The air in Gravewood had changed.
Kael could feel it, a tension coiled tight as a bowstring, humming through the bones of the city.
The Tier 2 was no longer a distant weight in the shadows. It had become a presence—sharp, focused, like the prickle of a blade's edge against the back of his neck.
Every breath Kael took was laced with the weight of that gaze.
Watching. Measuring. Waiting.
His hands still trembled from the encounter—knuckles scraped raw, the threads of energy from his Ashen Eye burning behind his eyelids like afterimages carved into flesh. The vision of the brute's aura, the way he'd seen its fractures and shattered them with precision—it hadn't been luck. It had been the awakening of something more.
The legacy of the Xelvors.
The burden pressed heavier, grinding into his ribs, but this time, it wasn't just weight. It was fire.
He had tasted what lay beyond his limits.
And he was starving for more.
The woman followed him, silent, her breath ragged. Blood still streaked her face, a smear drying across her cheek. Her steps were uneven, but she kept pace, her gaze flickering between Kael and the shadows, wide-eyed and wary.
She had seen him fight.
Seen what the Ashen Eye had done.
But Kael wasn't ready to acknowledge her—not yet.
He needed to keep moving.
The streets twisted tighter as he pressed deeper into the city.
Gravewood was a labyrinth of decay—buildings hunched close like vultures picking at a carcass, windows boarded up, walls blackened by years of smoke. The air grew thicker, the stink of rot mingling with something sharper—fear.
Kael felt it in the way people shrank back into doorways, eyes darting, lips pressed thin. Whispers curled through the air, threads of sound weaving together:
"Did you see him?"
"The eyes… they glowed. Like ash and fire."
"He's going to die. They'll tear him apart."
Kael's chest tightened, the burden surging hot in his veins.
He had to make them believe.
Not just in him—but in the Xelvor name.
He turned a corner—and the world shifted.
The pressure slammed into him like a hammer, staggering him mid-step.
The Tier 2 presence was no longer watching from the distance.
It was here.
Kael's breath hitched, his pulse spiking, a sharp, cold line tracing his spine.
A figure stepped from the shadows ahead.
Tall. Lean. A man draped in tattered robes that hung from his frame like a shedding skin. His hair was black, streaked with grey, matted in places, and his eyes—deep-set, dark, and sharp as obsidian shards—locked onto Kael with a gaze that could slice through stone.
The air seemed to bend around him, the weight of his aura pressing down like a collapsing mountain.
Tier 2 Mid.
Stronger than Kael by an ocean's breadth.
Kael's jaw tightened.
He could feel the weight of his ancestors pressing harder now, their expectations grinding into him like chains of molten iron.
He wasn't ready.
Not for this.
But he couldn't stop.
Not now.
The man's voice was low, smooth, like silk over a blade.
"I wondered when you'd show yourself, boy."
Kael said nothing. His fists clenched at his sides, the threads of energy from his Ashen Eye still sparking faintly in his vision.
The man tilted his head, studying him like a specimen under glass.
"I felt the ripple the moment you stepped into my city," he continued. "The weight you carry… it stinks of old blood. Of something long dead trying to claw its way back to life."
His lips curled, a smile thin and sharp.
"But you're weak. A flicker in the dark. A spark waiting to be snuffed out."
The burden pressed harder.
Kael could feel it—a thousand voices, a thousand eyes, the weight of legacy screaming at him: Prove them wrong.
The Tier 2 shifted, his aura flaring. The air shimmered with heat and weight, pressing into Kael's skin like a smothering fog.
The woman behind Kael stumbled, gasping for breath, her knees buckling under the pressure.
Kael gritted his teeth. His own breath grew shallow, each inhale sharp and thin.
His Ashen Eye pulsed, threads of light weaving across his vision.
He could see it—the man's aura, vast and heavy, woven like a lattice of steel.
Unbroken. Dense.
But not perfect.
Kael's breath slowed, the weight shifting in his chest. The burden didn't lift—but it focused.
This was the test.
The moment.
He had to rise.
The Tier 2 raised a hand, fingers curling lazily, as if the outcome was already decided.
Kael's fists clenched tighter. The black emblem burned in his pupils, the Ashen Eye igniting fully—no longer just a pulse, but a blaze.
The threads of the man's aura sharpened in Kael's vision, a web of power—but Kael's gaze pierced deeper, seeking flaws.
And he saw it.
A flicker. A fracture in the man's foundation. A thin line where his aura rippled, where the flow of power stuttered like a misstep in a dance.
Kael's own aura flared—not bright, not strong, but focused. The Ashen Eye locked onto the weakness, burning it into his mind.
The man's smirk widened.
"Show me, then."
Kael moved.
Faster than he should have been able to.
The world blurred around him, motion sharpened by the Ashen Eye's vision. Every thread of power, every shift of weight, every breath the man took—it was laid bare, a map written in light and shadow.
Kael's body ached, his muscles screaming, but he pushed through.
He struck.
His palm slammed into the fracture point, the exact spot where the man's aura faltered.
A shock rippled through the air—subtle, almost imperceptible—but Kael felt it.
The man's expression twitched.
For a heartbeat, the weight pressing down on Kael lessened.
It wasn't a victory. Not yet.
But it was something.
Proof that the burden wasn't crushing him.
Not yet.
The Tier 2's gaze sharpened, a predator's eyes narrowing on prey that had bitten back.
Kael's chest burned, his breaths ragged, the glow in his eyes dimming—but he stood tall.
The woman stared at him, her breath caught in her throat, eyes wide with something that might have been hope—or terror.
The Tier 2 chuckled, low and dark.
"Interesting."
The pressure surged again, heavier than before, grinding into Kael's bones.
But he didn't bow.
He couldn't.
The burden was his to bear.
The name of Xelvor was his to carry.
And he would not let it die.
Not here.
Not in Gravewood.
The Tier 2 took a step forward.
Kael's fists clenched.
Let them come.
Let them all come.
The Xelvor name would rise.
And the multiverse would remember.