[Location: Axis-E110 - Azure Hollow & Beyond Timeframe: Days 1- 5]
[Day 1 - Exploration of Azure Hollow]
Ashborn and Lunavelle strolled through the metallic arteries and floating lanes of azure Hollow, one of the last stabilizing havens in the Digital-Forbidden Zone. Towering buildings stitched with neon-scripted sigils soared above them. AI-holograms flickered in foreign tongues. He wasn't looking for landmarks or architecture, Ashborn scanned people, energy flows, signatures of those strong enough to survive a world stitched by broken scripts and devoured code.
They wandered through gravity-defying bazaars and crossed glass-arc bridges that reflected alternate dimensions breath. All while Lunavelle sat perched atop his shoulders, wide-eyed and whispering about "tides in the sky" as she pointed at light anomalies spiraling above.
Ashborn noted a dozen presences that gave him pause, dreammarked hackers, blooded gladiators, and relic-wielders older than the hollow itself. This world had depth.
[Day 2 - Cyber Adventure's Guild Registration]
In the sector VI-B sub-district, past glowing circuit gardens and fractured light temples, they found it. [The cyber Nexus Guildhall.]
Its gates were obsidian with floating golden threads dancing over its walls. Inside, sprawling terminals logged quests, disputes, and world anomalies.
When Ashborn placed his palm on the registration node, the entire system froze for three seconds.
"User: Ashborn Lionheart - Error?-Rank
Identified.
User: Lunavelle Noctherium - Error?-Rank Spirit-Class Verified."
Staff scrambled, whispering as terminals rebooted to handle the overload of Ashborn's status logs. One monitor began to emit Dream Syntax Error Codes, unreadable by the locals.
Ashborn smirked, waved them off, and accepted a handful of the hardest quests they had.
[Day 3 - Quests, Growth, and Chaos Bloom]
Ashborn took every high-risk assignment rejected by other adventurers. Blackout zones infested with corruption elementals, eldritch-hacked AI tombs, and collapsed dream tunnels, he and Lunavelle shredded them all.
Lunavelle went from a tiny support spirit to a terror in her own right. Her control over Chaos-Dream magic blossomed, and her combat instincts evolved terrifyingly fast.
By day's end, she had reached Level 25. Her aura pulsed with matured starlight, her halo no longer cracked but thrumming with emotion. Her wings grew refined edges, her voice gained gravity, and her spells started to echo with strange logic. Most striking: her Luneater traits awakened fully, granting her new control over fate-bound targets and dream-weaving healing.
Ashborn watched with subtle pride.
[Day 4 - Wealth and the Rift-Cube Mansion]
Through non-stop mission success, Ashborn amassed enough gold-fiber and encoded soul points to become a multi-millionaire in local terms. So naturally, he spent it with utter disregard.
Dresses. Jewelry. Dreamfruit cakes. Toys forged from real starlight. Dresses made of Nocturne silk that shifted patterns based on Lunavelle's mood. She purred for hours.
For himself, he upgraded from Wraith-MK1 to Ecliptical Phantom: Riftborne Variant, a dream-infused hybrid tactical outfit that synced perfectly with his Genesis Thread. Custom enhancements included kinetic thread booster links and chaos-weave insulation.
His final purchase? A Cube Mansion, a dimensional object that looked like a glowing dice-sized cube... but contained an entire luxury state inside. The land alone spanned 100 acres, with a starlit lake, floating garden islands, adaptive environments, and a celestial Atrium at its center. The cube pulsed with bound dreamfire when touched, bound only to him.
Lunavelle cried when she saw her new room. Ashborn had made her a moon-shaped bed of floating petals with a dreamfire waterfall beside it.
[Day 5 - Exploration of a New City: Silverbraid Reach.]
[Location: Silverbraid Reach.
Time: 10:38 AM.
Weather: Mild. Prismatic Fog Rising. Ground Elevation 2.5 km above baseline Azure Hollow.]
---
Far to the east of Azure Hollow lay a city not marked on most official maps. Ashborn and Lunavelle arrive by warp lift, stepping into a dream-tech-carved region known as [Silverbraid Reach.]
The city was built on braided silver structures that looped in concentric towers and spires. The architecture shimmered with twilight logic, streets flowed upward, market stalls rotated through procket-time zones, and vendor automatons traded thoughts as currency.
Reality here was tame, but fluid.
Floating markets petals drifted across walkways. Children played on dream-steps that manifested with each laugh. But underneath the beauty... tension lingered. This place was built on containment. Something below or within was being hidden.
Ashborn felt it. The subtle twist in gravitational harmonics, the slight vibration in his Genesis Thread.
Lunavelle clung to his hair, now perked up again with her little spirit paws patting the top of his head.
"This place feels... heavy," she whispered.
Ashborn nodded.
"Something's veiled here. But I like it."
"Let's see what secrets Silverbraid Reach is protecting."
----
[Location: Mutation Spiral Complex - Adaptive Cavernous Bio-Labyrinth, beneath the Roots of Silverbraid Reach.
Time: Day 5, 2:07 PM (local systemic timestamp)
(AN: times works different for every realm)
Event: Ritual Summoning of Apex Warriors.]
Beneath the gleaming spires of Silverbraid Reach, the earth splintered open into the Breeding Depths, a pulsing cavern drenched in adaptive biotech. Veins of living chitin and flesh-walls breathed in unison. At the center stood the Mutation Spiral Nexus, where 'Within' the alpha-shifting bio-deity, smiled with shards of organic crystal spiking around its maw.
"Oh... delicious prey. Someone entered my domain... Is it Silverbraid Reach? Let's see what our bodies become when I devour him."
"Bring forth my strongest."
Ten apex-champions emerged, each a walking paradox of Evolution and divinity, blood and bloom, each one suited for breaking gods.
['Within' 10 Apex Warriors]
• [Vuralis Thornborn Warlord]
Race: Gryphon-Plant Hybrid.
Appearance: Hemlock-feather wings sprout from bark arms; crystalline thorn crests line his spine.
Core Affinity: Adaptive Biomass + Earth Entropy.
Specialization: Adaptive Shieldmaster - body armor grows in seconds.
Signature: [Spiral Bark Wall] - Grows shimmering chitin shield swirling with self-replicating vines.
Lore: Firstborn of Within's cult; shielded the entire Spiral complex from a tidal breach single-handedly.
• [Calix "Bloodbloom" Veridian]
Race: Fungoid Nymph.
Appearance: Bioluminescent fungal horn; blood-red spore blossoms bloom from veins.
Core Affinity: Biomorphosis + Chaos-Decay.
Paradigm: Evolution + Memory.
Specialization: Corpse-Forging - turns biological matter into explosive constructs.
Signature: [Carnal Bloom Burst] spawns motes of living toxin that hunt blood echoes.
Lore: Revered for turning war dead into battalions of living spores.
• [Mael Thorneater]
Race: Titan Insectoid.
Appearance: Eight-eyed crystalline mandibles, chitin carapace decorated with serpent-scale filaments.
Core Affinity: Biomass Spike + Psychic Thread
Paradigm: Evolution + Dream.
Specialization: Psychic Swarm Control.
Signature: [Dream-Lash Swarm] summons psychic insect hostiles that feed on nightmares.
Lore: Instilled fear across the Spiral by infecting enemy soldiers with nightmare mites.
• [Zara "Bladevine" Crescendia]
Race: Vinedelphess (Plant-Demon)
Appearance: Vine-hair, flowered eyes, thorn-tipped whip-arms.
Core Affinity: Chaotic Growth.
Paradigm: Evolution
Specialization: Whipblade Combatant - body can elongate into lethal vines.
Signature: [Dendritic Overgrowth] wraps enemies in pitch-black thorned vines mid-combat.
Lore: Once overtook a rival alpha's hunting ground with a single vine-lash.
• [Korrath "Ironroot" Stonehide]
Race: Earthwyrm Colossus.
Appearance: Root-infused stone-carapace skin, quartz horns, dwarfing six meters.
Core Affinity: Biomass Continuum + Gravity.
Paradigm: Evolution.
Specialization: Siege Striker - absorbs kinetic hits, returns them multi-metrically.
Signature: [Seismic Swallow] stomps ground to collapse layered terrains.
Lore: Fought off two full Spiral contingents alone during the Deep Breach.
• [Elysxa "Bloomwraith" Hemlock]
Race: Nightshade Wraith.
Appearance: Ethereal vine-wraith body, luminous pupilless eyes.
Core Affinity: Spirit-Chromatic Biomass.
Paradigm: Evolution + Dream.
Specialization: Ghost-Bio Infiltrator - melds into living flora.
Signature: [Veil of Petal Mist] turns invisible in flora, strikes as spirit-shrike.
Lore: Assassinated Emissary Corps in Silverbraid Reach with no trace but withering plants.
• [Threk "Pulsevine" Redroot]
Race: Lumicel Beetle Titan.
Appearance: Glowing red veins, coral-chitin wings, seismic hammer-horn.
Core Affinity: Resonant Biomass + Sound-Matter.
Paradigm: Evolution + Technology.
Specialization: Soundwave Blaster.
Signature: [Sonic Bloomquake] a massive vibration pulse that warps plant-metal fusion.
Lore: Revered in Mutation Spiral for evolving sonic resonance armor mid-battle.
• [Sylune "Sporemage" Glaive]
Race: Arcane Spore-Enchanter.
Appearance: Floating spores form embroidered; spores drift with ethereal glow.
Core Affinity: Chaotic Biomass + Memory.
Paradigm: Evolution + Memory.
Specialization: Bio-Sorcery.
Signature: [Mnemonic Spore Sigil] spores carry and rewrite enemy memories.
Lore: Once erased enemy army's will to fight was weaponized by weaponizing old battlefield trauma.
• [Halk "Venombrace" Serapine]
Race: Serpent-Plant Hybrid.
Appearance: Venom-laced vine-serpents coil around arms; petal-fanged maw.
Core Affinity: Toxic Biomass + Chaos.
Paradigm: Evolution.
Specialization: Venom-Warrior.
Signature: [Spiral Poison Rend] introduces evolving toxin into enemy tissue and armor.
Lore: Known for corrupting an honored paladin's shield into organic poison spires.
• [Arctus "Goldenbloom" Nemoral]
Race: Sunwood Titan.
Appearance: Golden bark, solar-flare petals around head like sunrays.
Core Affinity: Biomass + Light-Aether.
Paradigm: Evolution + Divinity.
Specialization: Solar Apex Striker.
Signature: [Dawn of the New Blossom] creates a golden field of regenerative blooms, healing allies while burning foes.
Lore: Appeased Within once by curing corrupted root, earned title "Golden Alpha" as reward.
----
(AN: not their true information since their full sytem status is over 7000+ words)
---
As the ten warriors bowed in unison toward within, the cavern walls shimmered with living root-sculptures. Their forms distorted and reformed, echoing the apex deity's chaotic-morphic blessing.
"Go. Devour the Dream-Born Knight and the Moonseed Seraph. Show me what rising authors taste like."
---
[Location: Silverbraid Reach - Spiral Market District.
Time: 12:00 PM Local | Event: Sudden Apex Ambush]
---
Ashborn and Lunavelle drifted between over twenty storefronts, holographic boutiques, floating food stalls, and dream-scripted libraries absorbing the city's kaleidoscopic energy. The neon rain painted everything in streaks of living color. Ashborn's star-shaped lavender eyes sparkled with joy as he turned to Lunavelle with a calm smile, arms full of dream-crystals and petal-charm snacks.
"Lunavelle, they have dream-ink calligraphy boards. Wanna try them later?"
She twirled in the air, her little form wrapped in pastel joy.
"Tides in the sky! This city is cooool-!"
Their laughter rippled down the street until the very air snapped taut.
A tremor ran through the market's dream-thread floor. Every stall's neon sign flickered. The pedestrian froze.
From the clustered shadows beneath the Spiral Market's highest promenade, ten impossible shapes tore through the fog, moving as one. Each bore the unmistakable Signature of Within's Apex champions, and all ten advanced in perfect formation.
Ashborn's system flared:
[GENESIS THREAD EVOLUTION - Phase III: Soul-Weave Stage]
[Void Thread Activation]
Auto-evasion chance + time-lag movement engaged.
He spun in place as the first attacks fell:
• Vuralis [Spiral Bark Wall] hurled a swirling chitin shield that split into razor-thorn shards.
• Calix's [Carnal Bloom Burst] sent living toxin spores twisting toward him.
• Mael's [Dream-Lash Swarm] rained psychic insects feeding on dread.
• Zara's [Dendritic Overgrowth] lashed thorned vines at his legs.
• Korrath's [Seismic Swallow] stomped the ground, cracking reality at his feet.
• Elysxa's [Veil of Petal Mist] obscured half the street in spectral fog.
• Threk's [Sonic Bloomquake] warped the metal frames around them.
• Sylune's [Mnemonic Spore Sigil] dripped glimmering spores aimed at his mind.
• Halk's [Spiral Poison Rend] launched venomous serpents that slithered across the pavement.
• Arctus's [Dawn of the New Blossom] ignited a ring of healing fire, burning and regenerating simultaneously.
---
Ashborn blurred forward under [Void Thread,] phasing between reality slices. He ducked beneath thorns, twisted away from spores, and darted past shadowy petals. The apex champions pressed in, moving in uncanny synchronicity. Each swing, stomp, or burst feeds into the next, like a living organism of terror.
He launched a counterstrike: Core Resonator slashes, fifty rapid echoes of true damage but the floor shifted under his blades. Korrath's quake swallowed his strikes before it landed.
Suddenly, a massive vine whips from Zara SCYTHED the sky above him. He vanished, only to reappear as the whip pierced the air where he once stood. Yet even Ashborn's instincts failed to dodge everything this time:
Calix's spore-blossom bomb detonated in his face, a living explosion of biotoxin that sent him hurling backward.
He smashed through three skyscrapers in a single arc, each glass panel fracturing under the pressure, metal beams onto the obsidian plaza below, crumpling the dream-thread tiles with the force of impact.
Lunavelle screamed from his shoulder perch as a shard of flaming petal caught her wings and face. Ashborn dug his hand into the plaza, and summoned a brief [Astral Cocoon Shift,] and enfolded her in glowing strands of dream-water,
"Luna-"
"No..."
His heart surged. He held her close and pressed a hand to her chest.
"Rest in my soul's bloom, little light."
Lunavelle was sealed in a spiral of dreamlight, returned to the Dream Core's inner garden to recover.
Ashborn stood up, chest rising, voice cracked with pain and fury.
"YOU MONGRELS!!" he roared, voice echoing across the plaza.
[GENESIS THREAD: RAGE THREAD + VOID THREAD - ACTIVE]
[GENESIS SURGE: UNSTABLE MODE - PRIMED]
He slashed his arms through the air.
[Cosmic Core: Stage I - Genesis Spiral Node]
[Cosmic Pulse Scan - Activated]
A concentric ripple or stardust and thread washed outward, illuminating every hidden distortion and faint Signature. Ten HUD icons appeared before him:
• Vuralis, Thornborn Warlord.
• Calix "Bloodbloom" Veridian.
• Mael Thorneater.
• Zara "Bladevine" Crescendia.
• Korrath "Ironroot" Stonehide.
• Elysxa "Bloomwraith" Hemlock.
• Threk "Pulsevine" Redroot.
• Sylune "Sporemage" Glaive
•Halk "Venombrace" Serapine.
• Arctus "Goldenbloom" Nemoral.
Each icon pulsed, revealing core Affinities, distances, and threat levels.
The apex champions halted, forming a tight circle around him. Their voices rang out in grim harmony:
Vuralis (Thornborn Warlord):
"So, the Dream-Surged Hybrid dares to enter our Spiral."
Calix (Bloodbloom):
"I smell your essence... delicious."
Mael (Thorneater):
"Your nightmares feed us... but let's see your waking strength."
Zara (Bladevine):
"The vine of fate intwines you, knight. Will your flourish or be strangled?"
Korrath (Ironroot):
"My roots will devour your momentum."
Elysxa (Bloomwraith):
"In silence and shadow, we rise."
Threk (Pulsevine):
"Let the world quake to our resonance."
Sylune (Sporemage):
"Your memories are mine to rewrite."
Halk (Venombrace):
"Your blood will seed our ascendance."
Arctus (Goldenbloom):
"And I will baptize this battleground in Dawnfire."
They advanced in perfect unison, spikes of biowave, wave of sentient spores, pillars of living stone, whirlwinds of nightmares insects, thunderous shockwaves, whispering mist, all converging.
Ashborn stood, wounds already closing,
[Riftpetal EXE] humming in one hand, [Genesis Thread] coiling behind him like a living cloak. His gaze hardened.
"Fine. Let's dance in your breeding pits."
---
Vuralis lunged first, his [Spiral Bark Wall] exploding mid-air into a multidimensional lattice, blocking Ashborn's path forward while seeding adaptive vines beneath his feet.
Zara Bladevine dashed under his guard in sync, her thorn-whips blurring into coordinated arcs aimed at binding Ashborn's limbs.
Ashborn shifted into [Resolve Thread] mid-motion, and slammed his foot down, releasing a [Genesis Pulse shock] that shattered the vines mid-growth.
"I see how it is. You work as one organism."
Calix Bloodbloom appeared next, spores hissing from her body as she released a burst of [Carnal Bloom] flaring crimson and swarming towards Ashborn's lungs.
He inhaled deeply, then activated [Reality-Weaving]: "My lungs reject corruption."
The spores turned into petals mid-air and fluttered harmlessly away.
Suddenly, Threk Pulsevine dropped from above, wings flaring with Seismic color. His [Sonic Bloomquake] rippled downward in a spiraling frequency bomb.
Ashborn's feet flickered [Void Thread: Echo Step-] but not fast enough.
BOOOM!
The sonic detonation hurled him backward, spinning, before Korrath Ironroot followed with a meteor punch, embedding Ashborn deep into the city's foundation.
Buried in rubble, Ashborn's HUD flickered, then stabilized.
[Dream Core Activation Detected - Creating Localized Dream Logic Zone]
As the dust trembled, the battlefield suddenly twisted. The entire plaza began to morph. Now, they stood on a [Tilted Book of Memories,] its pages bleeding shadowlight.
Ashborn rose from a page labeled "First Rage."
"Let's begin the dream properly."
His aura bloomed into spiraling violet and silver, and [Rage Thread] activated.
Elysxa Bloomwraith faded into petals to backstab but Ashborn whispered:
"Fear is heavier than flesh."
Her dagger froze in mid-air, stuck in the concept of hesitation and Ashborn struck with [Radiant Sever].
Just before the beam hit-
Arctus Goldenbloom raised a field of solar flowers, his [Dawn of the New Blossom] healing allies while shielding Elysxa. The radiant petals blocked the strike with a harmonic surge.
"Adapt. Amplify. Overwhelm." Arctus intoned, divine sunlight dripping from his chest roots.
Ashborn's eyes spun, star-shaped irises turning into intersecting rings.
He called Aetherion: [Transcendental Shift - Whipblade Mode: Sovereign Lash]. The weapon surged out, cutting across time-lagged gaps and weaving arcs of light through vines and root armor.
SFX: WHISH-WHASH-WHIP-ZING!
Ashborn launched into a dance of movement, his whip striking while he micro-warped in patterns that distorted prediction.
Mael Thorneater unleashed his [Dream-Lash Swarm] clouds of psychic insects that bit through mental defenses. They tried to enter Ashborn's mind-
But Ashborn's [Dream Logic Immunity] flared.
"I already own this mind, insect."
His Genesis Thread split into six spiraling tendrils, forming a ward net:
[Genesis Thread Split: Limit Reached - Activating Echo-Loom Spiral]
The battlefield and pages bled storyweight. The broken plaza turned into an arena of lost potential. Every step the warriors took now echoed with narrative inertia. Slower. Heavier.
Sylune Sporemage Glaive releases her [Mnemonic Spore Sigil] to blur Ashborn's past.
But Ashborn cast:
"Rewrite cause: I do not forget what defines me."
The spores exploded, consumed by his Mythoscape Flux and then the battlefield pulsed again.
[Narrative Drift Trigger Activated - Signature Move: "Twin Reality Convergence Slash - Final Delay Variant"]
Ashborn dashed between Zara, Korrath, and Calix, slashing all three, first in real-time, then with a second strike three seconds later where they dodged.
Zara screeched as the second strike caught her spine.
Korrath's shoulder was cleaved, armor pulping.
Calix screamed as her spores combusted from within.
The warriors began coordinating tightly.
"Threk! Lock him with sound! Vuralis, front! Arctus, shield Elysxa now!"
Ashborn's heart roared with Core Sync energy
[Core sync: 96.2%]
[Genesis Surge Building - Echoform Imminent]
Ashborn grinned. His weapon spun to
[Mythos Claymore - Blade of Narrative Rift], crackling with conviction.
"Come. Ten bodies vs one will. Let's make this fight a myth."
The ten warriors closed in, surrounding him with perfect symmetry, spiraling in a predator formation. Their footfalls echoed like a ritual. Plants, spores, sounds, and spirit merged in choreography...
And then-
Collision.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The skyline ruptured as Ashborn's body was flung like a comet, carving through glass towers and gleaming transit bridges, his cosmic form spinning amidst sparks, steel, and plasma vapor. The streets screamed beneath him, explosions, screaming civilians, and crumbling architecture drowned out by the shattering echo of war.
Lunavelle's tiny body trembled in his soul, and a tear rolled from her cheek as she faded into his soulspace...
"DAMN YOU ALL MONGRELS!"
Ashborn roared, the sky cracking open behind his voice.
[Genesis Thread: Echo-Loom Spiral - Activated]
[Emotion: RAGE DETECTED - Syncing Thread-State: RAGE THREAD]
[+100 Offensive Amplification: STR: +65 | SPD: +30 | Thread Fractur Limit: 6]
Suddenly All Ten Apex Warriors descended like synchronized celestial horrors.
Vuralis Thornborn Warlord dropped first, shield blooming like a fractal bloom mid-air, slamming it down toward Ashborn like a gargantuan iron blossom.
"Pressure test begins."
Ashborn rolled mid-fall, arms trailing Genesis Threads, flaring Aetherion: [Riftpetal EXE] into mythos Claymore form.
[Causality Breaker] triggered mid-air.
Shattering the arc or Vuralis' pre-programmed gravity smash. It collapsed, force turning inward, imploding into his own core zone.
Zara Bladevine used that moment, vine-whip limbs splicing out from broken architecture.
[Dendritic Overgrowth] Activated, thorns tunneled from the ground, wrapping to trap Ashborn mid-air like a suspended soul in agony.
Ashborn's rage warped into control. [Inkveil Scythe: Petal Cut - Unwritten Fate]
The trap collapsed as his weapon sang, blades of poetry sliced through unrevealed attacks, breaking future entrapments.
But Korrath dived from a nearby rooftop, the seismic quake of his leap warping gravity.
[Seismic Swallow!]
He punched the ground like a divine piston, crumbling 50 blocks beneath Ashborn into a descending sinkhole.
Ashborn skated backward, light blinking between his cosmic feet.
[Scythe Mode: Inkveil Dance - Triggered]
He spun, untouchable, a tornado of poetic script and cosmic ink, scything through the incoming quakewave.
But his mind fractured slightly...
[Usage Advisory]
[Sanity Check Failure: 6% Hallucination Leak Detected]
[Vision Warped: Reality shimmering]
"Did I already die...?"
Mael Thorneater launched next, a swarm of psychic dream-insects pouring down like a waterfall of claws and whispers.
"Eat his fear."
Ashborn's threads shredded skyward, forming Thread Barricades, psychic nets interlaced with emotion-etched stories.
[Echo-Loom Barrage - Triggered!]
Aetherion fired both forms, slashing through mind and matter.
[Inkveil Scythe] cut open future Certainty. [Mythos Claymore] broke present logic.
The swarm dispersed, psychic screams echoing like fading prayers.
Calix Bloodbloom appeared next, a fungal storm of memory spores, embedding into the burning debris and constructing twitching corpse-clones.
[Carnal Bloom Burst - Active!]
Exploding clones swarmed from every angle like living bombs of red bloom and regret.
Ashborn bared his teeth. Rage, then clarity.
[Rift Collapse - Triggered]
[Shatters next 2 seconds of enemy sequence]
He teleported mid-dash behind Calix, blade rising. The clones exploded before Calix could even trigger them, confused by the causality shift.
Threk Pulsevine soared down.
[Sonic Bloomquake] erupted.
A shockwave rippled through every fiber in Silverbraid Reach, glass liquefied, and structures danced.
Ashborn's threads buffered reality, dampening the frequencies with [Narrative Drift Trigger...]
"If the sound couldn't find me, what would it shatter?"
[Mythoscape Override Zone - Spawned!]
[Dream Logic: Sound follows guilt.]
The quake missed, latching instead to the regret of civilians long gone.
Elysxa Bloomwraith phased through a vine-wall, striking with ghostly petals.
Ashborn was too slow, her [Veil of Petal Mist] cloaked her presence, and her blade slashed through his side.
His [Dream Core] is activated automatically.
[Dream Resurgence Thread - Engaged]
Ashborn's wound rewound itself in real-time, stitched by threads that remembered his unbroken flesh.
Sylune Sporemage cast mnemonic runes through airborne spores. Ashborn suddenly remembered screams that never happened.
"My kingdom... burning?"
[Memory-Reap Cry - Counteractive Echo Triggered - via Lunavelle's Dream Core]
The false memory burned away, his true thread surged back, purging hallucination with sheer will.
Halk Venombrace dropped from above, vine-serpents hissing
[Spiral Poison Rend!]
Poison drilled into Ashborn's shoulder, flesh turning liquid.
[Regenerative Factor - Cosmic Tier II - Engaged]
Ashborn flexed, regrowing muscles as he spun Aetherion upward.
[Twin Reality Convergence Slash - Delay Variant]
First flash missed. Second hit the past. Third struck the evasion future, Halk was clipped through space-time, sent skidding into a building.
Arctus Goldenbloom descended like a divine flare, petals of pure sunlight glowing.
[Dawn of the New Blossom - Activated]
Ashborn faltered, his eyes seeing only white, his sanity quivering like a poem coming undone.
"This... might be my end..."
Then.
His soul glowed.
Lunavelle stirred inside his Dream Core. Her voice... a whisper of tide.
"No... stand, Ashborn... we're not finished."
Ashborn stood. Aetherion now glows like a divine contradiction.
"Paradox Blooming."
(Hybrid Fusion Mode: Claymore + Scythe)
[Cooldown: 300s - Ignoriel via Narrative Drift Trigger]
The world split open.
Petals of reversed causality spiraled from one side.
Blades of nullified fate from the other.
All ten Apex Warriors were hit in unison, their movements faltered, rhythm disrupted.
But they didn't fall.
They regrouped, adjusting, evolving mid-combat.
Vuralis growled: "Adapt. Again."
Zara: "He bleeds story. Let's consume the source."
Threk: "Synchronize."
[FINAL FORMATION ACTIVE - Mutation Spiral: Tangle of Becoming - Apex Sync Mode Initiated]
Ten voices roared as one:
"We are the Flesh that Evolves Beyond Law. Show us what your story becomes, Ashborn Lionheart."
Ashborn grinned, blood dripping, eyes glowing with collapsed galaxies.
"Gladly."
---
---
---
The battle raged like a living nightmare,
cosmic lightning and cracks in space-time as Ashborn fought desperately to maintain his grip on reality. His senses were splitting, the world flickered between nightmare logic and devastating brutality, and his body surged throughout the feedback loop of his hybrid weapon form.
[Aetherion: Riftpetal EXE] tore through the air in chaotic dual-forms, shifting between the heavy resonance of [Mythos Claymore] and the fluid, disorienting movements of [Inkveil Scythe.]
The world blurred around him as each moment twisted into a paradox.
Vuralis came first shield up, wings spread wide, a defensive juggernaut of living bark-thorn shields, his massive bark shield resonating with an adaptive hum
"Try to break me, Ashborn. Your story cannot shatter my nature!"
Ashborn's hands tightened around Aetherion's claymore form, the blade's weight almost crushing with the fury of his emotions. His Genesis Thread wrapped around it like a living being, adding narrative weight to the strike.
"We'll see about that."
Ashborn's blade swung with brutal precision, his body moving like a blur in [Ecliptic Wyrm Form] all grace and unrestrained violence. But Vuralis reacted instantly, twisting his shield to intercept the attack. The ripple effect from the shield's impact hit Ashborn like a cosmic pulse, sending him skidding back several meters. Ashborn's boots carved through the streets, tearing up debris in his wake.
Vuralis: "You cannot match the earth itself."
"We'll see, fucker." Ashborn grinned, his vision splitting as the strain of the [Riftpetal EXE] began to wear on him.
The second wave arrived swiftly: Calix Bloodbloom, Mael Thorneater, and Zara Bladevine,
Calix disguised as spores scattered into the environment, exploding outward into small clusters of bioluminescent blood-motes, seeking Ashborn's presence.
Calix: "Burning is so... poetic."
The spores burst in all directions, moving with deadly accuracy.
Ashborn's eyes flicked to the battlefield, his threads suddenly moving on their own, splitting between [Void Thread] and [Rage Thread],
Instinctively avoiding the deadly [Bloodbloom Burst] but still feeling his senses warp.
[Narrative Drift Trigger] - "Burning Fate"
Ashborn's blade split the air with a jagged cut through causality, smashing through the oncoming spores with an unstable rift. The plant matter exploded as the rifts closed behind them, shredding the perfectly timed approach of the spores.
But Mael Thorneater wasn't finished. The Insectoid Titan summoned swarming nightmares, millions of dreamites pouring into Ashborn's space. [Dreamlash Swarm!] The creatures hissed in shrill, terrifying unison,
devouring any sense of control Ashborn had left.
Ashborn's [Inkveil Dance] activated instinctively, his body becoming a shifting whirl of ethereal ink-blades, but the swarm fed on the very concepts of fear and doubt in his mind. The air thickened with psychic poison, and Ashborn's muscles started to lock up under the weight of his fading sanity.
Ashborn's mind felt like it was being dragged through memories he hadn't lived, echoes of horror from his past piercing his thoughts, his perception slipping but he could feel Lunavelle's presence in his mind, the voice of the one thing keeping him anchored.
"Focus, Ashborn. You're not done. Not yet."
Ashborn forced himself into clarity. He activated [Void Thread Lunge - Omega Form] crashing through the swarm with the force of a comet. His Genesis Threads snapped the dreammites from the air, distorting reality, sending them into a collapsing space.
Zara Bladevine launched at him next. Her vine-whip arms lashed out with terrifying precision, lashing at his torso and legs. [Dendritic Overgrowth] created instantaneous barricades of thorns, wrapping around Ashborn's arms and torso like living chains.
Her vines cut through his flesh, each one carving a wound that bled pure ink, a deep symbolic punishment.
Ashborn raged through the pain. His mind screamed. He summoned the Aetherion Scythe form and swept through her vines, breaking them apart with precise swings. Each strike drained her will, confusing her movements, her confidence fractured by the uncertainty Ashborn wove into her fate.
But then, Korrath Ironroot and Elysxa Bloomwraith arrived, the earthwyrm colossus stomping the ground with a seismic quaking presence.
[Seismic Swallow] - Korrath's stomp hit Ashborn square in the chest, sending him crashing into the ground, cracking the pavement beneath him, while Elysxa faded into clouds of mist, striking from all angles with petal-shaped blades infused with ethereal nightmare energy.
Ashborn grimaced. His reality fractured again, pain pushing closer to the edge. The [Rift Collapse] from earlier hadn't been enough, he needed to keep pushing or be swallowed by the nightmare logic itself.
Ashborn's desperation led him to his most dangerous option: [Paradox Blooming].
He merged Claymore and Scythe into a single attack, reality shattered, and the space between them ripped open. Ashborn's body moved in a surreal combination of past, present, and possible futures.
Time seemed to break.
His strikes tore through all ten warriors leaving a trail of reversed timelines.
Vuralis, Calix, Mael, Zara, Korrath, Elysxa, Threk, Sylune, Halk, and Arctus, each one's movements were scattered across separate planes, the battlefield fragmenting under the strain of Ashborn's willpower.
But it wasn't over. Reality began to coil back around Ashborn's weakened form. The fury of the fight had opened more cracks, and the warriors were already regenerating faster than he could break them.
Ashborn staggered. His sanity wavered again, his grip on reality fraying.
[Sanity Strain Warning]
"Ashborn Lionheart... you're becoming more than just flesh and memory."
But in that moment, the thread of fate rewrote itself.
Lunavelle reawakened within his soul, their bond stronger than ever.
Ashborn narrowed his eyes, clutching Aetherion as it shimmered with cosmic energy.
The city around him continued to break, but his spirit remained unyielding.
"This is my story. I'll rewrite it."
The battle rages on...
---
---
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[Location: Silverbraid Reach - Shattered Civic Nexus
Time: 2:30 PM.
Event: Ashborn Lionheart - Last Bastion of Self: The Fractured Cycle of Resolve
Condition: City-Wide Structural Collapse Triggered | 90% Civilian Casualties Reported.
Weather: Reality-Fracturing Thunderstorm - Heavy Refractive Glitching, Echo Distortion active.]
The heavens had gone silent. What remained of Silverbraid Reach was a jagged silhouette against a black sky, pierced by aurora-colored monoliths, ten radiant columns, each flaring with the semi-true evolved forms of Within's apex Warriors.
And beneath it all,
Alone.
Breathing ragged and trembling, Ashborn Lionheart stood.
His blood painted the rubble beneath him, thick stardust streaming from his eyes, nose, and ears, mixing with the rain of broken memory. His breath caught between rattling lungs, his hands clenched so tightly around Aetherion: Riftpetal EXE that the hilt had embedded into torn flesh. His fingers twisted apart, muscles exposed beneath pale cosmic-threaded skin, but he never loosened his grip.
The [Usage Advisory] warning echoed again deep in his fractured mind:
[Sanity Strain Alert: Hallucination Layer Breach Detected.]
And like ghosts caught between mercy and torment, they appeared.
Queen Ashley Lionheart stood tall beside him, radiant and sorrowful, her hand ghosted over his shoulder.
"It's okay now, Ashborn... you've done enough."
Seraphira's golden hair drifted in the smoke beside him. "You've always tried too hard, brother. Let someone else fight."
Kyther's voice boomed like distant thunder.
"We'll protect the name Lionheart now. Rest."
Dravion smirked, sharp and tired. "Even the strongest of us all fall, Ash. Just... let go."
And Nyxa, the quietest of them all, knelt in front of him. Her glowing violet eyes pleaded.
"You look so tired... Come home."
Ashborn's eyes, those blinding, star-shaped lavender lights flickered, dimmed. His knees buckled, but the clash of steel in the distance brought him back.
He looked down at the Aetherion, the weapon vibrating under the weight of his will.
He whispered, not to the phantoms, not to his bloodline, but to the fractured world around him:
"...If I stop swinging this sword I die. And if I die she's alone."
A thunderclap split the world.
Five apex Warriors lunged from above in unison. Their evolved forms shrieked through the fractured air:
Vuralis, now fused entirely with armored bark and stone, crashed downward like a living fortress.
Calix, glowing with toxic chaos, spawned detonating flower-pods mid-flight.
Zara, her body a vortex of thorned vines, spiraled like a drill toward his chest.
Mael, bloated with psychic insects, opened his maw releasing a banshee swarm.
Elysxa, now translucent shadowflower, blinked between realms, slashing from all angles at once.
Ashborn moved before he thought.
[Genesis Thread: Void Thread + Rage Thread] One for clarity, one for fury.
His body twisted with unnatural contortions, bones fracturing mid-dodge then snapping back into place. He slashed upward with [Mythos Claymore form,] cleaving Calix's spores apart, then in a single spin, [Riftpetal EXE] shifted to Scythe form, beheading three swarm illusions at once.
But Zara's vine snagged his leg.
Snap.
Pain surged.
She yanked.
He soared helplessly-
-right into Vuralis' shield.
Impact.
His ribcage cracked.
He coughed out stardust and fire.
But he was already moving.
He is involved in [Echo-Loom Barrage].
Aetherion howled, spitting a blur of claymore crashes and scythe swipes, each strike threaded with emotional weight.
The words of Nyxa, her imaginary fingers brushing his cheek, faded as he screamed:
"STAY OUT OF MY MIND!!"
Then the other five struck.
Korrath, now a walking mountain of kinetic tension, stomped with force that collapsed gravity around Ashborn.
Threk, wings flaring with sonic resonance, released a pulse that ruptured every nearby building.
Sylune, hands flowing with mnemonic spores, assaulted his thoughts. "Do you remember your first fall?"
Halk, slithered in a blur of venomous tendrils, his body a maze of toxins.
Arctus, a radiant god-tree, unleashed [Dawn of the New Blossom,] a field that burned reality and healed his comrades.
Ashborn's body crumbled under the pressure. His flesh peeled in places. His left hand was barely attached.
And still he swung.
He swung because he had to.
Each slash ot Aetherion was an act of defiance. Each pivot, leap, dodge, a miracle of instinct and cosmic memory.
The battlefield became a gallery of broken statues, falling towers, cracked reflections, and Ashborn lost in his own war.
[Paradox Blooming] Activated again, both forms merged. The weapon became impossible, existing in duality. With every swing, he rewrote one line of death. But he couldn't keep up anymore.
Ashborn ran limping, rather through the ruins. Through flames, blood, and fallen souls.
He ducked between shattered trains, collapsed terminals, hollowed office floors.
But they found him.
They always found him.
Clash. Collapse. Recovery. Clash again.
He stood now, broken, facing all ten. They didn't speak anymore. Their unity was silence.
Their synergy, terrifying. They didn't just fight together. They moved like a single body. One punched, another blinked behind him. One stabbed, the others adjusted their exit path.
Their formation was flawless.
Ashborn was the only flaw left in this world.
And yet...
"Ashborn..."
Her voice again.
From deep within his soul.
Lunavelle.
Still asleep in the Dream Core, but present. Her warmth washed over him. Not in salvation...
...but in reminder.
"You're not alone."
Ashborn rose.
Blood covering his eyes.
Joints locking.
Fingers nearly gone.
Sanity is slowly shattering.
But his star-shaped lavender eyes burned anew.
He smiled.
A sad smile.
He was still standing.
"Then come on, monsters," he whispered, lifting the blade.
"Let's fall together."
[Phase I - Bloomwheel Impact]
(T+00:00 > T+00:15)
All ten move at once. Not a rush, a sequence.
Vuralis drops first, knees bent, wings half-closed to shunt momentum; leaf-sword primaries lock into a hex-shield canopy.
Korrath lands heel-to-earth, hips open, left shoulder back: the [Seismic Swallow] starts from his ribs, not his foot.
Halk corkscrew through Vuralis's cover; both shoulder-serpents hiss counterpoint at different tempos (5/4 and 7/8) to desync Ashborn' Ashborn's reflex rhythm.
Threk unfurls antannae-flower arrays; the first humming G# is not sound, it's pressure.
Zara is already in late rhythm, Whipblades drape and tighten like bolos, elbows tucked, hips leading each snap.
Calix walks not runs, hyphae hair counting steps; myco-lanterns blink in code to Mael.
Mael answers with hive-hiss pulses; two combat forelimbs raised, two tucked, scythe-scissors angle set to Ashborn's likely pivot.
Elysxa folds into peta-phase, enters the moss of a planter, and exits a hanging fern ten meters behind him.
Sylune draws a sigil without fingers, shoulders alone; spores arrange into memory ligatures.
Arctus doesn't descend; he arrives, already praying, palms outward, light-roots combing the air.
[Void Thread] auto-triggers. Ashborn slips the first three angles then Threk's resonance detonation and Calix's delayed myco-thorn align. The city buckles. Ashborn becomes a meteor, skips through four towers, eats asphalt, and stands,
"You picked noon."
"Fine."
[Genesis Surge - Unstable] crests the collarbone. [Riftpetal EXE] flares claymore weight slams his forearm, then scyth-camber floats at the wrist. He breathes wyrm-arc (shoulders roll, spine coils, steps glide, Ecliptic Wyrm Form: circular footwork, elastic hips, non-stop angle changes).
[Spirit: Maxed > S (Stressed)]
[Phase II - Ten-Part Machine]
[T+00:16 > T+00:44]
[Beat 1 - 4 Break the Feet]
Korrath slides his rear foot, not a stomp, his pelvis cants, [Quakeheart Sigil] sets a shallow swell; sidewalks tilt 9°.
Halk rides the tilt, [Fangroot Bloom] spears up up to knee-height; both serpent-shoulders chant anti-heal infectives.
Ashborn answers with [Scythe mode - Inkveil Dance] step-through spin, heel-toe draw, body intangible for three seconds; petal stanzas shaving vine-teeth as he ghosts past.
Zara predicts the exit line; her whipblades bite into empty air where his knees would be, she doesn't miss: [Root-Crest Recall] flips her to a wall Sigil and her second lash takes his cape-lamella instead.
[Narrative Weight Shift] spikes, Ashborn's scythe lightens to needle-water, cuts a thin parry triangle that feeds Zara's lash into Vuralis's shield canopy. Vuralis accepts the impact, shield-bloom thickens.
[Beat 5-9 Break the Breath]
Threk opens [Resonance Shell - Echoform] chest hum drops below hearing.
Mael rakes air with dream-scissors scythes; his [Nightmare Resin] threads knot Ashborn's breathing cadence, every third inhale misfire.
Calix sprinkles [Carnal Bloom Burst] Spores calculate Ashborn's last five kills and steal one technique echo.
Ashborn switches to [Claymore Mode] mid-step (elbow in, blade close to centerline). [Causality Breaker] On the forehand, the strike is late yet lands first.
Threk's subsonic shelf misses its timing window; Mael eats a micro-displacement and his scythe bites the wrong layer of space.
[Spirit: S - (Stressed, hairline webbing)
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(AN: hairline webbing = On walls, plaster, and paint. When seen on a wall or ceiling, hairline webbing is generally a sign of minor, non-structural issues.]
----
[Beat 10 - 14 - Break the Mind]
Elysxa blooms behind him, not footfall, just the absence of noise. [Spirit-Shrike] taps along the spine, phantom incisions bleed memories of training instead of blood.
Sylune Mnemonic his first Aetherion forge; she borrows that moment's resolve and rewrites it into hesitation.
Arctus marks [Cycle of Bloom and Banish] every time Ashborn harms, a sun-vine will answer.
Ashborn drag-cuts the air, a [Rift Collapse] feint then reverses into [Petal Cut - Unwritten Fate] two inbound enemy actions simply don't happen (Halk's second curse fizzles; Vuralis's thornwall arrives a beat late). He buys half a breath.
[Usage Advisory]
Fusion strain spikes. Letters crawl at the edge of his vision. A child's laugh that isn't Lunavelle's echoes once.
[Spirit: S > S- (microfissures).
[Phase III - City Breaker Choreography]
[T+00:45 > T+02:10]
The Bloomwheel.
The Ten rub their signature pinwheel:
Vuralis's [Spiral Bark Wall] rises, slotting streets into lanes; his wings fold over Calix and Sylune as mobile bastions.
Korrath uses the lanes to vector Ashborn into kill-angles; each hip-shift births a stone-root a half step ahead of Ashborn's left foot.
Zara dances in the lanes; [Bloomlash Rhythm] cycles: speed > precision > bloom collapsed; her lashes don't chase, they arrive at where the third dodge ends.
Threk plants [Echo-Fused Tremor Nodes] on the building faces so reflections also attack.
Mael threads dreams through window glass; swarm-wasps emerge from mirrored storefronts not air.
Halk mists [Cursec Nectar Pulse;] the remaining pedestrian cough, see loved ones as enemies, stampede into Spiral thickets.
Elysxa siphons urgency; Ashborn's blink-step feels two frames late.
Sylune sows [Cognitive Overgrowth;] Ashborn's dodge queue stutters.
Calix kneels, palms pressed; [Griefmire Thallus Field] every corpse is a spore script singing wrong directions.
Arctus breathes: [Golden Petal Bastion] slats rise, capturing the sun and refracting it into knife-bright lattices.
Ashborn's line becomes curved by design. He ceases trying to leave the wheel. He enters it.
Ecliptic Wyrm Form tightens; Head-feint (eyes) > shoulder-follow (blade) > tail-finish (hips). He rides Korrath's tilts let's Zara's lash graze the outer Aetherion aura to build [Paradox Resonance] stacks, and feeds Threk's nodes fake frequencies by whistling a [Dream Symbol] - "Empty Stage."
Scythe carves air into nothing scripts; [Fate Bleed Edge] unmoors prophecy around Arctus, his auto-judgements take half-beats to fire.
Claymore hammers pavement; [Narrative Heaviness climbs: +3&, +6&, +9%, +12%...]
[Echo-Loom Barrage] opens: threads ripple down the blade, six parallel slashes, each carrying an emotion imprint: guilt, patience, hunger, mercy, wrath, and resolve.
Calix's spectral phantoms choke on mercy and miscast.
[Spirit: S- > A+ (fractures visible, sanity drift: voices at 10% amplitude.)]
[Phase IV - Chain-Combos & Counters]
[T+02:11 > T+04:30]
[Combo: Root & Ruin Quartet]
Korrath [Rootburst Counter] funnels Ashborn into a 20m cone of stone-spears.
Halk tags the cone's rim with [Venom Reversal Curse.]
Zara threads [Thorn-Fused Rend Bloom] into Ashborn's left tricep, vine-nerves try to puppet his arm.
Mael launches [Broodcore Pulse] trauma-larvae crawl out of his memories (a mother's voice; a command: "Kill him.").
Ashborn drops the center of gravity,
pivots on the ball of his right foot, [Inkveil Dance] again, but [reverse cadence]; he grants intangible to the arm only, lets Zara root a decoy limb (A Genesis-Thread simulacrum), and [Causality Breaker] detonates the cone a beat before Korrath finishes the bellow. The stones impale nothing; Reversal Curse lands on Korrath's own lattice as Threk's echo breaks a window, Halk laughs.
[Spirit A+ > A (hallucination blooms: Sky-tides drift downstairs; he ignores).]
[Combo: Silence Garden]
Elysxa pulls him into [Bloom Echo Suppression] memories go blank around Aetherion.
Sylune [Memory Thread Loop] binds him to Floor 30, breaking fate chainw; his lungs remember drowning in candle-smoke.
Calix primes [Eidolon Bloom Curse] inside the blank; she writes his hesitation into the seed.
Arctus lifts one palm; [Sunfire Entropy Halo] brightens the fog.
Ashborn sacrifices posture: he eats two swallow cuts (Zara's lashes), then barks one word through the slipping dream:
"OVERDRIVE."
Aetherion - Conceptual Overdrive: Rewrite Mode. Triple-blade aura engages.
He rewrites the category of the Memory Loop from "past event" to "meteorology"
Result: The loop becomes weather, annoying, constant, and ignorable. He steps through it like rain.
[Spirits: A > A- (edges of thoughts drip ink; Dream Core vent pulses once to stabilize).]
[Phase V - Catastrophe Line]
[T+04:31 > T+07:10]
"Planetbreaker"
Korrath plants both fists.
Ground answers with [Continental telemetry. Planetbreaker Fist - Stonehide Variant.]
Skyscrapers flex. River canals leap from their beds. The city tilts.
Arctus sings a counter-hymn, catching civilians in [Sunveil Breakthrough;] they phase as light-petals, fleeting through walls. Not all. Not enough.
Ashborn has one option: [Graviton Reversal Lattice.]
He inverts the city's gravity in a doughnut around the impact cone. The wave bends up and around him, cracks glass into halo shards.
Threk, laughing, catches the bent shock and feeds it to [Echo Nodes - Inversion of Inversion] a frequency kill-switch on Ashborn's gravity.
Result: Micro blackouts in his proprioception.
Halk slips into a blind spot, [Entropic Seraph toxin] bites his side.
Zara lands a precision lash to the ankle tendon.
Mael opens the [Thorneater Maw] his chest jaw eats self-concept for one minute.
Ashborn feels himself becoming a rumor.
[Spirit: A- > B+ (Cracks spider across the HUD; Sanity drift 18%; phantoms at edges).]
He plants [Riftpetal EXE - Claymore Weight] becomes an anchor and pulls himself back into his name with [Memory Sigil] (stored rage from Weeping Atrium). Name returns like a punch.
"I am Ashborn Lionheart."
"I am the one who rewrites."
[Narrative Heaviness: +27%. One more hit to cap.]
He gives it to Vuralis [Legend's end.]
The mythic canopy shatters; bastion blooms go dull. Vuralis takes a knee, fortress-tree retracting to shield Calix.
Arctus answers with [Dawn of the New Blossom] healing tide rolls; Ashborn's damage unravels on allies.
[Spirit: B+ (holding).]
[Phase VI - The Spiral Choir & The Dragon's Script]
[T+07:11 > T+11:40]
The Ten sing not voices, roles:
Vuralis: Guard - pulls lanes back together.
Korrath: Frame - keeps tilt on Ashborn's rear heel.
Halk: Rot - keeps cooldowns misfiring.
Zara: Meter - lashes land at off-beats to break combos.
Calix: Funeral - detonates echoes at joy peaks.
Mael: Dream - edits Ashborn's reflex narrations.
Threk: Key - holds the battlefield at F# fracture.
Elysxa: Silence - erases urgency in a 2m personal bubble.
Sylune: Script - rewrites who remembers what.
Arctus: Sun - judges, heals, burns.
Ashborn stops talking. He breathes in counts of seven, lets the wyrm in his footwork coil tighter, lets Riftpetal EXE decide its weight for him.
Scythe sweeps low; [Fate Bleed Edge] shreds future sight, Mael's swarm misses its pre-calculated angle by nine inches.
Claymore crashes high; [Causality Breaker] blanks Threk's echo for two seconds, enough to step through a harmonic wall.
Hybrid lights once: [Paradox Blooming]. He does not overuse it, one strike only: a diagonal strike both breaks Korrath's cause and unwrites Zara's future. The pinwheel skips a tooth.
[Spirit: B+ > B (sanity drift 22%, a second voice counts backwards in the left ear).]
Aetherion whispers poetry that doesn't exist; he drinks [Dream Core] in a single, controlled vent.
Stabilization: Drift 15%.
[Phase VII - The Ward and the Dawn]
[T+11:41 > T+14:00]
Calix raises both arms. [Mourning Field Detonation].
Every corpse, memory-corpse, and blood echo ignites. The city becomes a crimson mushroom cloud of dirges.
[Chrono-Ward Seed]: "If the field detonates, rewind four seconds and step behind the conductor."
Trigger.
Time buckles; Ashborn appears at Threk's back, claymore already descending.
Arctus had foreseen the outline (not the position; [Fate Bleed Edge] blurs it). He interposes a petal-forest, taking the blow for Threk, petals explode into golden dust, reflecting 30% of the impacts as blindness across the street.
Blind, Ashborn trusts wyrm-form hips lead, not eyes. He rolls through Halk's spray and snatches Zara's lash with [Thread Grab], using it to vault-heel kick to Korrath's jawline (rare opening), then scythe to Elysxa's veil. It cuts nothing, because she is nothing. He changes intention mid-swing: "cut doubt". The scythe bites an absence and makes it present, Elysxa's outline. He bows, a tiny nod of respect to a perfect assassin.
[Spirit: B (Stable)]
[Phase VIII - Breaking Point]
[T+14:01 > T+18:00]
They stop trying to kill him and instead try to end him.
Sylune steals resolve from a nearby mother lifting rubble; feeds it to Arctus.
Arctus lights [Verdant Resurrection Glare] fallen allies become flower-spirits for 15s, buying time.
Mael spreads [Mindeaveling Hive] Ashborn's dreams start whispering escape routes that lead back into kill zones.
Threk hums the [Symphony] up a tier; the air becomes stairs made of sound, Ashborn climbs two by instinct, and hits his head on a note.
[Spirit: B > B- (craze-lines across the sigil).]
[Usage Advisory] - hallucinations: Lunavelle sleeping on his head; not real; he blinks it away, jaw tight.
He snarls low, not loud.
[Riftpetal EXE] answers with a cold, clean click.
"Poem of Severed Destiny."
The scythe paints a seam through the wheel. Those marked bleed certainty, Korrath's next quake arrives off-key, Halk's echo infects his own larvae, Calix's detonation hesitates long enough to be caught by Vuralis's shield and shunted upward.
[Spirit: B- > C+ (danger)]
[Astral Cocoon Shift] is watching him now, a last resort.
Arctus lowers his prayer.
"Mercy is sunlight. You are a storm."
[Sunfire Entropy Halo] erupts. Undead spores torch. Any corruption nearby vaporizes.
Ashborn's [Ruinforce Threads] scream, then stabilize as [Radiantforce Threads] bite. He meets the sun with the void, not to erase, but to frame. [Mythoscape Convergence] ripples: the battlefield becomes a cathedral of cracks; sunlight pours through the fractures instead of from the sky.
[Spirit: C+ > B (rebound via narrative framing)].
[Phase IX - The If]
[T+18:01 > T+20:00]
All Ten commit to [Omnistrike]
Vuralis: [Guardian Bloom Aegis] posture fortress-tree, ramparts blooming auto-shields.
Korrath: [Planetbreaker] charge resets.
Halk: [Serpent Crown Ruinfield] paints the whole block.
Zara: [Abyssal Petal Bloom,] 30m vine-deity.
Calix: [Blooming Phantasm Resurrection] a fallen boss-tier rises, fungal and howling.
Mael: [Hive-Sovereign Ascension] he dissolves into a constellation of wasps.
Threk: [Symphony of Diseassembly,] world-splitting note loads.
Elysxa: [Twilight Bloom - Phantom Choir Cut,] aria cued.
Sylune: [Amnesia Garden,] 100m of forgotten rules.
Arctus: [Solar Choir of the Last Bloom,] 33s of eternal dawn.
Ashborn's [Spirit] ticks [B > B-.] He sees the line: if this lands, BROKEN follows.
He exhales. One option left.
"What if the note was never sung?"
[Crown of Infinite Ifs - a single overwrite.]
Result: Threk's world-splitting note does not happen. The choir staggers out of tune for 2.3 seconds, a lifetime at this tier.
Ashborn spends it like a miser spends his last coin.
Scythe for Zara: cuts intention, not vine. Her 30m deity pauses, just long enough to miss the propagation chain.
Claymore for Korrath: [Causality Breaker] subtracts the wind-up, his slam lands without power.
Thread for Calix: [Resolve imprint] binds the resurrect to mercy, the fungal knight kneels instead of striking.
Step for Arctus not away, inside the sun: Ashborn chooses heat and bears it. Skin blisters; bones ring. He stays.
[Spirit B- > C (sustained burn). Sanity Drift 29% Dream Core vent: Stabilized to C+.]
Arctus sees the choice and bows once mid-combat.
"Then stand."
They do.
[Phase X - Twenty Minutes In]
[T+20:01 > T+22:00]
The city is a lattice of ruins and light, root and resonance. Sirens die. The only clocks that matter are breath and beat.
Ashborn's Narrative Heaviness caps at +30%. [Paradox Resonance] thrums like a second pulse.
[Riftpetal EXE] hums two songs at once.
[Spirit: C+ [Hairline map), holding.]
[Usage Advisory]: hallucinations at threshold; recommend [Dream Core immersion] within 3 minutes to avoid S > BROKEN slide.
He doesn't have three.
The Ten reset lines. [Omnistrike] recalibrates without the missing note. They step again.
Ashborn lifts the blade not high, centerline and the scythe low, inside.
Ecliptic Wyrm Form draws a lazy circle with his hips.
He sets his feet as if he could hold a continent.
"Round two."