The floating Gate pulsed like a heartbeat trapped in crystal.
The draconic skeleton coiled around it groaned with echoes from some dead war Kael had never seen. The air was thick—too heavy to breathe, too dense to think. But the Seed inside Kael's chest was awake, and it hungered.
> [Secondary Fragment Signature: Class III – Confirmed]
[Synchronization Possible: High Risk of Overload]
[Core Corruption Projection: 17% - 40%]
[If absorbed, Seed Form will evolve.]
Kael stepped toward the Gate.
The memory of the girl in red still lingered—her voice, her eyes, the agony etched into her body. He couldn't reach her yet. But he could reach this.
And maybe… understand why she carried the twelfth.
> "You screamed when they gave it to you," Kael whispered. "I'll scream too… if it helps carry the weight."
He gritted his teeth and thrust his palm into the Gate's core.
---
Pain. Not like heat. Not like blades.
This was identity pain.
Every breath Kael ever took was stripped and shown to him. Every doubt, failure, lie he told himself—laid bare in front of a fractured mirror.
He saw twelve thrones.
Eleven shattered.
One still occupied.
A man cloaked in fire—face hidden, eyes like burning glass—looked down at him.
> "Two fragments before the others? You're ahead of schedule."
> "Who are you?" Kael gasped.
> "You already carry my shadow. Absorb another… and you'll hear my name."
The Seed roared inside his chest.
And then—Kael absorbed it.
---
> [SEED FRAGMENT ABSORBED – 2 of 12]
[Sync Level: 28%]
[Corruption: 18.9% – STABLE]
[Ashwake Seraph: Form Evolution Available – "Ashwake Tyrant" Unlocked]
[New Skill: "Fracture Pulse" – Send a shockwave that tears dimensional space]
[Passive Gained: "Second Breath" – Upon fatal blow, resurrect once with full power for 15 seconds]
[Seed Core Warning: Internal Voice Now Active]
Kael dropped to his knees, gasping.
His veins burned golden-black. His vision shook. The floor no longer existed—he stood in concept, in memory, in Seed.
And then… she spoke.
The girl.
> "You took a second. Why?"
He looked around. Her silhouette stepped from a ripple in the broken world.
> "To reach you," Kael said softly.
She stared at him—expression unreadable.
> "Then you'd better be ready. The third one is inside me."
---
Suddenly, everything cracked.
The realm screamed.
The Gate began collapsing from within—the draconic shell unraveling into dust and ash.
> [You are being expelled. Time Limit Reached.]
[WARNING: Seed Signature Detected By External Entity – Inbound Signal – Hostile Class Unknown]
Kael felt himself pulled upward—ripped from the forbidden Gate.
---
Back in the real world
Kael collapsed outside the ruins.
Yanis knelt beside him, shocked.
> "What happened to you?! Your body's… it's glowing—bleeding light!"
Kael opened his eyes.
They were no longer red.
They burned like molten gold.
> "I found her."
> "The girl?"
> "No… the one who gave her the fragment. The first."
> "What do you mean—who—"
> "The Seedbearer King."
---