Chapter 4
The sky remained dim even after the battle had ended, as if the world itself still trembled from what it had witnessed.
Orion stood alone atop the cracked earth. Steam drifted from his blade, the last remnants of the fake Stage 5's energy dissolving into the wind. His wings slowly folded behind him, each feather stained with the echoes of combat.
The ground was quiet now—too quiet.
The Fake Stage 5 he had slain wasn't a normal creature. Its body had dissolved into black mist the moment it died, leaving behind nothing but a single floating shard of crystal. It pulsed faintly, like a dying heartbeat.
Orion extended his hand.
The shard shot toward his palm.
It didn't merge.
It didn't explode.
It simply hovered there, trembling.
"Even now… you refuse to die fully," he whispered.
The crystal cracked.
One line.
Then another.
Then dozens—spreading like lightning frozen in glass.
A voice whispered from inside.
"The Sovereign… has noticed you."
The shard shattered. Not into pieces—but into dust that vanished as if it had never existed.
Orion narrowed his eyes. Someone—something—was watching him. The Sovereign of this region. The true ruler. A being far above the Fake Stage 5 he had just crushed.
"Come then," Orion murmured, tightening his grip on his blade. "Since your puppet failed."
The ground responded before the air did. A pulse rolled through the earth beneath him, like a heartbeat too large to belong to any living creature. The surrounding trees bent backward. The clouds twisted into a spiral.
A pressure pressed down on Orion's shoulders—sharp, invisible, ancient.
A test.
His wings spread wide.
His Domains stirred.
Rivers and Mountains.
Ink.
Black Bamboo.
Immortal.
Asura.
Space.
Time.
They coiled around him, forming a silent storm.
The pressure intensified.
Then—
It vanished.
Completely.
As if whatever entity had been probing him suddenly stopped… or realized something.
Orion exhaled slowly.
"That's right," he muttered to the empty sky. "You don't want to face me yet."
He turned away from the battlefield. Behind him, the air rippled where the Fake Stage 5 had once stood—an imprint in reality itself, refusing to fully heal.
The battle was over.
But the war hadn't even begun.
Orion began walking, each step firm and deliberate. His next destination was clear: deeper into the region, closer to the hidden powers manipulating these Fake Stages.
[⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]
By Chapter 40, he knew he would be crossing the sea toward a mysterious island—where the final confrontation with the Fake Stage 5 network awaited.
But that was still far ahead.
For now…
He needed answers.
And he needed to find the next threat.
The world trembled again—distant, faint. Another Fake Stage awakening somewhere.
Orion's blade rose slightly.
"Good," he said softly. "Let them come."