Chapter 16 — The Ascension Records
***
THE ASCENSION RECORDS
Name: Zero
Race: ???
Rank: Mortal rank — Initial Stage
Aspect: Void Walker
Affinity: Void, ??????
Bloodline: Vel'Noctum Bloodline (Sealed)
Active Hearts: 1/7
STATS
Strength: 9
Agility: 11
Vitality: 10
Essence: 14
Perception: 13
TITLES
The Surviving Heir
One Who Should Not Exist
WEAPON ARTS
None.
BOUNDED ITEMS
?????????? — (Active)
?????????? — (Dormant)
ESSENCE CIRCULATION TECHNIQUE
Veinforge Art
INNATE ABILITIES
Spatial Distortion — Partial Unlock
Void Perception — Dormant
Demonic Essence Heart — Active
CONDITION
Mental State: Fractured
Bloodline Seal Stability: Unstable
***
The blue screen hovered silently before Zero's eyes as he walked beside Klaus through the eastern forest road.
Cold wind drifted through the trees overhead.
Leaves crunched softly beneath their boots.
But Zero barely noticed any of it.
His attention remained completely fixed on the screen.
Every word felt wrong somehow.
Not unfamiliar.
Recognized.
Like memories buried too deeply to fully reach.
Klaus walked several steps ahead carrying most of their supplies.
Bandages still wrapped tightly around his ribs and arm.
Yet his movements remained steady.
Determined.
Alive.
Zero looked back toward the screen.
Name: Zero.
That part meant nothing.
It was just the name Mira gave him after finding him in the forest years ago.
A human name.
A simple name.
Not his real one.
That realization settled heavily inside his chest.
Race: ???
Zero frowned faintly.
The question marks bothered him immediately.
Not human.
He already knew that now.
The memory fragments had made that clear.
A demon.
Something not born on Nyxara.
Something the Prime Nexus couldn't identify.
But why were the words hidden?
Was the system hiding them intentionally?
Or was the seal preventing him from seeing them?
THUMP.
The second heartbeat pulsed quietly inside his chest.
Zero's gaze shifted lower.
Rank: Mortal Rank — Initial Stage.
So this was strength.
Actual measurable strength.
He remembered the auxiliary information Elder Rowan once explained to the village children during awakening season.
Mortal Rank.
The first realm.
The beginning of the dominator path.
Yet despite only standing at the lowest rank—
he had killed a Blood Beast.
A creature normally capable of slaughtering entire villages.
Zero's eyes narrowed faintly.
That wasn't normal.
The realization settled coldly inside him.
Either his power was fundamentally different from ordinary dominators—
or the system itself functioned differently from the Prime Nexus.
Aspect: Void Walker.
His gaze lingered there the longest.
Void Walker.
The words felt ancient.
Heavy.
Then instinctive understanding surfaced faintly inside him again.
Not complete knowledge.
Fragments.
Concepts.
The aspect wasn't just power.
It was existence.
A nature.
A state of being.
The blue screen flickered faintly.
Aspect Information Available.
Void Walker
Those who walk between existence and nothingness.
Void Walkers do not govern space.
They reject it.
Zero stared silently at the description.
Reject.
Not control.
That single distinction changed everything.
During the attack in Ashvale—
he hadn't manipulated space.
He had unconsciously denied its rules entirely.
The wolf hadn't been crushed.
Reality itself had stopped accepting the space its body occupied.
A faint chill crawled through Zero's spine afterward.
Because that power didn't feel natural.
It felt wrong.
Like something existence itself resisted.
Affinity: Void, ??????
Another hidden section.
Void.
That at least explained the black essence.
But the second affinity remained sealed behind question marks.
Meaning he possessed more than one.
Rare.
Dangerously rare.
Even village children knew multiple affinities almost never appeared naturally.
Yet somehow—
Zero doubted the second affinity was simply hidden because it was rare.
The system was concealing it intentionally.
Bloodline: Vel'Noctum Bloodline (Sealed)
The moment his eyes landed there—
his scars burned faintly.
THUMP.
The second heartbeat echoed louder this time.
Vel'Noctum.
The name felt cold.
Ancient.
Royal.
And for one brief horrifying moment—
Zero saw fragments again.
A throne suspended beneath black skies.
Silver flames drifting through endless darkness.
Countless beings kneeling.
Then chains.
Massive black chains wrapped around his chest.
Sealing something.
The vision vanished instantly afterward.
Zero exhaled slowly.
Bloodline.
So his power wasn't random.
It was inherited.
Meaning there were others.
Or at least—
there had been.
Active Hearts: 1/7
His gaze hardened slightly.
One.
Out of seven.
The realization unsettled him immediately.
That meant six remained sealed.
Six more awakenings.
Six more things sleeping inside him.
What would happen when the next heart awakened?
Would he become stronger?
Less human?
Would the memories return completely?
Zero wasn't sure which possibility disturbed him more.
His eyes lowered toward the stats section next.
Strength: 9
Agility: 11
Vitality: 10
Essence: 14
Perception: 13
At first glance—
they looked meaningless.
Numbers without context.
But instinctively—
he understood their purpose.
Strength affected physical force.
Agility controlled speed and reaction.
Vitality governed endurance and durability.
Essence determined energy reserves and output.
Perception affected awareness and sensory processing.
His perception and essence were already the highest.
That matched what he experienced earlier with Veinforge Art.
Zero slowed slightly while walking.
Then inhaled deeply.
Dark essence moved immediately beneath his skin.
Thin black veins spread across his arms before fading again.
The circulation pathways activated naturally.
Ancient.
Precise.
The world sharpened instantly.
He heard insects beneath tree bark.
Distant movement far ahead.
The subtle rhythm of Klaus' breathing.
Even the flow of air between branches became clearer.
Klaus glanced back.
"You okay?"
"...Yeah."
Lie.
Again.
Because Zero wasn't okay.
Nothing about this felt okay.
His senses shouldn't function like this.
The circulation completed another cycle.
Then the screen shifted slightly.
Veinforge Art.
Unlike the other entries—
this one felt alive somehow.
The moment Zero focused on it—
understanding surfaced immediately.
Not words.
Experience.
The technique forged essence through the body's internal pathways.
Strengthening them.
Refining them.
Expanding them.
It wasn't simply circulation.
It was reconstruction.
As though the technique itself was designed to transform the user's body into something capable of containing monstrous power.
Zero stopped walking briefly.
Because another realization hit him immediately afterward.
This technique wasn't learned.
It had awakened with him naturally.
Meaning whoever he was before Nyxara—
this belonged to him already.
The realization left an uncomfortable weight in his chest.
His gaze shifted lower.
Titles.
The Surviving Heir.
One Who Should Not Exist.
Silence settled inside his thoughts.
Heir.
Again.
The system kept returning to that word repeatedly.
Heir to what?
A kingdom?
A bloodline?
Something destroyed?
And the second title—
One Who Should Not Exist.
That one frightened him more.
Because titles reflected truth.
Meaning somewhere—
somehow—
his existence itself violated something fundamental.
The screen flickered softly again.
His gaze lowered toward the final section.
Innate Abilities.
Spatial Distortion — Partial Unlock.
Void Perception — Dormant.
Demonic Essence Heart — Active.
Spatial Distortion.
That was what destroyed the Blood Beast.
Not essence.
Not strength.
Space itself collapsing around the creature because Zero unconsciously rejected its existence within reality.
And it was only partially unlocked.
The thought felt absurd.
Void Perception explained the sharpened senses.
But Demonic Essence Heart—
that one made Zero's chest tighten faintly.
Because every time the second heartbeat pulsed—
his emotions felt colder afterward.
Further away.
As though the awakening itself was changing him slowly.
Or revealing what had always existed underneath.
Then finally—
Condition.
Mental State: Fractured.
Zero stared at those words for several seconds.
The system didn't soften the truth.
Fractured.
Not grieving.
Not unstable.
Broken.
His gaze shifted lower.
Bloodline Seal Stability: Unstable.
That one explained itself.
The seal was weakening.
And eventually—
the remaining hearts would awaken.
Whether he wanted them to or not.
THUMP.
The second heartbeat pulsed again.
Stronger now.
The forest suddenly felt quieter afterward.
Then Klaus stopped walking ahead.
His expression sharpened slightly.
"...Did you hear that?"
Zero froze.
Enhanced perception spread outward instinctively.
And then he heard it too.
Screaming.
A woman.
Metal clashing violently.
A child crying somewhere deeper along the forest road ahead.
Klaus immediately reached for the hunting knife at his side.
"Bandits."
Silence followed briefly.
Wind moved softly through the trees.
Then Zero started walking toward the sounds.
Not emotional.
Not rushed.
Just moving.
Klaus stared at him for half a second.
Then followed immediately behind.