The Breaking of the Mortal Cage
The Mortal Realm could no longer contain him.
For a hundred days after the fall of the Ivory Empire, the sky above the world cracked like glass. Golden fissures spread, bleeding starlight into the blue. Mountains bent under invisible weight, rivers reversed their flow, oceans rose in pillars of foam.
Every living thing knew it: the world was dying.
Or rather, it was being abandoned.
Aezreal stood atop the Throne of Bones, Nyx coiled around the blackened horizon like a serpent of apocalypse. His scythe hummed, his sword intent whispered like a storm hungry to be released.
The System's voice rang in his mind.
> [System Notice: The Mortal Realm has been fully conquered.]
[System Reward: Ascension Path unlocked.]
[Warning: Host may not remain in Mortal Realm. Power exceeds dimensional tolerance.]
Aezreal smirked.
"Finally."
The Final Gathering
The remnants of humanity, the broken sects, the shattered empires—all came crawling, desperate. Survivors from every land gathered before the Throne. Priests knelt. Generals trembled. Even spirit beasts bowed their heads.
A child dared to speak.
"...Will you leave us?"
Aezreal looked down. His gaze pierced through the boy's innocence like a blade through silk. For a heartbeat, silence reigned. Then he answered.
"No. I will take you all with me. As fuel."
Nyx roared. Shadows expanded, swallowing the horizon. Screams rose and died as blood turned into rivers feeding the throne. Millions were drained in a single night, their life essence coiling into Aezreal's body as the final offering.
The Ascension Rift
The sky shattered.
From the fissures above descended a colossal gate of golden obsidian, runes etched across its surface. It was not a door—it was a wound between worlds. Beyond it, the Immortal Realm pulsed with divine storms and landscapes too vast for mortal sight.
Aezreal rose into the air, Nyx soaring beside him. The bones of kings and gods alike crumbled to ash beneath them.
The System's voice thundered:
> [Ascension Commencing.]
[Restriction lifted. Mortal bindings severed.]
[Caution: Higher Realm Entities aware of host's presence.]
Aezreal's scythe gleamed. His sword intent flared, cutting the very boundary between worlds.
He stepped forward.
The First Breath of the Immortal Realm
The sky changed.
Gone were the broken clouds of the Mortal Realm. Before him stretched an endless sea of constellations, each star a world, each world a battlefield. Floating immortal mountains towered like continents in the sky. Rivers of lightning coiled through the heavens, and beasts the size of planets moved between them.
The air itself was alive, humming with laws sharper than blades. Every breath was like swallowing fire and thunder.
Aezreal exhaled, and storms bent around him.
Nyx's wings spread wide, her scales glowing like molten suns. She roared, and her voice shook the immortal stars.
The First Greeting
They were not alone.
A host of figures emerged from the clouds—Immortal generals clad in celestial armor, their eyes burning with divine fire. Behind them marched legions of immortal soldiers, each radiating power greater than the strongest Mortal Sovereign.
At their head stood a man with silver hair and golden eyes, a spear of lightning in hand. His presence tore the fabric of space itself.
> "So you are the scourge who broke the Mortal Realm," the Immortal General said. His voice was calm, yet the air cracked around every word. "You will kneel here. Or you will perish."
Aezreal laughed.
His scythe intent roared. His sword sang. Nyx's shadow blanketed half the heavens.
"I do not kneel. I conquer."
Clash at the Heavenly Rift
The Immortal legions surged. Spears of lightning, swords of fire, chains of law—an army of immortals descended upon him.
Aezreal stepped forward once.
The heavens split.
His scythe carved through legions like paper, turning immortal soldiers into rivers of glowing ichor. His sword intent expanded, forming a crimson domain that devoured the battlefield. Nyx roared, unleashing a tide of dragonfire that consumed entire battalions.
The silver-haired general charged, spear shattering space itself. For the first time since the Mortal Realm, Aezreal felt resistance. The clash cracked mountains of cloud, shattered rivers of lightning.
And he grinned.
"This is what I was waiting for."
System Notice
As the battle raged, the System whispered in his mind again:
> [New Realm Detected: Immortal Layer of High-Tier Universe.]
[System Function Expanded.]
[Sub-Quest: Conquer the Lower Immortal Territories.]
[Warning: Entities above Immortal King level will take notice if host advances recklessly.]
Aezreal's laughter shook the battlefield.
"Good. Let them notice."
The First Step Complete
The silver-haired general fell, his chest torn open by scythe intent. Immortal ichor rained across the heavens like a crimson storm.
The remaining legions broke. Some fled. Some burned. None stood.
Aezreal stood atop the ruined battlefield, Nyx roaring beside him. His gaze turned upward, to the infinite skies of the Immortal Realm.
This was only the first step.
The Mortal Realm was ash.
The Immortal Realm would become the same.