The construct's blades froze inches from Raziel's throat.
"There is one path." Adhivar's voice cut through the chamber ancient, absolute. "Raziel must consume the essence."
Luminestra's presence pulsed urgently. "The ascension to Epic tier would stabilize him prevent the essence from tearing him apart. But alone, even that won't be enough."
"The bond," Adhivar continued. "He must bond with the Fragment-bearer and enter the Codex. It's the only sanctuary that can contain an Epic-tier ascension within this collapsing construct."
Genesis Codex's voice manifested. "Analysis: survival probability with proposed solution: 47.3%. Without: 0.1%."
Raziel's consciousness flickered pain lancing through his massive draconic form, blood still pouring from the wound in his side.
Bond with Draven. Accept the tamer's bond. Submit to connection.
Every instinct as an unbonded Overlord-tier drake roared against it. He was sovereign. Independent. The Molten Sovereign apex among fire elementals. He'd fought beside Draven as ally, as equal, never as bonded beast.
But he was dying. The essence flooding through him was tearing him apart from within, and the construct's next strike would finish what remained.
"If I refuse?" Raziel's voice rumbled through the chamber as molten orange eyes burned despite the pain.
"Then we all die here," Adhivar said simply. "You, us, and eventually all of Theia when this construct's collapse ripples outward."
Raziel's molten gaze shifted to Draven the human who'd fought beside him, trusted him, treated him as partner rather than tool.
"Draven," Raziel growled with voice steadying. "I accept the bond."
Inside the protective sphere, Draven's eyes widened uncertainty and honor mixing.
"You're sure?" Draven asked. "The bond is permanent."
"Nothing in this volcanic hell has been temporary," Raziel replied as something like dark humor touched his tone. "I've defied my nature, absorbed forbidden essence, and fought alongside mortals. One more choice won't kill me. The construct's blades will if I refuse."
The bonding was simpler than expected. The connection snapped into place drake and Fragment-bearer linked permanently.
The Codex blazed while accepting Draven's sixth bond.
---
"Now," Adhivar urged. "Consume the essence completely. Ascend. Before the construct recovers."
Raziel didn't hesitate.
He stopped fighting the essence flooding through him stopped trying to control or contain. Instead, he opened himself completely while letting it pour into every scale, every magma channel, every fiber of his draconic being.
The transformation was immediate and absolute.
His massive form erupted with light and shadow expanding and contracting simultaneously. The essence that had been chaotic force became fuel for ascension as each fragment of stolen power integrated into his volcanic nature.
The chamber trembled. Walls cracked. Reality itself groaned under the weight of transformation beginning.
Power cascaded through Raziel in waves each one breaking barriers that had defined his existence as an Overlord-tier drake.
His scales cracked and reformed black-scarlet deepening to something darker, molten channels blazing brighter than any volcanic core. His chest erupted with light as the furnace within intensified beyond natural limits.
His wings spread wide obsidian blades growing larger, magma veins pulsing with unprecedented power. The jagged horns curving from his skull lengthened while wreathed in superheated fumes.
And then the threshold.
Overlord to Epic.
The sensation was like reality itself tearing open. Raziel felt himself crossing into territory few beasts ever reached power that transcended individual strength, that touched the fundamental forces governing existence itself.
His consciousness expanded. The essence integrated completely, no longer foreign but part of him mastered, controlled, his.
The construct's blades shattered. Its molten form wavered anchor essence consumed, structure destabilizing.
The chamber began collapsing.
The ascension completed.
Raziel's form stabilized Epic tier achieved, essence mastered, power immense and controlled. His draconic body radiated heat that warped the air itself as molten orange eyes burned with transcendent intensity.
The shockwave hit with the force of a collapsing star.
It radiated outward from the transformation pure transcendent energy shattering what remained of the construct's form and the chamber's dimensional barriers. Adhivar and Luminestra's presences braced through the Genesis Codex as ancient power was barely sufficient to weather the storm.
The wave spread beyond the chamber while racing through lava lake, through volcano, across Theia's skies like a second dawn.
Every sensitive being on the planet felt it. Lord-tier beasts raised their heads in sudden wariness.
And beyond Theia beyond the dimensional barriers separating it from the original universe the shockwave traveled. Diminished, distant, but detectable.
A ripple in the cosmic ocean. A hint that something had changed.
---
"The Codex," Luminestra urged. "Now!"
Raziel didn't resist. He felt the sanctuary within the Codex the pocket space existing for bonded beasts to shelter and recover. Familiar function. Nothing remarkable.
Draven's other bonds had used it countless times Malvorn, Feyra, Velnar, Sylvara, Zor all knew the sanctuary well.
Except now an Epic-tier Magma Drake was entering.
The transition was instantaneous. One moment Raziel's massive draconic form stood within the fragmenting chamber, the next he folded himself through the bond and into the sanctuary twenty-story body compressing through dimensional space without issue.
The sanctuary within the Codex expanded to accommodate him not straining, simply adjusting. Epic-tier power contained within Fragment artifact, both designed by the Architects, both operating on principles beyond normal dimensional physics.
For the first time since absorbing the essence, Raziel felt something like stability.
The chaos quieted. The essence settled. His transformed nature no longer just Overlord, now something far greater found equilibrium within the sanctuary's boundaries.
Genesis Codex's voice manifested. "Epic-tier entity: successfully integrated. Sanctuary parameters: adjusted. Bond integrity: 100%. Welcome, Raziel."
Luminestra's warmth reached him through the connection. "Rest now. We'll handle the rest."
Inside the protective sphere, Draven gasped feeling Raziel's presence shift from external to internal, now residing within the Codex itself alongside his other bonds.
The bond pulsed. Strong. Stable. Permanent.
The construct collapsed entirely.
Without its anchor essence to maintain form, the molten guardian dissolved liquid fire splashing across obsidian floor, flowing back toward the lava essence pool. The white-hot core flickered once, then extinguished completely.
The guardian was gone.
But the chamber itself was destabilizing.
Cracks spider-webbed across the obsidian floor while glowing orange from magma pressure beneath. The Architect walls groaned heat-resistant material holding, but the dimensional barriers containing the lava lake above were failing.
Malvorn's massive behemoth form moved immediately. His four pillar-like legs braced as gravitational power flared creating stabilization field across the chamber floor. "The ceiling won't hold much longer. We need to move."
Naelvorn's serpentine form coiled nervously. "Bro, this whole place is coming down. Where's the exit?"
Frostina's ice-wyvern form remained calm as pale-blue armor crystallized with frost. "The passage we entered through. It's the only way out."
The protective sphere around Draven dissolved Luminestra releasing the barrier now that the construct was neutralized.
Draven's feet touched obsidian as Warden's Mantle adjusted to the apocalyptic heat. Around him, his bonded pack remained close Feyra's snow-white fur glowing faintly, Velnar's thorn-spines bristling, Sylvara's turquoise eyes concerned, Zor circling overhead with violet lightning crackling.
"The Fire Anchor," Draven said while turning toward the center of the chamber. "We came for the Anchor."
There it stood human-height staff, black surface holding starry depths, beveled geometric patterns engraved across its entire form. Identical to the First Anchor.
Beside it, the lava essence pool still churned depleted now, no longer glowing with the same intensity after Raziel's consumption, but still present.
"Quickly," Adhivar's voice rumbled through the Codex. "Retrieve the Anchor and leave. This chamber's stability is compromised."
Draven moved forward carefully as boots crunched on cracked obsidian.
The Fire Anchor stood before him ancient, powerful, waiting. The beveled patterns along its surface pulsed faintly with residual mana, rhythmic like a heartbeat. This was what they'd come for. What Raziel had sensed centuries ago.
What had called to him across time.
Malvorn's gravitational field held the chamber stable, but tremors continued each one stronger than the last. Obsidian chunks fell from the ceiling while crashing down around them.
"Hurry, bro!" Naelvorn called urgently.
Feyra's golden eyes watched Draven with concern. Velnar's earth-sense read the ground constantly detecting every fracture, every weakness. Sylvara stood ready to heal if anything collapsed. Zor's violet lightning illuminated the chamber's growing instability.
Frostina created ice barriers above them while catching falling debris before it could strike anyone.
Draven reached the Fire Anchor.
He placed his hand on the staff's surface. Genesis Codex floated beside him while glowing golden-green. Fragment energy channeled through the bond Life's Law resonating with merger-era craftsmanship.
The Anchor responded immediately.
The beveled patterns blazed with light brighter than before, recognizing Fragment-bearer's touch. The staff's weight shifted, no longer anchored to the obsidian floor. It lifted easily into Draven's grasp.
The second Anchor was claimed.
The moment the Anchor disconnected from its foundation, the chamber's collapse accelerated dramatically.
The floor cracked open magma erupting through gaps, orange-red glow intensifying. The dimensional barriers failed completely lava lake above beginning to pour downward.
"GO!" Malvorn roared as gravitational power flared to maximum.
The alliance moved as one running toward the passage, racing against collapsing chamber, carrying the Fire Anchor toward safety.
Behind them, the Architect chamber fell apart swallowed by volcanic fury.
Inside the Genesis Codex sanctuary, Raziel watched through the bond. His Epic-tier presence pulsed once satisfied, proud, complete.
They had succeeded.
đź’– Enjoying the story?
👉 Support me on Patreon: patreon.com/sa2quasar