At the peak of the mountain, Evan stood alone.
The wind howled around him, yet not a single strand of his hair moved.
All of it was being pushed away by the presence in his hand.
The Sword.
The mont his fingers tightened around the hilt, a pressure unlike anything he had ever felt surged through his body. It was neither violent nor chaotic. It was vast.
Like standing before an endless sea and realising the tide itself was flowing into him.
His breath slowed.
His muscles humd.
Every cell scread with strength.
For a fleeting mont, Evan felt it clearly.
He was stronger.
Not slightly. Not marginally.
Almost half a step closer to his peak state, just by holding the blade.
"…Is this real?" he muttered.
He gently brushed a finger along the flat of the edge.
Pain exploded instantly.
A sharp sting, followed by a searing heat that forced him to pull back. The skin had not burned, yet the sensation lingered, like his nerves had been kissed by fire itself.
Evan exhaled.
So it wasn't imagination.
He summoned his system.
And the mont the panel appeared, the word slipped out before he could stop it.
"Damn…"
__
[Ashbound Blade | Tier 1 | Ego Weapon
Ego Core: Fragnted Soul of a Death Phoenix
Growth Type: Bound Evolution
Description:
A broad, single-edged blade awakened through fusion with a fragnt of a Death Phoenix's soul. The tal is darkened, hardened beyond conventional alloys, with ember veins pulsing faintly beneath the surface.
The weapon does not speak. It does not think.
It responds purely to instinct, syncing with the host's intent, vitality, and battle rhythm.
Its evolution is tied directly to the wielder's growth.
Fla Avatar (Unique | Active Skill)
The ego of the weapon manifests as a battle form made of condensed death fla.
Summons a semi-transparent fla entity that fights beside the wielder.
Uses mirrored weapon strikes made of pure fla.
Deals fire and soul-burn damage.
Duration: 2 minutes | Cooldown: 12 hours
Core Effects:
Blaze Amplification: Fla-based attacks are intensified by 250%. Heat output scorches armour and can lt lesser-grade weapons on impact.
Fla Outburst: Heavy swings release short-range explosive fla waves in a forward cone.Applies burn damage and slightly weakens the enemy's defence.
Inferno Edge: The blade is permanently wrapped in dense fla.
Increases cutting sharpness. Applies sustained burn damage over ti.
Each hit slightly weakens the enemy's fire resistance.
Blazing Aura: A low-radius heat field activates automatically during combat.
Slightly increases attack power. Reduces cold and slow effects.
Improves stamina flow while fighting.
Searing Edge: Struck targets suffer lingering burns that ignore basic fire resistance.
Blaze Hall: While in fire-infused environnts, the wielder slowly regenerates vitality over ti.]
__
Paenl ended, but Evan didn't move for several seconds.
The numbers weren't just high.
They were wrong.
Completely out of place for this Expanse.
"This thing…" he murmured, "…is illegal."
His lips curled into a grin.
Then—
Clink.
Chains appeared.
Sa ones he faced before. Spectral, dark, crawling out of thin air like living restraints.
Evan's body reacted instantly. He stepped back, heart jumping as the chains snapped toward the sword and wrapped around it.
"Tch—!"
He tightened his grip, muscles straining.
But nothing pulled.
No force tried to steal the blade.
Instead, panels began flooding his vision.
Ding!
[Detected: Weapon exceeding Expanse Limit.]
[Elimination Protocol Initiated…]
[Error.]
[Process Terminated.]
[Searching for Resolution…]
[Imposing Temporary Limitations.]
[Note: Restrictions will be removed as requirents are t.]
The chains dissolved.
Not into nothingness.
Into the blade.
Thin, intricate chain-like patterns etched themselves across the tal, subtle yet unmistakable.
And just like that—
The overwhelming sensation vanished.
The ocean receded.
The power settled.
Evan clicked his tongue.
"Oh co on," he muttered. "At least let enjoy it for a minute."
He swung the blade casually.
A mistake.
A crescent of fla-laced wind tore through the forest below.
Trees split apart like paper, trunks severed cleanly as the shockwave carved a straight path through the mountainside.
Silence followed.
"…."
Evan stared.
Even sealed—
It was still monstrous.
"…Yeah," he said slowly, a wild smile creeping onto his face. "This'll do just fine."
He brought the blade closer, peering at the phoenix-shaped guard.
"Oi," he said lightly. "You alive in there, or did you pass out already?"
No response.
Yet sothing felt… off.
"If you're still healing," he muttered, "guess I'll seal you for a few years—"
The sword trembled violently.
He halted, pulling it back out just in ti.
The phoenix's eyes on the hilt ignited.
From the blade, flas parted.
And Vela stepped out.
"Wait—!" she snapped. "I was just resting. Don't throw into that void of junk again."
She recoiled from the inventory space like it offended her existence.
Evan sighed. "Then answer when I call."
He dismissed the inventory, eyes shifting toward Kael's unconscious body nearby.
Vela followed his gaze, suspicion sharpening her voice.
"You got what you wanted. His flas. His fate. Why call now?"
Evan didn't look away.
"Because I said I would help him."
She froze.
"…You're serious?"
"I don't joke about promises."
For the first ti in centuries, Vela didn't know what to say.
She had seen kings lie.
Heroes abandon vows.
Beasts betray bonds the mont power changed hands.
Yet here he stood.
Unchanged.
"…He has nothing left," she said quietly. "No flas. No backing. Helping him gains you nothing."
"Maybe," Evan replied. "But that's not why I'm doing it."
She studied him, then sighed. "Just remove the mark. Let him live."
Evan raised his hand.
Death flas condensed into a controlled spiral above his palm.
Vela's eyes widened. "Stop! You think anyone can survive that?!"
"No," Evan said calmly. "That's why I didn't use this."
Sothing appeared within the flas.
Tiny.
Pure.
Uncorrupted.
A fragnt of fla that burned without corruption's taint.
Vela went still.
"…That shouldn't exist."
"It does," Evan said. "Because it was his."
He explained.
How one fragnt resisted absorption.
How Phoenix flas regenerate.
How he saved it.
Silence followed.
She grabbed his collar, disbelief shaking her voice. "What are you?"
"Soone who finishes what he starts."
He placed the fragnt against Kael's chest.
It sank in.
Veins of red light spread briefly, then vanished.
Kael breathed.
"It'll take ti," Evan said. "But he'll recover."
He planted his blade into the ground beside Kael.
"Say what you need to say. Then I remove the mark."
The mountain stood quiet.
Above them, the world kept moving.
And sowhere far away—
Fate shifted.
...
Evan left the spot without looking back.
His body was screaming for rest.
Muscles ached, mana pathways felt raw, and even his thoughts carried a dull pressure, like sothing heavy had settled behind his eyes.
This fight had not been clean.
It had been reckless, wasteful, and far more taxing than he liked to admit.
'I hope that old relic shuts up for a few days,' he thought bitterly. 'Just let have so peace.'
Silence answered him.
Unnaturally so.
What Evan didn't know was that Arven heard every word.
And chose not to reply.
anwhile, Vela remained behind.
She hovered near Kael's cocooned body, watching silently as the thin shell of fla pulsed around him. Her expression was unreadable.
Then her lips began to move.
Fast.
Too fast.
The chant that flowed from her mouth was long, layered, and utterly alien. It wasn't mana-based in the conventional sense.
It felt older. Deeper. Like sothing etched into existence rather than spoken.
Evan paused several steps away, trying to listen.
Nothing made sense.
The cadence twisted in on itself, syllables folding and reforming before his mind could grasp them. Even his system offered no translation.
He gave up.
This was beyond him.
He turned away, moving further down the mountain ridge, letting her work undisturbed while he checked himself.
Three Destined Ones.
That was the count.
Three beings the world itself leaned toward.
Among them, Kael had been the easiest.
And Evan knew the truth.
Without Vela, that fight would have ended the mont fear hollowed him out.
He glanced back.
The sword stood embedded upright in the stone, Vela hovering above it like a living fla halo.
Even restrained, the blade radiated a dangerous presence. Subtle. Controlled. But undeniably lethal.
'I hope this is enough rate of growth,' Evan thought. 'Because what's coming next won't wait for to catch up.'
Candidates.
Monarchs.
Entities that didn't play by the sa rules.
On this path, he would clash with them sooner or later. And when that ti ca, hesitation would be death.
Power wasn't optional.
It was mandatory.
Yet despite all of that, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
To sothing buried deep in mory.
Sothing unfinished.
...
~~~Four hours Later~~~
Vela finally stopped chanting.
The blade beneath her humd, its glow dimming for a fraction of a second before stabilising again. Evan felt it instantly.
A pull.
His mana drifted toward the sword, not forcefully, but steadily.
He frowned and approached.
Kael was encased in a thin, cocoon-like orb of fla now, breathing steadily within. Evan picked up the sword planted within the ground beside it and narrowed his eyes.
"Why is it draining my mana?" he muttered.
No system alert appeared.
No warning.
No explanation.
Then Arven spoke.
"Because, fool, that ritual cost her," the old relic said lazily. "And since she's bound to you, guess who foots the bill?"
Evan stiffened.
"And here I thought you wanted peace," Arven continued, amused. "Don't worry. I'll go quiet again. Enjoy~~~"
Silence returned.
Evan stared at nothing for a long mont.
'So you heard everything…' he thought darkly. 'Then why do I still have to talk out loud to you every ti?'
No answer ca.
He exhaled slowly and slung the sword behind his back, hooking it into a position he rarely used. Normally, everything went into his inventory.
But maybe his sword ego hated confinent, and who wouldn't?
And if he didn't get a proper scabbard soon, this thing would eventually carve him in half while walking.
His gaze returned to Kael.
The cocoon pulsed steadily now.
"Hurry up," Evan muttered. "Soone's waiting for above."
He didn't know what truth awaited him there.
But he knew it wouldn't be kind.
The system chid.
Panels erupted into his vision.
"Oh," Evan murmured. "Right. This."
Ding! Ding!
[Host has defeated the Ruler's Candidate:
.]
[Candidate Proof seized.]
[All lands under the Candidate's dominance have been stripped of the Ruler's Seal.]
[Proof Seal collapsing… Core lost.]
[Total Rulership Obtained: 2.33% of the Zeroth Expanse.]
…
[Error.]
[Devouring Protocol Breached.]
[Source Identified.]
[Host's True Authority, ??? ?? ??e?>, has devoured the true fragnt of the Proof's Authority.]
[Fragnt integrated.]
…
[Total Rulership Obtained: 99.96%.]
[Remaining Requirent: 0 Proofs of Ruler's Candidate.]
[Host has gained Control Rights over the Expanse.]
[You have beco the Sole Candidate of the 0th Expanse.]
[Do you wish to assu the Expanse Ruler's Position?]
[Note: Acceptance will broadcast your existence to all Expanse Candidates.]
Evan raised a brow.
Again.
That authority.
Devouring everything.
Yet still invisible.
"So it's either absurdly powerful," he muttered, "or so damaged it can't even manifest yet."
He hoped it was the first.
Otherwise, the future would be ugly.
He closed the prompt without answering.
"Nah," he smirked. "Not until I get the full hundred percent. There's always a bonus for completion."
The panels faded.
He turned just in ti to feel it.
Kael's presence had changed.
Drastically.
The pressure leaking from the cocoon wasn't human anymore.
"…Is he advancing a tier?" Evan muttered. "Without the Ascension Hall?"
"Yes," Arven replied instantly. "Because your sword's ego shared her leftover Destined Luck with him."
Evan's eyes narrowed.
"His body's no longer human," Arven continued. "Lower hybrid. Phoenix and Man. Knock him out the mont he wakes."
A pause.
"I don't know which is more dangerous," Arven added dryly. "His new strength… or your attitude."
Evan cracked his neck.
"We'll see."
The cocoon trembled.
Ten minutes passed.
Cracks spread.
Flas surged outward as the orb shattered in a violent gust of energy.
Evan's hand tightened around his blade.
His senses sharpened.
Mana circulation accelerated.
In front of him stood Kael.
No longer the sa.
Not yet hostile.
But no longer harmless.
Evan didn't move.
This was a familiar yet unfamiliar territory of power.
A newly ascended being.
A variable even his past lives had never faced like this in this tier.
Yet beneath the tension—
There was curiosity.
A desire to asure the gap.
To see how far ahead… or behind… he truly was.
And whether that gap would close—
Or explode.
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