Chapter 121 - The Rift’s Hunger

The hundred-and-fifteenth dawn bled over Kael El's Ashen Empire with a fractured golden haze, the continental dominion—a sprawling colossus—quaking under a rising tremor. The capital's skyline loomed—bone steel keeps dwarfed by the Golden Colossus, its hundred-meter frame a radiant titan, core pulsing a volatile violet-gold that cast glitching shadows across the plaza. Kael stood in a desolate western canyon, 1,000 kilometers from the capital, Stormforged Blade gripped tight, shard-pommel screaming like a ravenous beast. EX: Dragonflame Reaver glowed at his hip, Stormhide Armor scarred and dust-caked, Vara's warning and Rhea's blazing trust searing his veins. His flirty smirk was dead, replaced by a feral glare, masking a raw dread—the waking rift, the "Error," and the legion's fall fueling an unseen hunger. He flexed EX: Gold Dominion, golden veins surging through the canyon's stone, molten and fierce, answering the shard's jagged wail.