The Rokuen Plains whispered in the night. The silence hung thick, as if the land itself knew what had just occurred. The moonlight cast an eerie glow over the twin figures, both of them barely standing, their bodies scarred, covered in wounds that spoke of a battle lost and won in the same breath.

They were known only as the Twins of the Void, Alaric and Selene. Their names were whispered only in the darkest of circles, their very existence is popular among the underground lands. They were more than mere warriors; they were harbingers, agents of something ancient, something far more dangerous than anyone could imagine.

Selene's breath came in shallow gasps, her pale skin slick with sweat and blood. She staggered, barely managing to keep herself upright, the weight of their escape pressing on her shoulders. Alaric, the elder of the two by mere minutes, gripped her wrist, his expression unreadable beneath the deep shadows cast by his hood. His hair, a silvery white, was matted with the remnants of battle, and his right eye burned with a strange, unnatural gleam.

They had fought. And they had lost, badly.

Master Vince, the Taishin Master, had been a force unlike anything they'd faced before. His style was unconventional, raw, a manifestation of his own willpower and discipline, honed through decades of training, and backed by the mysterious strength of Taishin, the path of flesh. It was said that Taishin masters were capable of withstanding the very forces of Shinrei, the ability to push the human body beyond its limits, to strike with the full might of pure physical power, without relying on the ethereal flow of Shinrei energy.

And Vince had used it against them mercilessly.

Alaric looked down at his sister, his golden eyes narrowing in focus as he took in the sight of her injuries. Her left leg was barely holding together, and her arm, though still functional, was barely able to move. She had taken a blow that had nearly shattered her ribs, and her skin was covered in crimson burns from the infernal techniques that Vince had unleashed in his final stand.

"Selene..." Alaric whispered, tightening his grip. "We need to keep moving."

She grimaced but nodded, pushing herself forward with a grunt. The path ahead was unclear, the landscape shifting, the world slowly distorting as their wounds dragged on their spirits. They had no time to waste. The Shard they sought was within their reach, and they couldn't afford to lose it. Not after all this.

Alaric glanced over his shoulder one last time. The air still crackled faintly with the remnants of battle. Vince's presence lingered, but they could no longer sense his energy. He had vanished into the mists, his wounds likely deep enough to take him out of the equation for a while. The fact that the Taishin Master had fought them off despite the overwhelming odds was… concerning. But they still had a mission. And that mission was more important than their pride or survival.

….

Flashback:

The day had arrived, the day that Vince had known would come. The forest stretched endlessly before him, its ancient trees tall and oppressive in their silence. The air itself seemed to hum with a growing tension as the twins and their Voidborn legions approached. Vince stood alone, standing as the immovable pillar against the storm that was about to break.

The twins, Alaric and Selene led their countless Voidborns with an unspoken command. These were no mere creatures. The Voidborn were twisted reflections of the fallen, monsters that embodied the negative emotions of the world. Each one was a physical manifestation of despair, rage, and grief. They were born from the Void, beings that consumed everything in their path. This was no mere skirmish. It was a war, and the forest was their battlefield.

Alaric's voice broke the stillness, a deep and resonant command that echoed through the forest: "Summon the Void."

The air split open as reality itself seemed to tear. A rift appeared, an enormous wound in the sky, from which hundreds of Voidborn poured out. Their bodies were black as ink, their eyes hollow, and their movements chaotic. It was a tidal wave of emotion, a flood that was supposed to overwhelm Vince in seconds. But Vince was no ordinary man. He was a master of Taishin, a warrior whose body was as much a weapon as any blade or spell. His training, beyond the limits of any normal human, allowed him to stand against the impossible.

As the first wave of Voidborn charged forward, Vince closed his eyes for a brief moment, feeling the pulse of the forest beneath his feet. Then, like a storm unleashed, he moved.

His legs were a blur, and before the Voidborn even reached him, Vince was upon them. His first strike was a fist powered by the strength of his Bone Gate, the initial step in unlocking his Taishin mastery. The Voidborn in his path exploded into ash, their forms disintegrating before they even touched the ground. Each punch that followed was a thunderous burst of power, each one as devastating as a bolt of lightning.

Selene, who had been watching from the rear with her sharp eyes, narrowed them in disbelief. "He's faster than we anticipated. The Taishin techniques… they've exceeded our expectations."

Alaric, who stood by her side, gritted his teeth. He had never expected Vince to be able to hold his ground for this long. He had anticipated the battle to be over within minutes, but Vince's strength was something beyond what they had encountered before.

The forest seemed to tremble as the battle escalated. Voidborns fell in waves, their bodies disintegrating into dust before they could even come close to Vince. The earth cracked and splintered under the force of his punches. Trees splintered as though they were matchsticks, torn asunder by the sheer weight of Vince's strikes.

Vince was a master of the Taishin path, a warrior who had unlocked the ancient secrets of physical mastery. His fists, his legs, even his very body had been trained to withstand and deal destruction on a scale that no ordinary human could achieve. His body was his weapon, each strike an extension of his own soul. And every blow he struck was a testament to his Taishin mastery.

But the Voidborn were not just creatures to be struck down. They were beings of pure emotion, beings that existed to tear the world apart. They surged forward again and again, an endless tide of despair. But Vince, with his Iron Nerve Gate unlocked, endured it all. The Voidborn's attacks, their very presence, should have been enough to disorient him, to throw him off balance. But it didn't. His body was his shield, and his mind, unshaken by the fear and grief of the Voidborn, was an iron bastion.

Vince's fists tore through their ranks as though he were a hurricane, his movements too fast for the Voidborn to anticipate. But as more poured through the rift, Selene and Alaric decided to take matters into their own hands. They knew they couldn't rely solely on the Voidborn. They would need to strike at Vince directly.

"Prepare for the strike." Alaric muttered to Selene.

The two commanders, twin souls bound by the same purpose, moved in unison. Their own Shinrei powers flowed in harmony, a manifestation of their shared intent. Alaric called forth his Echo Art: Veil of the Abyss, a technique that allowed him to shroud himself in darkness, moving undetected by all but the sharpest eyes.

Selene, ever the more methodical twin, unleashed her own Echo Art: Siphon of the Void. The air around her seemed to warp as shadows coiled at her feet, lashing out in long, thin tendrils that sought to immobilize Vince.

Vince's Taishin abilities allowed him to sense the flow of energy around him, and he could feel the Voidborn surge forward with a malicious intent. His body moved with mechanical precision, using the Vein Sense Gate to predict the movements of the twins and the Voidborn alike. It was almost as if time slowed around him as he tapped into the full potential of his body.

But even Vince wasn't invincible.

As he struck out at the next wave of Voidborn, Alaric materialized behind him, his fist extended for a devastating blow. Vince, sensing the strike at the last moment, pivoted on his heel and dodged, but not without consequence. Alaric's blow grazed Vince's shoulder, tearing through his flesh. For a brief moment, it seemed as though the battle might turn.

But Vince didn't flinch. His body absorbed the pain, and in an instant, his Pulse Gate activated. He moved like a blur, his fist crashing into Alaric's chest with such force that the air around them seemed to shudder. Alaric's ribs cracked, and he was sent flying back, skidding across the ground.

Selene screamed in fury as she leapt forward, using her Siphon of the Void to try to bind Vince's movements. Her tendrils of shadow wrapped around his limbs, constricting him. For a moment, it seemed as though she had him trapped, but Vince's veins burned with energy. His Iron Nerve Gate flared, disabling his body's pain signals and allowing him to fight without hesitation.

With a roar, Vince broke free from Selene's grasp, his body bursting with power. He turned to face her, his eyes burning with the intensity of the storm. His Taishin techniques had reached their pinnacle, and in that moment, he was a living force of nature, unstoppable and relentless.

"You think you can hold me back?" Vince's voice thundered through the forest, his muscles rippling with raw power. He charged forward, his fist colliding with Selene's chest before she could react. The shockwave from the blow sent her hurtling backward, crashing into the trees.

Alaric, bloodied and broken, rose to his feet, his eyes filled with fury. The Voidborn were no more than husks now, their forms vanishing into the air like smoke. The battle was turning, and Vince had proven to be far more than they had bargained for. They were out of time. The forest around them was in ruins, the ground scorched and cracked, the trees bent and broken under the weight of Vince's power.

"You'll regret this…" Alaric growled, but Vince was already moving. His Pulse Gate activated once more, his body becoming a blur as he surged forward, aiming to finish what had begun.

To be continue

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