The battle was over.
The Kingkiller had vanished—retreating like a shadow refusing the dawn.
His army of false kings? Gone. Scattered into memory-dust by Adexander's final blow.
But the ground still trembled.
And mana… felt wrong.
Adexander stood at the center of the ruin, the Fangblade buried in stone. Smoke curled from his shoulders—no spell. No flame. Just... heat.
Kaien limped forward, his blade shattered at the hilt. "Tell me we're done."
Raik crouched beside a broken column, bruised but grinning. "You ever not go overkill?"
Velessia didn't answer.
Her fingers were weaving diagnostic runes above Adexander.
None of them stayed stable.
The symbols flickered, distorted, then cracked—like glass under pressure.
"…This doesn't make sense," she muttered. "You're not wounded, but mana won't touch you. It won't stay."
Adexander looked at her. Eyes calm. "Good."
> [System Notice: Status Irregularity Detected.] [Mana Signature: UNDEFINED.] [Correction Attempt: Failed.] [Suggested Action: None.]
Raik furrowed his brow. "You break magic now?"
Kaien barked a laugh. "Of course he does. Next you'll tell me he breaks gravity."
They all chuckled.
But Velessia's face remained pale.
"…That wasn't mana you used," she said. "When you struck the Kingkiller—that wasn't magic."
Adexander didn't answer.
He couldn't.
Because deep inside… something was waking.
Not a voice. Not yet.
A heartbeat.
Slow. Heavy. Not his own.
Later that night, they camped near the edge of a ruined settlement. A human town, broken in the last demon surge—houses crumbled, streets choked with vines.
Adexander wandered from camp.
In one of the ruined homes, he found something strange:
Children.
Hiding.
Wide-eyed, silent, and covered in dust.
Four of them.
A boy, holding a rusted dagger in shaking hands. Three younger girls behind him.
They didn't scream.
They just looked at him. As if expecting death.
Adexander crouched. "You live here?"
The boy's hand trembled. "…We did. Monsters came. Everyone ran. Father said to stay."
"They didn't come back," whispered the smallest girl.
Adexander said nothing for a while. Then he held out his hand.
Not a weapon.
A ration. Warm.
"You'll come with me."
Back at camp, Kaien's eyes widened. "We're doing charity now?"
Velessia stepped forward immediately, wrapping cloaks around the children. Her hands glowed softly—comfort spells, the ones that still worked.
Raik grinned. "They're brave. I like 'em."
The oldest boy kept watching Adexander.
"…You're not human," he finally said.
Adexander met his gaze.
"No," he agreed.
> [System Notice: Trait Modified – 'Ashbreaker' Emergence Detected.] [Mana Resistance Increasing.] [Essence Threshold 3% Reached.
That night, Velessia watched Adexander from the firelight. "You've changed."
"I'm always changing."
"That's not what I meant."
"…Then say it."
She hesitated.
"Mana doesn't obey you anymore. It fears you."
Adexander looked up at the stars.
"One day, everything that uses mana… might."
But he still felt it.
That hidden heartbeat.
Louder now.
A slow drumbeat from within his bones.
Like something ancient clawing upward—
Not rage.
Not pain.
But truth.
And far away…
In a tower buried in ash and time, a chained god opened one eye.
"…Another Ashbreaker breathes."
To Be Continued.