# Chapter 3: Jin's Coma
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### [Inside Jin's Coma – Memories of the Past]
"Markth: Wake up, Jin... You're far too weak."
His voice crashed like thunder in an endless winter storm—harsh, cold, merciless.
***
Jin slowly opened his eyes. His small body lay on the frozen ground, the air biting and dry as if trying to push him out of this world. Before him stood Markth, a towering figure like a wall, holding a real sword in his right hand.
"Do you think you'll survive here with your current level? You don't even deserve to fall."
***
Jin crawled to his feet, his legs trembling, barely gripping his sword. Around him, a dead forest—black trees like skeletons, and a gray sky devoid of sun.
"Sea Cutter!" Jin shouted, lunging forward, his sword swinging with the last of his strength.
***
But Markth dodged with only two steps. Jin's sword struck the ground. Before he could react, the hilt of Markth's sword slammed into his head.
Jin collapsed, breath ragged, face covered in dust, body bruised and battered. He was only a five-year-old child, trapped in an unending nightmare.
***
Markth sighed deeply, his eyes shining with heavy meaning. Sheathing his sword, he said,
"That's enough training for today... Return to the village."
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### [The Road to the Village]
Silence wrapped the land. The forest seemed to have stopped breathing—no birds, no wind, only still death.
***
They reached a small village, surrounded by a fragile wooden fence barely standing.
Jin's eyes wandered over the villagers' faces—frail bodies, skeletal children, coughing, crying, and a dead hope.
***
Wizards tried healing the sick, but to no avail. Everyone suffered from the absence of the sun... the absence of life.
Jin lowered his head. His hands trembled. Markth stared silently at the pale moon.
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### [The Wooden Hut]
They arrived at a dilapidated wooden hut—its roof crooked, walls worn, cold beyond bearing.
***
Markth said in a tired calm,
"Go sleep, Jin... No food today. The caravan didn't arrive... maybe it was attacked."
Jin lowered his head and whispered,
"Okay... Master."
***
He entered the hut silently—hungry, exhausted, alone.
He lay down on the cold bed and closed his eyes...
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### [Inside the Coma – The Nightmare Shifts]
Suddenly, a terrifying laugh echoed:
"Hahaha, I was just joking..."
***
The dream shattered and turned into a nightmare.
A severed hand. Screams. Zelnar's face. Fighting. Fire. Blood.
***
Jin screamed inside the coma, then jolted awake! Coughing, gasping for air, looking around... a bed? A strange place?
***
He raised his hand—his breath froze.
His hand was no longer as it was.
Black, covered in scales... like a demon's. But it moved... as if alive.
***
Suddenly, a sharp pain exploded inside.
A scream tore through the room:
"Aaaahhhh!!"
Jin fell from the bed, writhing in agony.
His hand glowed red, as if sucking his magic... his blood... his soul.
***
He cried... he agonized... he screamed like death was closer than life.
─────
### [The Mysterious Visitor]
Suddenly, a tall man appeared in the room, dressed entirely in black, his face hidden except for two glowing red eyes.
***
His voice filled the room—deep, majestic, commanding, sinking straight into Jin's heart:
"If you seek revenge...
Endure the pain.
Master this hand...
And make it obey your will."
***
Amid the pain, Jin heard the voice... then saw a memory—his mother's last smile, her tears. He saw his master... his village... all the pain.
His tears turned from pain into fury.
***
Jin shouted, his eyes blazing, tears streaming:
"I will kill them...
I will kill them all..."
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### [The Blood Sea Meditation]
Amid the pain, Jin decided to meditate to control the hand. He cared about nothing else, even if it meant selling his soul to the devil—as long as revenge was his.
***
While meditating, he found himself in a dark place beneath a sea of blood.
The bloody sea was the only light in this darkness.
***
Jin didn't understand this place... Was it the path he must take to achieve his revenge? Was he ready?
***
He began walking through the sea of blood without stopping, hearing his master's and parents' voices.
Training scenes flashed in the bloody sea, but he didn't care.
***
He kept walking in fury, until a hand appeared before him... the same hand as his own.
Jin cautiously reached out, touching the demonic hand that appeared...
***
Suddenly, the world around him crumbled, madness engulfed him. The once still blood in the sea began to move violently, twisting around him like snakes attacking mercilessly.
Jin let out a muffled scream, then suddenly awoke from his meditation.
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### [The Awakening]
The pain in his hands was gone completely. His hands felt reborn, clean, free from those black scales.
***
He slowly raised his eyes and found two swords before him—one pure white, the other pitch black. Between them lay a strange black book, its cover marked with a terrifying goat skull glowing faintly.
***
Jin rushed out of the hut, searching for the mysterious man—only to find no trace.
He whispered in a trembling voice:
"Where are you? How... how did you heal my hand?"
***
Questions piled up in his mind—the swords, the book, the demonic hand... all signs needing answers.
Returning to the hut, Jin clasped the black book tightly. Slowly, he opened its first page, beginning a path with no return...
***
### (To Be Continued...)
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