Aaron breathed a long, shuddering sigh of relief, the tension finally draining from his weary muscles.
He had done the impossible: Chen Mo was dead, and the suffocating weight of their rivalry had finally lifted.
For the first ti in an eternity, he felt the cool spark of freedom.
But the silence of his victory was short-lived.
Behind him, the air groaned and tore open as a jagged rift stabilized in the center of the void.
"Congratulations on defeating Chen Mo," a voice smooth as silk and cold as a grave settled over Aaron's ears.
"And, of course, on receiving the Mark of Cain."
Aaron spun around, the na of his benefactor-turned-torntor rising to his lips.
"A—"
He stopped.
His throat constricted, and his tongue felt like lead.
He stared at Aegon, but sothing was fundantally different.
The man standing before him felt less like a person and more like a hole in the universe.
No matter how hard Aaron pushed, he found it physically impossible to complete the na.
Aegon had ascended beyond the reach of common nonclature.
"As promised," Aegon said, a thin, patronizing smile playing on his lips.
"Here are your wives."
As if manifesting from a dream, Aaron's three wives appeared in the white expanse.
Without a second thought, the three won sprinted toward him, throwing themselves into his embrace.
Aaron held them tightly, his heart racing, but Aegon's presence remained a poison in the air.
"Yes.
Enjoy your ti together," Aegon remarked, stepping backward into the swirling rift he had created.
"Cherish it as much as you can... before I kill you."
"What do you an?" Aaron demanded, his grip tightening on his loved ones as a chill swept through him.
"The Battle for the Throne of All begins soon," Aegon replied, his golden, cosmic eyes shimring with a terrifying light.
"I highly doubt you will grow strong enough to oppose by the ti the gates open.
Once I ascend and beco the One Above All, I will ensure you are forced to watch as I execute everyone you love, one by one, before I finally grant you the rcy of death."
With a final, mocking smile, Aegon vanished, and the rift snapped shut.
Aaron stood frozen, his face turning a grim, ashen mask.
The joy of his reunion was instantly replaced by a crushing realization: he was out of ti.
He needed a plan, and he needed power—fast—or everything he had just regained would be lost.
Across the nine entities, reality began to rumble.
Celestial phenona erupted across the skies; stars bled crimson and the constellations shifted into unfamiliar, jagged patterns.
Powerful beings across the dinsions felt the vibration in their very souls.
They knew what these ons signaled.
Within his own secluded world, Seth stared into the shimring nothingness of the horizon, a half-baked, weary smile plastered on his face.
"Guess it's close already, huh?" he muttered to the empty air.
A shadow flitted across the sun, and a sleek, black crow descended from the sky, landing heavily on his right shoulder.
"The Battle for the Throne begins in one week," the bird spoke, its voice a hollow resonance.
"Be prepared.
The limits placed upon your Mystic Organs are hereby removed!"
Having delivered its ssage, the crow dissolved into a cloud of black vapor.
"The ssenger of the One Above All," Seth whispered, rising to his feet with a groan of stiff joints.
"My premonition was right.
The end begins now."
The visitor was a Naless without a na.
Her true na was unknown to all.
As the ssenger of the previous one above all, she went by many nas and reverence.
But the most used and popular was crow, a na to substitute her true na, since it could not be uttered.
She had visited every major player in the coming conflict—including the bearer of the Mark of Cain.
In his own domain, Aaron let out a frustrated groan.
"What a headache.
I have exactly seven days to reach the Naless Rank and sohow find a way to surpass it.
How is that even possible?"
He felt the cold weight of the situation; he wasn't just behind—he was completely cooked.
"What's the matter?" Rose asked, stepping to his side and placing a steadying hand on his arm.
Aaron looked at her, forcing a small, tired smile.
"I have a lot on my plate, Rose.
And the clock is ticking faster than I ever imagined."
He took a breath, trying to steady his nerves.
"Well, whatever.
I have seven days to turn my life around with a lucky draw."
The following week promised to be the most dreadful and soul-crushing period of his life.
On the first day, Aaron waited, but the universe remained silent.
He received nothing.
It felt like a cosmic joke played at his expense.
On the second day, however, a spark of hope flickered.
It had finally been exactly one year since he had last utilized his most volatile trump card.
With deliberate, shaking hands, Aaron reached into the depths of his soul and activated the skill.
"Cosmic Jackpot," he whispered.
Everything depended on whether his luck would suffice to bridge the gap between a mortal man and a god.
[Cosmic Jackpot Activated]
[System Draw in progress...]
[Your talent, Crown of Luck, has intervened...]
[Crown of Luck seeks to sacrifice this draw to force open a rift to an unknown location.]
[Warning: The proposed compensation has been deed inadequate by the System.]
[In a final act of desperation, your talent, Crown of Luck, offers its own existence as a permanent sacrifice to ensure the rift opens.]
[System Analysis: Evaluating the value of a High-Tier conceptual talent...]
[Compensation accepted.
Crown of Luck is being consud.]**
[The Gateway is opening...]
"What the hell is going on?" Aaron demanded, his voice cracking as he watched the reality within his sanctuary begin to warp and fray.
The rift did not open like the clean tears Aegon produced; it was a jagged, screaming wound in space-ti that bled an energy Aaron had never witnessed.
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