The soul fragment writhed in Rael's palm like a living shadow—cold, weightless, yet screaming silently in the deepest corners of his mind. Eron's fractured essence pulsed with raw betrayal and cowardice, but beneath the jagged shards of treachery lay something far more valuable: a hidden truth, a secret key.
Rael settled cross-legged on the cracked stone floor of his hidden chamber beneath the ruined cathedral. His real body, bruised and battered from the execution, breathed slowly and steadily. The faint glow of mana rippled beneath his skin, warm as molten iron, flooding his veins with power.
"System," Rael whispered, voice low and steady. "Activate Soul Dive."
[System Notification]
Soul Dive initiated. Processing memory fragment...
Target: Eron Talic
Accessing: Tower Floor 63 – Internal Communication Logs...
Risk Level: Moderate – Possible mental backlash.
A chill raced down Rael's spine as his vision blurred. The world around him dissolved into a shifting haze, and then—
Suddenly, Rael was no longer in the cathedral's shadowed depths. He stood in the burning heart of Floor 63.
The air was thick with smoke and blood. The clang of steel echoed from unseen battlefields, punctuated by ragged breaths and desperate cries. The heat pressed down on him like a living thing, suffocating, oppressive.
But Rael was not himself here. He was a ghost, an invisible observer trapped inside Eron's memories, forced to watch without control.
"They're getting too strong," a voice hissed nearby—cold, sharp, unmistakable.
Rael turned toward the source, his heart pounding even though this was not his time.
There, standing beside the other six betrayers, was Karin.
His golden-haired prodigy. The student who once called him Master with tears in her eyes. The girl who had stood loyally at his side through countless battles.
And now… a traitor.
Her icy voice cut through the chaos. "If Rael clears Floor 70, the Tower will mark him. He'll become something else. Too powerful. Too dangerous."
Rael's breath caught in his throat. Her words chilled him deeper than any winter gale.
"Then we strike on Floor 68," Karin continued, her eyes hard and unyielding. "Make it look like the boss did it. Perfect, clean, no suspicion."
The memory was sharp as a blade—Eron plunging the dagger into Rael's back. The searing agony, the shock of betrayal, the coldness of death creeping in.
A ghostly echo of pain stabbed at Rael's chest, as if the wound had never healed.
But the most bitter part was this—his beloved student had ordered it.
The vision shattered like broken glass.
Rael gasped, breaking free with a ragged breath. Sweat dripped from his forehead, his heart thundered in his chest—not from pain, but burning fury.
[System Alert]
Trait Unlocked: "Soul Tracker" — Ability to follow spiritual echoes linked to each betrayer.
New Target Identified: Karin Vale
Current Location: Unknown — Last seen in God-Tier zone of the Tower.
Threat Level: Extreme. Status: Ascended.
Rael clenched his fists, the air around him crackling with barely contained mana. The weight of betrayal was a stone sinking deep into his soul.
"She took my trust... my legacy... and turned it into a weapon against me."
His voice was a whisper, but the promise behind it thundered louder than any storm.
"No more hiding. No more running."
This was no longer just a quest for vengeance.
It was a fight to reclaim everything stolen from him.
His name.
His power.
The throne at the summit of the Tower.
Rael rose from the floor, eyes burning with unyielding resolve.
The memory of the betrayed would not be forgotten.
The reckoning was only beginning.