The Hunter stepped into the tunnel with a silence so absolute that even the torches dimmed.
Its mask glowed faintly—bone-white, rune-carved, expressionless.
A death symbol.
Lucian felt his Core contract.
Not pulse.
Not warn.
Contract.
As if trying to collapse into itself.
**TARGET LOCK INTENSIFIES**
**DANGER CLASS: SOVEREIGN-SPECIFIC ANNIHILATOR**
**RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE EVASION OR ELIMINATION**
Lucian swallowed hard.
Of all the things he had expected after the messenger's appearance…
He hadn't expected a Hunter this soon.
Not this close.
Not this aware.
The Hunter lifted its hand and pointed directly at him.
The gesture was not hostile.
It was _confirmation_.
"Lucian," Sera whispered, her voice barely audible, "this isn't a scout."
Draven clenched his chains. "Then what is it?"
Lucian stepped forward, breath shallow.
"A Seeker."
Sera's eyes widened. "Those are only deployed when a Sovereign is confirmed."
Draven smirked. "Good. Strong prey."
Lucian didn't hear them.
His eyes were locked on the Hunter.
It didn't breathe.
It didn't blink.
It didn't shift its weight.
It simply _existed_, like a blade forged to kill exactly one thing:
Him.
The Hunter moved first.
A blur.
A crack in the air.
A sonic fracture.
Lucian reacted on instinct—copying the creature's previous flexibility, twisting mid-step—
The Hunter's arm lashed past his face, the air slicing open like fabric as stone exploded where he once stood.
Sera pulled Lucian back. "Move!"
Draven lunged forward with a war-cry, swinging both chain-scythes.
Metal clashed against the Hunter's forearm.
Sparks flew.
But the Hunter didn't slow.
Didn't stagger.
Didn't even shift.
It caught Draven's chains with two fingers.
And _pulled_.
Draven flew forward like a ragdoll—
Only to be kicked sideways into a pillar, stone cracking under the force.
Lucian blinked.
Draven wasn't weak.
Not even close.
And the Hunter tossed him like debris.
Sera stepped up beside Lucian, blades drawn.
"Lucian, listen carefully. A Seeker's mask holds its resonance field. We destroy that, it loses tracking—"
The Hunter vanished.
Not moved.
Not blinked.
Vanished.
And reappeared beside Lucian.
Sera shoved him back—
The Hunter's blade-hand sliced through the air, a hair's width from taking her head.
Lucian stumbled, caught himself—
Then the Core pulsed violently:
**COPY POSSIBILITY: 0%**
**REASON: TARGET ABILITY TIER TOO HIGH**
**ALTERNATE MODE: PATTERN MIRRORING ENABLED (TEMPORARY)**
Pattern mirroring?
Lucian didn't have time to question it.
The Hunter lunged again.
Lucian moved—
NOT matching its strength,
NOT matching its speed,
but mirroring the _pattern_ of its motion, just enough to slip through a killing strike.
He ducked.
Twisted.
Pushed off the wall.
Barely avoided a follow-up blow that cracked the ground where he'd stood.
Sera shouted, "Lucian—don't let it touch you! Even a single resonance strike will—"
The Hunter was already in front of him.
Its mask inches from Lucian's face.
Its voice—if it had a voice—came out as a layered whisper:
_"Return."_
Lucian froze.
The Core convulsed.
**FORCED RESONANCE ATTEMPT DETECTED**
**OVERRIDE BLOCKED — ANCHOR: KAELIS DORNE**
Lucian gasped for breath as the Hunter's influence bounced off the anchor Kaelis had formed.
A line of hope flickered in him—
Until the Hunter tilted its head… analyzing.
Studying.
Recognizing the resistance.
Its fingers twitched.
It adapted.
"Oh no," Lucian whispered. "It learned."
Sera grabbed his arm. "We cannot fight it here. The tunnel is too narrow!"
Draven staggered up, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Too narrow for you. Not for me."
Lucian shouted, "Draven—WAIT—"
Draven charged.
The Hunter didn't even turn.
It punched backward—
precise, effortless, brutal.
The blow landed in Draven's chest—
A shockwave echoed.
Dust exploded.
Draven's body hit the wall so hard it left a crater.
Lucian's skin went cold.
Draven wasn't moving.
Sera's breath trembled. "Lucian. You run. I'll stall—"
"No," Lucian said. "It's marked me. If I run, it follows. If I hide, it hunts."
Sera tightened her grip on her blade. "Then we fight."
Lucian nodded once.
But before either could move—
The Hunter raised its mask slightly.
A ripple of resonance tore through the air.
Sera gasped and dropped both blades.
Her knees buckled.
Lucian caught her. "Sera!"
She choked out, "It… disrupted my core flow… I can't channel—"
Lucian set her gently on the ground.
He looked up.
The Hunter was already walking toward him.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
With the confidence of something that had killed Sovereigns before.
Lucian stood.
His body ached.
His Core trembled.
His instincts screamed.
But he stood anyway.
The Hunter stopped three steps away.
_"Return."_
Lucian whispered, "I'm not him."
The Hunter tilted its head.
_"…Yet."_
Lucian stepped back.
The Hunter followed.
"Why?" Lucian asked. "Why chase me now? What do you want?"
The Hunter paused.
For the first time, its mask pulsed with faint runes.
Then it spoke a new word—
one that made Lucian freeze to his marrow:
_"Ascension."_
Lucian whispered, "You want my Core to awaken."
The Hunter nodded.
_"Awaken. Or die."_
It lifted its arm—
And the killing strike began.
The Hunter's killing strike wasn't fast.
It was _inevitable_.
A straight, precise motion—
no wasted energy,
no flourish,
no hesitation.
This was not a blow meant to injure.
It was a blow meant to erase.
Lucian felt the Core seize inside him.
**SOVEREIGN-KILL SEQUENCE DETECTED**
**IMPACT WILL RESULT IN TOTAL CORE FAILURE**
**EVASION REQUIRED**
He moved—
But the Hunter adjusted in the same breath, predicting his step, his angle, his survival instinct.
Its hand drifted toward his chest, two fingers extended like a blade.
It was going for the Core.
Lucian's pulse spiked.
He ducked under the strike—
barely—
the fingers grazing the air above his heart.
A cold ripple spread across his skin.
**HUNTER TOUCH: NEAR-MISS**
**WARNING: PROLONGED CONTACT = CORE DESTRUCTION**
Lucian twisted left, rolling to his feet.
The Hunter turned without urgency, tracking him with the calm of a creature that had never failed.
Sera tried to rise—
"Lucian—get back!"
But her knees buckled again. She hit the ground with a pained gasp, unable to channel even a spark of her energy.
Lucian's instincts burned.
His body screamed.
His Core hammered.
But he stood his ground.
The Hunter stepped forward.
One step.
Two.
Three.
Lucian braced—
Then Draven's voice echoed across the tunnel:
"HEY, BONE-FACE—CHEW ON THIS!"
Chains whistled through the air.
They wrapped around the Hunter's arm and neck—
Draven pulling with everything he had, muscles shaking, teeth bared.
The Hunter didn't budge.
Not one centimeter.
It just turned its head slightly toward Draven—
mask pulsing once.
Draven's arms jerked.
His chains went slack.
The Hunter had severed them.
Not broken.
Not torn.
**Separated the metal cleanly**, as if cutting strands of silk.
Draven stared at the severed lengths in disbelief.
"…That's new."
The Hunter blurred.
One kick.
Draven slammed into the ceiling, bounced off stone, and crashed onto the floor so hard the ground cracked beneath him.
Lucian shouted, "DRAVEN!"
Draven groaned weakly. "Not… dead… yet…"
But he was barely conscious.
Lucian stood alone now.
Sera crippled.
Draven nearly broken.
The Warden far behind them in the tunnels.
The Hunter stepped forward again.
_"Ascend or fall."_
Lucian clenched his fists.
"I'm not ascending. You can forget whatever my past was."
The Hunter paused, runes flashing.
_"Impossible."_
Lucian snarled, "Watch me."
The Hunter lunged again.
Lucian moved without thinking—
not copying its abilities,
not matching its strength,
but mirroring the _pattern_ of its killing motions just enough to stay alive.
He sidestepped.
Dropped low.
Shifted weight into a slide.
Let the tunnel wall carry him forward momentum.
The Hunter's strike shaved the air behind him.
Stone erupted where he'd been standing.
Sera gasped, "He's reading it—Lucian, how—?"
"I'm not!" Lucian shouted. "My Core is!"
The Core responded instantly.
**PATTERN MIRRORING: ACTIVE**
**DURATION LEFT: 18 SECONDS**
**IMPACT: SURVIVAL ONLY — NO COUNTEROFFENSE ENABLED**
Lucian cursed.
He could _evade_ this thing.
He couldn't _hurt_ it.
The Hunter blurred again—
appearing above him, hand descending for a spine-breaking blow.
Lucian twisted—
shoulder nearly dislocating—
letting borrowed flexibility from the mutated creature twist his torso unnaturally.
The strike missed by inches.
The Hunter landed silently.
Lucian stumbled back, breathing hard.
Sera called out, "Lucian—pattern mirroring is temporary! You need a new angle!"
Lucian shouted back, "I know!"
He dodged another fracturing blow, the shockwave blowing dust across the tunnel floor.
Draven crawled to his knees, coughing blood.
"Use the shard—!" he choked.
Lucian froze mid-motion.
"The shard…?"
The Hunter lunged.
Lucian dove behind a fallen pillar fragment, rolling across stone, ribs screaming.
He grabbed the pouch at his belt, fingers trembling.
The shard pulsed faintly against his skin—
Warm.
Alive.
Waiting.
The Core reacted violently.
**SHARD CONTACT DETECTED**
**WARNING: SHARD RESONANCE INCREASE MAY TRIGGER MEMORY SURGE**
**BENEFIT: UNKNOWN**
**RISK: EXTREME**
Lucian gritted his teeth.
"Give me something," he whispered. "Anything."
The shard glowed faintly.
The Hunter halted mid-step.
It sensed the shard too.
Runes across its mask flared violently.
_"Return what belongs to the Sovereign."_
Lucian held up the shard.
"Come take it."
The Hunter moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Lucian braced—
And the shard exploded with light in his hand.
The tunnel dimmed.
Then brightened.
Then dimmed again.
Lucian's pulse synced with the shard's.
His Core reacted instantly—
**SOVEREIGN ECHO ACTIVATING**
**BOOST: REFLEX + PATTERN + PREDICTION**
**DURATION: 10 SECONDS**
**DISADVANTAGE: POST-USE CORE INSTABILITY**
Lucian didn't hesitate.
The Hunter struck—
Lucian blocked.
He blocked a Sovereign-killing strike.
It wasn't strength.
It wasn't skill.
It wasn't memory.
It was _echo_—
the ghost of the Sovereign he once was.
The Hunter recoiled.
Lucian stepped forward.
Energy shimmered around his arm—
green, jagged, unstable—
but enough.
Sera gasped. "Lucian—your Core—!"
He didn't hear her.
He only saw the Hunter.
And for the first time…
the Hunter stepped back.
Lucian attacked.
One strike.
Two.
Three.
Each blow faster than he had ever moved.
Each blow echoing a past life he barely knew.
The Hunter deflected—but barely.
Lucian's fist grazed its mask.
A crack formed.
Sera whispered, "He damaged it—he actually—"
The Hunter froze.
The tunnel went silent.
Cracks spread across the mask like frost.
The runes flickered.
Then—
**SCANNING…**
**SCANNING…**
**IDENTITY CONFIRMED**
**ASH SOVEREIGN — LUCID CLASS**
Lucian's blood turned to ice.
"What—what does that mean—?"
The Hunter's mask fully awakened.
Runes blazed.
Its voice deepened into a multi-toned resonance:
_"Sovereign recovered. Execution protocol: RISE OR DIE."_
Lucian staggered back.
"What—? NO—!"
The Hunter's aura exploded outward, dust lifting from the ground, stones rattling.
Sera screamed, "Luci—MOVE—!"
Lucian moved—
Barely.
The Hunter's strike shattered the wall behind him, sending stone flying like shrapnel.
Lucian felt the shard's power flickering—
**SOVEREIGN ECHO DURATION LEFT: 3… 2… 1…**
Then—
It ended.
Lucian's knees buckled.
His vision blurred.
His veins flickered dangerously.
**POST-ECHO CORE INSTABILITY RISING**
**PHYSICAL OUTPUT: 42%**
**EVASION IMPOSSIBLE**
Lucian collapsed to one knee.
The Hunter stood over him.
It raised its hand.
_"Choose."_
Lucian stared up at it, shaking.
"Choose what…?"
_"Ascend."_
The mask glowed brighter.
_"Or die this life as well."_
Lucian's breath trembled.
He couldn't ascend.
Not now.
Not like this.
If he triggered evolution now, the Sovereign inside him would awaken—
and he didn't know what would come out.
Lucian whispered, "I won't become him."
The Hunter replied with finality:
_"Then this life ends."_
Its hand descended.
The Hunter's descending hand was impossibly precise.
Not a strike—
a _termination command_, delivered directly into Lucian's Core.
If it landed, he would not simply die.
He would be erased.
Lucian braced for the end—
And a blade intercepted the blow.
Steel clashed against resonance, the impact bursting into sparks of blue and green.
Lucian didn't need to look.
He knew the sound of that blade.
Kaelis stood between him and the Hunter, her sword locked against the creature's fingers, her entire body trembling under the pressure.
She didn't shout.
She didn't announce her arrival.
She simply held.
"Get up," Kaelis said quietly.
Her voice shook—not with fear—
with anger.
Lucian forced himself to rise.
The Hunter shifted its masked gaze from Lucian to Kaelis.
Rune-light flared.
_"Marshal-class obstruction detected."_
Kaelis's expression didn't change.
"Obstruct this."
She stepped forward—
The Hunter stepped back.
Lucian blinked.
This thing had tossed Draven effortlessly.
It had hunted him with surgical calm.
But Kaelis Dorne made it retreat.
The Hunter adjusted its stance.
_"Kaelis Dorne. Sovereign Execution Partner."_
Lucian froze.
"What?"
Kaelis didn't answer.
The Hunter did:
_"Last execution incomplete."_
Lucian felt his breath catch.
Kaelis whispered, "Ignore it, Lucian."
The Hunter tilted its head.
_"She killed you once. She will kill you again."_
Lucian felt his stomach twist.
Kaelis's jaw tightened.
"Sovereign Hunters talk too much," she said.
And she attacked.
Kaelis moved like a blade given life—
clean, fast, terrifying.
Her sword carved silver arcs through the air, forcing the Hunter back step-by-step.
Lucian had seen her duel elites.
He had seen her fight him.
But this—
this was different.
She fought like someone who had practiced killing Hunters before.
Lucian whispered, "She's fought them…"
Sera, still kneeling but conscious now, answered hoarsely:
"She hasn't just fought them. She was trained _with_ them."
The Hunter caught Kaelis's blade.
Not by the metal—
by the _air_ around it.
It bent the momentum, redirected it, twisted her into a position she should not escape from—
Kaelis flipped over the twist, landing behind it.
Her sword slashed across the Hunter's ribs.
A shower of cracked bone and faint sparks.
Draven coughed from the ground. "She… actually damaged it…"
Lucian stared.
Kaelis didn't stop.
Every strike she delivered carried the same message:
_You will not take him._
But the Hunter was not simply a machine of death.
It adapted.
It learned _her_ patterns, too.
Kaelis thrust—
The Hunter pivoted.
Avoided.
Countered.
Its elbow slammed into Kaelis's shoulder.
She staggered.
Barely.
Lucian moved to help.
Kaelis shouted, "DON'T!"
He froze.
Sera rasped, "She's right. If you get close, the Hunter reorients to the Sovereign target."
Lucian's fists tightened.
He hated this.
He hated watching.
He hated letting Kaelis stand between him and something hunting him.
But she knew more than he did.
She knew the Hunters.
She knew _him_.
The Hunter suddenly stepped back and lifted both hands.
Its mask began to glow—
first faintly,
then bright enough to wash the tunnel in white-gold light.
Kaelis paled for the first time since arriving.
"No… Not that—"
Lucian took a step. "What is it?"
Sera whispered, terrified:
"A Sovereign Suppression Field."
The words hit Lucian harder than any blow.
"What does that mean?"
Sera swallowed.
"It cancels evolution abilities. It disables Core pulses. It… shuts you down."
The Hunter spread its hands.
A shimmering field rippled outward—
a distortion in the air,
a vibration that rattled bones and bent sound.
Lucian felt his Core seize.
His veins flickered.
His breath stuttered.
**CORE SUPPRESSION DETECTED**
**EVOLUTION LOCK**
**MOVEMENT IMPAIRMENT: 78%**
Lucian dropped to one knee.
Kaelis spun—
her blade slashing into the distortion—
Metal vibrated violently, nearly pulled from her grip.
"It's anchored to you, Lucian!" she called. "It won't stop unless you break its focus!"
Lucian gritted his teeth. "How?"
"Fight the instinct!" Kaelis shouted. "Don't let the Sovereign inside you respond to the field!"
But that instinct was a tidal wave, a buried force the Hunter was trying to awaken.
Lucian felt it rising—
Power
Memory
Hunger
Command
Evolution
Ascension—
"NO—!" he shouted, clutching his chest.
Kaelis ran to his side.
"Lucian! Stay with me!"
The Hunter stepped forward, mask flaring brighter.
_"Awaken."_
Lucian gasped.
"I won't…"
The Hunter's voice deepened.
_"Awaken."_
Lucian shook violently.
Kaelis grabbed his face with both hands.
"LOOK AT ME."
Lucian did.
Her eyes held him steady.
Anchored him.
Focused him.
Pulled him away from the Sovereign echo trying to claw free.
"Lucian Raine," she whispered, fierce and trembling, "you are not him."
The Core pulsed—
not violently,
not hungrily,
…but softly.
**ANCHOR ACTIVATED**
**SUPPRESSION FIELD RESISTANCE: +40%**
Lucian could breathe again.
Just barely.
Kaelis stood, turning back to the Hunter.
"You want him awakened?" she said, voice icy. "You'll go through me."
The Hunter raised its hand—
And the field expanded again, slamming Kaelis backward.
Lucian shouted, "NO—!"
Kaelis hit the wall hard enough to crack stone.
She slid down, coughing blood.
But she stood again.
Barely.
She lifted her blade.
And whispered:
"I killed a Sovereign once. I can kill his Hunter."
The Hunter lunged.
Kaelis braced.
Lucian struggled to rise.
His Core flickered dangerously—
**EVOLUTION LOCK**
**OVERRIDE IMPOSSIBLE**
**PHYSICAL OUTPUT: 23%**
He couldn't fight.
He couldn't run.
He couldn't copy.
He couldn't ascend.
He could only watch—
Until the Core whispered something he had never heard before:
**NEW PROTOCOL DETECTED**
**CONDITION: USER NOT IN OFFENSIVE STATE**
**EFFECT: SOVEREIGN SHIELD ACTIVATION**
Lucian froze.
"Sovereign… shield?"
Sera gasped.
"That's impossible. Sovereigns don't defend. They only—"
The Hunter struck.
Kaelis was too slow.
Lucian moved without thought—
A barrier erupted around him, faint green and gold, circular like a ring of fractured glass.
The Hunter hit it—
And stopped.
Stopped completely.
Kaelis stared, stunned.
Sera whispered, "He triggered it… He actually triggered a Sovereign Shield…"
Lucian himself could barely breathe.
The Hunter recoiled.
Its mask dimmed in confusion.
It wasn't programmed for this.
Lucian whispered, voice trembling, "I'm not awakening. I'm protecting."
The Hunter tilted its head.
For the first time, it stepped back.
_"Protocol mismatch detected."_
Kaelis coughed blood but kept her grip on her blade.
"Lucian," she whispered, "whatever you're doing—keep doing it."
Lucian wasn't doing anything.
His Core was.
Not to kill.
Not to evolve.
Not to dominate.
But to **defend** him.
The Hunter recalibrated.
Its mask flared again.
_"Resetting execution protocol."_
Kaelis forced herself upright.
Sera steadied her daggers.
Draven dragged himself to his feet, blood on his lips.
Lucian stood inside the glowing shield, breathing hard.
The Hunter lowered into a stance meant only for one thing:
Killing a Sovereign for good.
Lucian whispered:
"Come then."
The tunnel shuddered.
The Hunter charged.
The Hunter struck the Sovereign Shield with a sound like a mountain fracture.
A shockwave rippled outward—
dust spiraling into a vortex,
stone walls groaning,
torches flickering violently.
Lucian staggered but held his ground as the shimmering shield absorbed the impact with a deep, resonant hum.
The Hunter paused.
Tilted its mask.
Analyzing.
_"Impossible defense. Sovereign-class anomaly."_
Lucian exhaled shakily.
His Core pulsed in time with the shield's glow—
**SOVEREIGN SHIELD STABILITY: 67%**
**ENERGY DRAW: DANGEROUS**
**USER STRAIN: RISING**
Kaelis limped closer, sword dragging behind her.
"Lucian… keep it focused on you. The shield can't protect all of us."
Lucian shook his head. "I can barely think right now. This thing—this shield—it's doing the work. Not me."
Draven snarled from behind them, pushing himself upright against a pillar.
"Then let it do the work while we beat this thing to death."
Sera shot him a horrified look. "Draven, no—Lucian's shield isn't offensive! It's a stabilization defense—if we hit the Hunter while it's locked on him—"
But Draven didn't wait for an explanation.
He dropped what remained of his chains, flexed his fingers, and sprinted directly at the Hunter with terrifying ferocity.
Lucian shouted, "DRAVEN—STOP!"
Too late.
Draven leapt, swinging a broken chain like a whip—
The Hunter didn't even face him.
It flicked its wrist.
A single gesture.
A single distortion.
Draven's body bent mid-air like a puppet with its strings cut.
He slammed into the ground, skidding across stone, coughing blood.
"Damn thing…" he wheezed, "…hits harder every time…"
Lucian tried to move toward him—
The shield restrained him.
A soft barrier, firm, unbreakable.
Sera gasped. "Lucian—you can't leave its radius!"
Lucian's eyes widened. "Why not?!"
"Because," Sera whispered, "a Sovereign Shield only forms around the Sovereign. If you move, it tries to follow… and tears your Core apart in the process."
Lucian's stomach dropped.
The Hunter stepped forward—
slow, deadly, deliberate.
_"Shield will collapse. Sovereign will follow."_
Kaelis stepped between Lucian and the Hunter again.
Her blade glowed faint silver—
a technique Lucian hadn't seen before.
He felt the air pressure change.
A sudden cold.
A tremor in the ground.
"Kaelis—what are you—?"
She didn't answer.
She whispered a phrase Lucian didn't recognize, something old, something forbidden:
**"Marshal Art — Severing Arc."**
Sera choked. "Kaelis—NO—!"
Kaelis swung.
It wasn't a slash.
It was a horizon line carved into the air.
For the first time—
The Hunter stepped back.
A deep crack appeared across its mask.
The runes flickered.
Dust drifted from its armor-like bone plating.
Kaelis collapsed to one knee, blood trickling from her nose.
Lucian moved to help her—
The shield held him back again.
"Damn it—Kaelis—!"
She pushed herself up.
Barely.
"Lucian… listen…" she gasped. "I can't… use another forbidden arc. It'll… kill me."
Lucian clenched his fists.
The Hunter rotated its mask toward her.
_"Marshal anomaly: 47%. Termination required."_
Kaelis raised her sword again—shaking, defiant.
Lucian's heart hammered.
"No—Kaelis—get back—!"
She didn't.
She stood.
Knowing the next blow might kill her.
The Hunter blurred—
Kaelis braced—
Sera screamed—
And Lucian's Core—
**SNAPPED.**
Not broke.
Not shattered.
**ASCENDED.**
A surge of green fire erupted beneath Lucian's skin, veins glowing like molten rivers.
The shield brightened—
then cracked—
then _expanded_ suddenly, a pulse that shoved everyone backward.
Kaelis hit the ground.
Sera slid across stone.
The Hunter staggered for the first time, its mask flickering violently.
Lucian felt his lungs seize as the Core roared inside him—
**TIER ADVANCEMENT TRIGGERED**
**ASH CORE → ASH-IGNITED**
**NEW NODE AVAILABLE: CORE IGNITE**
**COPY RATE INCREASE: 2%**
**SECONDARY EFFECT: BURN DAMAGE ENABLED**
The pain was indescribable.
Every bone burned.
Every nerve screamed.
Every heartbeat felt like a hammer slamming into his ribs.
Kaelis sat up, eyes widening.
"…Lucian…"
The Hunter froze mid-step.
Its mask glowed white-hot.
_"Ascension detected."_
Lucian gasped, barely able to stand.
His body shook violently as the evolution forced itself through him.
He wasn't ready.
He didn't want this.
He didn't choose this.
But the Core had chosen.
Kaelis staggered toward him.
"Lucian—focus—breathe—YOU HAVE TO CONTROL THE IGNITION—!"
But the Core wasn't listening to her.
It was listening to the Hunter.
It sensed threat.
It sensed death.
It sensed a predator whose existence demanded evolution.
Lucian screamed—
Light burst from his chest—
And the Sovereign Shield shattered into shimmering dust.
Kaelis looked terrified.
Sera looked pale.
Draven looked thrilled.
The Hunter tilted its head, runes pulsing in recognition.
_"Welcome back, Sovereign."_
Lucian stared up at it—
And this time, when the Hunter's mask flared—
He didn't collapse.
He didn't falter.
He didn't weaken.
He stepped forward.
Not as prey.
As something the Hunter itself had waited to kill for centuries.
Lucian whispered, voice low and burning with new power:
"I'm not your Sovereign."
The Hunter's runes flickered.
Lucian raised his hand.
Green flames licked his fingers.
"But I'll kill you anyway."
Lucian's breath misted in the cold of the tunnel.
Green fire flickered from his hands—unsteady, pulsing, raw and newly born.
Ash-Ignited.
The world felt sharper.
The Hunter felt closer.
And Lucian felt something he had never allowed himself before:
**Power without fear.**
The Hunter did not move.
It merely rotated its mask slightly, runes shifting like a rearranging constellation.
_"Ignition complete. Sovereign pattern rising."_
Lucian stepped forward.
"For the last time," he growled, "I'm not him."
He thrust his palm out—
and a burst of green flame roared from his hand, slamming into the Hunter like a living spear.
The tunnel walls lit in emerald light.
Heat rippled through the air.
Stone cracked beneath the pressure.
The Hunter staggered—
just half a step—
but enough.
Kaelis gasped.
Sera flinched.
Draven's eyes widened like a child watching the start of a war he had waited for his whole life.
Lucian didn't let up.
The fire in his hand intensified, twisting into a spiraling arc of ash-infused energy—
the first offensive technique of an Ash-Ignited Core.
But the Hunter adapted instantly.
It raised its arm—
and the green blast split around it like water around stone.
The tunnel dimmed again.
Lucian tightened his stance.
**NEW COMBAT STAT: IGNITED STRIKE ENABLED**
**BURN EFFECT ACTIVE — HIGH DAMAGE TO STATIC ENTITIES**
**WARNING: USER BODY NOT FULLY ADAPTED. OVERUSE RISKS INTERNAL DAMAGE.**
Lucian muttered, "I noticed."
The Hunter stepped forward.
_"Ignited. But unstable."_
Its arm blurred.
Lucian parried—
with his bare forearm.
The impact rippled through the tunnel.
Lucian slid backward two meters, boots grinding deep grooves into the stone.
Pain seared through his bones—
but he didn't fall.
Kaelis whispered, "Lucian… your durability…"
"It's temporary," Lucian grunted. "And it hurts like hell."
The Hunter attacked again—
faster this time.
Lucian's Core pulsed.
He dodged left—barely.
He ducked under a slicing hand that tore through the stone pillar behind him.
He swung a burning fist upward, catching the Hunter beneath its mask.
This time—
the mask cracked.
A spiderweb fracture across bone-white plating.
The Hunter recoiled.
_"Sovereign force acknowledged."_
Lucian spat blood. "Stop calling me that!"
The Hunter responded by driving a knee toward his ribs—
Lucian blocked it with a burning palm, flames spiraling around his wrist.
The force still launched him across the tunnel.
He crashed into a wall, stone exploding around him.
Dust showered his shoulders.
His body screamed in pain.
Draven shouted, "GET UP!"
Sera shouted, "DON'T PUSH YOUR CORE TOO FAR—YOU'LL BURN OUT—"
Lucian forced himself upright as the Hunter approached.
"You cannot win," it said. "Ignited Tier is insufficient. Ascend."
Lucian wiped blood from his lip.
"I'm not ascending for you."
The Hunter tilted its head—almost confused.
_"Ascension inevitable. You delay."_
Lucian stepped forward again.
"Then I'll delay forever."
Kaelis suddenly appeared behind the Hunter, her blade coated in shimmering silver light.
"Lucian—MOVE!"
He dove aside without hesitation.
Kaelis unleashed a downward arc aimed at the crack in the Hunter's mask.
The Hunter spun—
caught her wrist mid-swing—
and smashed her into the ground with inhuman force.
"KAELIS!" Lucian screamed.
She coughed blood but didn't let go of her sword.
The Hunter drove its hand toward her chest—
Lucian's flame lashed out instinctively, spiraling around the Hunter's arm, burning deep grooves into the resonance-hardened bone.
The Hunter recoiled.
Lucian grabbed Kaelis, dragging her upright.
"You shouldn't be fighting," he said.
Kaelis grinned weakly. "We've established I'm terrible at that."
Lucian almost laughed.
Almost.
The Hunter stood perfectly still now.
_"Mask integrity compromised. Adjusting protocol."_
Kaelis tensed. "Lucian. The next technique won't be survivable."
Lucian swallowed. "For me or it?"
Kaelis met his gaze.
"For both."
The Hunter lifted its hand.
Runes across its body flared.
Sera whispered, horrified, "It's invoking a Full Null Sequence…"
Draven stumbled to Lucian's side. "What the hell is that?"
Sera looked pale. "An area wipe. Nothing survives inside it. Not people, not beasts, not cores."
Lucian stiffened. "And how do we stop it?"
"You don't," Sera said. "You run."
Lucian stepped forward.
"No."
Sera choked. "Lucian—!"
Kaelis grabbed his arm.
"You try to fight that," she whispered, "and the Sovereign inside you will awaken to survive it."
Lucian looked at her.
Burning.
Determined.
Resolute.
"I'd rather die as Lucian," he said, "than live as him again."
Kaelis froze.
Sera froze.
Even Draven looked shaken.
The Hunter stepped forward.
"Null Sequence beginning."
Kaelis cursed violently.
"Lucian—LISTEN—if you don't ascend, you DIE—"
Lucian lifted his hand, flames swirling.
"Then this life ends my way."
The Hunter's body gathered energy—
a swirling sphere of white resonance forming at its center.
The air grew colder.
The ground grew lighter.
The world felt as if it were being peeled away from itself.
Lucian's Core responded—
But not with ascension.
With resistance.
**CORE IGNITE: FULL ACTIVATION**
**FLAME EFFICIENCY: 180%**
**WARNING: BODY DAMAGE INEVITABLE**
Lucian stepped directly into the Hunter's path.
"Lucian—NO—!" Kaelis screamed.
Draven roared something incoherent.
Sera covered her eyes.
Lucian thrust his flaming hand toward the forming Null Sphere—
And the entire tunnel vibrated.
The Hunter released the technique.
The Null Sphere erupted—
Lucian's flame collided with it—
Green and white collided in a deafening shockwave.
Sound vanished.
Light vanished.
Feeling vanished.
For a heartbeat, Lucian felt nothing.
Then—
Everything snapped back violently.
**CORE OUTPUT EXCEEDED SAFE LIMIT**
**IGNITION OVERLOAD: CRITICAL**
**INITIATING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN**
Lucian collapsed as the sphere imploded—
And the Hunter staggered backward, its mask cracking down the center, runes flickering wildly.
It reached toward Lucian—
Not to strike.
To **confirm termination**.
Kaelis leapt between them again, her sword raised.
She screamed, "OVER MY DEAD BODY!"
The Hunter's mask dimmed.
_"Accepted."_
And it lifted its hand—
Ready to kill her.
Lucian forced a single word out, barely conscious:
"STOP—"
The Hunter paused.
Not because Lucian commanded it.
Because something else stopped it.
A ripple through the air.
A pulse from the shard in Lucian's pouch.
A resonance from far above the Arena Pits.
The Hunter lowered its hand slowly.
_"Sovereign resonance diverging… Primary target unstable… Mission delay required."_
Kaelis and Sera stared in disbelief.
Lucian raised his head weakly.
The Hunter turned away.
_"We will finish this when the next shard calls your name."_
Then it vanished—
dissolving into ash that didn't fall to the ground.
It simply disappeared.
Lucian slumped.
His Core flickered.
His vision dimmed.
Kaelis caught him as he fell.
"Lucian—stay awake—Lucian!"
He heard her voice fading—
He heard Sera calling for the Warden—
heard Draven cursing—
heard his own heart slowing—
And the Core whispered one last message before everything went black:
**NEXT EVOLUTION THRESHOLD: APPROACHING SOON.**
Lucian exhaled—
And darkness claimed him.