Chapter 12 - He Who Bears the Genesis Wound
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『Kyther vs. The Beast Thrones of Graval-Dar』
Setting: The Savage Arena of Graval-Dar
Location: A massive natural coliseum carved into an active volcano's caldera. Lava flows spiral around ancient basalt pillars, and the sky above is an eternal twilight, tinted blood-red by volcanic ash. The very ground roils and heavens with savage energy, and thunderous roars echo from hidden caverns. In central pits, Elder Beast Thrones, gigantic crystalline seats of bone and obsidian yearn for a challenger. Four [Primal Wildgods] await:
• Tharugon the Stormscale (wyrm of electrified scales)
• Brongar the Earthrend (Colussus of stone, horned and draconic)
• Fralzokk the Abyssstride (Shadow tiger fused with molten obsidian)
• Calistia the Flame-Loom (phoenix-queen of incandescent ash)
Atop each throne sits the raw embodiment of instinctual violence, crowned with primal crowns made of molten bone. Their mission; to test all challenges to the death.
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Kyther descended from the sky like a comet of molten platinum, landing amid a crater's lip with a thunderous impact that cracked the ground in five-meter fissures.
Each crack hissed with escaping steam and rock-splinters of magma runes. His eyes glowed molten red, reflecting the dying light of the volcano's core.
He let loose a [Primordial Roar,] a Seismic shriek that shattered beast-thrones and rattled cavern walls. The four Wildgods roared in response:
Tharugon's voice crackled like lightning
"Kyther Lionheart, brand of the first war. Approach if you dare, taste storm's wrath!"
Brongar: "Your roar is empty mine will break your bones!"
(AN: Wha???)
Fralzokk: "Your path ends in midnight's hunger, prince."
Calistia: "You bring destruction yet I give rebirth in flame. Let's test the spark in your heart."
Kyther grinned, shoulders rippling with magma scales. He cracked his knuckles, summoning the [Primordial Ember Field] a blazing aura of magma fragments that danced around his limbs.
Kyther boasted arrogantly
"I carve my path through storms, stone, shadow, and fire. Let the primal blood flow!"
He vaulted forward, dealing with them one by one in quick succession.
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Kyther vs. Tharugon (Stormscale Wyrm)
Tharugon swooped down, wings tearing thunder across the blood-red sky. Each flap sent arcs of lightning down to scorch the basalt floor. Kyther raised an arm, forging a [Magma Gauntlet] a fist of hardened magma that crackled with starscorch beneath basalt. He met Tharugon's lightning with a punch that grounded the storm into a miniature [Voltaic eruption]. Sparks crackled, and Tharugon recoiled a lightning arc that melted magma to glass beneath his claws.
Kyther grinned, stepping through the molten glass with bare feet. He raised his other hand, summoning [Volcanic Spinefall] a hail of floating magma spines that stabbed at Tharugon's underbelly. The wyrm writhed, lightning arcing off each spike, but could not shake off the molten claws. Kyther dropped the final spine, then launched himself upward, wrapping his arms around Tharugon's neck and squeezing with [Titanbone Grip] a strength gleaned from his draconic ancestry. Tharugon's fury and lightning fizzled out as Kyther squeezed with inhuman force, fracturing the wyrm's chain of storm.
Tharugon collapsed, electrostatic sparks flickering off his final breath. Kyther kicked off Tharugon's crystalline storm-horns, hurling them aside.
"Storm falls before primal rage!"
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『Kyther vs. Brongar (Earthrend Colussus)』
Before Brongar's massive form could fully rise Kyther vaulted high, transforming his [Magma Gauntlet] into serrated [Volcanic claws]. He slashed diagonally, gouging a trench of molten sill from the beast's flank. Brongar roared, stomping the ground, each step causing pillars to tilt and walls to shudder.
Kyther spun into a [Volcanic Whirl] a drill-like attack that digs through basalt like water through glass. He drilled toward Brongar's leg, intending to collapse the colossus. Yet Brongar crushed the drill's flat with a [Monolith Slam] his fist slamming down, sending Kyther rocketing backward into a river of magma.
Kyther punged into the magma, but surfaced in an arch of steam with a grin. He forged a [Magma Spike Shield,] slamming it upward to divert Brongar's rampaging advance. Brongar's chest accustomed to withstanding entire mountainbreaks splintered some, but not before Kyther vaulted upward, riding a geyser of molten stone into the colossus's open maw.
Inside Brongar's ribcage, Kyther unleashed [Primordial Roar II] a focused shockwave meant to crush sustenance from within. Brongar's bones cracked from the inside out; the world shifted as his pillars collapsed inward, burying colossus beneath his ruin.
"You... are... the mountain's collapse."
Kyther waded through the quake's aftershocks, clutching some of Brongar's granite-perrified heartstone
"And you were just a footstool. Next"
Kyther mocked Brongar
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Fralzokk emerged from a cavern's maw, her obsidian-flecked fur glowing with lava-hot fissures. Her eyes were polished onyx; her claws glowed with molten red. Each step sighed with subterranean echoes. She curled her back in a predatory arch.
Fralzokk hissed
"My realm devours all... including strong kings. You bleed through magma alone."
Kyther laughed, forging [Ignite Talons] along his hands, claws of searing magma steel. He dashed forward, weaving through Fralzokk's shadow leaps as she struck with [Abyssal Fang Slam], a blow that would pulverize solid rock. Kyther dodges by twisting his body in mid-air, leaving trails of [Smoke Illusions] behind him. He descended on Fralzokk's flank, driving his Ignite Talons into her flank. Fralzokk roared, unleashing a [Molten Pounce] a leap that erupted in geysers of lava upon impact.
Kyther rolled free, his claws scorching grooves into the ground. He then wove the [Genesis Beast Thread] into [Ironroot Lashes] Whips of living basalt that wrapped around Fralzokk's legs, forcing her to crash into a pillar. The impact sent shockwaves through Fralzokk's form as her molten essence leeched into the basalt, briefly solidifying her. She shattered like lazy obsidian shards.
"Your hunger ends here, beast of the abyss."
He pried out a shard of her obsidian-ash an essence of primal shadow, stowing it on his belt.
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『Kyther vs. Calistia (Phoenix-queen of Incandescent Ash』
Finally, the ground trembled and split as a Phoenix-Quee. Of molten ash and cosmic flame, "Calistia" Descended in a blizzard of incandescent feathers. She cried a [Phoenix Song], a lament for fallen worlds that coalesced into a [Crown of Eternal Flame] on her head. Her wings, each a living bonfire, beat in sync with volcanic eruptions beneath her.
Calistia's voice echoed through the burning cosmos
"Kyther Lionheart, mortal forged by Mammon's flame, witness the end of your story in ashes!"
She initiated a [Pyroclastic Tornado] a cyclone of molten feathers and burning embers that devoured any light. Kyther charged, forging a [MagmaKnuck Shield] a molten fist with granite plating on the knuckles. He slammed it into the tornado, dissipating the pyroclasts into harmless embers. The force rushed Calistia backward, but she flicked her wrist, hurling a [Phoenix Whip] a strand of burning ash that cracked like a snap of solar fury.
Kyther extended his other arm, weaving a [Basalt Girdle] a ring of living rock that deflected the whip and sent it ricocheting into a pillar, shattering it. He then forged [Volcanic Hoofs] on his feet, solid magma stone, granting him brute stomps. He leapt upward, twisting into a [Draconic Spinstrike] a move that combined his draconic ancestry and primal force, delivering a series of spinning kicks that carved grooves into Calistia's lower wings.
Calistia screamed, unleashing a [Solar Phoenix Flare] a blinding explosion of light and flame that incinerated everything within 50 meters. Kyther's skin charred, but he pressed on, wading through liquid flame as though walking through steam. He reached Calistia's core-chamber her hearth an ever-resplendent ember at the center of her chest and slammed his magma-knuck shield into it. The impact ricocheted like a meteor strike, dispersing Calistia's form into a swirl of Ashen Feathers that drifted into nothingness.
Kyther exhaled, limbs trembling from the final blow, and plucked a single [Phoenix Ember] from the remains, a feather still glowing with the last spark of sentience.
"I claim the flames and bind them to my name. No pr axes shall betray the Lionheart's reign."
Kyther said while raising the ember aloft.
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Kyther staggered from the arena, carrying four primal essence shards at his belt. The volcanic caldera rumbled behind him, forging new stalactites as if to bury the savage arena forever. The Wildgods lay shattered; their thrones, once hammered from bones of titans, collapsed into molten rock.
Kyther paused at the crater's edge, looking skyward as grenatous ash drifted across the twilight dome.
"My roar echoes in every crater, let no beast usurp my birthright."
He faded in a swirl of ember dust, drifting back toward the Lionheart Dream where his quest would find its end.
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『Ashborn vs. The Time-Sundering Eldergods of Chronon-Veil』
Setting: The Temporal Bastion of Chronon-Veil.
Location: A fortress that floats between second, its architecture folded in paradox. Giant clock-towers recline at impossible angles; staircases loop back on themselves. Sheer walls are covered in shifting runes that depict a thousand timelines at once. At the heart of the bastion lies the [Chrono Nexus] A swirling eddy of broken hours, minutes frozen and unmade, and cosmic sand leaking through cracked hourglasses. Six [Time-Sundering Eldergods] wait here, Chronomancers whose mere presence bends past, present, and future:
• Aeonrax "The First Moment" - Elder of Origin Points
• Kalindris "Breaker of hours" - Harbinger of Sundering Seconds
• Tempestra "Weaver of Days" - Mistress of Loomed Future
• Thyronus " The Paradox Sentinel" - Guardian of Causal Loops
• Eveloth "The Everborn" - Embodiment of Cyclical Time
• Zhar'Kaal "The final Countdown" - Arbiter of Endings
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Ashborn stepped through the [Chrono-Glyph Gate] with the six fragments Codex embedded in his heart. He gasped as he first felt the bastion's temporal currents tug on his bones, past wounds flaring and future hopes shimmering. He had no Cosmic Core yet only the raw force of his [Genesis Thread] and his youthful Affinities:
All-elements, Oblivion Glyphs, Soulmancy Incantations, Draconic Arts, Holy Fire, and Demonic Wrath.
He advanced, each footstep stretching time. Seconds lengthened into stretching ribbons of taffy, then snapped back as the bastion's paradox refused to let him dwell. He heard six voices, an eldritch chorus of time undone and redone.
Aeonrax's voice echoes from everywhere
"Ashborn lionheart... You who were never born but forged from first cosmic decay. Why do you violate the sanctum of birth and decay?"
Kalindri's voice slicing like a sundial's sharp shadow.
"Second will not hold fast when you tread here, child of static Genesis. Prepare to be erased."
Ashborn tightened his jaw. He wove his [Genesis Thread] around his arms, forging invisible [Chrono Twine] a thin web that could stabilize momentary rupture
Ashborn answered back while gritting his teeth.
"You sunder time, but I Sydney the bound, am the genesis before time. Attempt to erase me, and you'll see who writes eternity."
(AN: Nmms)
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Aeonrax emerged from the walls, an elder figure whose body repeated itself in fractal reflections. Each of the [Primordial Epoch] he represented every first tick of creation. His eyes glowed with the shimmer of newly formed stars.
He extended a hand, generating an [Origin Pulse] a wave of temporal force aimed at reinserting Ashborn's genesis back into the void. The wave struck Ashborn's midsection, sending him tumbling through a 'Fracture in moment' an event where he felt every fraction of his life undone in reverse.
Ashborn screamed against the assault. He recast his [Genesis Thread] into a [Temporal Anchor] a glowing loop that caught the backlash and prevented his erasure. With one fluid motion, he wove a set of [Oblivion Glyphs] into a circle beneath Aeonrax's feet, glyphs that severed Aeonrax's connection to 'The first moment.' Aeonrax staggered as his reflection flickered.
"My Genesis is eternal, bound no first moment."
He lunged forward, using [Draconic Blast] he exhaled a conflagration of Primordial fire that struck Aeonrax's fractal form. The fire did not consume Aeonrax but forced the elder to condense into a single entity, weakening his temporal anchor.
"Impossible... You... Exist beyond the first spark..."
But Ashborn seized the moment, conjuring [Soulmancy Requiem] A chant that siphoned Aeonrax's willwoven hours into fractal dust. The elder crumpled, flickering out in a cascade of reverse tick-sounds.
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- The Sands of Broken Minutes
Kalindris moves next, her silhouette never constant, her form flickering like a broken time-lapse. She wielded twin [Hourglass Scepters,] each containing sand from collapsed timelines. She pressed them together, initiating the [Sundered Hourglass Crescendo] embers of time exploded in a roar that fractured every moment in Ashborn's immediate vicinity. Every heartbeat he'd ever had rushed backward and forward in dissonant echo.
Ashborn choked on his distorted memories, feeling childhood triumphs and future grief collide. He pressed his hand to his chest, forging a [Genesis Shield] a bubble of unbroken time tethered to his soul. The Temporal explosion struck the shield, cracking it like a fragile mirror.
"You rend time into shreds... but I will wear your broken minutes as armor!"
With that, he summoned [Timeworn Draconic Claws] claws infused with dragon-time, born from the primal annals of ages yet unborn. He slashed at Kalindris. Each claw strike carved as [Temporal Rift Slash] a cut through the very fabric of done and undone. Kalindris became a cascade of cascading minutes, each version fractured and reassembled as the blow landed.
"My hours... reassembled... reversed..."
She shattered into a swirl of Hourglass sands that drifted into the void, leaving only calm silence behind.
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- The Loom of Future Days
Tempestra emerged as shimmering figure braided with threads of silver-blue and coral dawn. Her entire form hummed with possibilities of tomorrow. She gestured, her fingers tracing runes in the air, conjuring a [Dayweaver's Loom] a woven tapestry of shimmering threads representing countless futures. She yanked at one thread, tightening it. The future of Ashborn's next second stiffened, as if compressed into unbreakable steel.
"Observe your destiny, child. I weave the days to bind you in my tapestry. Every strike you make... has been foretold."
Ashborn inhaled, his [Genesis Thread] weaving into his wings, sprouting translucent [Daybreak Wings] that glowed with nascent sunrise. He flapped, tearing through woven threads like a cyclone of dawn tearing aside illusions. With each flap, he forged a [New possibility Rift] a tear in Tampestra's tapestry that rewrote her loom at each pass.
"No future can be predicted when one holds the pen to rewrite it!"
Ashborn said determined
He stopped, pressing two fingers to his temple. His eyes flared with [Oblivion burst] he unleashed a sonic scream of [Soulmancy] that reverberated through the Loom, causing it to implode from the inside. Tampestra's form flickered, unraveling in silent tears of potential.
"Your... fate... belongs... to fate... untold!"
She dissolved into a cascade of silver-blue filaments that scattered beneath Ashborn's feet. The tapestry collapsed into endless nothingness.
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Thyronus emerged next: a colossal figure wreathed in mirrored plates that reflected every moment at once. Time around him cracked into paradoxical shards, each reflection showing Ashborn's possible death. The ground beneath Ashborn shifted into a Paradox Maze, a wall of reflective memory that twisted paths backward and forward.
Thyronus: "One step to the left, your future is eviscerated. One step to the right, your past unravels. This Labyrinth is both your beginning and end."
Ashborn froze, stepping tentatively on the black-and-silver tiles. He spun in place, his [Genesis Thread] weaving a [Chrono Compass] an orb of fused light and shadow that pointed toward 'Right actions.' The Labyrinth's walls undulated, yet the compass' arrow held true.
He dashed forward, forging a path in a sequence of leaps, each jump dissolving the contradictory mirrors behind him. He invoked [Draconic Phase Strike] phasing through one reflection of himself that sought to trap him in a 'Did-not-exist' loop. He struck Thyronus's mirrored shield with a [Lunar-Oblivion Cleave] a slash that combined his moon Affinity's shadow and Oblivion's erasure.
Each strike created a [Temporal Reverb] an echo that shattered Thyronus's mirrored form into a thousand fractal reflections. Thyronus roared as each reflection collapsed, each echo of his paradox dissolved.
"But... my paradox... is eternal..."
He poofed, leaving behind a single shard of mirrored time that fragments around Ashborn's feet like crystal dust.
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Eveloth appeared as a youth and an ancient simultaneously, her body split into two halves: one rotting with age, the other blossoming in perpetual spring. She sang a [Cycle Hymn] a loop of beginnings and endings that accelerated time around Ashborn: his wounds opened and closed in rapid rhythm, his youth flickered, then aged, then returned.
"Ashborn Lionheart, child of Genesis and ending, Observe the wheel of time. You are both blossom and dust. You cannot outrun my cycle."
Time around Ashborn flickered. He felt his childhood and some distant cosmic future overlapping. He pressed his hand to his chest and wove the [Genesis Thread] into a [Temporal Stasis Cage] a small, slow-motion bubble around himself that isolated him from Eveloth's cyclical pull.
"I am both bloom and dust, but I choose my season."
Bursting forth from the stasis, he forged a [Sunsteel Glaive] a spear made of crystallized day, drawing on his holy fire Affinity. He lunged, delivering a [Searing Thrust] through Eveloth's bloom side. She gasped as petals and ash rained, but the spear only clipped her, forcing her to cycle in reverse for a heartbeat, seeing her ancient self warp into infancy.
Seizing the moment, Ashborn flicked the spear and summoned a [Soulmancy Lament] a wail that coalesced Eveloth's cycle into a single line of flux, collapsing her duality. Eveloth's form snapped like a snapped wheel, her youth and age imploding into a single point of light before vanishing in a swirl of white-gold dust.
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Zhar'Kaal remained, the ultimate Arbiter of ends. He emerged as a phantom countdown timer: his body a tower of shifting numbers, each digit a pulse of certain death. He didn't speak; instead, the countdown itself ticked around him:
"05:04:03:02:01..."
Each second vibrated through Ashborn's bones, each tick a reminder of mortality. When the countdown reached zero, Zhar'Kaal would unmake Ashborn's existence.
Ashborn felt his core destabilize as he counted down to 00:00. His face waned, memories flickering as though destined to unravel.
"Not... not yet."
He forced his will, and at the last heartbeat, he whipped his [Genesis Thread] into an [Infinite Loop Knot] a boundless knot that prevented the countdown from reaching zero. The zero reversed to 99, then 98, the loop scattering the countdown across infinity.
Zhar'Kaal form flickered as the loop's echo spread. He formed a [Chrono Spike] a blade made of unwritten endings, aimed directly at Ashborn's chest.
Ashborn closed his eyes, weaving [Oblivion Glyphs in five arcs around him. The glyphs formed a [Temporal Mirror] redirecting Zhar'Kaal's blade black into the countdown's source. The source shattered, the numbers collapsing into swirling dust.
Zhar'Kaal's last breath was silent a silent "00" echoing through the void. His presence evaporated like unseen smoke.
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Ashborn stood alone among the wreckage of fractured time. The Chrono nexus collapsed inward, burying broken hourglasses and shattered clocks beneath waves of nothingness. The Labyrinth of Paradox shifted back into normality; the city of time, once streaming in every direction paused to stillness.
Ashborn's chest heaved. His [Genesis Thread glowed bright, weaving itself into a Seventh Fragment, a living orb of untold potential that hovered before him.
"Time... yields to those who weave it... But I will never let it unravel again."
He plucked the orb into his chest.
"Mother... my vigil is eternal."
With that, the Time Bastion collapsed entirely, leaving Ashborn alone on an empty plain. He closed his eyes, hearing faint echoes of each pantheon's last cry fade like whispers in the void. The dream trembled around him.
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Aftermath: Heroes Return to the Celestial Dreamscape
One by one, each sibling returned to the central platform of the Celestial Dreamscape, each carrying their trophies:
• Seraphira returned with a single [shard of stained glass,] tinted violet by false dawn's betrayal.
• Dravion carried the six [Cinder Chains] of fallen Forge-Gods.
• Nyxa bore a [Moonsteel shard] taken from Orphexis's shattered mirror.
• Kyther held three primal essence shards [Storm-Horn, Skylord Scale, and Abyss-ash ember.]
• Ashborn appeared in a shimmer of Genesis light, cradling the [Seventh Fragment,] glowing white-silver.
They gathered before their mother's throne, battered and unbowed.
"Well done, my children, my executioners of false divinity. You have reclaimed what was mine: dawn, forge, dream, primordial wrath, and time itself. Through your trials, you have shown that the Lionheart blood endures beyond any pantheon's treachery."
She rose, her presence filling the Dreamscape with a wave of creation and dissolution:
"Tonight, the betrayers lie broken across realms. But let this be a lesson, no god, no idea, no dream may rise against the Lionheart. Rest now, my heirs, for the wars of old have ended. A new age dawns under your watch."
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The five siblings, drenched in blood, myth, and brilliance, knelt before their mother, Queen Ashley Lionheart, Monarch of the Lionheart domain, her gaze fell upon each of them, their trophies still warm with the divine deaths of slain legends.
Around them, the cosmic court of elders, Archons and planetary spirits bowed in hushed awe, for this was a rite of power long buried in the Age Before memory.
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『Seraphira - Warden of Lightgraves』
She stood with wings furled, but their golden blades still shimmered with
Blood-radiance. Her battle gown, tattered yet defiant, radiated shifting hues of dawn and dusk. She carried one artifact: a violet shard of stained star-glass, the final remnant of the [Cathedral of Aralon,] corrupted by the false dawn.
"Their hymns tried to blind me, Mother. But I am your blade, not their choir."
Flashback - Combat:
Seraphira snapped her fingers; the shattered staff's fragments dissolved into motes of remembrance. The cathedral's floating architecture began to collapse. Seraphira ascended swiftly, chanting the final refrain of her choir. Golden beams collapsed inward, pulling stone and glass upward before arresting the implosion in a single, silent moment.
Above, the [Cathedral of Platinum Dawn] disassembled itself, drifting apart like dying galaxy fragments. Seraphira rose into the void, leaving nothing but ash and echoes behind.
Reward:
Title: Dawncutter Seraphira, Harbinger of the Shattered Choir
Power Gained: [Liturgical Refraction] - Can weaponize enemy light-based or sound-based magic, twisting hymns and beams into soul-shards.
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『Dravion - Infernal Starsmith』
Dravion knelt with six [Cinder Chains] wrapped around his armored limbs - chains still steaming with divine heat. His obsidian beard glistened with molten sparks, and each of his massive gauntlets bore the brand of the forge gods he'd slain.
"They forged eternity, but forgot the hammer breaks before my will."
Flashback - Combat:
In the molten Labyrinths of Varr-Um, Dravion waded through magma and iron storms. Hrothgar swung a titan's anvil, but Dravion ducked low and shattered it with a punch that created a volcanic cyclone.
Zar'Korr called Starfire down. Dravion caught it in a chain and strangled him with it.
Malthros the Unforging tried to erase Dravion's weapons from existence but one by one, he brought them low shackling their dying souls into chains.
Kamazath the Ashforger fell last, whispering a curse that Dravion devoured with laughter.
(AN: Kind of difficult ik)
Reward:
Title: Breaker of Binds, Gaunt-Willed Dravion
Power Gained: [Chain-Smith Dominion] - Can bind gods, seal souls, or forge armor from conceptual essence mid-battle.
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『Nyxa - The Umbramancer』
Nyxa rose silently, her breath a cold vapor. Her fingers delicately held a moonsteel shard reflecting a fractured mirror, taken from Orphexis, the prophet of lunar illusions.
"The moon lies. I removed its tongue."
Flashback - Combat:
Nyxa lunged upward, delivering a final silent slash to Orphexis's core, her celestial Swords merging into a [Singularity Crescent] that severed Orphexis's connection to all nine moons. The hall went silent; the Nine Pillars dimmed to pale flickers.
Orphexis collapsed in a swirl of moonlight-ash, her final breath a whisper of shattered darkness. Nyxa stood amid the ruined gleam, cloak billowing like a living shadow.
Reward:
Title: Silence That Hunts the Dreaming Moon
Power Gained: [Fracture Paradox] - Can split into quantum echoes across timelines; immune to illusions, memory, or identity-based magic.
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『Kyther - The Worldbreaker』
Kyther walked barefoot, each step echoing with a primal thunder. Slung across his back were three primal essence shards: one storming, one smoldering, one vibrating with the breath of titanic predators.
"They spoke in roars. I answered with extinction,"
Flashback - Combat;
In the savage wilds of Graval-Dar, Tharugon flew with thunder in his veins but Kyther leapt skyward and broke his wings with his bare fist.
Brongar tried to crush him with tectonic rage but Kyther suplexed the beast into a mountain, shattering its crown.
Fralzokk, agile as flame and shadow, clawed at him with molten blades but Kyther tore out his fangs and used them as knuckle spikes.
Finally, Calistia, a phoenix born of solar Cataclysm, burned him from within. He grinned through the fire, bit her neck, and crushed her heart in his jaws.
Reward:
Title: King-slayer of the Wildblood Thrones
Power Gained: [Primal Crown Ascendance] - Absorbs beast-god traits into his body; can manifest storm, flame, and shadow-forms mid-battle.
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『Ashborn - The Young Flame』
Ashborn emerged last. Wrapped in white-silver light, his cloak shimmered with remnants of infinity. In his hand, he held a [Genesis Fragment], pulsing in broken heartbeat rhythm, evidence that Chrono itself had tried to end him. And failed.
"They showed me time unraveled. I showed them time rewritten in flame."
Ashborn conjured [Soulmancy Requiem] A chant that siphoned Aeonrax's willwoven hours into fractal dust. The elder crumpled, flickering out in a cascade of reverse tick-sounds...
Ashborn summoned [Timeworn Draconic Claws] claws infused with dragon-time, born from the primal annals of ages yet unborn. He slashed at Kalindris. Each claw strike carved as [Temporal Rift Slash] a cut through the very fabric of done and undone. Kalindris became a cascade of cascading minutes, each version fractured and reassembled as the blow landed....
Ashborn's eyes flared with [Oblivion burst] he unleashed a sonic scream of [Soulmancy] that reverberated through the Loom, causing it to implode from the inside. Tampestra's form flickered, unraveling in silent tears of potential...
Ashborn invoked [Draconic Phase Strike] phasing through one reflection of himself that sought to trap him in a 'Did-not-exist' loop. He struck Thyronus's mirrored shield with a [Lunar-Oblivion Cleave] a slash that combined his moon Affinity's shadow and Oblivion's erasure. Each strike created a [Temporal Reverb] an echo that shattered Thyronus's mirrored form into a thousand fractal reflections. Thyronus roared as each reflection collapsed, each echo of his paradox dissolved....
Ashborn flicked the spear and summoned a [Soulmancy Lament] a wail that coalesced Eveloth's cycle into a single line of flux, collapsing her duality. Eveloth's form snapped like a snapped wheel, her youth and age imploding into a single point of light before vanishing in a swirl of white-gold dust.
Ashborn weave [Oblivion Glyphs] in five arcs around him. The glyphs formed a [Temporal Mirror] redirecting Zhar'Kaal's blade black into the countdown's source. The source shattered, the numbers collapsing into swirling dust. Zhar'Kaal's last breath was silent a silent "00" echoing through the void. His presence evaporated like unseen smoke.
Reward:
Title: The Eternal Schism, He who Laughs at Hours
Power Gained: [Genesis Pulseflux] - Can fracture and weave reality-threads of time, weaponizing alternate futures and branching potential into real-time attacks.
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Ashley rose from her throne, wings of starlight unfurling, her voice both lullaby and apocalypse.
"My children... You bring me realms shattered and gods humbled. You are no longer heirs. You are Scions of Dominion, Wielder of the Broken Aeons."
She moved from child to child, touching their foreheads, and branding them with astral glyphs only they could bear. The court trembled as galaxies wept and stars flared, unable to bear witness.
She gifted them "Mythic Regalia" Garments and relics that could bend entire realms, and newly forged [Ascension Sigils] that would evolve with their myth.
And then she turned toward the stars, and said...
"Let the cosmos hear this: My blood does not conquer. My blood rewrites creation."
The next mission awaited. And now... they were more than weapons.
They were inevitabilities.
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To be continued...