---
The grave was shallow, but grief had no depth.
Kael dug with his bare hands — no shovel, no rite, just torn skin and bloodied nails clawing at half-frozen earth. The dagger Elenore had given him lay nearby, cleaned but still humming with memory.
The village of Duskmoor watched from behind shuttered windows.
Not out of pity.
Out of fear.
Since the night before, the air around Kael had felt… unnatural. The kind of silence that pressed against the soul. Some villagers whispered that he had summoned a devil. Others believed he had become one.
But none dared come close.
Kael finished the grave just as dawn crept across the sky. He gently wrapped Elenore in the worn blanket they had shared during the coldest nights, placing her dagger across her chest.
From his own neck, he removed the necklace she had once given him — the leather cord and carved wooden bead she said "wasn't magic, just hope."
He hesitated only a moment.
Then wrapped it around her fingers.
> "I couldn't protect you," he whispered, his voice breaking. "But I'll carry what you gave me."
He placed a single stone over the mound.
No flowers.
No prayers.
Just silence.
And a promise.
---
Kael left Duskmoor without a word.
The villagers parted like mist as he passed, silent and wide-eyed.
Even children did not cry. The animals did not bark. Nature itself seemed to bow to the presence of something unseen but deeply felt.
The silver glow had faded from his eyes — but not from the world around him.
He walked eastward, away from the smoke-capped roofs and into the untamed lands beyond. Hunger gnawed at him. His body throbbed with exhaustion. But he kept walking.
He didn't wear the Onyx Armor, though it was now stored in his inventory. His body had accepted the system's merge after the fight, but the armor still felt foreign. Heavy. Meant for something he wasn't yet ready to become.
Ashuru's voice followed him, like wind brushing against thought.
> "You buried her like a warrior."
> "She was more than that."
> "And now you carry more than grief."
Kael didn't reply.
He just walked.
---
On the third day, the land changed.
The trees grew older. Wilder. The sky dimmed though it was not yet dusk.
And then came the mist.
A creeping fog that spread like spilled ink, winding through the roots and stone, carrying with it whispers and a cold that had no source.
Kael stepped cautiously.
Then the system's voice returned — calm, precise, and inevitable.
> [Nexis Sync: 94%]
[Coreless Host entering unstable zone: The Wyrmveil Forest]
[Threat Level: Tier I to Tier IV]
[Trial Sequence: Imminent.]
The name chilled him.
He had heard it only in passing — a myth spoken in half-warnings.
A cursed place where monsters evolved and gods had bled.
Suddenly, the ground beneath him pulsed with violet light.
A circle of ancient symbols flared around his feet — not runes of mana or faith, but older, sharper, more alive.
> [Trial Initiated: The First Descent]
[Objective: Survive and Adapt.]
[Stage: Coreless Compatibility Phase]
The trees bent in strange directions. The mist thickened. Shadows moved unnaturally — some crawling, some gliding.
Kael reached for Elenore's dagger.
> "This is your true beginning," Ashuru murmured. "This place will not test your strength. It will test your reason for surviving."
> "Good," Kael said.
> "I need a reason."
---
A growl broke the silence.
From the fog, a twisted beast emerged — long-limbed, skin grey as iron, eyeless, its mouth yawning wider than any natural jaw should.
Tier I.
Kael's Ashen Sigil Eye flared.
> [Foresight Instinct Activated.]
He moved with uncanny clarity — dodging its lunge before it began, reading its bone-snaps before they happened. A clean cut with the dagger, a reverse twist — and the creature crumbled into mist.
> [Target Eliminated.]
[Threat Classification: Low.]
[Additional Entities Detected: Tier II–IV.]
From the branches above, wings unfolded.
A new beast descended — scaled and plated, teeth bared.
Another slithered from beneath the ground, its breath foul with decay.
Kael stood firm.
This time, he summoned the Onyx Armor.
Obsidian plates formed around him, clinging to his body like shadow-forged second skin. His breath misted as the system stabilized around his presence.
> [System Merge: Complete.]
[Ashen Sigil – Stage Two Fully Active.]
[Combat Field: Unstable.]
[Reward Threshold: Undefined.]
Kael took one slow breath.
And then, he charged into the storm of teeth and claws.
---
Across the World — The Unnamed Cataclysm
The energy that burst from The Wyrmveil was not gentle.
It was not mana.
It was not divine.
It was a raw, ancient pressure that struck like the scream of a buried god — subtle yet suffocating.
And though the world did not see its source…
The powerful felt it.
---
🔸 The Five Great Noble Houses
In the citadel of House Duskmere, the moon turned black in the reflection pool. Shadows bent away from light.
> "A veil has torn," Lady Nysha whispered, watching her illusion spells unravel.
---
In House Gravemount, training knights collapsed mid-swing. Lord Varn steadied himself, brow furrowed.
> "That's no core awakening," he growled. "That feels like the birth of a calamity."
---
In House Aetherin, sacred light dimmed. Healing pools rippled with frost.
> "This is no spell," murmured Chancellor Emory. "Something was unleashed."
---
🔸 The Royal Empire — Astral Council
Lightning danced over the spires of the Golden Citadel.
Sigils turned crimson.
Seers bled from their eyes.
> "Disaster-tier…" one choked, before collapsing.
The Empress stood still at her window.
> "Send the Black Inquisitors."
> "Whatever this is, it dies in the dark."
---
🔸 The Cult of the Hollow Flame — Hidden Chambers
A hundred candles died in unison.
The masked high priest trembled, blood leaking from under his hood.
> "It speaks," he rasped. "Not in words. In intention."
> "It does not want worship."
> "It wants freedom."
They did not know it was Nexis.
They did not know it was Coreless.
But the force they felt…
Was something that should never have awakened.
---
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