The wind howled as Thorin stood at the center of the battlefield, blood staining the ground beneath him. The once vibrant sky had turned a deep crimson, mirroring the chaos around him. His body, bruised and battered, barely stood upright, but his eyes blazed with unyielding determination. Surrounding him were the very comrades he had once called allies, now his executioners. Their faces, devoid of any remorse, reflected the cruel betrayal that led to this moment. Thorin, the mightiest of hunters, the SSS-Class Power Hunter, was now on the verge of death.
"Thorin, did you really think you could trust anyone in this world?" sneered Magnus, the leader of the traitorous faction. His smirk twisted in the fading light, his sword dripping with the blood of fallen warriors. "This was always your fate."
Thorin clenched his fists, the red energy within him flickering, but weak. His body screamed in pain, each breath a struggle, yet his will was unbroken. He had fought alongside these men, shared victories and hardships, yet greed and envy had corrupted them. They feared his power, feared that he would continue to outshine them, and thus, they turned on him.
"You'll pay for this..." Thorin growled, his voice hoarse from exhaustion but filled with deadly promise. His vision blurred, but the fire in his heart raged on. Even now, at the brink of death, he would not go down easily.
Magnus laughed, his arrogance overwhelming. "Pay for what? You are finished. Your power means nothing now."
Thorin staggered forward, trying to summon his strength one last time. His body glowed faintly, the familiar sensation of his red power coursing through his veins. He raised his hand, prepared to launch one final attack, but his energy faltered. It was as though the very essence of his being was slipping away.
"No... not like this..." Thorin thought, his mind racing. He could not fall here. Not to these traitors. Not before exacting his revenge.
Just as the final blow was about to land, a strange sensation washed over him. His vision darkened, and time seemed to slow. In the midst of his despair, he felt something—an overwhelming presence—surround him. It was cold, ancient, and filled with a power far beyond anything he had ever felt before.
"What... is this?" Thorin whispered, his voice barely audible as the world around him faded.
A deep, resonating voice echoed in his mind. "You are not done yet. Rise again, Thorin."
The pain vanished. The sounds of battle, the traitorous laughter, the betrayal—all of it disappeared in an instant. Thorin felt himself falling into a void, weightless and powerless. And then, everything went black.
Thorin's eyes shot open, gasping for breath. But he wasn't on the battlefield anymore. His body was not broken, nor did it carry the scars of his last battle. He was lying on a cold stone floor, in what seemed like a cave, deep within the earth. Staggering to his feet, he glanced around, taking in his unfamiliar surroundings. The dim light revealed jagged stone walls and eerie silence.
"What… happened?" Thorin muttered, his voice echoing in the empty chamber. His body felt strange, lighter and weaker than he remembered. As he looked down at his hands, his breath caught in his throat. This wasn't his body. It was unfamiliar, younger, and… weaker.
"No... this can't be real," he whispered, panic rising in his chest. How had he ended up here? What was this place? And why was he in someone else's body?
Thorin stumbled forward, his mind racing with questions. The last thing he remembered was facing death at the hands of Magnus and his traitorous allies. And now, he was here—alive but completely powerless.
"You are not done yet." The voice echoed once more in his mind, causing him to freeze. That voice... it was the same one he had heard before everything went dark.
"What do you want from me?" Thorin shouted, his voice bouncing off the cavern walls. But there was no answer, only silence. He was alone, in a strange body, with no idea what had happened.
But one thing was certain—he was alive. And as long as he lived, Thorin would fight. He would find out who was behind this, reclaim his power, and take his revenge. The world had not seen the last of Thorin, the SSS-Class Power Hunter.
To be continued...