Nato7

The Awakening: Around 150 years ago, a mysterious event known as "The Rift" caused a dramatic shift in the world. This event opened portals from another dimension, bringing Essences—mysterious and powerful entities—into the world. These Essences granted some individuals extraordinary abilities and set in motion a global conflict.

Essence Warriors: These are people who possess the power of an Essence, which can take various forms depending on the individual’s soul and affinity. Some are born with their Essence powers from birth, while others awaken them later in life. These warriors are ranked according to their power level, and the rankings play a significant role in their status, training, and missions.

Essence Reborn

Korav coughed violently, blood staining his cloak as he tried to lift himself from the cratered steel beneath him. Riku stood tall above him, his Triad Divine Avatar still shimmering in radiant patterns—calm, but utterly overwhelming.

"You were strong," Riku said, his voice like cold thunder, "but you stood in my way."

Korav's eyes widened as he tried one final technique—a desperate glyph lighting under his palm—but Riku was already moving.

A silver flash.A strike through the heart.A burst of divine energy.

Korav gasped… then slumped, lifeless. His body disintegrated into essence dust, scattering through the bunker corridor like ash caught in a breeze.

Riku closed his eyes for a brief second. "One down…"

But there was no time to rest. His internal radar—finely attuned through years of honing both physical and essence senses—flickered with a new signature. A stronger one. A colder one.

He turned toward a door embedded deep in the bunker's sublevel, sealed behind an obsidian-like layer of reinforced essence alloy. Without hesitation, Riku raised his hand and pulsed a thin beam of divine essence through it. The door trembled… then shattered.

He was tall—slightly taller than Riku—with slicked-back black hair and a sleeveless combat cloak that shimmered with a blue infernal glow. Strange metallic bands wrapped around both his forearms, pulsing with heartbeat-like rhythm.

He stepped forward, slow and deliberate, and spoke with an eerie calmness:

"So… you're Riku Hayashi. The Celestial One.""I expected more damage from the Triad form."

The man smirked. "Zeid. That's all you'll need before you die."

Riku narrowed his eyes. Zeid's essence pressure was different—controlled, like coiled lightning behind a glass wall. This one wasn't like Korav. He wasn't just a fighter.

Without warning, Zeid raised his hand, and the bunker walls around them twisted into jagged essence spikes—then launched at Riku in an instant.

Riku blurred forward, crashing through them as silver fractals lit the chamber.

The next High Code had arrived.

Chapter 166: Into the Fire