"What a day..."

Silas lay submerged in the bathtub of his dormitory, his head resting against the cool porcelain as warm water lapped gently against his skin. The moment he had stepped into what would become his new home, he had stripped off his clothes and sought refuge in the bath.

His thoughts were a tangled mess, his heart burdened by conflicting emotions that refused to settle. At times like these, there were few remedies better than warm water and silence.

He had not even bothered exploring the dorm. Compared to the cramped room he had occupied at the orphanage, this place resembled a royal suite.

The proof was all around him.

The bath was overflowing with thick white bubbles created by a bottle of shower gel resting nearby. Silas picked it up and examined the label with mild curiosity. It was something he had only ever heard about in advertisements, something he had never once had the luxury of using.

To an orphan, it had been an unnecessary extravagance. To an Enhancer, it was apparently an everyday commodity.

"Darius... the ranking... Cher and Leopard..."

He muttered the names weighing on his mind before exhaling slowly and sinking deeper beneath the blanket of foam. The thick layer of bubbles concealed him from the light above, creating the illusion that he had already stepped into another world before entering the Time Mind World itself.

The transition came quietly as the white water darkened, and Silas immediately recognised the change.

The worries that had plagued him moments earlier dissolved into nothingness. Anxiety faded, restlessness vanished, and all that remained was an indescribable tranquillity that soothed both mind and soul.

And yet, peace was not what awaited him. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"What is that?"

His eyes widened. Floating motionlessly in the dark water before him was a figure. It resembled him, in a way, and didn’t in another. A shadowy silhouette suspended in the endless depths as though frozen in time. Apart from its familiar outline, Silas could discern little else.

"I wasn’t thinking about anything... so why is there a shadow here?"

Confusion stirred within him. Cautiously, Silas approached, reached out and touched it. The moment his fingers brushed against its body, the shadow’s eyes snapped open.

Large, rounded crimson eyes stared directly into his own, radiating an ominous malice that sent chills racing down his spine. At the same time, Gaia’s familiar voice thundered through the darkness.

[Your Mana Heart is contaminated. Through killing others while unprepared for the burden of taking life, your heart has become tainted and corrupted.]

[You have developed a Shadowheart.]

"A Shadowheart?"

Silas froze.

"My Mana Heart is contaminated? What the hell does that even mean?!"

He had never imagined such a possibility. Yet as shock gave way to reflection, memories resurfaced. He recalled Brant, Vaelous, and the other Dark Hunters and teammates.

After each death, he had experienced a lingering discomfort he had dismissed as guilt and trauma. He had assumed it was merely the psychological aftermath of killing another person. Never once had he considered that those emotions might have altered his Mana Heart itself.

Before he could process the revelation, the shadow tilted its head, and its gaze sharpened. It felt like a predator locking onto prey. Then it moved.

The silhouette exploded forward and crashed into him. Then all Silas felt was rage, hatred, and bloodlust.

A torrent of violent emotion surged through Silas with overwhelming force, something he had never experienced before. His hands rose before his face without his intention or control, turning slowly as though examining themselves for the very first time.

[You must resist the corruption within your heart.]

[Fail, and the Shadowheart will eventually consume you.]

"How am I supposed to fight something like this?!"

Silas tried to shout, to struggle. He fought to reclaim control of his body, yet, nothing worked. Even his voice emerged as a distorted whisper, low and strained, carrying an unfamiliar hiss.

Then his lips curled upward; it was not his smile. A cruel amusement twisted across his face, of mockery and excitement. It was a smile Silas had never worn before.

[The will of the heart reflects the will of the mind.]

[Cleanse your heart, or the Shadowheart will continue to grow stronger.]

[Those who overcome corruption grow stronger. Those who surrender become a monster.]

Silas barely had time to comprehend Gaia’s warning or deep philosophy. The moment the voice faded, his surroundings shattered, and his eyes snapped open. He had been forcibly expelled from the Time Mind World, and then a flash of crimson flashed through his eyes.

Silas slowly rose from the bathwater. His gaze swept across the bathroom with curiosity, as though seeing the world for the first time.

"I’m hungry..."

His voice sounded hoarse and rough, totally alien.

"I need to kill."

A chill crawled down Silas’s spine.

For the first time since becoming an Enhancer, he felt genuine terror. His thoughts remained intact, yet his body no longer belonged to him. It was as though he had been pushed aside and forced to watch from the passenger’s seat while something else took hold of the wheel.

And that something was intended to walk out into the academy and slaughter anyone it encountered. The horrifying realisation finally shattered his paralysis.

’I have to regain control before it’s too late...’

Yet before he could act upon that desperate resolve, a sound drifted through the dorm: footsteps. It was faint, measured, and unmistakable; someone was inside, or rather, a few.

"Hehehe... they came at just the perfect time."

The raspy voice escaped his own lips, thick with anticipation and savage delight. Without hesitation, his body slipped beneath the water once more. Hidden beneath a blanket of white foam, Silas waited.

Then the bathroom door slowly opened.

Silas didn’t know whether his luck had always been this terrible or if fate had simply decided to mock him. He had barely begun processing the horror of losing control over his own body when five strangers entered his dorm.

The bathroom door creaked open, and for an instant, the world shifted. His vision lost all colour, reduced to shades of black and white, while five pale silhouettes moved through the black dorm. They searched methodically, overturning furniture and opening doors, meticulously looking for something or someone.

Yet what drew Silas’s attention was something else. Parts of their bodies glowed with an ominous crimson light.

’Enhancers!!’

Even though the strange vision lasted only a heartbeat, Silas knew exactly what he was seeing, and he knew what they were looking for. They had come for him.

"No one’s here," one of them said irritably from the bathroom entrance. "That rat... where the hell did he run off to?"

Muttering curses under his breath, the Enhancer stepped away, leaving the bathroom door half-open. Then the footsteps retreated. Slowly, Silas’s body rose from beneath the blanket of foam, and his eyes swept across the place.

’Damn it...’

’I left my belt and daggers on the couch.’

The belt and daggers rested among the pile of clothes discarded outside the bathroom. Silas was unarmed against five Enhancers, with something terrifying controlling his body.

As though hearing Silas’s thoughts, the Shadowheart extended a hand toward a wooden bath tool designed to scrub one’s back. It lifted the object and studied it briefly. Then, without hesitation, it submerged one end beneath the water and pressed down with a leg.

Crack!

The wood splintered, and the crack sounded muffled underwater. Silas felt a sharp sting shoot through his foot. At the periphery of his vision, he saw blood spread through the bathwater in thin crimson trails.

The good news was that the broken handle now ended in a jagged point, enough to be considered a pathetic weapon.

The Shadowheart stepped out of the tub without making a sound, extended a hand, and a towel was wrapped around his waist.

’Thanks for making sure I look decent before dying.’

The Shadowheart merely smirked.