[A lineage has been found.]
[Your Art has been overridden.]
[You have been bestowed an Authority.]
I involuntarily stepped back.
Shocked was the only word that could describe my current state. There was a huge difference between an Authority and an Art. Authorities are the arts created by the Pillars. The arts of reality. To put it bluntly, Authorities are like arts but on steroids.
After a moment of me just staring into the amethyst space, I collected myself and summoned the runes, and read them.
Akashic Name: -Not Worthy-
Seals Broken: [1/7] [Seal Of Authority]
Rank: Awakened.
Authority: [Herald Of Destruction]
-[Herald Of Destruction] Description: You are the omen of the end that makes way for a new beginning. The inevitable destruction that consumes a creation to make way for another to strive. You are the herald of destruction.
Authority Abilities: [Flames Of Destruction]
-[Flames Of Destruction]: A flame that eats everything and everyone.
Flaw: [Absolute Madness]
-[Absolute Madness] Description: Upon using your Authority, you will enter a state of destructive madness.
Attribute: [Archon],[Second Shard Of Imagination]
-[Archon] Description: Named after their father, the archons are the children of destruction and madness. The children of Archon, the Pillar of Destruction.
-[Second Shard Of Imagination] Description: You inherit the lineage of Archon, the Pillar of Destruction.
Trophies: -
Just as I finished reading the runes, the voice of the records echoed once again.
[Teleportion complete.]
With that, I found myself lying in a bed of soft snow.
The snow was soft like a bed of clouds, but more than that, it was extremely cold.
But I didn't mind it; I was still stunned from the seemingly random lineage I possessed.
'Did the old man find a lineage?'
No, that's impossible. Even if he had somehow found a lineage, he must have gotten it recently, or at least after I was born. The reason I am so sure that it was impossible is that if someone was born with a lineage, the chances of them getting an Authority are higher, since they have a direct connection to one of the pillars. The other reason is that the lineage of the pillar of destruction, whom I now know by the name 'Archon', was the only unfound lineage.
And if it were found by my father, the sovereigns would never let him consume it, and since he is an awakened, it would also cancel the chance of his being born a direct descendant of Archon. If he were, it would have been one of his he would've had the [Second Shard Of Imagination] attribute.
That just leaves my mother. She hasn't left Lock City once in her life since she's mundane. Every person in her family since the Akashic records appeared a long time ago. So she is a direct descendant?
That was the only explanation.
I stared at the grey sky above for a while, and then got up, the cold finally getting to me.
Looking around noticed that the area around me was filled only with snow and giant trees. The trees were weird; every single part of them was gloomy black.
And then realization hit me like a bullet train.
I knew where I was, and I didn't like it at all.
I was in the onyx forest, a monster zone. And I was a fucking awakened!
Awakened are meant to fight beasts! Not fucking monsters! That was the work of hunters.
I wanted to shout, but I refrained from it since I didn't want to attract attention. An encounter with a monster was inevitable, but I would prefer to try to avoid that encounter as much as I can, at least.
But fate decided otherwise, because in the next moment, I spotted something moving in the forest. It was a white leopard-like creature, but unlike any leopard, the creature had two pairs of blue, frosty eyes. It also had four tails instead of one.
It was looking at me, its eyes burning with madness and pure unhinged hunger. Then it shot towards me, attacking.
I tried my best to dodge, and I succeeded, but not without getting my uniform torn and four wounds on my torso.
I was about to send ether from my core towards the art runes on my back... well, the authority runes in this case.
But I remembered something very important that I had tried to forget.
My flaw.
[Absolute Madness] Description: Upon using your Authority, you will enter a state of destructive madness.
Will it be permanent, or would it only last while I use the authority?
I saw that the leopard was about to continue the attack, and what I had to do was clear.
I had no trophies. No weapons, armor. I had nothing but my authority.
With desperate times come desperate measures. What's more desperate than the moment before death?
'Absolutely nothing.'
I felt the ether crawling from the core in my sternum, towards the set of runes on my back.
The leopard snapped towards me and attacked with one of its paws.
I raised a hand towards it, the ethet that flowed to the authority runes flowing towards my palm, and a burst of amethyst fire shot from my hand towards the monster.
The monster backed a little, the flames dancing on its fur eating it.
A grin split my face as I covered my face with one of my hands.
"Ah, I am finally free!"
The leopard had no intention other than eating me, even when the flames ate away at it. It shot forward, charging at me, ready to strike me with its sharp claws.
I commanded the ether inside my body, and the same flames slowly eating at the monster danced on my hands, but unlike the leopard, which seemed to hurt it. I felt complete.
The leopard's attack connected, painting another four claw marks on my torso and cutting the uniform even more.
I paid it no mind and punched it under its lower jaw. The moment my fist connected, another blast of flame of destruction shot from my hand.
The leopard's lifeless carcass fell on the ground, its head no longer on its body, and a voice whispered into my ear.
[Abyssal beast eliminated, ivory panther.]
The flames dancing on the ivory panther's fur ate at the carcass until there was no sign of existence. Then the flames moved to the snow and the tree, it ate and ate, the trees disappeared, and the snow level lowered.
I was about to summon even more flames, but then the world became drowned in darkness.