Chapter 62: What Breaks in Fire
The knock came just before dawn.
Not a polite tap.
A knock like someone testing whether the door—or the wall—could withstand a siege.
Isaac answered it without hesitation.
A guild runner stood outside, pale-faced and wide-eyed. "Urgent summons. Northern border checkpoint. Spiral flare reported. Magical containment failing."
Isaac didn't flinch.
"How long?"
"Twenty minutes ago. The sky lit up. They're calling for all available A-rank adventurers and clerics."
Isaac turned. "Lira, ready?"
She was already standing, cloak fastened, staff in hand.
"No more hiding," she said.
Isaac nodded once.
"Time to show them why we belong there."
They reached the checkpoint in under fifteen minutes—Isaac sprinting, Lira flying just behind him on a wave of compressed resonance. The forest cleared suddenly, revealing a cluster of guard towers and burned-out wagons strewn across the muddy field. And in the middle of it all—a swirling, half-opened Spiral Gate. It pulsed with violet glyphs, its shape barely holding as ritual symbols flickered like torn paper in a storm.
Six guards were already down. A cleric was screaming, her soul caught in a binding chain that glowed with corruption. A robed Spiral figure stood before the gate, arms raised—half in command, half in worship.
He turned just as Isaac stepped onto the field.
"You—"
Isaac didn't let him finish.
[Clawing Swipe – Lv. 5]
The cultist's ward shattered like glass. Isaac slammed into him with enough force to crack bone—and then didn't stop.
[Rot Pulse – Rank C – Lv. 3]
A wave of decaying energy tore outward, dissolving the remaining ritual lines. The gate shrieked. Spat glyphfire. Collapsed.
[Soul Devourer Matrix – Triggered]Absorbed: +2 STR, +2 WILMinor Skill Extracted: [Ritual Anchor – Rank C] → Decomposed → +100 Intelligence
Isaac turned toward the remaining acolytes. Four in total.
One tried to run. He didn't get far.
[Spiral Rend – Lv. 2]
A single blade of will severed his knees. The others froze.
Isaac stepped forward, eyes glowing with pale flame.
[Soulpiercer Sight – Active]Targets: Spiral Acolyte – Avg Stats: STR 48 | INT 52 | END 50
He smiled.
"My lowest stat is still higher than your best."
The next ten seconds were decisive.
Lira stunned the third cultist with [Echobrand], locking him in place with a brand of memory-scorched flame. Isaac absorbed the second one mid-swing—his claws piercing through a warded robe like parchment.
[Soul Devourer Matrix – Triggered]Absorbed: +3 Agility, +1 CharismaNo skill extracted.
The final cultist collapsed to her knees.
"Mercy—please—!"
Isaac paused.
Then looked at Lira.
She didn't speak.
Isaac turned back to the woman—and struck.
Not to kill.
To brand.
[Fragment Memory – Lv. 2] activated as his fingers gripped her soul.
She screamed as her thoughts split open—and in them, Isaac saw the truth.
A scouting party. A hidden cave. Spiral remnants searching for the Elaraiya shard—a lost core from the Flame Vault sealed long ago. Located beneath Karlune itself.
When the last scream faded, Isaac turned to the assembled guards.
Some were kneeling. Some just stared.
"There are no Spiral threats left here," he said. "If more arrive, they'll meet the same end."
He lifted the limp Spiral priest by the collar and dropped him at the cleric's feet.
"He's still breathing. For judgment."
Lira walked beside him, her aura still flickering. And for the first time since they entered Karlune, no one questioned them.
They didn't return to the dormitory. Instead, they walked the streets—openly. Not as fugitives or oddities, but as the ones who had stopped what no one else could. Shopkeepers gave respectful nods. Children whispered and pointed. One courier stopped just to say, "Thank you." Lira said nothing. Isaac only nodded.
But the weight in the air had shifted. They were no longer strange wanderers. They were acknowledged.
Back at the guild, the head clerk waited personally, flanked by two armored officials. The air was tense—but not hostile.
"You qualify for rank advancement," she said. "After today, denying it would be insulting."
Isaac didn't argue.
He reached for the parchment and signed.
[Rank Advancement – Approved]Adventurer: Isaac – Rank AStatus: Independent-Class RecognizedSpecial Note: Exceptional anomaly. Stat evaluation bypassed. Authority to accept missions up to S-rank if requested.
"Do you intend to take guild-sponsored commissions going forward?" one official asked.
Isaac looked him straight in the eye.
"I intend to finish what the Spiral started. If that helps the guild, then yes."
They accepted that. And said nothing more.
In a sealed record chamber beneath the guild, a clerk closed a glowing scroll.
"Stats beyond classification. Soulbound system unlike any we've logged. And now registered at A-rank."
A second voice whispered, "We can't control him."
"No," the record-keeper agreed. "But we can watch."
That night, Isaac and Lira sat together on the rooftop under a rising moon.
"You didn't even hesitate," she said.
"Because I'm done pretending to be small."
"This power," she said, "it was always meant to burn away what they left behind."
"And now," Isaac replied, "we're almost there."
Beneath the city, past the roots of its stone foundations, a sealed relic pulsed with old Spiral bindings.
One last tether.
One last gate.
Waiting.