The wind howled across the cliffs of Velmora.
Riku stood at the edge of the battleground, his breath misting in the air. The new Origin mark on his chest pulsed with layered runes—shifting, spiraling, alive. It was unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Behind him, Valen stared in silence.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked. "We've never fought a Warden-class Reborn before."
"I'm not the same as before," Riku said calmly. "I need to test it."
South Crater Arena – Forbidden Ground
A wide, cracked circle, surrounded by shattered relics and ancient chains. It was once the stage for gods. Now, it was home to something far worse—
Drogall the Endbringer.
A Warden-class Reborn.
He had died eight times. His current body was a fusion of lava, bone, and storm. A living cataclysm.
When Riku stepped into the arena, Drogall turned his horned head and laughed.
> "Another little ghost looking to die again?"
Riku didn't answer.
> His Origin mark blazed.
The two clashed.
Drogall's hammer fell like thunder. Each swing distorted the space around them.
Riku dodged—not with speed, but with understanding. The moment Drogall moved, Riku's body adapted. A new burst of Abyss speed flared in his legs. But not as a separate ability—his body rewrote the function.
He ducked under the next strike and summoned a blade—not of fire, not of shadow—but of abstract power. The blade formed from possibility, glowing with spiraling equations.
He slashed upward.
CRACK—
Drogall's molten armor split.
"WHAT!?" Drogall stumbled back. "You're not using a single path. What is that power?!"
Riku stood straight. The spiral mark on his chest glowed brighter.
> "I don't use paths. I forge them."
Above, in the divine realm, several gods turned to face Lirith.
"He's breaking the system," muttered the God of Chains.
"He is rebuilding it," Lirith corrected, her voice calm.
"He must be destroyed before he becomes aware of the Sealed Core."
But Lirith's smile deepened.
> "He already suspects. He is not like the rest. He is not meant to obey."
Back on the battlefield, Drogall unleashed his final form:
Titanic Mode – Form VIII: Volcanic Wrath.
A giant of magma rose, glowing red from the core.
Most would flee.
Riku stepped forward.
The Origin mark surged—and suddenly, dozens of memories flooded him. Not his own—but the deaths of other Reborn. He absorbed their experience, adapted their growth paths, and reconstructed them into something singular.
His body blurred.
Drogall swung.
Riku didn't move—he vanished.
Then—
Flash.
He reappeared behind Drogall. With a whispered word, his blade carved through eight soul layers at once.
Drogall dropped, screaming, then turned to ash.
Valen ran toward him. "You… you won?!"
Riku looked at his palm.
He hadn't felt tired. No cost.
Only evolution.
> "The Origin Path doesn't give power. It makes me… complete."
She shivered.
Not from fear—
But from the realization that the world was not ready for him.
Far away, in a forgotten temple...
A chained being stirred.
Its eyes opened.
It had no name anymore.
But it whispered:
> "He has awakened. The cycle is undone. Release… must begin."
End of Chapter 9
Want to continue to Chapter 10—where Riku learns about the Sealed Core, the gods' fear of true independence, and encounters a mysterious masked figure who claims to be his "original soul"?