The moment the seal shattered, a pulse of ancient mana surged outward from the broken obelisk, rippling through the training grounds like a silent scream. Everyone felt it. Even those without mana perception shuddered at the sudden pressure, as if a thousand-year-old entity had just opened its eye beneath their feet.
Harvey stood motionless at the center, his hand still hovering above the stone slab. The underground vault below the Crimson Sky Sect had finally answered his blood.
Beside him, Rina clutched her sword, her breath hitching. "What… what did you just open?"
The cracked floor beneath them parted with a slow grind of shifting stone. A staircase revealed itself, descending into pitch blackness lit by crimson glyphs that shimmered like dying embers. Each step whispered echoes from another time, a different era.
Harvey didn't look back. "The legacy they tried to bury."
He stepped down into the darkness.
Rina hesitated, then followed, heart pounding. As they descended, the silence grew oppressive. It wasn't just the absence of sound—but the presence of voices that shouldn't be there. Whispers. Screams. Laughs. Echoes of battles long past and names erased from history.
> [System Alert: You are entering a Forbidden Archive.] [Warning: This Vault is not bound by modern spatial laws.] [All external communication has been cut.]
Rina's system pinged in her mind, but her attention stayed fixed on the flickering torches that lit themselves along the walls. The deeper they went, the colder it grew—not physically, but spiritually.
They finally reached the heart of the vault.
A colossal circular chamber stood before them, its walls carved with murals. Hundreds of faceless warriors, clad in robes and armor alien to any current sect, were painted in eternal combat. At the center of the chamber was a raised altar. Upon it rested a coffin made of black crystal, pulsing with mana so dense it felt alive.
Rina stepped closer. "Who… is that?"
Harvey didn't answer. His eyes were on the ceiling.
Above the coffin, etched in gold, were the words: He Who Broke the Sky Shall Never Sleep.
Rina's breath caught in her throat.
"The Skybreaker," Harvey whispered.
He touched the altar.
Mana surged. The murals moved.
No—shifted.
Each figure in the murals slowly turned toward them. Their painted heads twisted unnaturally, eyes glowing red, as if acknowledging Harvey's presence. Rina drew her blade, her instincts flaring.
"This place is cursed," she hissed. "We need to go—"
But Harvey didn't move. He raised his hand.
A pulse of energy resonated from his palm—marked by the same ancient sigil they found at the ruins.
The coffin opened.
Slowly.
Inside… was a corpse that looked no older than a man in his twenties. Pale skin. Raven-black hair. Wearing armor of obsidian and gold, covered in runes no one alive could translate. In his hands rested a blade shaped like a fang, and at his chest was a cracked core of condensed mana.
Harvey's voice dropped. "This… was my ancestor. Vandrel the Skybreaker."
Rina stared. "You never told me your bloodline was…"
"Because they hunted anyone who shared it," Harvey replied. "They erased him from history. Branded him a heretic for defying the gods."
> [System Alert: Blood Resonance 99.8% Match.] [Do you wish to begin Inheritance Ritual?] [Caution: Success will initiate Echo Release.]
Harvey didn't hesitate. "Yes."
The chamber trembled.
Crimson light engulfed him. His body lifted into the air, surrounded by glowing runes.
Rina tried to reach him. "Harvey!"
But she couldn't move. The floor bound her feet, the vault itself rejecting her interference. She watched helplessly as the coffin closed again and Harvey's form vanished into the storm of light.
Then—
A scream echoed through the vault. Not from Harvey. From the walls. From the murals.
The painted warriors moved again—and this time, they stepped out from the stone.
Rina raised her sword, her system screaming warnings in her mind.
"Damn it, Harvey," she muttered. "You better survive this."
The first echo-warrior struck.
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