Chapter 12: Bloodline of Ashes
CHAPTER 12 : BLOODLINE OF ASHES
Lux stood alone in his cultivation room in silence.But it was not the normal silence.It was the stillness before ascension.Before a god awakened in mortal skin.
He stood alone in the cultivation chamber, the air saturated with divine energy so dense it shimmered like mist. The starlit lotus beneath him pulsed faintly, responding to the fire sleeping within his soul.
Lux reached into his robes and withdrew the plain black watch handed to him earlier by the commander. Thin, circular, and engraved with the Eternal Empire's emblem — a burning spear through a dying world — it projected a simple interface when tapped:
War Academy Identity Construct – Bound
Name: Lux
Rank: Initiate-Class (Outer Division)
Authority Level: Minimal Access
Map: Dormitory Spire (Floor 7170 – Private Quarters)
Permissions: Basic Training Zones, Outer Ring Classes
That was it.
No status screen. No talent readings. No cultivation data.
Because all of that belonged to something far more ancient.
He closed his eyes and reached inward.
And the Codex of Fate unfurled within his soul like a godly book of infinite pages of shifting starlight, inked in blood, destiny, and secrets long lost.
It whispered.
It always whispered.
[STATUS PAGE ACCESSED — CODEX OF FATE]
Name: Lux
Race: Sun Elf
Cultivation Technique: Golden Crow's Fate-Reversal Record
Current Realm: Initiate Realm (Early stage)
Golden Crows Awakened: 1
Divine Energy Capacity: 7.3 units
Fate Absorbed: 0
Physique: Incomplete — Primordial Sun Core forming…
Talent Grade: Undetermined
(Warning: Talent analysis corrupted. Codex fusion ongoing can't fully analyze Host)
Lux exhaled slowly.
The Codex had changed since his rebirth. No longer was it the detached. It breathed now. Lived. And when it had fused with the ancient solar scripture—Golden Crow's Fate-Reversal Record—it became something not even his past self could comprehend.
A technique once meant to birth fire that could burn the world was now fused with fate itself.
Time. Laws. Karma. Destiny.
All of it could burn.
All of it could also be reversed.
Lux lowered his head. Beneath his flesh, the first Golden Crow stirred in his dantian, its three legs folded, its wings smoldering with embryonic radiance. It nested within his solar core, sleeping for now—but its heartbeat pulsed alongside his own.
Lux knew no one in the War Academy must ever know.
Not the generals. Not the professors. Not even his fellow students.
Because if they did…
They would kill him before his wings ever opened.
Hours Later
The door chimed softly.
Lux stepped out of his chamber and into a platform corridor where four attendants waited. All wore crimson and silver, their movements precise and silent.
One held a folded uniform — sleek black woven with golden threads and a majestic golden robe with a black patterns woven in its sleeves , its right shoulder embroidered with the faint sigil of a spear piecing a dying world. Another held boots formed from Voidhide leather, another a silver badge denoting his division.
But the last, a girl with strange green eyes, held a second item:
A silver ring.
It glowed faintly with authority seals.This ring was space ring with enough space to fit a house.
"Lux, initiate of the War Academy," she said. "By decree of Commander rheakar , you are granted the minimum honors of a celestial Scion."
The word felt foreign on their tongues.
Celestial Scion.
Him?
He accepted the uniform without a word, dressed silently, and attached the ring to his finger.
That was hidden inside him, where only the Codex could see.
The attendants bowed and vanished.
Lux was left alone again.
He stared at his reflection on the polished wall—tall for his age, golden eyes sharp, hair glowing faintly with emberlight. His robes made him look noble.He looked important .
And as the elevator platform lifted him toward the Academy's peer hall, he saw visions.
A sword through the stars.
He gritted his teeth.
The future was always loud in his ears.
Lecture hall – students Wing
There were dozens of them already waiting.
Boys and girls from the Inner and Middle Rings, dressed in pristine uniforms, carrying family crests, their backs straight and eyes burning with arrogance.
And then…
Silence.
As Lux entered.
He walked in slowly, expression unreadable.
The moment they saw the black patterns stitched into his sleeve — the mark of the Outer Rings — a shift passed through the hall like a phantom.
Some looked away, clearly disgusted.
Others smirked.
A few narrowed their eyes, calculating.
He met no one's gaze.
Instead, he walked calmly to the furthest empty bench and sat, his hands folded in his lap, gaze fixed on the violet banners above.
A murmur started.
"Outer Ring? Here?"
"How did he pass?"
"Wait… isn't that a Sun Elf boy?"
"Tch. Let's see how long he lasts."
But Lux did not flinch.
He had heard louder mockery from the mouths of his so called family.
In the shadows of the hall, a girl watched him.
Hair like woven silver starlight. Eyes of indigo and frost.
And next to her, another — taller, golden-skinned, carrying a blade on her back.
"That's him," the second girl murmured. "The one from the rumors. The only star child to come out of the outer rings ."
"Not just that," the frost-eyed girl said. "He arrived alone. No heralds. No guards. No sponsors."
At that moment, a bell rang.
The Head Instructor entered — tall, divine, his face partially masked, his aura concealed.
But his eyes flicked to Lux for the briefest second.
And narrowed.
Then the lesson began.