The Town of Zeroth Expanse was no longer breathing normally.
It panted.
Footsteps echoed endlessly through stone streets as guards and adventurers swarmed every district, every alley, every rooftop. Orders were shouted. Mana flared. Suspicion soaked the air thicker than smoke.
Kael had escaped.
And with him—
The town's last fragile hope.
Search teams were dispatched in waves. No one argued. No one hesitated. A traitor who had murdered Sylen did not deserve mercy.
Inside the guild hall, the atmosphere was colder than outside.
Myralt sat behind the desk, his body wrapped in layered bandages, burns seeping faintly through the cloth. His spear rested against the wall, untouched.
His eyes, however, were far from resting.
They were distant.
Lost.
Mirra and Elira stood several steps away, tension crushing down on their shoulders like a physical weight.
Guild workers.
Senior adventurers.
Guards.
All of them stared.
Not openly hostile.
Worse.
Judging.
Calculating.
Only Myralt's presence kept blades sheathed.
Otherwise, blood would have already stained the floor.
"Sir…" Elira finally spoke, her voice tight. "How long are we supposed to stay here? We've already told you everything. We don't know where Kael is. We don't even know why he did this."
Her fingers curled.
"I can't stay here anymore."
Myralt exhaled slowly.
"I understand," he said, rubbing his temples. "But I can't let you leave yet. Until Kael is found, you'll both remain here."
His gaze flicked briefly toward the watching staff.
"For your own safety."
"…Okay."
Elira went silent.
She understood.
If they stepped outside without Myralt, they wouldn't be questioned.
They'd be used to find Kael for sure.
Mirra clenched her fists, nails digging into her palms.
She refused to believe it.
Kael wasn't guilty.
Someone was framing him.
But belief meant nothing without strength.
And right now—
She had none.
Elira glanced at her quietly.
'Don't,' her eyes warned.
'You'll only make it worse for Kael…'
Elira squeezed her fist tighter.
'Please hurry.'
Three hours crawled by.
Then—
Rushed footsteps thundered toward the guild doors.
They burst open.
A man stumbled inside, gasping like he'd run his lungs raw.
"What is it?" Myralt demanded, already standing. "Danger?"
"S-Sir…" the man wheezed. "Please… come to the city gate. We've found… Kael."
The room snapped awake.
"Where?" Myralt said instantly. "Is he escaping? Stall him. Don't approach. I'll handle—"
"No!" the scout interrupted. "He's unconscious. There's a mana shield around him. We couldn't get close. Multiple joint attacks didn't even shake it."
Myralt froze.
"…Unconscious?"
That didn't make sense.
"Hurry," he said sharply. "It could be a trap."
He didn't wait.
He vaulted through the window.
The guild followed.
At the gate, chaos waited.
A massive crowd surrounded a single point, voices overlapping in fury and fear.
At the center—
A translucent mana shield.
Perfect.
Silent.
Inside it, Kael lay facedown on the stone, body limp, looking disturbingly peaceful.
Like someone sleeping under the sun.
Adventurers slammed spells against the barrier.
Blades rang.
Mana detonated.
The shield didn't move.
Not even a ripple.
Bloodlust thickened.
Only Myralt's arrival stopped the crowd from tearing itself apart.
Mirra and Elira rushed forward.
"Kael!"
They touched the shield—
And they were thrown back violently.
Myralt's jaw tightened.
He lifted his spear.
Gathered everything he had left.
And hurled it.
The spear struck.
The shield bent inward, trembling—
Then snapped back.
The spear clattered uselessly to the ground.
Myralt stared.
That had been everything.
Restlessness surged through the crowd.
Then—
The shield began to dissolve.
Mana flakes drifted away like dying embers.
Excitement exploded.
Before anyone could move—
Myralt's aura erupted.
The pressure crushed the air.
"No one touches him," he roared. "The guild will decide his fate. Anyone who steps forward will face me first."
Silence.
Myralt bent down and lifted Kael.
Mirra moved with him.
But before they could retreat—
Kael stirred.
His eyes snapped open.
He gasped, clutching his abdomen.
"Why… am I here…?" His voice broke into a groan. "I should be—"
Pain tore through him.
A deep red imprint burned into his stomach.
Mirra threw herself at him.
"Kael! You're alive!"
He caught her instinctively, eyes sweeping the surroundings.
Weapons.
Spells.
Hostile faces.
"…Mirra," he whispered. "Why am I here?"
"Get away," he said suddenly. "I shouldn't be here."
"No!" she cried, gripping him tighter. "If you go, take me with you. I can't stay without you."
He hesitated.
Then gently pulled her hands away.
"You must stay," he said. "I'll come back for both of you."
A sword pointed at his face.
"Don't move," a head guard warned. "One step and this entire town hunts you down."
Kael smiled faintly.
"If I'm standing here," he said calmly, "doesn't that mean I can face all of you?"
His eyes burned red.
Heat surged outward.
Adventurers staggered back, sweat pouring instantly.
Then Kael froze.
Mirra.
Elira.
Too close.
The heat vanished.
"…Sorry."
Myralt stepped forward.
"Running won't clear your name," he said evenly. "If you're innocent, face it. Don't make it worse."
Kael looked at him.
Then at Elira.
She stood behind him, tears trembling at the edge of her eyes.
"Please," she whispered. "Just stay. We'll prove it. I can't endure this anymore."
Kael stared.
This—
This broke him more than the accusations.
He laughed quietly.
"Hah… I didn't expect you to be so weak-hearted."
Then he stepped forward.
"Guildmaster," he said. "Take me in."
Mirra's breath caught.
"I won't let them suffer for my name," Kael continued. "If fate wants me dead, so be it."
Myralt placed the cuffs on his wrists.
Mana-reinforced.
Firm.
"You made the right choice," Myralt said softly. "I'll personally clear your name."
Kael's eyes widened.
For the first time—
He believed someone.
And the town of Zeroth Expanse held its breath.
Kael said nothing as he walked.
He simply followed.
Every step into the town felt heavier than the last.
Eyes burned into his back from every direction. If gazes could kill, his body would have collapsed a thousand times over before reaching the guild hall.
No one spoke.
No one dared.
Myralt's authority hung over the street like a blade suspended by a thread. Orders had been given. Silence was enforced.
Yet hatred leaked through clenched jaws and trembling hands.
Above them—
A shadow moved.
On the roof of a nearby building, a lone figure stood motionless.
A black mask veined with faint crimson tendrils.
A sword strapped across his back.
A presence that bent the air around it.
Evan watched quietly.
Vela hovered above his shoulder in her flame-avatar form, eyes narrowed as she observed Kael being escorted below.
"Do you really think this will work?" she asked. "Throwing him into the crowd, letting him be judged, hoping his name clears itself?"
Her tone carried doubt.
Evan exhaled slowly.
"You won't understand yet," he replied. "Your thinking is still too narrow. But don't worry. You'll learn soon enough."
Vela's flame flickered sharply.
She clicked her tongue and dissolved back into the sword, vanishing from sight.
Below, Kael was nearing the guild entrance.
Then—
The air shifted.
A pressure rolled across the street without warning.
Evan released his stealth.
Camouflage peeled away like shattered glass.
Kael stopped mid-step.
Something was wrong.
He looked up.
So did Myralt.
A masked figure stood above them, aura bleeding outward like the gaze of a predator locking onto prey.
Just looking at him made the skin crawl.
Death didn't need to swing a weapon.
It only needed to be noticed.
Evan stepped off the roof.
He descended from the roof like a meteor.
Landing directly in front of Kael and Myralt.
Guards snapped out of their daze instantly, weapons raised, forming a circle around him.
"Identify yourself," Myralt demanded, stepping forward despite the pressure. "You're interfering with guild matters."
Evan tilted his head slightly.
"Hah… nothing serious," he said lazily. "I just wanted to see if this Expanse still had anyone worth fighting."
His gaze swept across the guards.
"…But looking at this," he continued, voice dripping with disdain, "I doubt anyone here could survive a single exchange."
The head guard snapped.
"Watch your tongue! Speak clearly, or you'll be detained."
"Oh?" Evan chuckled.
He reached beneath his cloak.
Then—
A broken blade clattered against the stone at Myralt's feet.
Silence fell.
Everyone recognised it.
Sylen's sword.
Breathing stopped.
The head guard's eyes went bloodshot.
"It's him!" he roared. "He's the one who killed Twilight Team! Kill him! Don't let him escape!"
Rage erupted.
Then—
Cold.
Absolute, paralysing cold exploded outward from Evan.
Frost crawled across armour. Breath crystallised mid-air. Guards froze in place, bodies locked as if chained by the air itself.
Even Myralt hesitated.
This wasn't a simple enemy.
This was a monster.
Myralt turned instinctively—
To see whether Kael was gone or not.
No.
He was still there.
But something inside him had ignited.
The cuffs around his wrists glowed red, metal warping as heat surged violently outward.
Mirra and Elira staggered back, faces pale from the temperature spike.
Kael's head hung low.
His body trembled.
Then the chains shattered.
He lifted his gaze.
Pure rage.
"You," Kael growled. "So it was you."
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he launched forward like a cannon shell.
Evan's eyes sharpened.
"Annoying."
An ice boulder manifested above Kael mid-air and slammed down.
The impact thundered through the street.
"Kael!" Myralt shouted.
The dust cleared.
Kael stood there.
Both hands raised.
Holding the boulder.
With a roar, he hurled it back.
Evan drew his blade in a single smooth motion.
The same blade.
Kael's blade.
The ice shattered into mist with one slash.
Recognition hit Kael like lightning.
"That sword…!"
"Sir Myralt," Kael said without looking away from Evan. "He's the one who took me. If we take him down, everything ends here."
Myralt summoned his spear, stance steady despite his wounds.
"I agree," he said grimly. "This man will kill again if we let him leave."
Two auras flared.
One blazing.
One resolute.
They stood together.
Facing the masked figure.
Evan smiled behind his mask.
"Good," he said softly.
"Show me."
And the street braced itself—
For a battle that would scar Zeroth Expanse forever.
...
'Hoh… so the villain's role begins already.'
Evan's lips curled beneath the mask.
'Didn't expect it to bloom this fast.'
"Then entertain me," he said softly, voice echoing unnaturally.
"Let me see if this Expanse still has anything worth keeping me here."
A low laugh escaped him.
Not loud.
Not manic.
But wrong.
His aura surged.
Not like fire.
Not like pressure.
It was closer to an incoming tide.
Weaker hunters were hurled backwards as if struck by invisible waves. Some collapsed outright, minds snapping under overlapping passive effects. Fear. Paralysis. Instinctual submission.
To them—
He wasn't human.
He was a beast wearing one.
The street hollowed out around the three of them.
Kael's gaze locked onto the blade in Evan's hand.
Myralt tightened his grip on his spear.
Neither moved.
Because they both knew.
The first step would decide everything.
Evan moved.
So did they.
Kael's fist shot forward, heat tearing the air apart.
Evan slipped half a step aside and slashed.
Steel kissed Kael's cheek, carving a thin crimson line.
Kael recoiled, but Myralt was already there.
The spear arced low, fast, aimed for Evan's blind side.
But Evan had already seen it.
Edge Sense screamed.
He twisted between strikes, dodging and countering in the same breath. His movements were simple. Clean.
Unpredictable.
Ice spikes bloomed above him and rained down.
Kael roared, releasing a torrent of flames that melted them midair.
Behind Evan—
Myralt struck.
Evan let it happen.
The spear smashed into his side, driving him backwards.
Kael capitalised instantly, appearing above him and kicking his wrist with brutal precision.
The blade flew.
Myralt followed through, spear crashing into Evan's abdomen and launching him straight through the city gate.
Exactly as Evan intended.
He landed fifty meters outside the walls, boots skidding through shattered stone.
Kael and Myralt closed in.
"What happened?" Kael mocked, flames flickering wildly. "Lost that confidence when I got my weapon back?"
Evan straightened slowly.
"Hoh…" he murmured.
"So even insects have learned to bark. Then try to handle this too."
He reached behind his back.
And drew his true blade.
The moment it cleared its sheath—
The air screamed.
This sword was similar to Kael's.
Yet utterly different.
Denser.
Hungrier.
Lethal in a way that made their weapons feel like toys.
Myralt's breath hitched.
'So Kael truly wasn't the one…
This confirms everything.'
Evan raised the blade.
Energy flooded into it, draining his vast reserves to fill it halfway.
Even sealed—
It was monstrous.
"The blade raging out ash…
Sword forged from flame…
Pour down despair upon my enemy…"
His eyes burned through the mask.
"—Caldera Extinction Slash."
The swing descended.
The world split.
A crescent of molten ruin tore forward, devouring everything in its path.
Kael didn't retreat as the town was behind him; if he dodged it, then many people would die.
He roared and manifested a massive flame hand, slamming it forward.
It slowed the slash.
Only for a moment.
Then it shattered.
The impact detonated.
The ground collapsed inward, forming a crater large enough to swallow buildings.
Dust and fire consumed everything.
Evan stood still.
Waiting.
When the smoke cleared—
Myralt lay unconscious, buried in rubble.
Kael remained standing.
Barely.
Blood streamed down his body. His legs shook violently. He looked hollowed out.
"Why…" Kael rasped.
"Why are you doing this… who are you… What did we ever do to you?"
Evan stepped closer.
"There is a reason," he said calmly.
"And you didn't do anything."
His voice hardened.
"But others did."
"And I will crush them all."
"LISTEN WELL, PEOPLE OF ZEROTH EXPANSE."
His presence pressed down like judgment.
"I AM TENEBRIS REVENANT...."
"Carve this name into your minds."
"You will hear it again. And again. And again."
"I WILL CONQUER EVERY EXPANSE."
"As of today, every so-called strong warrior of Zeroth Expanse stands defeated."
"I AM ITS SOLE RULER."
"If anyone objects—"
His gaze swept the crowd.
"—step forward."
No one moved.
No one breathed.
"Then remember this," Evan said quietly.
"If you cannot even be my enemy… do not expect mercy."
His form blurred.
Gone.
Stealth and camouflage layered perfectly.
Moments later, he was already inside the city again, blending into the crowd as a nameless adventurer.
Behind him—
A legend was born.
A name that would echo across worlds.
And ahead—
Only ascension remained.
'Next Stage... Evolved Warrior.'
Evan's eyes gleamed looking at the tower in the middle.
...
[A/N: This chapter ended up longer than planned, but I hope the payoff was worth it.
Due to upcoming exams and work on another project, this novel will be on a short break.
Thank you for your patience and continued support.
We'll meet again soon—stronger chapters ahead.
While you're waiting, consider checking out my other book, 'Rise of the Holy Demonic God'.]