions Activated. Passive Seal Layer Initialized.]
[Time Lock Engaged.]
[TIME FREEZE – 5 Seconds Remaining.]
Jorik moved through the battlefield unopposed, slashing one after another, embedding seals and rupturing their core pathways with Soulbreak Pulses. When time resumed, seven bodies dropped simultaneously, limbs twitching as they bled magic from ruptured veins.
Only the assassin commander remained, wounded and trembling.
Jorik raised his blade. The constellations etched into its surface shimmered, glowing with fractured time.
> "You chose the wrong kingdom. You chose the wrong target."
> Absolute Cut – "Severance of Will."
In one swing, the assassin's magic, loyalty, and mind were sliced apart. He dropped dead with eyes wide open — no visible wound, but every part of his being undone.
The forest fell silent. Jorik stood among the corpses, his blade humming softly — a paradox of violence and order.