The Ancient Origin Ruins were collapsing.
Cracks spread across the golden temple.
Massive stones fell from the ceiling, crashing into the ground with enough force to shake the entire underground world.
Kael stood motionless.
His gaze remained fixed on the darkness where the ancient eyes had disappeared.
That presence had only spoken a few words.
Yet those words continued echoing in his mind.
You are far too weak.
Kael clenched his fist.
He couldn't deny it.
Compared to the Void Lord, the ancient existence inside the ruins, or even the mysterious masked Origin Bearer—
He was still weak.
But weakness was temporary.
⸻
Another tremor shook the ruins.
BOOM!
The floor beneath Kael cracked.
He immediately turned.
The golden pathways revealed by Origin Star Sight suddenly became visible.
Hundreds of them.
They spread through the ruins like veins.
Some led toward treasures.
Some led toward dead ends.
But nine—
Nine golden pathways extended toward different directions.
Each carried the same Origin signature.
⸻
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"The fragments."
⸻
The system responded.
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
[ Origin Star Sight has detected nine connected Origin pathways. ]
[ Analysis Complete. ]
[ These pathways correspond to the Nine Star Fragments. ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ NINE STAR FRAGMENTS ]
Fragment I — Acquired
Fragment II — Unknown
Fragment III — Unknown
Fragment IV — Unknown
Fragment V — Unknown
Fragment VI — Unknown
Fragment VII — Unknown
Fragment VIII — Unknown
Fragment IX — Unknown
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ Additional Information ]
The Nine Star Fragments were created as components of a greater Origin inheritance.
Current completion:
1/9
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kael stared at the information.
Nine fragments.
So the fragment he had just obtained wasn't the inheritance itself.
It was only one piece.
"What happens when all nine are gathered?"
For several seconds, the system remained silent.
Then—
[ SYSTEM ANALYSIS ]
Insufficient data.
Probability of inheritance transformation:
Unknown
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kael frowned.
Even the system couldn't determine it.
That alone made him more interested.
⸻
Another explosion shook the temple.
The masked Origin Bearer suddenly appeared several meters away.
Kael immediately turned.
The masked man looked around at the collapsing ruins.
"You found the first fragment."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"You knew it was here."
"I did."
"Then why didn't you take it?"
The masked man remained silent.
Then he answered:
"Because it doesn't belong to me."
Kael studied him.
"You could have taken it."
"I could have."
"Then why didn't you?"
The masked man looked directly at him.
"Because the fragments choose their bearer."
Kael's expression changed slightly.
"Choose?"
The masked man nodded.
"The Origin Legacy isn't something that can simply be stolen."
He looked toward the crystal embedded within Kael's chest.
"It accepts."
"It rejects."
"And when necessary…"
His voice became colder.
"It destroys."
⸻
The temple suddenly shook violently.
The masked man's expression changed.
"Enough talking."
Kael glanced around.
"What?"
"We're leaving."
"Why?"
The masked man looked toward the deepest part of the ruins.
"Because something woke up."
⸻
BOOOOOOM!
The entire temple split apart.
A terrifying wave of energy erupted from beneath the ground.
The golden pathways disappeared.
The floating islands began collapsing.
Even the masked Origin Bearer took several steps backward.
Kael's Origin Core violently reacted.
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
[ MASSIVE ENERGY FLUCTUATION DETECTED ]
[ Source: Unknown Ancient Entity ]
[ Threat Assessment: Beyond Current Calculation ]
[ Recommendation: Immediate Evacuation ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The masked man grabbed Kael's shoulder.
"Now."
Kael resisted.
"What about the ruins?"
"Forget them."
"There's still information here."
"There won't be a ruin left to investigate if you stay."
⸻
A roar suddenly echoed through the underground world.
Not a beast's roar.
Not a human voice.
Something deeper.
Something that seemed to shake the soul itself.
The ancient entity spoke.
"You…"
The voice stopped.
Then—
"Origin…"
A second tremor.
The entity seemed to be waking completely.
The masked man's expression became grim.
"We're out of time."
⸻
Kael activated Origin Step.
The masked man released him.
Both moved simultaneously.
Golden light tore through the collapsing ruins.
Behind them—
The Star Temple disintegrated.
A gigantic hand emerged from the darkness below.
It was covered in ancient golden chains.
Most had already broken.
Only three remained.
The hand reached toward the sky.
Then stopped.
The chains tightened.
BOOM!
The entire underground world trembled.
⸻
Kael and the masked man finally emerged from the mountain.
They landed several hundred meters away.
The mountain behind them collapsed.
A massive cloud of dust rose into the sky.
⸻
Kael looked at the ruins.
"Those chains…"
The masked man nodded.
"They're the Origin Seals."
"Who created them?"
"The first Origin Bearers."
Kael turned toward him.
"And what exactly is imprisoned down there?"
The masked man stared at the collapsed mountain.
His silence lasted several seconds.
Then—
"Something that even the Origin Bearers feared."
⸻
Kael's expression became serious.
"Then why is the Star Vault connected to it?"
The masked man looked at him.
"Because the Vault isn't just a prison."
He paused.
"It's the lock."
⸻
Kael's pupils contracted.
"The Ancient Star Vault is the lock?"
"Yes."
"And the Nine Star Fragments?"
The masked man's eyes became solemn.
"They are the keys."
Silence.
⸻
Everything suddenly connected.
The Ancient Star Vault.
The Nine Star Fragments.
The Origin Bearers.
The Void.
The prison beneath the ruins.
⸻
Kael looked toward the northern horizon.
If the Nine Star Fragments were keys…
Then someone was collecting them.
And the Void already knew they existed.
⸻
The system appeared.
[ MAJOR DISCOVERY ]
[ Ancient Origin Structure Identified ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Ancient Star Vault:
Lock
Nine Star Fragments:
Keys
Unknown Ancient Entity:
Sealed Existence
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[ WARNING ]
If sufficient Star Fragments are gathered by an unauthorized entity, the Ancient Star Vault may undergo structural destabilization.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kael's expression hardened.
"So that's what the Void wants."
The masked man shook his head.
"Not exactly."
Kael looked at him.
"They don't want to open the Vault."
The masked man stared toward the distant stars.
"They want to control what happens when it opens."
⸻
A sudden killing intent swept across the mountain range.
Both men turned.
Hundreds of black figures appeared on distant cliffs.
Void operatives.
Their eyes glowed violet.
At their center stood a familiar figure.
The Hollow Hunter Commander.
His gaze landed on Kael.
Then on the masked Origin Bearer.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Finally—
The Commander smiled.
"We found both of you."
Kael's Origin Core pulsed.
The masked Origin Bearer slowly drew a golden blade.
⸻
The Commander raised one hand.
The Void forces moved.
⸻
The battle for the first Star Fragment had begun.
[ SYSTEM WARNING ]
[ Multiple Void Forces Detected ]
[ Host is currently being surrounded. ]
[ Recommended Action: Prepare for combat. ]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Kael slowly stepped forward.
Golden Origin energy surrounded his body.
His eyes became cold.
"Then let's see how many of you came to die."
The night exploded.
⸻
Host: Kael Veyron
Realm:
Origin Awakening Stage 2
Title:
• The Returning Origin
Abilities:
• Origin Sense
• Origin Flash
• Origin Pulse
• Origin Perception
• Origin Resonance
• Origin Step
• Origin Severance
• Origin Star Sight
Legacy:
• Star Fragment I — Acquired
• Star Fragments Remaining — 8
Active Quest:
[ The Second Legacy ]
Major Discoveries:
• Nine Star Fragments are keys connected to the Ancient Star Vault
• The Ancient Star Vault is the lock sealing an unknown existence
• The Void is searching for the Star Fragments
• The masked Origin Bearer is also an Origin Bearer
Current Situation:
Surrounded by Void forces