The silence that followed was thick with the scent of burnt ozone and blood. Kael stood in the cratered ruin of what was once the Trial's final chamber, chest rising and falling with the weight of survival. Shards of the Obsidian Warden's body crumbled around him, its final scream still echoing in the back of his skull like a phantom chorus.
But the System hadn't declared victory. Not yet.
Something stirred beneath the floor — deeper than the shattered stone, beneath the arcane web that had encased the chamber.
Kael's head snapped up as a soft chime rang in his mind.
[TRIAL COMPLETE. ACCESSING INNER CHAMBER.]
Warning: External Entity Detected. Unknown Signature Breaching Layer 7 Security Protocols.
The ground split.
Not shattered. Not ruptured.
Split — as if by a surgeon's scalpel slicing through flesh.
From the widening gash, a pale red glow bled into the chamber, and with it came an unbearable cold. Kael narrowed his eyes. The glow didn't come from flame, but from something alive. A heartbeat pulsed beneath it. Ancient. Slow. Monstrous.
Kael took a step back on instinct. His feet crunched against bone.
Not stone.
The ash around him hadn't been debris. It was calcified remains — hundreds of them, ground into the floor over centuries.
Then it emerged.
A figure, wrapped in layered bone-like armor that pulsed with veins of crimson light, stepped forward. Its face was hidden beneath a helm of ivory, carved with runes older than the System itself. A long, curved weapon hung at its side — a cleaver made from something that pulsed like living tissue.
Its presence crushed the room. Kael's knees threatened to buckle, but he stood firm.
[Unidentified Entity Detected: Title - "Ashborne Revenant"]
Level: ???
Threat Rating: Cataclysm-Class]
Note: Origin Outside Local System. Interference Unknown. Recommend Evacuation.
The Revenant stopped just beyond the veil of red light.
"You reek of the First Spark," it said, voice low and echoing — like someone whispering into a canyon of bones. "The Nullborn. Chosen by the Code, but abandoned by the Gods."
Kael clenched his fists. "You know what I am?"
"I know what you'll become," it replied. "And that is precisely why I've come."
Its weapon clicked — not as metal would, but like chitin shifting in place.
"I was bound to this place long before your flesh drew breath. The System buried me. Caged me. Because I refused to serve the Architects."
Kael's mind raced. Architects — plural. He hadn't heard that term since the first system-triggered vision. Even then, it had been fragmented, censored.
"What are you?"
"I am what remains," the Revenant said simply. "And what waits."
It raised a hand, and the red light flared, burning the fractured stone into glass.
"You have a choice, Kael of the Broken Line. Fight me here, and you die — and perhaps ascend in another life, if one is granted to you. Or… hear my offer."
Kael didn't move. "You're bound here. What could you possibly offer me?"
"A shard of freedom. The truth the System hides. And power — not from a god, but from something that devoured them."
Silence followed.
Then Kael spoke.
"I'll listen."
The Revenant smiled. It wasn't a human smile. The helm split, not to reveal a face, but an abyss — a swirling vortex of memories, screams, and… data.
Kael's body stiffened as the world around him blurred.
And then — he was somewhere else.
He stood in a place without form. A dying star loomed above, its light strangled by black chains made of code and symbols. Around him floated echoes — shattered images of other System users. Some cried. Others begged. All of them burned, dissolving into motes of silver.
At the center of it all, Kael saw a throne of bone. Empty. But not silent.
A voice, different from the Revenant's, whispered.
"The Ascension Code is a lie."
The echo hit him like a spear. He stumbled, grabbing his head.
"It does not guide you. It consumes you. Every trial, every level — not to strengthen, but to prepare you for integration."
Kael fell to one knee.
"I… don't believe that."
"You will."
The space collapsed.
Kael snapped back into the chamber, coughing blood. The Revenant stood motionless, waiting.
"I have shown you truth," it said. "Now make your choice."
Kael wiped his mouth, staring up.
"I don't serve liars. Not the System. Not you."
The Revenant didn't react. "Good."
It stepped forward.
"Then fight."
Without warning, the air shattered.
Kael barely raised his arm before the cleaver came down. Sparks exploded as his corrupted gauntlet met the Revenant's weapon. It felt like blocking a collapsing mountain — no finesse, just raw annihilation.
Kael skidded back, boots grinding through the glassed floor. The System chimed again.
[System Override: Battle Conditions Engaged]
[Trial Extension: Ashborne Pact - Activated]
Blood dripped from Kael's palm.
"Fine," he hissed. "Let's see if the System made a mistake choosing me."
The Revenant came again — faster.
Kael dodged left, barely missing the sweep of the cleaver, and retaliated with a surge of Nullfire through his left arm. He punched forward, the energy screaming through the air, but the Revenant simply turned and let it pass — absorbing it into the bone-plate along its chest.
[Damage Nullified. Adaptive Absorption Active.]
Kael's heart pounded.
He needed more.
Think. Move. Adapt.
His eyes flashed white — fully, completely. He dove beneath the Revenant's guard, palm sparking with a gravity surge he hadn't used since Floor Two. He slammed it into the ground.
The floor imploded.
Both of them fell — descending into the depths below the trial chamber.
Dust and arcane residue exploded in every direction.
Kael landed hard, rolling to his feet. The Revenant crashed opposite him, unfazed.
Around them, darkness pulsed like a living thing. They'd dropped into an underground sanctum — forgotten by time, but not untouched.
In the distance, a throne awaited. Broken. Covered in chains.
The Revenant looked toward it.
"…It begins here."
Kael didn't wait.
He moved — faster than before. Nullfire, gravity, and spatial compression surged at once. His fist crashed into the Revenant's side, cracking bone. The entity snarled, blood-like ichor spraying from its side.
[Critical Hit Registered]
[Enemy Armor Integrity Reduced - 6%]
Kael pressed the advantage, sending a barrage of strikes — targeting the fractures. But the Revenant adapted, parrying with brutal efficiency.
Then it stabbed him.
Not with the cleaver.
With memory.
A jolt of raw, ancient agony burned into Kael's mind — a thousand lives dying at once, all connected to the Revenant's essence.
Kael screamed — and refused to fall.
He gritted his teeth, slammed his hands together, and unleashed everything.
A white explosion rocked the sanctum.
The Revenant flew back, crashing into the chained throne.
And everything went still.
Kael stood over it, body trembling, barely able to breathe.
"You're not the only one who remembers pain," he whispered.
The Revenant's helm cracked — just slightly.
Then it laughed.
And faded — into dust.
[Trial Extension Complete.]
[Ashborne Revenant Defeated.]
[System Evolution Triggered.]
SYSTEM UPDATE: Kael | Nullborn Ascendant
Level: 41
Class: [Codebearer - Phase I Complete]
New Title Unlocked: Breaker of Chains
New Skill Gained:
Ashborne Pact (Passive): Immunity to System-induced memory corruption. Grants resistance to extrinsic reality-based manipulation and reveals hidden protocol structures within higher-tier Systems.
Affinity Updates:
Nullfire: Evolved [Volatility Increased | Piercing Effect Added]
Gravitic Core: Stabilized [Compression Output Enhanced by 28%]
Unique Mutation (Hidden Triggered):
Fragment of the First Spark (1/7)
The first ember of forbidden truth. Collect more to unlock the true origin of the Ascension Code.