Chương 12: Shroud Domain

A jagged bone arrow hurtled straight toward Gray's spine. A fraction of a second before impact, he threw himself backward. The projectile sliced through the empty space where his chest had just been, burying itself into the tree ahead. Gray scrambled away from his shadow and put some distance between them.

"Why am I not surprised, Jun?" Gray called out, keeping his voice steady despite the lingering adrenaline.

"I knew you'd try this the moment we saw what happened to Kofi's clone when he died." Jun lowered his bow, his face twisting in frustration.

"How the hell did you dodge that?" Gray forced an exaggerated shrug, masking the slight tremor in his hands.

"Your attacks are as predictable as your personality. Your arrow-reload skill has a fixed one-second cooldown, and it takes you exactly one more second to draw the string and fire. I just had to count." Disgust rose in his throat, his voice was laced with venom.

"What is wrong with you? Is taking a life really that easy?" Off to the side, Gray's shadow clone's eyes darted back and forth between the two men. It scratched its shadowy head in obvious confusion, its aggressive combat stance shifting into a lazy slouch. Jun let out a dry, rattling chuckle.

"Yes. It is that simple. Haven't you realized what kind of nightmare world we've been dragged into? I'll do whatever it takes to survive here. Maybe even thrive. Don't stand there and tell me you wouldn't do the same."

"Absolutely not," Gray snapped.

"The moment you decide to kill someone for convenience, you stop being human. You turn into a monster. I've met real monsters in this world, Jun, and you definitely aren't one. You're just a weasel. A conniving little rat, too cowardly to fight me face-to-face—opting to shoot me in the back."

"Spare me the lecture," Jun scoffed, dismissing the insult with a wave of his hand.

"Act like a saint all you want. At the end of the day, the righteous are always the first to die." He glanced at the shadowy figure.

"But if you prefer a head-on fight… how about the clone and me against you?" Gray looked between the archer and his own duplicate, the grim reality of the situation settling in. Jun locked eyes with the shadow, dragged a thumb horizontally across his throat, and pointed straight at Gray. The clone nodded enthusiastically.

"Oh, come on!" Gray shouted. He spun on his heel and bolted. Behind him, Jun slung the bow over his shoulder and pulled the bone shank from his belt. Gray pushed his legs to the limit, his lungs burning with each frantic breath. After reaching Level One, he was noticeably faster than an average human. Yet, even with both of them at the same level, Jun still easily outpaced him. Jun was steadily closing the distance. Soon, the archer would be within arm's reach. Gray frantically racked his brain for an escape route.

A memory flashed in his mind—the way his shadow clone had stalled him using a thick blast of smoke. No, it won't work, he argued with himself. It'll only delay the inevitable. But a delay was all he had left. Desperate, Gray prepared to deploy his own smokescreen. He extended his arm straight ahead, intending to flood the path and dive into the cover. Before he could trigger the skill, a line of glowing blue text invaded his vision. Granting withheld Ability Shard What?! Now? Of all times?!

An azure crystal materialized into Gray's palm. It didn't come with an instruction manual, but as his fingers wrapped around the smooth surface, instinct took over. He knew exactly how to use it. He squeezed his fist, crushing the hard gem into a burst of glowing dust. The magical powder sank directly into his skin, and a beat later, a tightness seized his chest, and a new prompt flashed into existence before his eyes. Ability Granted…

Shroud Domain [Signature] — TIER I Cooldown: 5 hours Duration: 30 seconds Active: Disperse a shroud of smoke from your location, enveloping you and everyone within. Enter Wraith form while inside your domain. Initiating combat ends this state. Gray only had a split second to read the hovering text. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. The word shroud sounded like exactly what he needed right now.

Shroud Domain A burning heat ignited deep in his chest, immediately chased by a hollowing sensation. Then, the world exploded. Ash-gray vapor violently erupted from his body, blasting outward in a shockwave of thick fog. The churning dome swallowed the street in an instant, resembling the regular smokescreen he constructed before, only twice as large. At the center of this new domain floated Gray—or at least, what remained of him. He drifted upward, completely untethered from the earth below.

The burning ache in his muscles and the heavy exhaustion that had weighed him down since the level began simply melted away, replaced by a cool, weightless calm. He glanced down, expecting to see his shoes. Instead, he saw nothing. His physical body was gone, dissolved into the surrounding smog. He couldn't even see the daggers he held. He looked to where his arms should be, finding only wisps of swirling gray. Yet, his senses remained perfectly intact.

He felt the phantom pressure of leather hilts against his palms, fingers flexing, and his unseen legs kicking through the air as he glided through the fog. Shaking off the disorienting high of this phantom state, Gray forced his mind back to the fight. He turned his head, sweeping the cloud for any sign of Jun, and found him almost instantly. Jun stood out clearly, completely unobstructed by the thick haze. Instead of running for clear air, the archer had planted his feet.

Jun lowered his center of gravity, clamped his eyes shut, and raised his serrated bone dagger, listening intently to pinpoint Gray's location.

"I don't know what kind of cheap trick this is!" Jun's voice cut through the muffled quiet of the cloud.

"But don't think for a second you can hide from me!" If the archer wasn't bluffing, attacking him head-on would be a massive risk. Gray decided to deal with his duplicate first. Sweeping his gaze through the fog, he spotted the dark figure. The shadow had its arms raised, rotating its hands in slow, deliberate circles. The surrounding vapor responded to the motion instantly, swirling into a tight, miniature tornado. The edges of Gray's Shroud Domain began to fray, violently sucked toward the clone's vortex.

But it wasn't just the cloud moving—it was Gray. In this phantom form, he was the smoke. The clone's Cloud Mastery skill had caught him in its gravitational pull. A strange, pulling tension gripped his core. It wasn't a physical pain, but a deep, unnerving tug on his very spirit. He had to stop the cast. Gray surged forward. The intense desire to strike acted like a thruster, accelerating his weightless body at a blinding speed. Stripped of any coordination, he abandoned precision.

He simply extended his phantom arm, aimed his unseen dagger at the crown of the shadow's head, and braced for impact. But in his rush, Gray forgot one crucial detail: his clone could see perfectly through the smoke, too. While Gray's body blended flawlessly with the surrounding fog, his moving outline disrupted the air. From the shadow's perspective, a concentrated, human-shaped mass of vapor was hurtling straight at it.

The clone hesitated, confused, before quickly conjuring a dense buckler of smoke to block the approaching threat. Before the buckler could block Gray's strike, a sharp hiss sliced through the air. A jagged bone arrow tore through the fog and buried itself deep into the shadow's stomach. The unexpected friendly fire gave Gray exactly the opening he needed. The shadow clone doubled over as the jagged bone arrow tore through its midsection. Its head dipped right into Gray's flight path.

With all his momentum behind him, Gray drove his unseen dagger forward. The blade bit deep into the side of the shadow's skull, sinking to the hilt. The moment his phantom weapon made a lethal strike, his Wraith form collapsed—triggering the ability's combat penalty. In a fraction of a second, his body instantly regained its mass, the wispy limbs converted back into solid flesh and bone, and his feet hit the ground. The dissolving shadow pulled his attention away from the lingering high.

The clone's dark form melted into the cracked pavement, it streaked rapidly across the ground, snapping back to Gray's heels to rest in its rightful place. But the fight wasn't over. Gray tightened his grip on the dagger. Just moments ago, he had lectured Jun about how killing for convenience stripped away a person's humanity. But not all killing was inherently evil. Some people simply deserved to die. Taking Jun out wouldn't be an act of personal gain; it would be for the betterment of everyone else.

"You missed me, motherfucker!" Gray roared, pivoting sharply toward the spot where the archer had just been standing. Jun was already gone. The weasel was a shrinking silhouette down the street, sprinting away at an inhuman pace. Gray took half a step forward to give chase, but a wave of exhaustion crashed over him, killing the impulse instantly. Jun was simply too fast, and Gray was completely spent. The Shroud Domain rapidly thinned, the thick fog dissolving into the cool air.

His legs finally gave out, and Gray collapsed onto his back in the middle of the empty street, his chest heaving as he stared blankly up at the sky. A translucent blue screen flashed above him. Congratulations! You have passed the Second Level! Rewards Granted: 3, 000 Contribution Points 100% EXP Ability Shard You will be teleported to the nearest safe zone for the remainder of this level.

Miles above the sprawling city of Quantis, a lone figure stood on a platform of condensed, rolling clouds, soaring silently through the sky. Gozen narrowed his glowing eyes, watching the final moments of 'The Mirror Matchup' play out through Gray's vision.

"How did he learn Shroud Domain at the Awakened Tier? That's impossible!" Gozen muttered to the empty air, his brow furrowing in deep confusion.

"A Signature skill can only be unlocked once you advance to the Elite Rank." Frowning, Gozen swiped his hand through the air, summoning his own status screen. He rapidly scrolled down the glowing interface until he hit the very bottom of the page.

"No," he whispered.

"It can't be…"