Kaelira's face went bone white.

"Ethan—what are you doing?!"

He'd just thrown himself into the heart of that power?

Even the most battle-hardened monarchs wouldn't dare such a thing.

But Ethan was already gone, swallowed by the swirl of darkness and red light.

Kaelira didn't have time to think. She clenched her jaw—and jumped in after him.

…

Moments later, she landed hard on a narrow stone bridge.

"Bridge" was generous. It was more like the jagged edge of a world barely holding itself together.

Only wide enough for one person.

On either side, an endless abyss yawned open, black and bottomless.

Below, crimson energy churned and boiled like the heart of a dead star still twitching in its grave.

Glug… glug…

Each pulse echoed like it was trying to suck her soul straight out of her chest.

Kaelira steadied herself, forced her breath to slow—and looked up.

Ethan was already at the far end of the bridge.

Right at the eye of the slaughter vortex.

The closer he got, the more the energy clawed at the air, like it wanted to peel him apart from the inside out.

"Stop! Don't go any farther!"

She shouted, but her voice was nearly devoured by the howling storm.

"Just ahead is Vaedoroth's lair! If you get any closer, you'll—"

She didn't finish.

Ethan stepped into the vortex's core—and vanished.

Kaelira's heart seized.

She knew what lay beyond that point.

It wasn't just dangerous.

It was a place no living thing should ever enter.

As she moved forward, the slaughter energy surged toward her like a tidal wave.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Each step was a battle. She had to summon every ounce of strength just to keep her mind from unraveling.

The air sliced at her skin like shards of glass. Even breathing felt like inhaling fire.

But she didn't stop.

She charged in.

…

When she crossed the vortex's edge—

She froze.

All the slaughter energy was gone.

That monstrous, suffocating force had vanished, as if swallowed by something unseen.

Ethan stood at the center.

Arms slightly raised.

As if he were speaking to the air—or something beyond it.

It looked like a prayer.

Or a summoning.

Kaelira bolted toward him.

She had to get him out. Drag him out if she had to. Even if it cost her the last of her strength.

But—

The moment she took a step, something hit her.

VMMM.

An invisible force slammed into her chest, knocking her back.

She stumbled, nearly toppling over the edge of the bridge.

A barrier—clear as glass, nearly invisible—now stood between her and Ethan.

VMMM…

A deep resonance rippled through the air, like a bell tolling in a world without sound. It vibrated through the stone, through her bones, through the very air.

Ethan stood at the vortex's heart, suspended slightly above the ground, held aloft by a translucent shimmer of light.

His breathing was calm. Too calm.

Like he'd entered some ancient, sacred rite.

An awakening.

Kaelira held her breath.

This Ethan—he wasn't the same man she knew.

Around him, a spiraling storm of energy had formed. But instead of erupting outward, the power was being drawn in—pulled into him like a black hole swallowing light.

Floating before him was a sphere of deep white energy.

It looked cold as ice, but radiated a heat that seared the soul.

A pure, undiluted core of slaughter energy—so dense it bent the light around it.

And as Ethan continued to absorb it, the sphere visibly shrank.

A minute ago, it had been the size of a small mountain.

Now—

It was half that.

Kaelira finally exhaled.

So that's what this was…

He wasn't being consumed. He was consuming it.

She sank onto a jagged outcrop of stone nearby, never taking her eyes off him. Not for a second.

This place was too strange, too dangerous. She couldn't afford to blink.

But then—just as the tide of energy surged toward Ethan again—something else happened.

Two lights began to rise from within him.

Like stars blooming from the depths of his chest.

They took shape slowly, gently—

Until they became two girls, floating in the air.

Auri and Idra.

Their forms pulsed in rhythm with the world's heartbeat, their outlines tinged faintly with the pale white of slaughter energy—only to be cleansed again by their own inner glow.

Kaelira's eyes widened.

The aura coming off them—

Pure Fairy God.

Pure Dragon God.

It was like watching two long-lost mythologies return to life.

She forgot to breathe.

Even in the oldest scrolls of Sol'Rakka, these forces were only hinted at—half-remembered fragments of a time before time.

And now, here they were.

Two children, absorbing Vaedoroth's Primordial Force of Slaughter like it was their birthright.

Kaelira almost doubted her own senses.

But what truly shook her—

Was how fast their Tiers were rising.

Like arrows shot into a storm's eye.

Mid-25 Tier…

Peak-25 Tier…

Still climbing.

She whispered, stunned, "Impossible… how can they withstand that kind of power?"

Meanwhile, Ethan himself was changing too.

His Tier hadn't broken through—still holding at the peak of 25.

But his aura had transformed.

It was denser now. Sharper. Like a blade that had been reforged in divine fire.

His strength had doubled.

His mind felt anchored, unshakable.

Even the energy field around his body had taken on a strange, ancient resonance—something that didn't belong to this age.

Kaelira slowly rose to her feet, chest rising and falling with each breath.

She'd known Ethan for a while now.

But she'd never known this.

Never guessed that inside him lived two… monsters.

Her throat tightened.

And for the first time, she felt something she couldn't name.

Terror. Awe.

And a strange, survivor's relief.

Thank the gods… he's on our side.

VMMM—

The air suddenly trembled, like a giant invisible hand had pressed down on the world.

Cracks of light split the sky above, and a cold, twisted presence began to descend.

FWIP—

The pressure hit like a scream made of whispers—like a thousand throats growling in unison.

Kaelira's pupils shrank.

"No… something's wrong… That presence—damn it! It's him?!"

She shot to her feet, fingers trembling.

She knew this power too well.

Vaedoroth.

The source of all this horror. The one and only.

He didn't have a mind in the way mortals did.

But he had instinct. A monstrous, apocalyptic instinct:

Destroy everything.

And if it couldn't be destroyed—

Corrupt it. Make it his.

That madness had once brought him to Sol'Rakka, where he nearly turned the entire continent into a nest of monsters.

If he hadn't weakened after leaving the Dungeon—

If Kaelira hadn't driven him back with the full force of her crown—

Sol'Rakka would've been lost.

And now—he was back.

"He's here," Ethan said, lifting his head.

There was no fear in his voice.

If anything, he sounded… eager.

Like a predator catching the scent of prey.

The slaughter energy he'd absorbed still roared through his veins, and he could feel it now—clearly.

A thread.

A faint, flickering connection between himself and the world's purest source of slaughter.

If he was strong enough—

He could tap into it.

He could make it his.

And Vaedoroth?

He was bringing a banquet of it.

If Ethan could absorb that…

"Maybe I can get even stronger," he murmured.

...