"Look at him, acting all proud."
"At that age, he's already ahead of men who've spent decades fighting."
"It's normal. A genius will always outpace a few."
"But without Grandmaster Akira and the other five divine weapon wielders training him… would he really have reached this level so fast?"
The murmurs followed Axel the moment he stepped into the guild hall. He took them in quietly, his expression calm, his eyes missing nothing. Beside him walked Micheal Ayuri, as always, a familiar presence that never drifted far from his side.
Micheal was the only friend everyone openly acknowledged. Anyone else who worked alongside Axel was labeled an ordinary teammate at best. Axel's mother was the younger sister of Grandmaster Akira, and Axel had spent almost his whole childhood with him. That alone had given him a title the guild never said out loud but all believed in.
"The Prince of the Era."
The divine weapon users who had stood at the forefront when the first wave of aether beasts descended were elevated immediately after the battle. Their names were engraved into history, each bearing the title Grandmaster in every nation. Wherever one appeared, authority followed. They were treated like kings, revered as the pinnacle of what a human could ever become.
Axel's connection to six such figures, Grandmaster Akira and the other five friends who had fought beside him, made him distant by default. Untouchable. Yet Micheal had been different. At just five years old, he had approached Axel without fear or hesitation.
From that day on, Axel accepted him as the only friend he would ever truly have.
Their bond became so close that people began to mistake them for brothers. By the age of thirteen, Axel awakened, his power forged by relentless training and years spent surrounded by legends. Even so, he always found time to be with Micheal.
The townsfolk whispered.
"Soon, Axel would abandon him."
"Excuses about rift missions would pile up, and Micheal would be left behind."
It was true that Axel had begun entering the Ecliptic rifts more frequently. What no one knew was that Akira had been sending him into rifts since he could barely speak.
Axel's mother never worried. Grandmaster Akira had protected her since childhood and as long as Axel was with him and his companions, there was no safer place in the world. Sending him into the rifts felt inevitable, not reckless.
Months passed, and nothing changed. Axel still met Micheal like they always had, laughing, arguing, talking about nothing and everything. Then came the day Micheal awakened.
He became the second teenager to do so.
The whispers died… only to be reborn as something darker.
"Their deaths will come in a rift." "An aether beast will kill them before they even realize it."
The duo never escaped the town's attention.
On one fateful day, after Axel and Micheal returned from clearing a rift, Asen Ito, Axel's younger brother, burst out of the house and threw himself into Axel's arms. For a moment, everything seemed normal.
Then Asen froze.
He staggered back, eyes unfocused, and suddenly ignited.
His hair flared like multicolored fire, flames cascading down his spine, arms, and legs. The fire around his hands hardened into gauntlets shaped like the claws of a beast. His legs followed, forming powerful, feral talons.
"Asen hasn't awakened, has he?" Micheal asked, confused.
"No, he hasn't." Axel replied also with a confused look on his face.
A transformation like that was abnormal for a person who hadn't awakened.
"Don't worry," Grandmaster Akira said as he stepped outside, his presence alone calming the air. "This is normal when someone resonates with a higher-class beast-form wielder."
"What do you mean, Uncle Akira?" Axel asked, his voice tense.
"Think of it this way. Asen has created a new bloodline," Akira said calmly. "You awakened early because you were raised among Grandmasters. Micheal followed after staying close to you. But Asen's case is different. His blood adapted."
He looked at the burning child with quiet certainty.
"This power will pass down through his generation. However, without awakening, he won't be able to control it yet."
Axel nodded slowly.
"I see. Everyone adapts in their own way."
The flames surged once more, climbing upward instead of fading. They coiled above Asen's head, condensing into a jagged halo of multicolored fire. Not a circlet of light, but a crown—uneven, feral, and alive—burning like it had claimed him as something more than human.
"What happened?" Grandmaster Lyra asked as she stepped outside.
Behind her came Grandmaster Kaelia, then Kaito, Renzo, and Kenzo in quick succession.
Kaito's eyes narrowed as he sensed the pressure in the air. "So this is what's happening," he said slowly. "It feels just like the first time Akira's Ophitigris awakened. That same presence… like someone is standing above us, commanding and lending us power."
"Truly," Renzo and Kenzo said in unison, their expressions grim.
All the Grandmasters of Arcanis drew their strength from divine beasts. Because of that bond, they felt it the moment Asen's transformation began. The atmosphere itself had shifted, heavy and authoritative, as if a sovereign had arrived.
"That crown is second only to yours. It's merely a fragment of your authority, shaped into a reward for him."
The voice echoed inside Axel's head.
The world lurched.
In the next instant, he was no longer standing among the others. He found himself face-to-face with a colossal beast.
"Dralion…" Axel breathed.
The creature before him was massive, dinosaurial in scale, yet regal. Its body was shaped like a lion's, crowned with immense, majestic wings. Polished scales covered its frame like molten gold, etched faintly with tiger-like stripes. Its eyes blazed with solar intensity, piercing straight through Axel's soul.
"What do you mean?" Axel asked, struggling to steady himself.
Dralion's voice rolled like a distant thunderstorm.
"That crown belongs to one of my underlings. I am the Crowned Beast King, and the crown he wears is that of a Prince."
The beast's gaze sharpened.
"The so-called divine beasts are nothing before us. Not even Ophitigris can compare."
****
"Hey! Axel! What's happening to you?" Grandmaster Akira called out.
Axel blinked, disoriented. "What happened?" he asked, genuinely confused.
"You collapsed," Michael said calmly. "But you never fell. You were still standing."
For a heartbeat, everyone thought it was over. The pressure eased. Asen was no longer thrashing, though the crown of flame above his head still lingered. He looked… quiet.
Then Asen suddenly dropped to one knee, fist slamming into the ground.
"My king."
The air screamed.
Black flames erupted from Axel's body, surging upward like a command rather than fire. They gathered above his head, twisting and sharpening until they took shape. A crown. Clearer, heavier, and far more regal than Asen's, like it had always existed and was simply returning to its rightful place.
At the same moment, a crimson-red pillar of aether exploded skyward, swallowing Axel whole as it pierced the clouds.
The pressure crashed down instantly.
Grandmaster Akira buckled, forced to bow as if the world itself demanded it. Lyra, Kaelia, Kaito — every beast-linked Grandmaster dropped as one. Only Michael remained standing.
His power was different. Not drawn from beasts, but from pure aether refinement of body and weapon. He felt the crushing weight pressing against his bones, but it did not bend his will.
Akira gritted his teeth, struggling even to speak. "This… this is just like our awakenings. But on an entirely different level."
Lyra's voice trembled, awe and fear tangled together. "The aether coming from Axel right now… there's no scale for it. I've never sensed anything even close."
Above them all, beneath the burning crown, Axel stood at the center of the pillar, unaware that something ancient had just acknowledged him as king.
"It's impossible," Renzo said quietly, eyes locked on Axel. "No human should be able to hold this much aether."
Kenzo swallowed, the weight in the air making his voice low and careful. "Axel… what power is this?"
The pillar of crimson light roared around him, black flames whispering like a living thing. Axel stared at his own hands, the crown above him reflected in his eyes.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "But whatever it is… it feels like it's been waiting for long."
The black flames surged in response to his words, rippling like they understood him.
Asen slowly raised his head, eyes burning with unquestioning devotion. Asen wasn't himself anymore, it was more like someone speaking through him. "Of course it waited," he said, voice steady despite the crushing pressure. "A throne does not appear for just anyone."
Akira's breath caught. "A throne…?"
Asen nodded once, fists clenched against the ground. "That crown is not a beast's blessing. It's authority."
The crimson pillar began to shrink, folding back into Axel's body like a tide being pulled by an unseen moon. The pressure didn't vanish. It condensed, sharper and heavier.
Axel staggered, finally dropping to one knee as the crown of black flame settled more firmly above his head. Memories that weren't his flashed through his mind. Burning cities. Kneeling armies. Beasts bowing, not in fear, but in recognition.
Kenzo took a step back. "That aura… it's not wild at all. It's disciplined."
"Controlled," Lyra whispered. "Like a king holding back an army."
Michael narrowed his eyes at Axel. "You're not just overflowing with aether," he said. "It's responding to you."
Axel clenched his fists. The flames flickered, then stilled.
"I don't want this," he said, voice shaking. "Not like this. Not if it means ruling over you."
For the first time, the flames softened.
Asen smiled, placing his other knee on the ground. "That is exactly why it chose you, my king."
The phenomenon wasn't limited to Akira and the Grandmasters. Even in the surrounding town, people felt the tremors of power rolling through the air. Windows rattled, animals whimpered, and whispers of fear spread through the streets as an unseen force pressed down on everything.
By the time anyone from the guild or the townsfolk managed to rush toward the source, the scene had already changed. Axel and Asen had long since collapsed and were carried to rest in their rooms. The black flames above Axel's head had faded to a faint glow, but the air still thrummed with the remnants of his aether.