Inside the highest chamber of the Sovereign's Palace, where even the wildest winds dared not intrude, Zairon sat alone.
The world outside churned — armies moved, cities fell in line, rebellions were crushed — but none of that touched the stillness here.
He wasn't meditating in the traditional sense.
No.
Zairon was wrestling with himself.
The power inside him had reached a threshold.
A point of no return.
The energies in his veins twisted and boiled, reality around him bending in flickers. His soul — already stronger than any mortal's — strained against invisible walls.
Walls built by this limited world.
His body cracked and healed, again and again.
His mind drowned and resurfaced through rivers of pure madness.
And then, with a soundless explosion that no one witnessed, it happened.
He ascended.
The chains holding him within the limits of this world shattered.
Zairon had reached SSS Rank.
It wasn't a flashy transformation.
No great pillars of light, no thunderstorms shaking the skies.
It was a silent, terrifying shift — like a predator becoming something even worse.
Power leaked from him with every breath, warping the air into crimson hues.
He could now feel the thin membrane between Earth and the realm beyond — Raur.
If he wanted, he could punch through it.
Right now.
But he didn't.
Zairon stood, brushing the dust from his sleeves, his smile lazy... dangerous.
> "Not yet... This world isn't fully mine. Not yet."
---
Meanwhile, in the world:
The last major resistant kingdoms are rallying their forces in a desperate alliance.
Cult remnants still exist, whispering about awakening forbidden artifacts.
Unknown powers — hidden sects, ancient beasts, sealed relics — begin stirring, sensing the coming storm.
---
The Way to Raur
That night, after his breakthrough, the System spoke in his mind.
> [Host has achieved the foundational requirements for Dimensional Ascension.]
[Access to Raur can be initiated at will by tearing open a stable Rift.]
[Warning: The host is advised to stabilize territorial control and personal forces before Ascension, or risk destruction during transition.]
Zairon chuckled, low and wild.
> "Tear open a Rift, huh? Sounds fun."
He flexed his fingers, feeling the unstable energies within him.
One day, with a flick of his hand, the skies would part, and he would step into Raur.
A world of even greater madness, challenges, and prey.
But first, there was work to be done.
Final stabilizations.
Final consolidations.
This world would be truly his.
Then, the heavens beyond would fall next.