The flames consumed him, but his soul did not burn.
Baek Hyun-Jae's body, battered and broken, lay in the center of the inferno. His flesh crackled as the flames devoured what was left of him. Betrayed by those he trusted, those he had fought and bled for. His final moments were filled not with pain but with a bitter, searing rage.
How dare they?
His blood boiled as his gaze fell upon the traitors his sworn brothers, his lover, his allies. They watched, their expressions cold and satisfied, as his life was reduced to ashes. Jin Mu-Won, the righteous sword saint, led them, his eyes full of contempt.
"The Blood Heaven Sect dies with you," Mu-Won sneered. "May your death be slow."
And then there was Seo Ji-Yoon, his lover, the woman he had trusted with his heart. Now, she turned her back on him, her face twisted with guilt and ambition. She had chosen power, as they all had. The Murim world had turned its back on him. They thought him weak, unworthy.
I gave everything for you...
In those final moments, his mind shattered and flickered back to those who betrayed him. No honor. No justice. Only the cruel thirst for power. And yet, through the agony, a dark, ancient power within him stirred. It called to him. A force older than any sect, older than Murim itself.
This isn't the end.
The flames grew colder. His body was dying, but his soul... it could not die. The power surged again, violent and unyielding, until the world around him trembled. Time fractured. His body disintegrated into nothingness and reformed. He fell into darkness. And then
He awoke.
A cold wind swept through his surroundings, and Hyun-Jae's first breath was one of life. Not the tortured, burned breath of a man dying in the flames, but the steady, living breath of someone reborn. His eyes snapped open, no longer clouded by the haze of death but sharpened by an ancient clarity.
His surroundings had changed. Gone was the burning ruin of his final moments, replaced by the cold, desolate air of a mountain cave. A dark, ominous presence filled the space. Hyun-Jae rose slowly to his feet, his body whole, untouched by the flames of his death. The power inside him was more than a simple resurrebegin it was a gift, or perhaps a curse.
The shadows within the cave shifted. From the darkness, a voice echoed a voice that resonated in his very bones, ancient and promising.
"You have been chosen, Baek Hyun-Jae."
His heart skipped a beat. He wasn't alone. The voice continued, carrying with it an undeniable sense of malevolent power.
"The world you once knew has betrayed you. Your sect, your brothers, your lover... They will pay for their treachery. Come, join the path of the true power the path of the Demonic Cult."
The words echoed through him. A demonic force, a path of vengeance that would take him far beyond anything he had ever known. His rage flared. It was the answer to everything the power to bring ruin to those who had destroyed him.
He stepped forward into the darkness, a cold smile creeping onto his lips.
"I will not simply rise again."
Hyun-Jae's hands clenched. His body was no longer that of a fallen warrior seeking redemption. He had become something darker. A monster, perhaps, but a monster with the strength to tear down everything and everyone who dared to betray him.
The Demonic Cult awaited him. And with it, his true vengeance would begin.