he summit of Zenith's Reach was not made of stone.
It was made of silence.
Beyond the last step, the world felt muted, as if sound had been stripped from the air. The clouds circled a massive ring of obsidian thorns, curling around an altar of silver roots. At its center, something floated—barely visible.
A cocoon of shifting light and shadows, chained by runes that pulsed with lost language.
Kael stepped forward.
Every fiber of his being told him to stop.
And still—he walked.
Lyra clutched her relic. "That's it, isn't it? The First Eternal..."
Zera's eyes narrowed. "No. That's not the Eternal. That's the vessel."
Drayke snorted. "Looks fragile. Want me to smash it?"
"No," Kael said, quietly. "Not yet."
He could feel it.
Not just power—but purpose.
This was where the Aura System began.
The cocoon pulsed. Runes cracked. And a voice bled into the air—not spoken, but heard.
"Who walks without chains?"
Kael's heart pounded.
He took another step. "Kael Arclight."
"The Ashen One. Bladesoul. Revenant. Scarred by fire. Forged in ruin."
A pause.
"Will you unchain me?"
Kael didn't speak.
Because he remembered.
The Eye of Eternity.
The abyss it showed him.
What would happen if another Eternal woke and consumed the world.
He looked to Lyra.
To Drayke.
To Zera.
And then back to the cocoon.
"Yes," he whispered. "But not to free you. To face you."
The silence broke.
The cocoon shattered.
Light and shadow erupted, slamming outward in waves of force. The sky fractured above as a form emerged—neither man nor beast, cloaked in halos of twisting aura. Its face was a mask of porcelain flame, cracking with each breath.
The First Eternal had awakened.
"Then let judgment begin."
[BOSS FIGHT: ETERNAL – HIERARCH OF ORIGIN]
Phase One: Duality Storm
The Eternal raised one hand—fire and frost spiraled into a cyclone of opposing elements. Drayke roared, launching himself forward with the Infernal Gauntlets blazing.
His punch met a pulse of anti-aura—and was hurled back fifty meters.
"Shit—this one hits different!"
Lyra cast a dome of Celestial Light, shielding Zera and Kael as black frost rained down.
Kael activated Ashen Domain, but it flickered—like the very world resisted him.
Zera threw a Wraith Bell into the air. It chimed once.
And the ground screamed.
Echoes of forgotten warriors, chained in aura, rose and surged toward the Eternal.
But the Eternal opened its palm.
And they were erased.
Completely.
"Aura is obedience. You are dissonance."
Kael gritted his teeth.
His blade split into two—Oathveil and Severbrand.
His cloak burned with white embers.
And as the Eternal raised its second hand—
Kael moved.
Phase Two: Origin Pulse
Kael's blade clashed against an unseen force—a conceptual aura that slowed time, blurred memory, and threatened to rewrite him.
But his Ashen Aura adapted.
It burned.
It howled.
It evolved.
Every cut, every parry, every dodge—Kael was learning.
His movements shifted from Bladesoul precision to Revenant unpredictability.
Zera called out—"It's not invincible, Kael! It's fragmented. Its essence is bound to the altar!"
Kael turned.
Saw it.
The glowing core beneath the altar—beating like a heart.
That's what was keeping it grounded in this plane.
But he couldn't reach it directly.
Not without drawing the Eternal's full focus.
"I need cover!"
Lyra didn't hesitate. She poured her aura into the Sunveil Feather—creating a radiant bridge of light that cleaved through the storm.
"Go!"
Kael sprinted across the path.
The Eternal turned.
Kael shouted—not in fear, but fury.
"Haaah... what a strong aura."
Phase Three: Fractured Crown
The Eternal descended.
Its mask split open, revealing countless faces—all versions of itself from parallel realities, crying out in unison. It began fusing attacks—Celestial lightning, Abyssal decay, Beast-infused gravity, and Whisper-type illusions.
But Kael pushed through.
At the altar, he struck—
Oathveil into the heart.
The aura core shattered—
And for a moment—
Everything froze.
Kael stood in a blank world, opposite a human-looking version of the Eternal. Same mask. But only one face.
"You seek freedom."
Kael nodded. "From what?"
"From the system. From fate. From us."
Kael raised his blade again.
"I'll burn it all if I have to."
The Eternal smiled.
And bowed.
"Then earn your godhood."
The vision vanished.
Kael stood alone at the summit.
The others rushed to him.
The cocoon, the Eternal, the altar—were all gone.
But floating before Kael was a single crown—shifting between relic and aura.
Zera whispered, awed. "You... you didn't just defeat an Eternal. You absorbed its core."
Drayke shook his head. "We're so screwed."
Lyra smiled, breathless. "We might also be saved."
Kael picked up the relic.
[Relic Obtained: Origin Crown – Rank: ???]
And as the sky cleared—
A new message appeared in the air.
[Title Unlocked: Godslayer]
Aura Limit Removed.
New Path Unlocked: Transcendence Rank – Status: BEGIN]