Three days passed.
Kael barely ate. Barely slept.
All he did was sit in meditation, letting the Hollow consume fragments of his own soul — unnecessary thoughts, emotional attachments, mental noise.
It hurt.
Not physically.
Existentially.
Like deleting parts of himself.
But it worked.
Hollow capacity: 0.3%Status: Stable
Kael exhaled slowly.
"That's… ridiculously low."
But he felt it.
A subtle change.
His mind was sharper. His emotions quieter. His awareness deeper.
Then it happened.
A boy in the orphanage collapsed during training.
Aura backlash.
His spiritual core cracked.
The caretakers panicked.
Everyone backed away.
Except Kael.
He approached the unconscious boy and placed his hand on his chest.
The Hollow reacted instantly.
It pulled.
Not from Kael.
From the boy.
A thin, golden thread — aura residue — was ripped out and absorbed.
Kael gasped.
New resource acquired.Aura fragment: Bronze-level (damaged)Compatibility: 100%
Power surged through his body.
For the first time, Kael felt real strength.
Not borrowed.
Not imagined.
Real.
His muscles tightened. His senses sharpened. His heartbeat synchronized with something ancient and primal.
He staggered backward.
"I… stole it."
Not magic.
Not technique.
He had devoured power itself.
The boy survived — weakened, but alive.
Kael stared at his own trembling hands.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"So that's it."
The Hollow wasn't meant to be filled naturally.
It was meant to consume others.
This world ran on systems.
Magic.
Aura.
Divinity.
And Kael…
Was a system predator.
A parasite of reality.
A king with an empty throne — waiting to be filled with stolen gods.
For the first time since reincarnating, Kael felt certainty.
This world hadn't given him power.
So he would take it from everything that had it.
And one day…
There would be nothing left that he couldn't devour.