Ash drove the hilt of his blade into the stone.
The stone crack then gave way, breaking apart at last. He tore his leg free and stood, brushing dust from his coat.
Ahead, Kael reached into the wreckage. His fingers curled around a bent metal beam and yanked. The whole frame groaned as he pulled Max free, lowering him to the ground with one hand.
Max stumbled, boots dragging through the ash. His armor was in pieces—plates shattered, the chestplate caved in, joints torn open. His visor was cracked clean through, revealing half his face.
But his skin?
Not a mark.
No cuts, burns, or bruises. Like The wreck hadn't touched him.
He rolled his shoulder.
Let out a breath.
"Not bad."
His eyes scanned the battlefield. Burned bodies stretched across the field. Metal warped under the heat. The ground itself was blackened and split.
He let out a whistle.
"Damn. You really torched the place."
He looked at the corpses again. The edges of his mouth pulled upward.
"Didn't think you'd lose it like that. Not for me."
Kael crossed his arms.
"Lose it? Please. They were in the way."
Ash stepped beside them, brushing ash from his jacket. His voice carried no weight—just amusement.
"Yeah? Then why did you look ready to chase the entire Apex fleet when you thought he was dead?"
Kael's eyes snapped toward him.
Ash looked off to the side. His grin stayed.
Kael clicked his tongue and turned back to Max.
"Whatever. More importantly—how the hell are you still breathing?"
Max glanced down at his chestplate. Ran a hand across it. Felt the dents. The burns. The breaks.
"Beats me."
Then, Max's helmet let out a sharp buzz. The A.I. fought through the damage, stuttering and cutting in and out.
"[—your... Soul… has... been filled w-with… u—nknown... energy—D-detecting… anomaly—New…change detected—]"
Max blinked.
"Wait… are you saying something's wrong with my soul?"
"[A-affirmative… And—y-you... are not... the only one… All… three of you… have underg—gone… a t-Tra-transformation in both b-body and... Soul…]"
Ash and Kael narrowed their eyes. They didn't hear the A.I., but they didn't need to. Max's expression gave enough away. Something is wrong.
Max flexed his fingers.
Nothing felt different. No sudden rush of strength, no storm of power behind his eyes. But he remembered what happened back there. His lungs pulled air in space. His bones didn't break. His body healed too clean, too perfect. He felt stronger—but only slightly.
That wasn't the part that scared him.
"So what changed?"
The A.I. buzzed, the voice distorted as it fought through its broken systems.
"[Based on the current data gathered from your last battle… your b-b-body… exhibits increased durability. Borderline indestructible. Pain… however… is still present. Your vocal output during combat confirms this. The fiery one… has undergone… skill amplification. All skills observed appear to be larger, more potent versions of their previous output. And… the youngest… exhibits a surge in kinetic force. Speed levels are now classified as abnormal. Current data… remains incomplete.]"
Max turned toward Ash.
Ash paused under the stare, caught off guard. He opened his mouth to speak—
Kael's laugh rolled across the scorched battlefield.
Both Max and Ash turned toward him.
Kael cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders. The flames around him dimmed, flickering close to his skin.
"You two should check your soul space. I don't know how, but I got something new. Stronger than anything I've used before."
Max's fingers twitched.
"A new skill?"
Ash frowned.
"I did hear the voice mention something strange during the fight. A skill I've never seen before."
Kael's eyes snapped toward him.
"So it wasn't just me."
Max closed his eyes. His voice came low.
"This is strange."
He opened them again, gaze fixed on the ground.
"The Guardian's Endless Agony."
Ash's breath caught. Kael's eyes narrowed.
Max drew his fingers along the torn line in his armor. His skin was whole beneath it. There was no scar or damage on it but the pain still throbbed under his ribs, burning like the strike had just landed.
He clenched his fist.
"I don't take damage anymore."
He paused. His chest rose with a slow breath.
"But I still feel everything. And the pain… It's twice as strong."
Kael's mouth pulled into a crooked grin.
"Looks like you're our tank now."
Max gave him a flat look.
"Do I look like I enjoy getting torn apart?"
Kael shrugged. The flame trailing across his shoulder faded, leaving behind a faint warmth in the air.
"You're the perfect punching bag now. Embrace it."
Ash stepped closer, his voice steady.
"What about you? What's your new skill?"
Kael looked down at the scorched ground, thinking.
"Something about enhancement. I didn't read all of it… got excited."
He shut his eyes, slipping inward, pulling his mind into the soul space.
A second passed.
"Huh… I have a new soul core."
He opened his eyes slowly.
"It's a Divine Soul Core."
He let out a laugh.
"Why couldn't I see this before, when it's like a sun in my soul space."
Max's eyebrow twitched. He tilted his head.
"I have that too."
Kael kept searching through the depths of his soul. A slow grin spread across his face as the heat around him grew, wrapping the air until it felt heavier.
"Infernal Mandate."
A line of fire snapped up his arm, the glow pulsing at his knuckles.
"It triples the strength of my fire skills. And it's a progression skill. The more I train it, the stronger it gets."
He tightened his fist. The air warped slightly as heat pulsed outward.
"No wonder my flames felt so intense. This thing is insane."
Max crossed his arms.
"Of course. You always get the best skills. Even Ash's speed went through the roof. This is ridiculous."
Kael glanced at him, all teeth and confidence.
Ash stayed quiet. He drew in a slow breath and lowered his gaze. Then he closed his eyes, slipping into the silence of his soul space.
Darkness met him. Cold and endless. Black water lapped gently at his legs. Above him, stars hung like soulfire, distant and silent.
He looked up.
Three lights had always burned above him. But now—
Four.
The newest one glowed crimson. It pulsed brighter than the rest, like a second sun in the dark. Ash stared.
Then the voice of the soul space spoke, a mimic of ash voice. Deep and clear, echoing across the water.
[SOUL RECORD]
Name: Ashley Burns
Origin: Middle Realm
Race: Human / Godborn
Ash blinked.
"...Wait. What the hell is a Godborn? And how can someone have two races?"
He stared down. His reflection rippled on the surface, expression cold and indifferent.
Soul Type: [4]
Ash gritted his teeth, upset about getting ignored by his own reflection, but he didn't argue because it was pointless.
"Soul type."
The lights above flared, each one pulsing like a heartbeat. The voice returned.
Soul Type:
Fire
Lightning
Dark
Divine
He looked up again. The crimson soulcore burned the brightest, its light casting red across the black sea.
"Alright… then tell me more about this Divine Soul Core."
The voice hesitated.
Then it spoke.
Divine Soulcore Description: These are soulcores born only within Godborns.
Ash's stare lingered on the crimson sun. He still had no idea who—or what-these Godborns were. The word felt heavy. Ancient. It sat in his mind like a stone.
'Kael said he had a divine soul core too. That means…'
The voice cut back in.
Soul Stage: 1st
Soul Pool: 23% (3430 / 4000)
Ash stood still, lingering on the words he just heard.
He had expected something strange. He remembered feeling a surge of energy when he cut down those Apex troopers. The pulse through his chest. The voice whispering soul energy into him. But this—this was more than strange.
A regular stage one ascended didn't even cross past a thousand. Unless with two or more soulcores. But this?
Four thousand.
His chest tightened.
That placed him on par with stage four users in terms of raw soul pool. At stage one. It didn't make sense. But Ash was already used to this. This was how he was born and what he was gifted. The number of souls hasn't always been fair, even from the beginning of the human age.
The soulspace voice had gone quiet, letting the weight of the number sink in. Then it spoke again.
Vessel Tier: 5th
Soulroots: [6]
Ash's head snapped up.
"What?"
He stared at the black water, at the reflection of himself looking back—expressionless, cold, and uncaring.
Ash gritted his teeth.
Soulroots weren't just names. They were fate. Each one carried a prophecy, a curse, a weight stitched into the soul. Some were blessings. Others were warnings. Two of his had already proven dangerous—one had nearly shattered his family from the inside. No, it had already done that by taking his mother. The other had tried to kill him, lots and lots of times, which also caused problems for people around him. That was why he'd left the academy. Why he chose the wilderness. Why he joined Team Vortex.
And now… two more?
He clenched his jaw and whispered to the void.
"Soulroot."
The entire soulspace trembled.
The black water rippled. The crimson light in the sky pulsed. The voice returned.
Soulroots:
Seeker of the Root
Burned by Loss
Eye of the Storm
Hunter of Light
Ghost of All Three Realms
Marked by the Trial
No sound or breath. Just the weight of those words hanging in the dark.
Above, from each glowing soulcore, long, slender roots began to stretch downward. They twisted through the air like living things. The four moved first—descending slowly from the sky. Then, from the black water, two more emerged. Ash watched as all six formed a jagged line in front of him, each root sharpening to a point as if ready to pierce him.
They wouldn't. He knew that. Soulroots didn't kill the bearer. Not directly.
He took a breath and stepped forward. His eyes stayed on the two newest roots. He didn't know them, but something about them felt… familiar. Not their shape. Not their names. Just a feeling—like he'd seen them somewhere before. Dream? Memory? It wouldn't come.
He raised his hand and reached for the first on the left—the one that had come from the water.
The moment his fingers brushed it, the voice spoke again.
Soulroot: Seeker of the Root
Soulroot description: You will find Me, no matter the path you take.
Ash stood there for a long moment.
That was the first soulroot he ever gained. Well, not the first, but it was always there, always whispering that strange phrase. No one understood it. Not the instructor at the academy. Not his mother. Not even the cult that once tried to kidnap him years back.
He lowered his hand. The root held steady, pulsing faintly with light.
Ash turned his gaze toward the next. The one that had shaken his family apart. The one that haunted his dreams. The very one he hated the most.
Ash reached toward the root.
It burned.
It came from the flaming soulcore above, its heat pulsing down the long root like a living flame. Ash paused, jaw tight. Then he touched it.
The voice returned.
Soulroot: Burned by Loss
Soulroot description: Everyone you love will turn to ash, and only you will remain.
Ash pulled his hand back, the words hitting harder than the heat.
His lips tightened.
He didn't linger. The next root crackled faintly—sparks dancing down its length. It came from the bright, sparking core high above. He touched it without thinking.
Soulroot: Eye of the Storm
Soulroot description: Chaos will follow you, even when you long for peace.
His fingers fell to his side.
That one hurt more than it should have.
These two were the reason he'd left the academy. Why he had cut ties. Why he had buried that part of himself where no one could reach. Too many memories. Too many graves. Friends he never should've let close. One in particular he still couldn't forget.
And yet he stayed close to his family. He endured. Because Kael was too strong to fall to chaos. And Max? Max could outthink anything. Between them, there was a small chance the curse wouldn't take hold. He kept his distance, but stayed near enough to watch. That was enough.
Ash pushed his hand toward the next soulroot.
It rose from the deepest core, the one that bled darkness across the sky like ink. Cold pulsed through his palm the moment he touched it.
Soulroot: Hunter of Light
Soulroot description: You are destined to hunt the Light, again and again.
His brow furrowed.
Still made no sense.
The dark soulcore had always been strange—uncooperative, unruly. It never let him grow, never opened fully. And this soulroot… what did it mean to hunt the Light? Were they talking about Light-element wielders? They had always clashed with the Dark. A war that wiped out nearly everyone on both sides.
But there were no Light wielders left.
None that he knew of.
And he himself is the last dark wielder left. This was one of the reasons why he was still stuck at stage one because there was no one there to teach him any skills.
He stepped toward the next.
One of the new soulroots.
This one burned differently. Crimson light spilled from above. Its core shimmered like blood in the sky. He hesitated—only for a second—then touched it.
Soulroot: Ghost of All Three Realms
Soulroot description: You belong to no realm, but you will walk through them all.
Ash froze.
His eyes lifted slowly toward the crimson core. The words kept spinning in his head.
No realm?
He tried to grasp it, but the meaning slipped through his mind like water. No realm meant no place to belong. But all three? What realms? Was it physical? Spiritual? Something beyond that?
He knew there was a middle realm. That's where he came from and where he is currently. But the rest?
Nothing came to mind.
He exhaled and moved to the last soulroot.
This one felt different.
It didn't come from the sky. It came from the black water itself—his soul. That was rare and very strange. Every soulroot came from either a soulcore or the soul directly. One each. But now, somehow, two were rising from the same place.
He placed his hand against it.
Soulroot: Marked by the Trial
Soulroot description: You are marked for godhood, but the path will break you first.
Ash snarled under his breath.
"Marked for godhood? What the hell does that even mean…"
No answers came.
The roots began to withdraw, slowly retreating. Some crawled back into the black water, vanishing into the depths. Others rose into the sky, sliding back into the glowing cores they had come from.
All except his reflection.
It stayed still—watching him with the same cold eyes. As if nothing had changed. As if none of this mattered.
The voice continued.
Soulbound: [0]
Soul Skills: [8]
Vessel Traits: [1]
Then silence.
Everything went still.
The voice had finished.
Ash remained there, surrounded by black water and distant stars, the roots gone, the sky holding its glow. Eight soul skills. One trait. Six soulroots. A fifth-tier vessel. Four soulcores, including the divine.
None of it made sense.
But he knew this much—his soul had changed.
And there was no going back.
Ash waited.
Then broke the silence with a low breath.
"So I got a new skill… and a trait?"
His eyes lifted to the crimson core. The soulcore pulsed once—deep red—and from its light, a sphere drifted downward. A glowing red orb. It hovered in front of him, flickering gently like a waiting flame.
The voice returned.
[Soul Skill]
Divine Soulcore:
Phantom's Stride
Ash stared at the orb.
"Phantom's Stride."
The words left his lips quietly.
His fingers brushed the surface. The orb shimmered, then split open like a blooming flame. Information bled into his thoughts.
Skill Name: Phantom's Stride
Skill Type: Named - Growth
Skill Description: A skill carved from the trait of the Phantoms—ghostlike creatures that do not age, cannot be caught, and move with strength even gods approach with caution. This technique was never meant for mortal flesh.
Skill Effect: When danger nears, Phantom's Stride may awaken automatically. Time fractures. The world slows to a crawl, while the user's body and mind accelerate fivefold. They can think, react, and move faster than anyone else alive. But while the world is slowed… the user ages five times faster.
Ash's brow furrowed.
"Ages five times faster?"
The orb dimmed, fading slowly from view.
He folded his arms, thoughts racing.
If that was the price, it wasn't so bad. He'd survived worse. And if it helped him win fights like the last one… then it was worth it.
He exhaled and waved the thought aside.
"Vessel trait."
The water beneath him trembled.
But this time, no roots appeared. The earth cracked—and a pillar rose instead. Smooth black stone, carved with glowing sigils. It stood tall, pulsing softly.
The voice returned.
[Vessel Trait]
Godborn:
Celestial Frame
Ash stepped toward the pillar. This was new. Traits weren't supposed to be for humans. They were the domain of beasts and higher creatures. Something granted by blood and legacy—not earned.
But he was Godborn now.
Whatever that meant.
He laid a hand on the stone.
Trait: Celestial Frame
Trait Description: Trait of divine species.
Trait Effect: The bearer can breathe and speak in airless environments. While in such places, they are immune to heat, cold, and pressure. Their form does not depend on atmosphere.
Ash blinked.
So that's why they could breathe in space.
He chuckled, just once. The sound was rough but real.
This was all a lot. But after everything they'd just survived, it felt good to know something was changing. That the soulspace wasn't done with him. He looked down—the black water had risen slightly, lapping at his knees.
"...Soul pool."
The reflection answered in his voice.
Soul Pool: 24% (3430 / 4000)
Ash froze.
So it was true.
He wasn't imagining it during the fight. His old limit had always been three thousand. That cap was etched into his soul since awakening. Now it was four. And he had already filled most of it.
He flexed his fingers.
He had felt it—that tug, that surge, every time he struck down an Apex soldier.
So this was how it worked now?
He killed. His soul grew.
But how? That shouldn't be possible.
Even back at the academy, it took weeks to absorb ten units of soul energy through meditation. And now… a battle, a few kills, and his pool had nearly maxed out again?
His voice came low, flat.
"This isn't normal."
No answer came.
The soulspace didn't explain. It never did.
But one thing was clear.
Something had changed—permanently.