"They didn't come for answers. They came for my head.""Too bad I already died once.""This time, I'm taking them with me."
The torches dimmed. Shadows stretched along the obsidian walls as Lucien gripped the Throneblade—Veyrion—tight in his hands. It pulsed with power, responding to his blood like it had been waiting centuries to be claimed.
The intruders didn't speak. They simply moved—in perfect silence, their red cloaks flickering like flame.
Ten of them.
No—twelve.
Each bearing the crest of a broken star stitched in ash thread over their hearts.
[Faction Identified: Broken Star Cult – Black Ash Division]Threat Level: B-Class to A-Class RangeTactical Behavior: Coordinated Assassination Unit – Target: Hollow-Blooded Scion
Lucien's breath slowed. His eyes narrowed.
He didn't need more tutorials.
He needed blood.
The first cultist leapt from the stairs, spear glowing with crimson runes. Lucien stepped forward, activating Hollow Blink mid-motion.
In an instant, he phased past the attacker and drove Veyrion backward through his enemy's spine.
The man coughed blood—and crumpled.
[Target Eliminated. 11 Remaining.]
The others didn't hesitate. They fanned out, flanking from three directions.
Lucien activated Null Domain: 58%.
The air twisted. Colors drained. Sound warped into a muffled hum.
The cultists moved slower now—still deadly, but dulled by the voidfield.
Lucien spun, cutting down two more with horizontal sweeps of his blade. One tried to cast a binding glyph, but the spell fizzled instantly within the Null zone. His head hit the floor half a second later.
[Targets Eliminated: 3 More. 8 Remaining.]
One managed to slash Lucien's shoulder—a sharp, burning cut that hissed with cursed enchantment. He winced, parrying another spear strike.
His heart pounded.
Veyrion responded.
[Blood Resonance Unlocked – Technique Gained: Hollow Rift Cleave]
Lucien gritted his teeth. The runes on Veyrion lit up like a circuit igniting. He swung it in a vertical arc—and ripped open a line of warped space in front of him.
A thin slice of void burst outward.
The three enemies in its path disintegrated—not cut, but erased, as if they had never existed.
[Targets Eliminated: 3. 5 Remaining.]
The final five pulled back—regrouping near the shattered stairway.
One of them removed his mask.
Lucien paused.
The man was no cultist grunt.
His eyes glowed gold. His face bore ancient scars carved with precision. Around his neck hung a medallion bearing both the Broken Star and a serpent of flame devouring itself.
A High Initiate.
[Enemy Identified: Arzian the Ember Tongue – A-Class]Title: Flamebinder, Disciple of the Star-Eater
Warning: Soul-Fused Magic Signature Detected
Arzian raised his hand.
"You weren't supposed to awaken this early, Hollowblood," he said calmly. His voice echoed with a subtle double-tone—like someone else whispered beneath it. "Our prophets swore the Vaelthorn blood was extinct."
Lucien didn't reply.
Arzian sighed. "You should have stayed in the Ruins. Now we must unmake you."
Flame coiled around his arms, forming a chained serpent of molten ash.
[Spell Active: Ophiun's Embrace – Tier IV Forbidden Flame]
Lucien's grip on Veyrion tightened.
"You think fire scares me?" he muttered.
"I was born in a burning world."
He dashed forward, activating Hollow Blink again—this time chaining it twice mid-motion. He phased past the serpent, closing in on Arzian just as the flame whip lashed downward.
Their weapons clashed—Veyrion against raw, chained fire.
Steel screamed.
Lucien's blade drank the flame like water.
[Null Domain Surge: 75%][Technique Unlocked: Echo Slash]
Lucien twisted and slashed upward.
A second, delayed strike echoed behind his motion—a phantom slash, perfectly mirroring the first.
Arzian's eyes widened.
The echo tore through him before he could raise a ward.
Blood sprayed across the black floor.
Arzian staggered.
"No... the prophecy—"
Lucien placed the blade to the man's throat.
"I don't care about your prophecies."
He swung.
The High Initiate fell.
The final two cultists dropped their weapons and vanished in flashes of light—teleportation talismans blinking them out of reality.
Cowards.
Silence fell once more.
Lucien stood among the dead, his blade flickering with null light. His shoulder burned where the cursed wound hadn't fully closed. He dropped to one knee, breathing heavily.
Then—
[Combat Complete. Enemy Threat Eliminated.][XP Gained: +450][Class Advancement: Hollowblade – Stage I Reached]
New Title Gained: "Breaker of the Flamebound Oath"
Lucien looked up at the throne.
It still waited.
He sheathed Veyrion across his back.
The war had already begun, and he hadn't even left the academy.
"If this is what they send just to test me...""Then the world must truly be terrified of what I can become."
To be continued in Chapter 5: Ghosts of the Hollow Line