Would he truly honor his end of the bargain? David wondered, knowing all too well that if he didn’t, there was nothing he could do about it.

  But Zephiron was not a man who went back on his word, nor was he ever hesitant. Every action he took was deliberate, every word weighted with meaning.

  With measured grace, he lifted his hand once more, fingers gliding through the air in an intricate, almost hypnotic pattern. The space around them trembled in response.

  Shapes bent and twisted, a ripple, then a shift. Within moments, the same cube materialized midair—layered, complex, shifting with impossible geometry. It was mesmerizing. Its edges burned with a soft glow, constantly reshaping, refusing to be understood by mortal eyes.

  Then, with a flick of his wrist, Zephiron widened the cube, revealing what lay within. The Azurefrost Shard.

  His face was unreadable—cold, indifferent.

  But David’s face mirrored his expression, except his emotionless gaze was born from something far different. He didn’t take a step forward. He didn’t react. His mind twisted in silent confusion.

  Is he joking with me? His thoughts raced. Why is he showing me the Azurefrost Shard after I asked for another?

  But there was no time to dwell. He forced his thoughts into order and met Zephiron’s gaze. “Why are you showing me the Azurefrost Shard? I thought we had a deal—you were supposed to tell me where I could find another Shard.”

  For the first time, Zephiron’s expression changed. A slow, creeping grin slithered onto his face, rising to his eyes. It wasn’t amusement. It was something deeper, darker.

  A silent symphony of horror played within that smile, something unnatural, something wrong.

  David’s stomach turned. He didn’t understand, but the sight alone sent a chill down his spine.

  “Look again,” Zephiron said, his face still twisted in that unsettling grin. "But this time, see."

  David hesitated. He turned back to the shifting cube, this time focusing harder, pushing past the visual distortions.

  And then he saw it.

  Nestled in the shifting void behind the Azurefrost Shard, a second crystal hovered in the impossible space.

  Unlike the first, its surface was a deep, endless black—a void within a void. It was not bound by shape; it flickered between existence and absence, a void that was somehow vast yet contained. Faint, ghostly trails spiraled around it, remnants of something ancient and vast.

  Though what captivated David was that its darkness folded into itself, yet within that abyss, galaxies seemed to swirl, collapsing and expanding in an endless cycle. It was the essence of space itself—a fragment of infinity.

  Lost in his pursuit of understanding, David nearly missed the system notification when it finally appeared—this time, a little late.

  ? ? ? ZENITH SHARD DETECTED NEARBY ? ? ?

  "Zenith Shard," David murmured in stunned disbelief, his eyes fixed on the system's notification, entirely unaware that his voice had slipped past his lips—just loud enough for the others to hear.

  The moment David uttered the words, Zephiron’s eyes gleamed with a predatory spark. His head snapped toward Azrikal, his voice edged with triumph.

  "See, Azrikal? This man isn’t just aware of the Ice Shard—he knows about the Space Shard as well. Fascinating." His grin was a splendid horror of teeth and shadows.

  Yet Azrikal barely reacted—he was too stunned himself.

  His concern wasn’t why someone knew of the Shards; it was why someone like David did—a man so beneath them, so fragile in comparison that they could crush him without a second thought.

  David, still piecing everything together, spoke, his voice uncertain. "I don't understand..." He hesitated. "The shard. The location you were going to tell me about... You had it all along?"

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  Zephiron’s expression didn’t change. "The deal was to give you its location. I never said anything about who possessed it or when."

  David opened his mouth to argue, his thoughts a whirlwind. "But—"

  Zephiron cut him off mid-sentence, his voice laced with cold amusement. "You assumed you’d get the location of another Shard, giving you time to prepare—enough time to come up with a plan. But unfortunately for you—" He leaned forward, his presence suffocating. "You walked right into my trap."

  David’s breath hitched.

  Zephiron lifted his hand, and the cube in the air expanded even further, revealing not just the Azurefrost Shard—but another. The Zenith Shard, now even clearer.

  Then, as if he had been waiting for David's reaction, Zephiron’s voice took on a mocking edge. "Now here it is—the Zenith Shard, alongside the Azurefrost Shard. Come and take them, if you dare."

  The aura he now exuded was the complete opposite of his usual grace—this was raw, unmasked menace.

  But David reacted only in silence. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. This situation was beyond him.

  Zephiron tilted his head, almost in pity. "Let me make it simple for you. You have two choices. Walk away, keep your life, and save your friends. Or..." His pity vanished. "You can try to take the shards. And die."

  David’s fists clenched, his gaze burning. "I can’t let you take the shards—"

  Zephiron interrupted, reading him like an open book. "Even if I handed them to you now, you wouldn’t survive their power. Azrikal lost only control, but you? You’d die the moment you tried to wield their power. Without question."

  David’s jaw tightened. It wasn’t a lie. He knew it. He wasn’t strong enough. Not yet. The bitter truth settled in his chest like a stone.

  And worse—it wasn’t a matter of willpower. It was the timing. He had found not one, but two shards so soon into his journey. He wasn’t ready.

  Even the system hadn’t acknowledged his main quest as gathering the shards yet—it was still fixated on his escape from this prison.

  The shards were right there, within reach. But reaching for them meant death.

  David knew it.

  And Zephiron knew it as well.

  Moments passed in tense silence, the air thick with unspoken thoughts. David’s gaze never wavered from Zephiron, his eyes burning with an intensity that could sear the very soul.

  Yet, despite the fury and determination in his stare, he didn’t move. He couldn’t move. The weight of his own helplessness was crushing him, making every part of him freeze in place.

  Zephiron tilted his head slightly, his eyes narrowing in calculated observation.

  "So, you understand now," he said, his voice carrying the weight of an unspoken truth. "You’ve learned that survival is not about strength alone. Power, knowledge—it’s all meaningless if you don't know when to bow out, when you know you’re outmatched."

  David’s jaw clenched. The words stung, but he didn’t flinch because logic anchored him.

  A few moments passed, and David showed no sign of making a move.

  "Since you refuse to act, I take it as your final decision, and in doing so, you have proven yourself wiser than I expected." Zephiron's voice was smooth, cold, carrying a note of reluctant acknowledgment. "After all, one cannot pursue anything if they are dead."

  Then Zephiron turned toward Azrikal with a slight nod. "It’s time we move," he said, his voice still laced with that cold amusement.

  Without hesitation, his fingers flicked through the air, and with a flourish, the cube that had contained the shards—both Azurefrost and Zenith—vanished into nothingness.

  Only a ripple in the air remained as a silent reminder of their power.

  The space around them seemed to shudder, a brief silence hanging in the air before another, more powerful disturbance tore through the atmosphere. A new tear in space formed in front of them, a swirling abyss that hummed with an otherworldly energy.

  The portal before them was alive, constantly glowing with an eerie purple light, its inside promising an entirely different place—something far from this icy, dead land. A place where the atmosphere felt more charged, more dangerous.

  Zephiron’s voice broke through David’s frozen thoughts. "Let’s go, Azrikal," he said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

  Azrikal hesitated for only a moment. "Master, are we just going to leave him? Without finishing him off?" Azrikal’s voice was thick with confusion and a hint of frustration, but his question was met with a long, heavy silence.

  Zephiron didn’t answer immediately. Instead, his eyes flicked over to David once more, and something darker flashed across his face.

  Knowing all too well, after seeing the determined glare in David's eyes, that he would never give up—that one day he would come searching for the shard. And when that time came, it would be worth confronting him and finishing the fight.

  "No," he said at last, his voice a soft, ominous murmur. "Not yet."

  David’s mind raced, but before he could formulate another thought, Zephiron’s intent became clear. The deliberate pause, the weight of his stare—Zephiron knew something David didn’t.

  With a single, confident gesture, the master of this twisted reality beckoned Azrikal forward.

  Azrikal didn’t argue. His master's command always took precedence.

  Without a second word, he stepped into the swirling abyss of the portal, his form disappearing into its depths like a shadow swallowed by the night.

  Zephiron followed with a smooth, deliberate motion, his dignity intact, his presence radiating an unsettling calm. With them gone, only the eerie hum of the portal and the dead, icy land remained.

  Zephiron didn’t even flinch as the portal closed behind them. The ripples in the air slowly faded, leaving nothing but the hollow silence of the frozen land.

  David stood still, his gaze locked on the place where the portal had been. The image of the place inside the portal—of the dull pillars and the red-hued warzone beyond—burned itself into his mind.

  A place of destruction, of bloodshed—it didn’t take much to know it would be worse than anything he had ever imagined.