The Rift closed behind him.
Light faded, replaced by ash-colored twilight. The silence didn't feel peaceful — it felt suspended. Like time itself was waiting on him to move, to choose.
Kael stood alone at the heart of a scorched clearing where the System projected the prompt in gold across his HUD. The letters pulsed like a heartbeat.
> Class Upgrade Detected
➤ Blade Master – The Sword-Saint of Pure Technique and Flow.
➤ Ronin+ – The Unbound Pathwalker Who Defies the System.
➤ Rageblade – The Blade That Grows Stronger With Every Wound.
He stared at the choices.
And said nothing.
Not yet.
Kureha rested loosely in his hand, still faintly humming from the Severed Duel. The air hadn't returned to normal since. Something in him hadn't either.
This wasn't like unlocking a skill or leveling up.
This was a path.
A declaration.
---
He approached the first projection — Blade Master.
The golden letters shimmered sharper here. Clear lines. No distortion.
Images played across the light: duels fought in silence, precise stances etched into memory, blades moving without wasted motion. He saw men standing alone in storms, blades unsheathed once — and only once — because that was all it ever took.
No anger.
No chaos.
Just perfection.
Discipline. Control. Legacy.
Kael saw himself in that future — a duelist who didn't react, but decided. One who cut not out of desperation, but inevitability. The Sword-Saint. The answer to every challenge with one motion.
But...
He clenched his fist.
He wasn't there yet.
He still bled. Still burned. Still didn't have all the answers.
Could he really walk the path of pure technique… when the world that made him was anything but pure?
He looked away.
---
The second projection pulsed next: Ronin+.
Its color wasn't gold.
It was dull silver — flickering, unstable. Almost as if the System didn't want it there. Or couldn't contain it.
And Kael understood why.
There were no visions of legendary duelists. No poetic stances. Only moments — chaos in alleys, strikes from shadows, dirty fights where survival mattered more than form.
He saw himself bleeding out in Hollowmark.
He saw the failed villages. The corrupted guilds. The truth buried under old names.
Ronin+ wasn't an upgrade.
It was a rejection.
A blade turned away from tradition. A path that said: "There is no system. No code. Only what I make of it."
He felt… familiar with that.
But also hollowed by it.
Would that path make him stronger? Or just more broken?
---
The final projection — Rageblade — didn't shine.
It burned.
Red light. Fast. Violent. Each image moved like a blow to the chest. Kael saw flames curling around a blade, saw the way every strike was born of pain, and every cut screamed with fury.
Here, there was no silence.
Only fire.
A fury that couldn't be healed, only wielded.
This was a blade not for defense, but vengeance. For pushing forward no matter how deep the wound. For burying the hurt behind slashes.
Kael stood still as it played.
He saw himself: surrounded. Bleeding. Standing tall.
Then burning everything around him.
Not because it would fix anything.
But because he had to.
Because someone had to.
---
He backed away.
All three projections hovered in the air now, equidistant from him.
Blade Master. Ronin+. Rageblade.
Kael turned his eyes skyward.
No guidance.
No voice.
Just him, his blade, and the road he'd carved through ash and blood.
He closed his eyes.
And spoke quietly.
"I was just trying to survive at first."
His voice didn't echo.
He wasn't sure if he was talking to the System, or to himself.
"I didn't ask for this. Didn't want a war. Just a way through it."
His hand curled tighter around Kureha.
"But the more I saw — the more I learned about what the Viper Guild did, what they used to be — I can't ignore it anymore."
He looked at the glowing choices.
"They forgot who they were."
"I won't."
---
The silence pressed in again.
No timer.
No forced input.
The System waited.
Because it understood — this was more than code.
This was Kael Draven deciding who he would become.
---
He took one step forward.
And stopped.
Not to choose.
Not yet.
But to understand.
Each path was part of him. Each one a truth.
He wanted mastery, to cut cleanly through the chaos. (Blade Master)
He carried the weight of rebellion, never quite fitting into the world the System made. (Ronin+)
He burned with fury, and sometimes, that was the only thing that kept him standing. (Rageblade)
But one of them would shape every fight from here on.
Kael turned slowly in the center of the lights. The Rift was gone. The world was silent.
But his heart?
It wasn't.
It beat like a war drum.
Like it had something to prove.
He opened his HUD. Let the stats flicker across his sight.
---
📊 Kael Draven – Current Stats
Level: 33
Class: Ronin
HP: 620 / 850
CP: 140 / 180
Draw Cut Sync: 100%
Stamina: 54%
Ash Memory: 22%
Pain Inhibition: 47%
Blade Memory: 2
Traits:
– Counter Step
– Severance Instinct
– Blade Memory: Enhanced
---
No one could make this decision for him.
And when he made it…
There was no turning back.