The sinkhole breathed.
Not air..
Presence.
Yuto felt it pressing against his spirit like an unseen hand on his chest. Not crushing. Not yet.
Testing.
The spiraling pit at the basin's center pulsed slowly, each beat sending ripples through the proto-domain. Mana didn't flow downward, it was pulled, dragged as tribute toward something deeper.
Seraphina swallowed. "That thing… it feels like it's staring straight at you."
Zarek grunted. "Feels like it's deciding if you're food."
Mimi hugged her tail close. "I don't like thinking pits can think."
Elira frowned, eyes glowing faintly as she analyzed the mana currents. "This isn't just corruption. It's structured. Almost… judicial."
Yuto exhaled slowly.
"Overlord law."
[Advisor: "Correct. You are now within range of Authority Pressure."]
Yuto raised an eyebrow. "Thought that required an actual overlord."
[Usually. Proto-domains compensate by amplifying environmental will."]
"So the land pretends."
["More like… practices."]
The pit pulsed again.
This time, the pressure shifted.
Yuto felt it slide across his spirit core, probing, cataloging, measuring compatibility.
And then...
It pushed...
The invisible force slammed into Yuto like a wave.
Not pain.
Weight.
His knees bent slightly, boots grinding into stone.
Seraphina gasped. "Yuto!"
He raised a hand without looking back.
"I'm fine."
[Advisor: "You are experiencing Tier-One Authority Suppression. Output reduction estimated at...."]
"Don't care."
Yuto straightened.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
The pressure intensified, as if offended.
The basin walls groaned, cracks spiderwebbing outward. The crystallized corruption flared brighter, reacting to the clash of wills.
Zarek took a step forward...,
and immediately staggered.
"Gah! Damn, that's heavy!"
Elira grabbed him, stabilizing his mana. "Don't push it. This pressure isn't meant for us."
Seraphina clenched her shield, teeth gritted. "Yuto, you don't have to.."
"I do."
Yuto's voice was calm.
Too calm.
"This is how overlords are born."
The pit reacted.
Mana surged upward, forming a distorted silhouette above the sinkhole, not a body, but a concept. A suggestion of something vast and coiled.
A dragon's outline.
Incomplete.
Unmanifested.
But undeniable.
Mimi's breath hitched. "That's… that's it, isn't it?"
[ Advisor: "A projection. Ven'rael's distant attention."]
Yuto looked up at it.
"So you're listening."
The pressure spiked in response.
The silhouette's presence crashed down harder, forcing Yuto's aura to compress violently inward.
His evolution meter flickered.
83.2%
Getting faster..,
But not stalled.
Yuto clenched his fists.
"Is that all?"....
The proto-domain answered.
Not with words
With law.
Symbols ignited across the basin floor, the same ancient script Yuto had seen earlier, now blazing with crimson light.
Elira's eyes widened. "Those markings, they're activating!"
[Advisor: "Overlord Doctrine Fragment detected."]
Yuto felt it then...,
A command embedded into reality itself.
Kneel.
Yield.
Acknowledge superior authority.
His vision darkened at the edges.
For a split second..
He almost did.
Not because he was weak.
But because the command was absolute.
Seraphina cried out. "Yuto..!"
Something inside him snapped.
Not rage.
Not desperation.
Defiance.
His spirit core flared, silver-blue light surging outward, not explosively, but coherently.
"Authority isn't taken," Yuto said softly.
"It's proven."
He took a step forward.
The symbols flickered.
Another step.
The pressure screamed.
> Advisor: "Warning, your spirit is rejecting imposed law."
"Good."
Yuto raised his hand and pressed it against the air itself.
[Mana Shaping: Law Interference Rudimentary.]
The space trembled.
The command fractured.
Not erased..
Interrupted.
The proto-domain recoiled.
The dragon silhouette distorted, its outline wavering violently.
For the first time,
The pressure hesitated.
But the cost came too soon,
Yuto staggered.
Blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
Elira rushed forward, magic flaring. "That was reckless! You're tearing your own spirit pathways!"
"I know," Yuto muttered, breathing hard.
[Advisor: "Your current authority capacity is insufficient for sustained resistance."]
"So I felt."
He straightened anyway.
The pit pulsed again, but weaker this time.
Cautious.
Ven'rael's attention withdrew slightly, like a predator reassessing prey that refused to break.
Seraphina exhaled shakily. "You… you pushed it back."
Zarek laughed softly. "Heh. Guess the land didn't expect that."
Mimi stared at Yuto with wide eyes. "You told it no."
Yuto wiped the blood away.
"Just for now."
The basin began to settle, the symbols dimming, the pressure easing to a heavy but bearable weight.
[Advisor: "Conclusion: You are not an overlord."]
Yuto smirked faintly. "Obviously."
[ "But you are no longer dismissed."]
He looked back toward the pit.
"That enough of a message?"
[Advisor: "For today. Ven'rael will not engage directly yet."]
"Yet," Yuto echoed.
---
As they retreated from the basin, the land slowly released its grip. Mana flowed more freely again, though the air still felt… watched.
Elira sighed in relief. "That could've gone much worse."
Seraphina walked beside Yuto, quiet. "You didn't have to shoulder that alone."
He glanced at her.
"I did. Because next time… I won't be able to."
She understood.
The real corrupted dragon wouldn't test.
It would crush.
Yuto paused at the basin's edge, looking back one last time.
His evolution meter flickered again.
83.6%
Still moving.
Still incomplete.
But no longer crawling.
He clenched his fist.
"Get ready," he said quietly.
"To everyone."
Zarek grinned. "About time."
Mimi nodded, determination replacing fear.
Elira steadied her staff. "We'll support you. No matter what."
[Advisor: "And I'll continue being extremely unhelpful."]
Yuto chuckled softly.
"Wouldn't have it any other way."
***
Far below,
Something vast shifted.
The dragon was no longer just watching.
It was waiting.
.....