The battlefield dimmed.
The last echoes of shrieks faded into nothing. Shadows no longer pressed in. The cracked plain stretched out silent and empty, save for me kneeling inside the faint circle, blades buried in the stone.
My arms trembled. My chest heaved like I'd been running for days. Every breath scraped my throat raw.
The circle pulsed one last time… then flickered out.
And with it, the battlefield unraveled.
The stone split into threads of light. The sky folded in on itself, collapsing into nothingness. My body sagged, every ounce of strength gone.
Am I… dying?
No pain followed. Only weightlessness.
The darkness closed in.
When I opened my eyes, I was staring at the ceiling of the penthouse training room.
My swords rested neatly against the wall, exactly where I'd left them. My body? Not a scratch. Not even the lingering ache of muscle strain.
But my mind—
Gods. My mind felt like shit.
My thoughts dragged like they were moving through tar. My heartbeat was sluggish in my chest. Every blink stretched into an eternity.
I rolled onto my side, clutching my head, trying to shake the phantom screams still echoing in my ears.
The clock on the wall read 5:47 AM.
Barely forty minutes had passed.
I laughed, bitter and broken, the sound too soft to fill the empty room.
"What the hell… was that?"
The silence didn't answer.
Only the memory of the circle burning under my feet.
---
I pushed myself to my feet, shaky but standing. My swords leaned against the wall, untouched, gleaming faintly in the low light. I drew them out of habit, the weight grounding me.
That circle. It followed me back.
I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply, and reached inward. Past the steady pulse of mana, deeper still where something new thrummed like a forge hammer against steel.
The air shifted.
A faint shimmer rippled outward from my feet, not bright, not blinding, but undeniable. A dome, perfectly round, twenty meters in every direction.
I froze.
Inside the dome, the world sharpened.
I could hear the faint click of a pipe shifting behind the walls. I could feel the weight of air moving against the glass windows. Even the rhythm of Lyra's breathing, steady and slow in her room down the hall, touched the edges of my awareness.
And it wasn't just hearing. It was knowing.
The pattern of her breath told me when she'd roll over. The creak of the building told me exactly how the steel beams flexed. I could feel my own heartbeat, but more than that, I could predict when the next one would strike.
My grip on my swords tightened.
This wasn't like the Oath of the Watchful Circle. That oath had made me alert, perceptive, a sentry who missed nothing in his line of sight. This… this was beyond sight. Beyond sound.
This was awareness itself.
But the longer I held it, the more it pressed down on me. Information flooded in with every second, more than my mind could process. My head pounded, vision blurring as though the air itself was too loud.
I let go.
The dome collapsed, and I dropped to one knee, sucking in ragged breaths. Sweat clung to my skin. Not mana strain, mental. Like I'd tried to carry the weight of a million thoughts at once.
I laughed bitterly. "Gods… it's too much."
But even with the ache in my skull, I couldn't deny the truth.
The oath had changed. Evolved.
The Oath of the Watchful Circle was gone. In its place stood something greater.
The Oath of the Soulforge.
Two faces of the same oath. Just to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, I summoned my status screen.
[Status Window]
Name: Zane Blessborne
Age: 17
Rank: E (Apprentice)(17%)
Soul Integrity: 71%
Oath Capacity: Three Lesser Oaths or One Greater Oath
Active Oaths: Oath of the Soulforge
Passive Oaths: Equilibrium Eternal
Soul Forge Access: [Unlocked]
Affinity: Time, Space
Bloodline: Locked
Attributes
Strength: 117
Agility: 117
Endurance: 117
Perception: 117
Willpower: 117
Luck: unpredictable
—
Unique Skill:Oathsmith's Authority
Titles:
-Anomaly
-The Twin Blessed by Time
-Bearer of the Primordial pact.
Oaths
-Equilibrium Eternal
-Oath of the Soulforge
Blessing:
-Mode I – Watcher's Dome: Sense all movement, mana, life, and intent within a 20-meter radius. Predictive awareness of hostile actions. Helps control mana.
-Mode II – Soulforge Manifestation: Within the 20-meter circle, partially manifest the Soulforge, bending time by seconds and easing spatial control.
Burden:
-The bearer must carry the weight of every life within the circle. Their fall is your failure.
-The bearer's soul is strained by the forge. Overuse risks collapse, madness, or soulburn.
Sword Art
Twin Fangs Style (★★★★)
Current Mastery: 40%
---
My new oath had two modes. The first was this dome. A passive watch, an awareness circle. Twenty meters of absolute perception. No mana cost. Just the strain of holding so much awareness.
But the second—
I hesitated. The memory of the battlefield pulsed through me. The moment the circle had burned brightest, when time itself had bent to my will and space had ceased to resist.
I knew what would happen if I pushed harder.
I swallowed, steeled myself, and let mana pour into the circle.
The dome flared, brighter this time, lines of faint silver etching themselves into the air like cracks in glass. The weight of mana crashed down on me, searing my veins.
And then—
Time bent.
The water flowing from a pipe overhead slowed to a crawl. My breath stretched, each inhale taking whole seconds. The world dulled, sluggish, while I stood unbound in the center.
And space—
I lifted a blade, willing mana into the steel, and cut downward. The arc carved faster than it should have, cleaner, as though the air itself wanted to yield.
Power surged through me, vast and overwhelming.
But the cost—
My mana poured out like a flood. The circle devoured it, every heartbeat draining me closer to empty. I lasted barely a minute before my vision swam, knees buckling.
I cut the flow. The dome shattered, light scattering like ash.
I collapsed onto the mats, gasping, drenched in sweat. My body ached as though I'd fought ten matches back-to-back.
But my heart hammered with exhilaration.
Two modes. Two faces.
One: awareness. A watchful dome, letting me sense every twitch, every breath, every heartbeat within twenty meters. A shield of vigilance.
Two: the forge. A proto-domain summoning a part of my soulforge, bending time and space, manifesting the oath's true weight. A blade of impossible strength.
I stared up at the ceiling, chest rising and falling. My hands trembled around my swords.
"This is too much," I whispered. "No one should have this. Not at this level."
But I did.
And if Kane knew… if Adrian knew… gods, if anyone knew…
They'd dissect me. Tear apart layer by layer until they found out why.
No.
This was mine. Mine alone.
The first mode could be explained away, just heightened perception, instinct, and overwhelming talent. But the forge, the domain? That stayed buried. A secret weapon. A final card.
I forced myself upright, leaning on the swords like crutches. My mana slowly replenished, steady and whole, as though the trial had reforged not just my oath, but my reserves themselves.
The door creaked.
I froze, snapping my head toward it.
Lyra stood in the doorway, hair messy from sleep, eyes half-shut.
"You're up early. Again."
I forced my breathing steady, lowering my swords. "Couldn't sleep. Thought I'd practice."
Her gaze lingered on me for a moment, unreadable. Then she shook her head and yawned. "You're insane. Kane's going to grind us into the floor later, and you're making it worse."
"Someone's gotta keep up with you," I said, forcing a grin.
That earned me the faintest smirk before she turned and padded back toward her room. The door clicked shut.
I slumped back against the wall, exhaling long and slow.
Close. Too close.
But it only solidified what I already knew.
This oath wasn't for anyone else. Not Kane. Not Adrian. Not even Lyra.
This was my secret. My forge. My circle.
And when the time came, when everything i know and love was on the line—
Then, and only then, would I let the world see it.