The dust settled slowly, revealing the extent of the massacre that had lasted only a few minutes.
Where an army of ruthless mercenaries and high-tech weaponry had once stood, only smoking wreckage, plasma scorch marks, and the overwhelming sensation that a force of nature had torn through the area remained.
Tsukumo closed his eyes for a brief second, still standing atop the small castle.
The air around his hands rippled, and with a mere metallic snap of his fingers, the gravity surrounding the bluish containment domes was multiplied by zero.
CRACK!
The translucent barriers imprisoning hundreds of civilians simply collapsed, turning into glowing dust that dissipated into the cavern's freezing air.
Cries of relief and stifled sobs echoed out.
Old dwarves fell to their knees thanking the heavens, while the few soldiers still able to stand looked at Tsukumo as if they were facing a guardian deity.
Tsukumo landed softly on the ground, dispelling the gravitational field holding Guenda up.
The massive orc fell back into a sitting position on the cold rock, coughing up dark blood and clutching his fractured ribs.
His ruined golden armor showered sparks, but Guenda's eyes—filled with uncertainty and a profound shock—remained fixed on the exact spot where Suki had disappeared.
"That boy..." Guenda whispered, his hoarse voice sounding like a stone grinder.
"What... in the name of the old gods... happened to him?"
"I've heard plenty of rumors about you two... but I've never seen anything that could explain such sheer aggression."
"Suki isn't exactly known for his patience with mercenaries," Tsukumo replied, his voice calm, almost light, as if commenting on the weather.
"Neither of us is. But Suki... he carries a bonfire in his chest that burns hotter by the day."
"YOU'RE DEAD!!!" Rhodes bellowed, pinned to the ground by the crushing gravity Tsukumo maintained over him.
"DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU'RE UNTOUCHABLE?! HAHAHA!"
The laughter was cut short.
The gravity grew denser, first crushing his legs—the bones giving way with a dry snap—and then surging upward, compressing his throat until his voice died out, leaving nothing but hoarse groans of agony.
"I leave him in your hands, General Guenda."
The two shook hands.
A brief, firm gesture, with no further words needed.
But Guenda didn't let go of Tsukumo's hand.
"...Syfles... the Yorm Belt..." the orc said.
Tsukumo's expression turned serious. "Guenda, we're going anyway."
"Tsukumo, listen to me! The Yorm Belt isn't a normal sector! It's a cosmic graveyard on the edge of our galaxy, it borders the—"
"WE are going, Guenda," Tsukumo interrupted, finally pulling his hand away from the general's grip.
Tsukumo turned around slowly.
His golden eyes gleamed in the cavern's gloom with a serenity that bordered on terrifying.
He tilted his face upward, observing Keflam's rocky sky, feeling the distant vibration of the planet's upper atmosphere being torn apart by Suki's flight.
And he went after his friend.
We spent hours crossing routes on the star maps back at Silver's house.
"So this is it," Tsukumo said, leaning against the desk in my room.
"We finally figured out a way to get there."
I threw myself onto the bed, my hair covering my face.
"We're close, man."
But just as we were about to set the date, the air pressure in the room plummeted...
We didn't need to say a single word.
Our eyes met in the exact same second.
The atmospheric pressure dropped like an anvil.
The gravity around the table flickered, and a cold, familiar weight settled into my chest.
It was his presence—ancient, suffocating—returning from the deep void.
"The master is back," Tsukumo whispered.
"Shit, pulling this off with him here is going to be impossible."
We rushed out of the house and pushed off the stone ground, blasting past the structure and shooting into the sky.
Breaking through the cloud layer at the speed of sound, the wind roared in our ears as we ascended toward the highest peaks of Lavinsk.
We were already waiting for him when a dark shadow crossed the light of the moons.
Silver landed silently on the edge of a cliff.
The hem of his dark cloak was frayed and covered in the pale dust of distant, unknown worlds.
He didn't look tired—Silver never looked tired—but the darkness in his eyes carried a heavy burden.
We touched down a few paces away from him.
"Find anything?" Tsukumo asked, unable to contain the anxiety in his voice.
Silver observed us in silence for a long moment.
He looked at Tsukumo's steady, unwavering posture, then at the way my shoulders bore the weight, ready to react in a fraction of a second.
He could feel the pure density of our energy, the refined result of our battles, and most recently, our defense of Keflam.
"The trail on Arthur went cold at the edge of the ninth galaxy," Silver said, his voice as deep and heavy as tectonic plates colliding.
"But news of what happened in Keflam reached me."
"Which is quite impressive."
"You dismantled Bartholomew's network and secured the trade routes."
"We did what needed to be done," I replied, my head held high.
Silver took half a step forward.
For a fleeting second, his aura flared—a silent, suffocating pulse gauging the stability of our spirits and our power.
"Perhaps... you are finally ready."
"What do you mean, sir?" Tsukumo asked.
I stood there listening, but equally curious.
"What else would I mean? Tomorrow, your training will be different."
"Meet me in the north, and you will know what must be done."
He touched our shoulders. "It's always good to see how well you two are getting along."
And just like that, he vanished. I could already feel his aura all the way back at his house.
"What's it gonna be this time?" Tsukumo asked.
"Nothing good," I said, clenching my fists. "But we have to be quick, so we can finally go after Laura."
"Right," he replied.
The next day, we met Silver at the peak of Mount Etheriel, in the north of Lavinsk.
The sky was flawlessly clear, a crisp blue stretching across the horizon, but the air carried a thick, strange tension that didn't belong in Lavinsk.
Tsukumo and I arrived side by side.
Silver stood with his back to us at the edge of the abyss, staring out at the horizon.
"Today... the path grows steeper."
I frowned.
Something was wrong.
When Silver finally turned to face us, his eyes had changed.
The blue irises were gone, replaced by a deep, shimmering red—like molten rock burning beneath a cracked crust.
Before we could even ask, Silver extended his right arm.
The fabric of reality tore open.
A vertical rift sliced through space with the deafening screech of shattering metal, revealing an entirely different world.
"This is the Furnace of Judgment."
It was a living hell. The sheer heat singed the ends of my hair before I could protect myself with a thin layer of wind.
Tsukumo did the same.
Rivers of thick lava carved through jagged formations of black obsidian.
Distant volcanoes spewed pillars of fire and ash by the minute, blanketing the sky in an eternal twilight.
Within the shadows of the soot, colossal creatures wandered like gigantic specters between columns of magma.
It was an open wound in the cosmos, forgotten even by the gods.
The heat radiating from the rift was so intense it felt like a solid wall pushing against our chests.
"The body can grow strong," Silver said, his voice echoing with an authority that made the mountain tremble beneath our feet.
"The mind can grow sharp."
"But the soul... if the soul is weak, it will drag you down into the abyss."
He turned completely toward the two of us, his crimson eyes piercing through the surging heat.
"Today, you will not fight me, nor will you fight each other. Today, you will train yourselves."
"In this place, your pasts will rise up. Your fears will walk beside you."
"And if you lie to yourselves... you will be devoured."
"This is a graveyard of many gods. Many of my friends died here."
"But unfortunately—or fortunately—only the capable ever leave this place."
Tsukumo and I exchanged a grim look.
We had fought side by side hundreds of times over the past few years, but the suffocating pressure leaking from that rift made one thing abundantly clear.
We would be completely alone.
"May The Silver guide you," Silver said, throwing us both into that fiery chasm.
The dense smoke of the furnace surged forward and swallowed us whole. I couldn't fly or use any of my powers; I felt instantly weak.
Path of the Spirit — Suki
I opened my eyes.
The hellish heat of the Furnace was gone. There was no more boiling lava carving through black rock, no toxic smoke tearing at my lungs.
The colossal creatures that wandered through the magma had vanished.
There was only a clear, infinite blue sky.
For a few seconds, I remained motionless, letting my senses adjust.
Then, the breeze carried a sweet, familiar scent, and I recognized the place.
My old home.
The houses were exactly as I remembered them, with their wooden fences and simple roofs.
The trees swayed in a gentle breeze that swept across the dirt roads.
And then I heard a laugh.
My chest tightened so hard I forgot how to breathe.
They were there. Alive.
My father was sitting near the old porch, fixing something with his usual calm hands.
My mother was chatting animatedly with one of the neighbors.
My old friends were running down the street, kicking up dust under the afternoon sun.
For a moment, I just watched.
I didn't feel fear or despair; I only felt longing.
A longing so profound, so deeply rooted in my bones, that it almost physically hurt.
I took a few trembling steps toward them.
"Dad..."
He didn't answer.
He didn't even look up from what he was doing.
"Mom..."
Nothing.
I moved faster, stopping right in front of my father.
I reached out a shaking hand, but when my fingers touched his shoulder, they phased right through him as if he were made of mist.
I froze.
The weight of reality crushed the illusion.
I closed my eyes, swallowing hard.
"I get it."
I sighed, took one last look at my mother, shrugged, and turned my back, walking through the Village.
The mother who had been chatting looked back. She saw her son walking down a difficult path, but she couldn't stop him.
"Be strong," she whispered, returning to the charade of the illusion.
A voice surfaced right behind me the moment I started walking.
It was low, incredibly deep, carrying the echo of centuries.
"You get what?"
I opened my eyes and spun around quickly.
There was no one there.
"I get that this isn't real," I answered the wind.
A low, rough, and gloomy laugh reverberated through the space.
"No."
The once-clear sky began to darken.
Gray clouds devoured the blue.
"You understand that you are no longer the boy who walked into this village on that day."
The houses began to crumble like ashes in the wind.
"Who are you, anyway?" I asked, my hand instinctively reaching for the empty space where my sword should have been.
"Me?" The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, whispering in my ear and echoing across the horizon.
"I am what you have carried all these years."
The ground shook violently.
The trees withered, and the entire village collapsed into dust and embers.
"Keep walking, Suki."
I took a step forward, and the world spun.
The air suddenly grew stuffy; the scent of dirt shifted into the stench of sweat and blood.
I was back in the arena of the Elixe Competition.
Thousands of people were screaming from the packed stands.
In the center of the arena, I saw a younger version of myself, my heart beating frantically beneath my ribs.
Sallys was just a few paces away, her bow firing volley after volley. Kimiko charged forward with her heavy axe, while Kaichin watched from a distance, calculating.
The voice slithered up from behind me.
"Do you remember?"
I watched Sallys' arrow slice through the air.
"Yes."
"You were surrounded."
The scene played out exactly as it had in the past.
Kimiko attacked, her axe coming down in a deadly arc.
But this time, I wasn't in there reliving the despair.
I was a spectator to my own history.
I watched my past self dodge every strike on the very edge of survival.
"You killed to survive."
The scenery flickered.
The Suki from the past stood perfectly still, panting and covered in blood.
"And you told yourself you had no choice," the voice continued, dripping with irony.
Silence reigned in the empty arena.
"Did I?" I said.
I kept my eyes on the terrified boy in the center of the arena.
"Interesting," the voice said.
Another step, and the stone of the arena turned into damp earth.
Now we were watching my fight against the mother taranpus—that version of Suki clad in elven armor with a black spear, just discovering his true potential.
The wind transformation was activated for the very first time.
"You learned to control your potential here."
"Yeah, thanks to Sillys," I said, looking at that elf, so elegant even in the heat of battle, feeling a bit ashamed to stare at her like this.
"First love?" the voice asked.
"What?! Hold on a second, mysterious voice, she's just someone very special to me."
"Hmmmm," it replied.
The damp earth morphed into solid gold.
I felt someone beside me.
I still couldn't see them, but I could feel the oppressive heat of their presence. Whatever this voice was, it was massive.
The celestial castle of the Queen of the Gods rose before me.
The mere memory of that woman's presence made the air around me weigh a ton.
There I was again.
Small and determined.
"Your blood is cursed," the Queen's voice echoed.
I was hearing it for the second time now, but those words had never truly left my head.
"Do you know something about me, mysterious voice?"
"Do you know who my mother was?"
"Those are answers you will have to discover on your own, boy," the voice said.
"Of course. That's what everyone says."
The voice fell silent for a few long seconds, the heat of its presence seeming to vibrate.
The golden light shattered.
Brutality took over.
Lucas.
The dull thud of strikes tearing through the air.
The sensation of standing before a monster who could kill me with a snap of his fingers.
I watched the battle from the outside.
Without the terror that had paralyzed me back then.
Just observing the technique, the mistakes, the sheer disparity in strength.
"You learned how to survive," the voice narrated, as the Suki of the past was hurled into the distance.
I kept walking through the illusion.
"You learned how to win."
A few more steps.
"You learned how to lose."
I stopped.
The sounds of battle ceased; the voice paused right behind me.
"But you still haven't learned to accept what you cannot control."
I turned my head slightly, my expression hardening.
"You talk too much."
A laugh tore through the space.
"And you?"
The air chilled drastically, and the scenery shifted again.
A craggy mountain pierced the horizon.
There was Kania, running miles ahead of us with an infuriating ease.
Behind her, Tsukumo and I dragged our exhausted bodies, legs trembling with every step, lungs burning under the brutal gravity.
The training seemed to have no end.
And then, the sky split open, and Silver descended.
An imperceptible speed.
The pressure that crushed our bones.
The relentless strikes, the violent falls that carved craters into the ground. It all flashed before me like a movie on fast-forward.
"Three years." The voice was softer now, almost reflective.
"Three years of running."
The illusion showed Silver knocking us down yet again.
"Three years of taking beatings."
The image cut to Kania forcing us to stand back up, refusing to accept any weakness.
"Three years of trying to get strong."
Tsukumo and I traded blows in the air, sweat and blood mixing as we pushed past our limits.
"And for what?"
The scene froze. Sweat suspended in mid-air.
I looked at Tsukumo, then at Silver's imposing shadow, and finally at Kania's stern gaze.
"So I could protect people," I answered firmly.
The response came like a whip crack.
"No."
My gaze hardened, and I clenched my fists.
"So I would never be powerless again," I confessed, squeezing my hand so tightly that my nails dug crescents into my palm.
The mountains crumbled to dust.
Ashes began to rain down on my shoulders.
I recognized the place before I even took a breath.
Ruitan.
My feet locked in place; my chest constricted with absurd force.
"Ah." The voice shifted.
It sounded almost satisfied, savoring the moment.
"Here it is."
I kept staring.
The smoldering ruins, the stench of sulfur and death, the scars of a destruction that had swept lives away like dry leaves.
The memories of my own helplessness flooded my mind far too quickly—a dark tidal wave drowning my sanity.
My breathing grew heavy, erratic.
"No..."
"You remember this scene well, don't you?"
"I remember."
"You feel... rage."
My hand shook violently.
"I said I remember!"
"And you're still afraid," the voice said.
I fell into complete silence.
For the first time, the owner of that voice revealed himself. A dark, colossal silhouette rose from the crest of the crater.
Two glowing eyes, like lighthouses in a sea of pitch black, peered down at me.
It was the Dragon that had destroyed my home.
"You can face gods," it said, taking a step that made the ruins tremble. Stones tumbled from the ridges above.
"You can fight monsters," another step.
"You can cross from planet to planet," one more.
"You can train until your body stops responding."
The gigantic snout lowered until it was level with my face.
The heat of its breath was unbearable.
"But there is one thing that still makes you tremble."
I stared into the glowing slits of its eyes.
The Dragon cracked a monstrous smile.
"Losing someone again."
Suddenly, I saw Arthur dragging Laura by her hair. I glanced to the side and saw my battle with Tsukumo reaching its absolute climax.
My body locked up completely.
I knew exactly what was about to happen.
"No..." my voice came out as a broken whisper.
The Dragon was right behind me, a monumental shadow cloaking my back.
Arthur was close enough now. My instincts screamed louder than anything else, so I charged.
I was strong now. I could actually do something!
"LAURA!"
I ran with everything I had.
I reached out, my fingers only millimeters away from grasping her.
But when the air split and the rift of the portal tore open, two hooded figures materialized between me and the gateway.
That weight... an aura, crashed down on me like the sky caving in.
I fell to my knees.
The stone floor shattered under the impact of my body.
I tried to stand. My muscles screamed in protest, but I couldn't move a single millimeter.
The invisible force crushed my face into the dirt, snapping my resistance like a twig.
"Get up..." I muttered to myself, my hand trembling against the ground.
I tried again.
Nothing.
The two figures didn't even need to move or lift a finger.
The sheer fact that they existed was enough to stop me from breathing.
Laura was fading into the shadows of the portal.
"LAURA!" I bellowed, tearing my throat raw.
I tried to drag myself forward, but the pressure spiked.
My chest was smashed against the rocks, the air violently expelled from my lungs.
"You still aren't capable, are you?" The Dragon's echo vibrated through the ground beneath me.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I spat, clawing myself forward.
"You weren't back then, and you aren't now."
I gritted my teeth, tasting blood.
"SHUT UP!!!!!!"
The hooded figures took a silent step forward, amplifying the pressure.
"Even in their clutches, you fail her."
Laura's hand vanished into the dark.
"And now... you are failing again."
My vision began to blur.
Darkness crept in from the edges, closing off my field of view.
"No..."
"Three years."
The Dragon slowly circled me, its voice dripping with pity and contempt.
"Three years of searching."
"Stop."
"Three years of training until you bled."
"STOOOOOP!!!!!!"
I ACTIVATED THE WIND TRANSFORMATION WITH SO MUCH FORCE AND SOUL THAT I FELT IT ASCEND TO THE NEXT STAGE.
White stripes danced across my body. I could feel every ounce of oxygen on the planet at this stage, but even with all of that, I couldn't stand.
"Three years telling yourself you would save her."
Hot tears overflowed from my eyes, glowing white with pure energy, and fell onto the chipped stones.
But they weren't tears of sorrow.
In their place, an absurd heat began to ignite.
"And this is how you plan to find her?"
The Dragon lowered its head, whispering right into my ear.
"What are you going to do?"
Silence reigned for an infinite second. My breathing stopped, and then, I heard something different.
I heard my own voice echoing inside my mind.
It wasn't the voice of the boy who cried in the Village.
It wasn't the terrified kid who had lost everything in Ruitan.
It was the voice of a man who had spent a thousand days breaking himself down and rebuilding from the pieces.
I am going to get up.
The Dragon stopped.
I forced my arm upward.
The crushing pressure of the figures tried to flatten me, shattering the ground all around, but my arm moved.
Centimeter by agonizing centimeter, the palm of my hand pushed against the stone.
"You can't do it."
"I can!"
I shoved upward with everything I had. The power of the Transformation whipped up a tornado inside the crater just to help me stand.
Tendons tore, and my right knee lifted off the ground.
The two figures intensified their oppressive aura. The gravity doubled.
My shoulder gave out, and I nearly collapsed again.
But I didn't fall.
"You are weak."
Slowly, I lifted my head, enduring the pain that felt like it was ripping my bones apart.
My eyes met the pitch black of their hoods.
"Not anymore."
The Dragon fell entirely silent.
"So this is what keeps you going?"
The air, once thin and frantic, began to heat up inside my lungs.
"YES! I WILL SAVE HER WHEREVER SHE IS!!!"
I stepped forward, lifting my first leg and rising to one knee.
"Because there are people out there who still need me."
Another firm push, and now I was standing.
The stones cracked beneath my boot.
"AND EVERYONE WHO STANDS IN MY WAY, I WILL BURN!" I roared in pure fury, spittle flying from my lips.
One more step.
Embers began to crackle beneath my feet, and the ground blackened from the sheer heat.
Flames erupted, surging furiously up my calves, but they didn't burn my skin.
The giant Dragon stared at me.
The reflection of the fire illuminated its scales. It didn't growl, nor did it speak.
It smiled.
Not with the cruelty of a monster, but with the pride of a warrior who had finally found an equal.
"Finally."
The flames exploded.
A volcanic shockwave swept through the illusion. The hooded figures were obliterated; the shadow portal was pulverized.
The scenery vanished, leaving only the Dragon and me in the heart of the Furnace.
It no longer felt like an enemy. It felt like a reflection—a part of my soul that had been denied for far too long.
"You've spent your entire life trying to kill what exists inside you," the Dragon said, spreading its gigantic wings.
"But fire doesn't exist to be put out."
It lunged forward, diving directly toward me.
"It exists to be controlled."
I closed my eyes and opened my arms, embracing the impact.
I didn't feel any burning.
For the first time in years, I felt only a comforting warmth. The fire flooded my veins.
The wild stripes of the Fire Transformation—flawless lines of crimson and molten gold—tore across the surface of my skin.
My heart beat steadily.
Once. Twice.
A powerful current of air began to swirl around me, taming the flames and lifting my body off the ground.
Fire and wind in perfect harmony.
The Dragon dissolved, merging entirely with my essence.
Its final voice echoed through the vastness of the furnace, not like a shadow, but like my own thought.
Then burn, Suki. And never look back.
I opened my eyes—now two erupting golden suns—as the pillar of fire exploded toward the pitch-black heavens.
The Path of the Spirit had come to an end.