Extra Borne: Transmigrated Into A System Apocalypse Soulsborne Novel-Chapter 43 - 41: Darkness Vs Mist (2)

"Your wandering ends here."

The Ashen Knight’s voice reverberated through the vast hall, deep and foreboding. It wasn’t just a threat... It was an ultimatum. Each word carried the weight of finality, like the tolling of a bell heralding the end.

A guttural roar tore through the air, shattering the heavy silence. The beast... a lion-like monstrosity charged toward me, its muscles rippling under its pitch dark skin. Its glowing blue eyes locked onto me, burning with raw, primal hunger. Every step it took was thunderous, the stone floor cracking under its immense weight.

At the same time, the Ashen Knight surged forward, his movements unnervingly fast. His rounded sword crackled with dark energy, leaving a trail of smoldering sparks in his wake. The air around him seemed to darken, as if even the light was unwilling to approach.

I didn’t hesitate. Two mist clones materialized beside me, their forms flickering before solidifying. Each clone materialized a pair of glowing orange mist mixed daggers, the energy pulsing like a living mist flame.

Without a word, we moved.

The distance between us evaporated in seconds, and the tension in the air grew suffocating. The Ashen Knight’s dark aura clashed against my own, a storm of opposing forces about to collide. My clones and I lunged as one, our synchronized movements aiming for the kill.

But just as the moment of impact came.. just as victory or death hung in the balance... the world shifted.

The beast dissolved mid-leap, its massive form unraveling into black vapor. My clones followed suit, their misty forms vanishing as though snuffed out by an unseen force.

Then, the hall itself seemed to hold its breath.

A blinding beam of energy, dark and brilliant all at once, struck the ground between Geralt and me. Its impact was deafening... a thunderclap that echoed through the hall, shaking the very foundation of the structure.

Boom!

The explosion ripped through the air, an unstoppable wave of force that flung me like a ragdoll. Pain lanced through my body as I collided with the cold, unyielding stone.

I groaned, my vision swimming as darkness edged its way into my sight. My body felt heavy, each limb weighted down as if gravity had doubled its pull. The overuse of my energy had drained me completely; even breathing felt like a monumental effort.

Through the haze, I could barely make out a figure emerging from the epicenter of the blast. The energy crackled around it, forming a halo of devastation that was almost divine in its terror.

A voice rang out, clear and sharp... a woman’s voice.

"It’s enough," she said.

And then there was silence.

The world faded to black.

***

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I felt was the biting cold of iron against my skin. My wrists and ankles were bound by heavy chains, the metal coarse and unyielding. The faint sound of creaking wood reached my ears, and the faint scent of damp rot filled my nostrils.

I blinked, forcing my blurred vision to focus. The room I was in was dimly lit, a small, abandoned cottage with walls that seemed ready to collapse at the slightest provocation. Moonlight seeped through the cracks in the boarded-up windows, illuminating the space in jagged streaks of pale light. Cobwebs clung to the corners, and the air was thick with the scent of mildew and decay.

I shifted in the chair, the chains clinking with every movement. Instinctively, I reached for my ability, attempting to dissolve into mist.

Nothing happened.

A cold dread settled in my chest. I tried again, concentrating harder, willing the transformation to come. But the familiar pull of my trait was absent, replaced by an unnerving void.

"This is strange…" I muttered under my breath,.

"It’s useless to try that here," a voice interrupted, cutting through the silence like a blade.

I froze.

The voice was calm, measured, and yet there was an undeniable authority in its tone. My eyes darted toward the source, and I strained against the chains to turn my head, the chains biting into my wrists as the metal links rattled faintly. Standing before me was a woman... no, something far more imposing than just a woman. Her frame was slightly taller than an average human, her presence commanding, a silent force that pressed down on the room like a heavy fog.

Her armor shimmered faintly under the dim light, dark as the void itself and etched with ash-gray patterns that seemed to pulse faintly, as if alive. Unlike Geralt, she wore no helmet, leaving her face exposed. Her crimson hair fell in loose waves over her shoulders, a stark contrast to her pale skin that looked as if it had been drained of all warmth. Her brown eyes, flecked with hints of gold glows, locked onto me with a calm and strange intensity, her gaze as unyielding as steel.

A faint aura of ash-dark energy swirled around her, rippling in rhythmic waves, giving her an almost spectral quality. There was power in her presence, but it wasn’t the raw, destructive force Geralt wielded. Hers was controlled, calm... like a blade resting in its sheath, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Void chains," she said, her voice calm. Her words rolled out slowly, each one carrying weight, as though she had all the time in the world. "They stop the flow of energy in your body, severing your connection to your trait.."

I chuckled softly, more at the absurdity of my situation than her explanation. "Void chains," I repeated, testing the weight of the words. My eyes met hers, unflinching. "You know what I came for, don’t you?"

A faint nod was her only response.

My smile faded, and my expression turned cold with a mix of calmness in it. "Then why are you keeping me alive?" I paused deliberately, letting the question linger in the air like the echo of a dying bell. " Are you not one of the commanders in Yadred’s army."

The woman tilted her head slightly, acknowledging my words. "Yes," she said with a slow nod, her voice unwavering. "You’re correct. I am one of his commanders. But keeping you alive is not my decision to make. That choice belongs to my lord."

"Yadred," I muttered under my breath.

Her gaze didn’t waver as she continued. "He has already decreed that if someone.. anyone could kill him, then peace would return to this land."

Her words struck a chord, though I didn’t let it show. My jaw tightened as I asked, "Then why don’t you or Geralt kill him yourselves?"

Her expression remained unreadable, but there was a flicker of something in her eyes. Sadness? Resignation?

"We can’t," she said, her voice softer this time. "Because we, too, are infected by the curse." She reached up, her gauntleted fingers undoing the clasps on her chest plate. The sound of metal shifting broke the silence.

As she pulled back a section of her armor, the skin beneath was exposed... pale and unblemished, save for one thing.

A mark.

It was carved into her flesh, dark and intricate, like the roots of a tree spreading over her skin. It pulsed faintly, a sickly rhythm that seemed to mirror the ebb and flow of her aura.

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"This mark," she said, gesturing to it, her voice steady despite the revelation. "It binds us to him. Geralt bears the same curse. With this, we can neither fight him nor kill him."

She adjusted her armor, securing it back into place before meeting my gaze again. "And when he dies…" She paused, the weight of her words settling over the room. "We die with him."

Slowly, I began to feel a pang of pity, something I wasn’t used to feeling since I came to this world. The pieces fell into place now... why Geralt had tested me so relentlessly, why this woman spoke with such calm tone. They weren’t just Yadred’s commanders; they were his helpers and prisoners, chained by a curse as cruel as the void chains that bound me now.

The silence stretched between us, thick and heavy, until I finally broke it. "What should I do," I asked, my voice low, "to grow strong enough to face your emperor?"

Her lips curved into a faint, almost imperceptible smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes. "Before you fight him, you need to evolve."

The word hung in the air like a challenge.

"You’re still in the first evolution stage," she continued, her tone patient, as if she were explaining to a student. "To reach the second evolution, you need to accumulate enough vital imprints. Even then, even in your second evolution, defeating him won’t be easy. Killing him…" She shook her head. "That is a task far beyond what you are now."

I nodded slowly, glancing at the faint interface that appeared in my mind’s eye.

[EVOLUTION]

+

SECOND EVOLUTION (35%)

+

She continued, her voice cutting through my thoughts. "To reach the second evolution faster, you must hunt three or more Roamers and devour their larvae."

Roamers. The word sent a chill down my spine. My mind flashed back to that strange encounter...the girl, or rather the being that looked like Celia but wasn’t. Her warning echoed in my mind: Be careful of the roamers.

A slight frown tugged at my lips as I processed her words.