A New Land

"Finally, it's over. " A wary sigh escaped Zen's throat as he slightly scratched the back of his head. "That took longer than expected when it comes to Nethercats"

"Now then…" Zen began walking towards one of the lifeless bodies of the monsters he has just murdered with his eyes fixated on its forehead. Once he reached the body, he grabbed it by the head before moving the other hand up to its temple. He then tightly held the small crystal planted into its head with his fingers and began pulling it outwards.

Once he began doing that, the veins on the monster's forehead began expanding fastly, almost to the extent of them exploding. However, Zen didn't stop and continued pulling it out until it left its place with all the blood veins hanging onto it, making it look like a seed with its roots has been pulled from the ground.

Once the Crystal got separated from the monster's forehead, its body's color began shifting rapidly, turning to its original color before it began disintegrating, turning into ashes that the air in the hallway carried away.

"As I expected…" Zen uttered under his breath as he narrowed his eyes while gazing at the crystal he was holding. "This was the reason behind their weird change"

Following that, the crystal began glowing in a bright white color as the veins that were hanging tightly to it began falling one after the other, grabbing Zen's eyes towards it. The crystal then shattered, splitting into two to release a white powder of a sort, which immediately began moving towards Zen's chest. His body didn't shy it out of it either, as it absorbed the powder completely.

Zen was taken by surprise, as he wasn't expecting such a thing to happen. However, he didn't feel any change happening to his body, which slightly disappointed him.

"I expected to at least feel something happening to me, but…" Zen murmured under his breath "I guess bot everything that you anticipate actually happens"

However, once Zen raised his gaze, he found all the monsters' bodies gathered around him starting to shift their color like the previous one.

His eyes widened once he saw the same powder emerge from all the remaining bodies and slowly gather in front of his body. Once his body absorbed it all, Zen began feeling a weird sensation. A feeling of hunger began rising with his body, and for a brief moment, his vision became blurry.

He then stumbled for a bit before he grabbed onto one of the pillars and laid his body on it, holding his head as he felt a sudden burst of pain emerging from within it.

*What is happening?…* Zen thought to himself.

The pain soon disappeared, but the feeling of hunger that he was experiencing didn't fade as it lingered, even after a long time of waiting.

*This feeling doesn't seem to be disappearing anytime soon, so I must ignore it and continue* Zen began walking towards the hallway exit. However, before he could reach the doorway, his body suddenly collapsed, his knees immediately falling to the ground.

His vision became blurry once again, and his breathing became heavier before his eyes started slowly closing on their own, leaving his weak body to lie motionless on the ground.

Once he opened his eyes again, all he could see was a land of ice and snow that seemed to extend infinitely. Zen immediately pushed his body upwards, his widening eyes as they gazed upon this vast canvas of ice and snow on which nature painted with the purest hues of white where the landscape stretched out infinitely.

Peaks of jagged edges towered up as they emerged from within the icy ground, formings a circle as they attempted to reach the sky, where dark clouds hovered in the air, blocking the sunlight from reaching to the surface.

In this land of endless winter, breathing felt harder than ever, giving a feeling of dizziness and a staggering headache to whoever dares to enter such a realm.

As Zen tried to stand up, holding his head as his body was still not steady yet, he noticed some structures that caught his attention.

Not so far from where he was standing, colossal structures that resembled great-swords, constructed using the ice populating this realm, stood menacingly as each two faced each other, seemingly planted deep into the ground.

A look of puzzlement still coated Zen's face, as he stood up with his eyebrows pinched together before he began walking towards the colossal structures awaiting him ahead.

*What is this place?…* Zen murmured under his breath as he turned his head around, slowly scanning his surroundings as he moved forward.

Suddenly, an irritating pain struck Zen in his stomach. The feeling of hunger that he was experiencing before he fell unconscious has now become greater than before. He quickly moved his hand to place it on his belly as his body uncontrollably bent forward.

*This is bad…* Zen uttered *this feeling is getting worse…*

He then continued walking, pushing through the discomfort and pain that he was experiencing until he reached one of the swords on which he pushed his back.

*Let me try something…* Zen thought as he slowly stretched his ram outwards *maybe this will lessen this pain a little…*

[Blood Art]: «Nullify»

Zen's body began glowing, the white in his eyes slowly turning to red and his pupils shifting to a dim black color. Not so long after, his body returned to normal, and he started hopping in place, warming his stiff joints.

"That feeling didn't completely disappear, but it's still refreshing nonetheless," Zen uttered before switching his gaze upfront. "Now then, let's see where did I end up this time"

As Zen was looking around, searching for something that might give him a clue on his whereabouts, his gaze was quick to fall on a strange figure standing perfectly in the middle of the great-swords.

Even though he squinted his eyes, he couldn't identify what was ahead of him, so he just gave in and began approaching the figure with caution.

 Once he reached his destination, his eyes widened once he saw the huge statue standing in front of him.

A stature of a man in his late 30s holding a book made entirely of ice was standing perfectly in the middle of this land.

"Who is this?..." Zen questioned in puzzlement before his eyes caught a glimpse of a red, sort of organism moving violently where the man's heart was supposed to be.

"what is that thing?" Zen raised his hand to touch the statue standing before him. However, once he touched it, the ground beneath him began rumbling.