Elmi_barsorcere

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In a world where the remnants of an ancient, catastrophic war lie buried beneath the ash of a broken society, Kael Riven is an outcast, thrust into a brutal system that governs those with power. Born with a dark past and an even darker destiny, Kael discovers he is the heir to the Rampage Monarch, a being of destruction whose legacy is tied to the ruin of countless realms.

As Kael navigates the crumbling cities and forgotten ruins, he must come to terms with the chaos that comes with his newfound abilities, which grant him unimaginable power at the cost of his humanity. Along the way, he faces enemies who would use his power for their own gain, while a mysterious organization—The Ashen Order—seeks to control or destroy him. Torn between redemption and destruction, Kael’s path to ascension is fraught with betrayal, death, and the constant reminder of the terrible legacy he must inherit.

With each step toward his destiny, Kael grapples with his humanity, fighting to break free from the blood-soaked chains of his past, even as the ashes of those who came before him threaten to consume everything he has left. The only question that remains: can Kael rise above the ashes of his legacy, or will he become the very monster he's meant to defeat?


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Ashes of Ascension

For a moment, Kaien thought he had won.

Time stood still. The God Who Loops—an entity so vast, so infinite, so impossible—hung in the void, shattered and broken. Its form flickered like a dying flame, a ghost of its former power. But Kaien didn't trust it. He knew better than to believe the fight was over.

The God Who Loops screamed—not a roar, not a bellow, but a sound that tore at the fabric of the cosmos. The echoes of its voice ricocheted through the shattered timelines, shattering them further. The world around Kaien began to reassemble itself—wrongly. The Tower fractured into impossible angles, impossible spaces, folding in on itself. The air turned to ash.

"No… no way…" Kaien breathed, his body still burning with the remnants of his Temporal Blade's power.

"You think you can undo what I am?" The God's voice slithered through the space around him, dripping with venomous amusement. "You can't even escape yourself, Kaien Vale. You're bound by the loop. You are my creation."

Kaien took a step forward. His boots cracked the fractured floor beneath him, but his resolve was unshaken. His heart pounded, the weight of the God's presence suffocating. "Not anymore. Not now. I've broken free of your chains."

The God's laughter rippled through the collapsing dimension.

"You think you've broken free? How cute. How quaint. You are nothing but a phantom."

Kaien's eyes burned with fury. "I'm no phantom. I'm real. And so are the choices I made. So are the lives I've taken to get here."

"You've never taken a life," the God sneered. "You've stolen them. Stolen moments. Stolen futures. You are nothing but a parasite that lives off the threads of time, feeding on the scraps of those who came before you."

Kaien's grip tightened on his sword. It didn't matter. He had come too far, lost too much, to back down now.

"Then maybe it's time I become a predator."

The God's form swirled around him, reaching into every loop, every fragment. It pressed down on him, the weight of eternity crushing his chest.

"You can't fight me, Kaien. I've seen all of you. I've seen every version, every choice you've ever made—and they all lead to this."

Kaien laughed. It was a dark, bitter sound. "You think you know me?"

"I am nothing like the Kaien Vale you know. Not anymore."

Kaien's blade flickered in the void. He stepped forward again, faster this time. Time fractured again as his body blurred between infinite versions of himself—each Kaien unleashing a strike, a punch, an arc of impossible precision.

The God screamed again, but it wasn't in pain—it was in fury.

"I am not your plaything." Kaien's voice rang out like the sound of a thousand knives cutting through reality. "You're just a god who was too stupid to realize the future is never written."

And then Kaien did the unthinkable.

He reached out with his mind, his soul. He tore through the loops—not just his own, but the God's as well. Everything collapsed under the weight of his will. The timelines, the echoes, the loop—it all came crashing down.

"You've made a mistake," the God spat. "You don't know what you're unleashing."

"I know exactly what I'm unleashing."

In a final, desperate move, Kaien slashed through the very core of the God's existence. Time folded around him. Every reality, every moment, crumpled like paper.

And for the first time, the God Who Loops screamed, truly screamed, in raw, unfiltered fear.

CHAPTER 24: THE GOD WHO WEEPS