The false Daniel lunged at Alex with no hesitation, his massive shadow claws already poised to tear him apart.
Reacting instantly, Alex summoned the [Bleeding Dragon Claws] into his left arm.
Blood wrapped around his limb like living armor before hardening into sleek, deadly crimson blades.
Without wasting a second, he swung forward, expecting the impact to be decisive.
After all, he was far stronger than the real Daniel had ever been, and this shadow version, despite looking menacing, shouldn’t have stood a chance.
But the moment their claws met, the truth struck like thunder.
Fwish! BANG!
Their weapons collided, generating a burst of black sparks as Alex’s claws met those of the fake Daniel.
For a heartbeat, it felt like a normal clash, but then something changed.
With a movement so fast it blurred to the eye, the shadowy figure slipped through him, literally.
It didn’t dodge, it didn’t teleport, it passed through him like mist, like a ghost.
Alex didn’t even have time to question what had happened.
His instincts flared a second too late.
The nightmare’s claws reappeared behind him and swung down in a wide, devastating arc.
SLASH! SLASH!
Two heavy strikes tore into his back.
-1,000,000,000!
The number appeared in bright red before Alex could react.
[You have died.]
His eyes widened in disbelief.
One billion damage.
His body crumpled forward, his consciousness fading as the impossible reality set in.
He’d been struck down in a single instant.
No buildup, no prolonged battle, just death.
Clean. Merciless. Confusing.
The shadow Daniel didn’t even move from its position after the kill.
Instead, it returned to the same spot where it had first emerged, standing over Alex’s fallen body like a silent sentinel.
Its glowing white eyes never blinked, never looked away.
It stood there as though waiting, knowing Alex wouldn’t stay dead.
And it was right.
Gritting his teeth as he drifted in the limbo between life and death, Alex summoned his power.
Destiny Shift.
[Undoing Alex’s death…]
A sharp breath escaped his lungs as his body began to stir again.
Pain rushed in, followed by awareness, then clarity.
His eyes snapped open.
But unlike all the other enemies who had hesitated after his resurrection, those who gawked or faltered at his power, this nightmare wasted no time.
The very moment Alex’s fingers twitched, the white glow in the fake Daniel’s eyes intensified, and it lunged again.
Alex barely managed to roll to the side.
Boom!
Its claws smashed into the ground where he had just been.
Thin, jagged black cracks splintered outward across the stone, corrupting the surface like veins of rot.
He scrambled back to his feet, panting, his eyes locked on the shadowy figure that had nearly killed him a second time.
Then, the nightmare pointed directly at him.
No words were spoken, no sound emerged, but Alex somehow understood.
“What the hell are you…” he muttered, taking an instinctive step back.
His skin tingled with tension. Something wasn’t right. No, nothing about this was right.
This thing wasn’t just a copy of Daniel.
It was worse. Something darker. Something that distorted the air around it.
Ever since it had appeared, the atmosphere of the Depths had shifted entirely.
The greenish-blue hue that had painted this realm dimmed into near-black.
The mist grew heavier, the silence deeper.
And then a panel appeared before him.
[Daniel Thunder – Nightmare]
So this was what the trial had warned about.
These were the “Nightmares.”
The fake Daniel took a step forward, and as it did, it smiled.
Not a kind smile, not a human smile, just a wide, eerie grin that stretched unnaturally across its face, white teeth glowing against the shifting black of its skin.
Alex didn’t speak.
He just raised his hand.
Threads of Fate!
Golden threads exploded into the air, wrapping around the nightmare like a web of prophecy.
Countless strands danced in the space around it, each one predicting its future movements down to the tiniest detail.
Alex’s mind sharpened.
With these, he would gain the upper hand.
No matter how strong this thing was, it couldn’t defy fate itself. Except, it did.
Fwish! Crackle!
The golden threads around the nightmare flickered, then turned pitch black.
One by one, they withered and disintegrated into dust.
“What the fuck…”
[You are not allowed to use this skill in the Depths.]
Before Alex could react, the nightmare dashed forward, its claws arcing toward him again.
He jumped back, narrowly avoiding another lethal blow.
The impact from the claws hit the ground where he’d just stood, sending up a wave of dark force.
‘No wings… no [Threads of Fate]…’ he realized, sweat forming on his brow.
This place was getting more twisted by the second.
The Depths weren’t just any trial zone.
They were the domain of the [God of Nightmares], and apparently, anything that gave Alex an edge, anything that made survival more likely, was forbidden here.
But there was no time to reflect.
The two clashed again.
Claws against claws, power against power.
Boom! Clang! Slash!
Their movements blurred across the battlefield as they exchanged blow after blow.
Neither side could gain a proper advantage.
Alex couldn’t rely on prediction, and the nightmare couldn’t phase through him when he was constantly backing away and countering.
Still, it was exhausting.
Even if Alex wasn’t physically drained yet, the mental stress of fighting something that had already killed him once was wearing down on him.
‘This isn’t working,’ he thought after yet another stalemate in their flurry of strikes.
When the nightmare’s claws swept overhead again, Alex ducked low and drove his heel into its midsection with all his might.
BAM!
The figure was sent flying, flipping through the air before crashing into the distant ground.
It rolled but quickly recovered, slowly rising from the cratered terrain, unharmed.
But that had never been Alex’s goal.
He’d just needed space.
His eyes lit up with mana.
“Flames of Oblivion,” he muttered, raising his arm high.
The ground trembled.
Heat surged through the air.
[Effect: Summons a colossal storm of annihilating fire, scorching a 1-kilometer radius with unquenchable flames that bypass all resistances.]
At once, a massive sea of fire erupted around him, engulfing the entire battlefield in crimson light.
The flames churned like a living creature, roaring and swirling in every direction, consuming everything indiscriminately.
The nightmare dashed forward again, but it was too late.
The fire detonated.
FWOOM!
A massive column of flame shot upward, engulfing the figure entirely.
Alex stood calmly in the eye of the inferno, untouched.
When the flames finally faded and the smoke cleared… nothing remained. Just silence.
[You have eliminated one of your “Nightmares.”]
[Congratulations!]
Alex took a deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling slowly.
Relief rushed through him, but so did caution.
That thing had been far stronger than it had any right to be.
Its power was enough to match him, even push him back.
If this was only one part of the challenge…
He frowned. Then he froze.
His eyes narrowed as the system message replayed in his mind.
“You have eliminated one of your nightmares,” he repeated quietly.
Not your nightmare. One of them.
His breath caught in his throat.
“…Shit.”
This wasn’t over. Not by a long shot. And now, he understood just how deep this tower went.
The Depths weren’t a test of strength alone, they were a trial of fear and memories turned into monsters.
And Alex… he had plenty of those buried deep inside him. Far more than he wanted to face.