The world didn't return to me in colors; it returned in pain. I was standing in the center of the arena, the weight of a legendary blade pulling at my arm like an anchor. At my feet lay the charred, bisected remains of the body I had just inhabited—Zark was gone. His flesh was ash, and his soul had finally flickered out into the void, leaving only the metallic scent of blood and burnt hair.
Suddenly, a violent tremor shook my new chest. It felt as if my heart was being gripped by a frozen hand. The agony was so sharp, so unexpected, that I couldn't remain standing. My knees hit the hot sand of the arena.
'This body... it's rejecting me,' I thought, gasping for air that felt like liquid lead.
Before I could collapse entirely, a blur of blue light appeared in my periphery. Kiran of the Azure Tide was there instantly, his speed defying the laws of physics. He caught me before my head hit the dirt.
"Kenji! Stay with me! What's wrong?" his voice was a distant echo, vibrating through my teeth. I tried to look into his sapphire eyes, but the world tilted, and the golden sunlight of the arena turned into a suffocating, velvet darkness.
The Silk Cage
I woke up to silence. But it wasn't a peaceful silence—it was the heavy, artificial quiet of a royal bedchamber. The air was thick with the scent of expensive lavender and sandalwood oils. I was lying on a bed of golden silk so soft it felt like it was trying to absorb me.
Standing by my bedside were two maids. They looked like dolls from a storybook, but their eyes were far too sharp. One watched my breathing with clinical precision, while the other held a tray of silver vials.
'I need to move. I need data,' I told myself, my analytical mind already clawing through the fog. 'I am a Hero now. If I make one slip, if I breathe the wrong way, these people will realize the "Chosen One" is a hollow thief.'
Suddenly, a roar erupted inside my skull. It wasn't the petty whimpering of a bandit like Zark. This was the fury of a god.
"YOU! YOU FILTHY VOYEUR! HOW DARE YOU STEP INTO MY SANCTUARY? I AM KENJI! I AM THE LIGHT OF THIS WORLD! I WILL BURN YOUR SOUL UNTIL NOTHING REMAINS!"
Kenji's soul was thrumming with a violent mana. The pressure in my head was building until I thought my skull would crack. I clutched my temples, let out a low, jagged groan. The maids stepped back, their faces pale with worry.
"Master Kenji? Shall we call the High Priest?" the sharp-eyed maid whispered.
I didn't answer them. I looked inward, focusing all my cold, cynical willpower onto the screaming presence of Kenji. 'Shut up,' I commanded, my mental voice like a blade of ice. 'You are a Hero, right? If you keep screaming, I'll start acting like a lunatic. I'll make them believe you've lost your mind. I'll rot this body in the deepest, darkest asylum in Astheria. Is that the "legend" you want to leave behind?'
The screaming stopped instantly. A cold, hateful silence took its place. Kenji was arrogant, but he wasn't stupid. He was terrified of losing his reputation.The Azure Hero's Visit
The heavy oak doors of the chamber creaked open. The temperature in the room plummeted. I didn't need to look to know who it was. The blue-haired knight, Kiran, walked in. His presence was so intense it felt like a cold wave crashing against the walls.
"You're awake," Kiran said. He didn't smile. He just stood at the foot of the bed, his sapphire eyes searching mine. "The High Priest said the backlash from your final strike was severe. Taking a human life for the first time... it leaves a stain on the mana-core. Do not let the guilt of killing that scum consume you."
I stared at him, my heart drumming. 'Does he know?' "I have faith in you," Kiran continued, his voice dropping an octave. "In fact, your aura feels... different. It's sharper. Harder. It's as if the act of killing unlocked a darker potential within your Dual-Elements. Rest well. The King expects great things."
He turned and left, but his words felt like a warning. He had noticed the change.
The Library of Secrets
Once the "Heroes" from my world—Sakura, Hina, and Yumi—had checked on me and left, I demanded to be taken to the library. The maids protested, but one look from Kenji's fierce eyes silenced them.
The Royal Library was a cathedral of knowledge, smelling of old parchment and forbidden secrets. I dismissed the maids, sensing their watchful eyes at the door. I needed to understand the board I was now playing on.
I tore through the scrolls, my eyes absorbing maps and hierarchies.
The World Structure:
I learned that the world was a chessboard of 12 Great Nations. While eight were mere pawns, four Kingdoms held the true power, and Astheria was only the fourth on that list. Above us stood Solis, the Holy Empire, The Iron Shard Union, and the terrifying Dragon-Claw Sultanate.
The Hierarchy of the Seven:
I found the records of the Seven Great Heroes. Kiran was only Rank 7. The others were monsters of a different caliber, and their descriptions made my blood turn to ice.
Rank 6: Valen the Crimson Dread. He was not a man; he was a walking natural disaster. With hair as red as the blood he spilled, Valen possessed a Fire Element so primal that he didn't just burn his enemies—he erased them. Legends said that in a single breath, he once incinerated an entire ancient forest to ash just to find a hiding dragon. He was a creature of pure, unbridled destruction, a slayer of kings who walked among mortals like a sun waiting to explode.
Rank 5: Seraphina of the Golden Veil.
If Valen was the hammer, Seraphina was the poison. With hair like spun gold and eyes that held the depth of a thousand dreams, she never touched a blade. Her power was the Golden Illusion. She could cast a net of magic over an entire village, seizing control of every living mind within its borders. Men would murder their own families thinking they were protecting them, or walk into fires thinking they were stepping into cool water. To face her was to lose your very soul before the battle even began.
I closed the book, my hands trembling uncontrollably. 'What kind of gods have I stumbled upon?' I thought. I was a mere observer, a thief of lives, now standing in the path of beings who could reshape reality with a thought.
Kenji's voice hissed from the shadows of my mind, cold and venomous: "Look at those names, thief. They are my peers. They will see you. They will smell the rot of your soul. And when they do... I'll be the one watching you scream."
I looked at my reflection in the dark library window. The Hero's face looked back, but the eyes—the cold, calculating eyes—were still mine.
"Let them watch," I whispered into the darkness