The sky over Noctheron cracked with a thunderous roar.
Not thunder.
Aura.
Raw, unfiltered aura that tore through the clouds like a divine blade. A pulse rippled from the heart of the marsh, washing through the swampy wasteland with the force of a tidal wave, bending trees, cracking the earth, and silencing the monsters that called this cursed place home.
At the epicenter stood Kael Arclight—chest bare, body scorched, eyes glowing like a dying star reborn. His aura flared, no longer just ashen, but pulsing with fused embers of something far more ancient.
He wasn't breathing heavily.
He was breathing deep.
"Haaah..." he exhaled, voice low, calm, dangerous. His eyes locked on the towering Eternal-Spawn in front of him.
"What a strong aura."
The creature—a twisted abomination of sinew, shadow, and golden bone—let out a screeching wail. It towered over Kael, easily three stories high, its long, insectoid arms dragging behind it like skeletal spears. Its body shimmered with an unstable fusion of Abyssal and Celestial aura, a contradiction that should not have existed.
But it did.
Because the Eternals broke the rules.
And so would Kael.
"Kael!" Lyra's voice pierced through the chaos as she slid down a cracked tree trunk, shielding herself with the Sunveil Feather. Golden light flared around her as she caught sight of him—different now, terrifyingly so. "You can't handle this alone! That's a full-class Eternal-Spawn!"
Kael didn't answer. His eyes didn't leave the creature.
Zera, perched on a jagged spire of stone nearby, narrowed her eyes. "He's going to push beyond the limit again. Tch… stupid, brilliant fool."
Drayke Norr, bloodied but grinning, leaned on his Infernal Gauntlets. "If he dies, I'm taking his kill."
"Over my dead aura," Lyra snapped.
"Exactly."
Kael stepped forward.
One foot. The marsh sizzled.
Two. The air vibrated.
He wasn't just walking. He was tuning.
His aura, once a swirling mass of gray and black, now shimmered with flecks of flame, light, and something else—mist.
Ashen Fusion: Core Sync - Bladesoul + Revenant + Mist Echo
Effect: Temporarily grants Kael the ability to phase through non-divine attacks, gain aura echoes of recent deaths in the area, and duplicate a portion of enemy aura for ten seconds.
Time limit: 45 seconds.
Cooldown: One week.
Kael vanished.
A blink—not teleportation, not speed. Just pure aura displacement.
He appeared on the Eternal-Spawn's shoulder, blade forged from ash and essence drawn in a rising arc.
CLANG!
The creature swatted, but Kael passed through the limb, slicing cleanly through an aura-core embedded beneath its collar.
Screech.
The world trembled.
Kael landed on the ground, sliding backward, boots digging trenches into mud and stone.
He wasn't done.
"Lyra," Kael called, his voice sharper now, commanding. "Cover Drayke."
"What about you—"
"I'll deal with this one."
Lyra bit her lip. She could feel the weight in his voice. The pain. The acceptance.
"Don't die," she whispered.
"I won't."
The Eternal-Spawn shifted forms, body elongating, dozens of wings sprouting from its back—seraphic yet rotted. A new power surged from it: Domain Expansion – Cradle of Collapse.
Black petals rained down.
A dome of shifting reality enclosed them. Within it, gravity inverted, time stuttered, and vision warped.
Drayke slammed a fist into the ground outside the dome. "Dammit! He's in!"
"Kael," Zera murmured. "Let's see how far you've come."
Inside the domain—
Kael stood still.
Breathing.
Feeling.
Sensing.
The world shifted violently around him.
But he remained anchored.
His eyes slowly adjusted. Through the fractal chaos, he saw flickers of memory—the faces of the fallen, the monsters he had slain, the people he couldn't save.
All of them. Watching.
Judging.
He raised his blade.
Ashen Veil – Form Two: Soul Reclaimer
Aura surged like a hurricane. The domain shuddered.
Kael struck.
Once. Twice. A flurry of silent cuts.
Each swing cleaved through space, memory, time. The Eternal-Spawn reeled.
Kael's blade glowed—siphoning echoes.
A child's laughter. A soldier's scream. A healer's prayer.
He absorbed them all.
Revenant Requiem – Final Call
Kael exploded into motion, his aura flaring into a towering wraith of ash and light. He dashed upward, blade overhead, body glowing from the inside out.
The creature roared, releasing a beam of pure destruction—Abyssal Celestial Surge.
Kael didn't dodge.
He screamed.
Clashed.
The impact ruptured the dome.
The sky shattered.
A rain of light poured down.
Silence followed.
Then—
A heartbeat.
When the dust cleared, Kael stood alone, his blade stabbed into the cracked skull of the Eternal-Spawn. His chest heaved. Blood leaked from his side.
But his eyes—
They burned brighter than ever.
"Status," he muttered.
[Aura Sync: 92%]
[Aura Rank: S – Bladesoul-Revenant Hybrid]
[New Skill Unlocked: Ashen Eclipse – Passive boost in all stats when fighting Eternals. Active: Channel soul-echoes of fallen allies for 15 seconds.]
[You have defeated an Eternal-Spawn.]
[Godhood Path Progress: 1%]
Kael pulled the blade free.
Drayke was the first to reach him.
"You done showing off?"
Kael gave him a half-smile. "You jealous?"
"Only of your kill count."
Lyra ran over, placing a hand on his chest. "You're hurt—"
"I'm alive."
Zera appeared beside them, silent as mist. "One down. Many more to go."
Kael looked to the horizon.
Noctheron's sky was still cracked. But light peeked through.
"One step closer," he said, eyes narrowing.
"To breaking the chains."
From the remains of the Eternal-Spawn, a flickering crystal rose. Black. Pulsing.