---
Darkness embraced him.
Yet unlike the void he once feared, this one pulsed softly, like the hush of a thousand thoughts waiting to be remembered. Yuki drifted weightless, his senses expanded beyond the bounds of flesh. Within this soul-space—his own yet more vast than ever before—light and shadow curled like ribbons across a crystalline horizon.
It was here the relic from the Hollow-Touched took root.
Here the soul and mind wove their fates into something new.
Whispers drifted around him—fragments of voices, forgotten by time.
**"Sovereigns rise not from flame alone."**
**"Will is the truest dominion—wield it, shape it, become it."**
The echoes led him deeper into the dreamscape. Around him towered blackened citadels and spiraling trees made of soulglass. Between them, faded shapes moved—phantoms of past battles and ancient wills long dissolved into the aether.
Yuki watched them pass—beasts, dragons, spirits—all shackled by something unseen. A corruption not of body, but thought. These were the Hollowborne… or what they had been before their fall.
At the center of this ghostly realm, a massive monolith pulsed—a heart of crystallized soul.
**\[You have reached the Soul Anchor.]**
**\[Legacy Channel: Activated.]**
The relic embedded in Yuki's evolving soul began to shine.
And from that light emerged a mirror.
In it, Yuki saw himself—not the body cocooned in the forest, but a projection. Scales etched with memory, wings stitched from flame and silence. His eyes were void-stars lit with purpose.
**"What are you?"** he asked the reflection.
It answered not in words—but in **resonance**.
Their forms aligned, soul to soul, mind to mind.
And in that moment, he understood.
He was becoming something more than dragon.
More than otherworlder.
More than either fate alone.
He was Will Incarnate.
A pulse rang out.
And reality shattered.
---
**Somewhere far away—in the waking world—**
The cocoon pulsed with a deafening *CRACK*.
Vines twisted tighter, bark creaked as if bracing for what was to emerge. Mist drew inward, forming dense fog banks along the forest floor. Even spirit beasts—sensitive to essence—fled the area, driven back by the rising surge.
The barrier surrounding the cocoon shimmered with runic symbols. Veins of crimson fire intertwined with ethereal blue, forming a lattice of dual-elemental protection. When the final pulse hit, the barrier collapsed into sparks.
And from the cocoon—
He stepped forward.
**Yuki was reborn.**
His body had grown longer, more serpentine, his limbs reinforced with compact muscle. His horns now arched backward in a sleek arc, gleaming with soul-metal sheen. His scales shimmered obsidian with flickers of inner crimson and dark violet.
From his chest radiated a glyph—**the sigil of Sovereign Mind**—etched with coalesced will.
The forest fell utterly silent.
The leaves whispered his presence.
The air bowed before his aura.
**\[Evolution Complete: Draconis Nocturnus Primordialis]**
> A rare divergence of the Flame Sovereign lineage, this form is shaped by soulforge phenomena. Grants enhanced mental and soul capacity, allows affinity with forbidden domains. Holds potential to transcend into multiple Sovereign Classes.
**New Passive Abilities Gained:**
* **Void-Singed Vitality** – Accelerates regeneration even under soul or mental trauma.
* **Resonance Pulse** – Periodically releases pulses that disrupt illusion and psychic attacks.
* **Soulveil Breath** – A modified breath weapon that strikes both physical and spiritual forms.
* **Sovereign Mind (Unique Skill)** – *Now evolving into Ultimate Skill*...
---
Yuki breathed out, mist curling around him.
He was stronger. Faster. Deeper.
Yet the world around him had changed as well.
The trees now responded to him with reverence. Spirit energy curled closer, drawn not by instinct—but by recognition.
From deeper within the soul-infused forest, a current stirred.
A new presence—not hostile, but powerful—had taken notice of him.
It was watching. Waiting.
Unseen, yet not far away.
His journey toward the one who waited—**Sylvaeria**—had begun to accelerate.
But for now, Yuki turned his gaze to the east, where the mist was darker, richer with echoing thoughts. There were still beasts to face. Spirits to awaken.
And more powers to claim.
---