It wasn't long before Ash had returned to the underground proving grounds belonging to the past Seraphiel Kingdom. The same vast, shadowed chamber greeted him, walls scarred from his last three-day rampage, air still thick with the scent of scorched stone and lingering ozone. He stood in the familiar room that he had just recently spent three days training, every crack in the floor now a memory etched into his muscles.
He deactivated his disguise and showed his true form. Short black hair that was messy with white streaks fell across his brow like spilled ink and starlight. A lean compact frame that looked to be carved like a deity caught the faint torchlight and turned it into liquid gold across sharp collarbones and corded arms. His beauty all in all was unparalleled, the kind that made the eyes ache and the heart stutter without understanding why.
However now was not the time for that. It was time for a real grind.
He took a look at his Existence Level which was now at 201.5. Due to his physique, he was constantly increasing his strength without even having to do anything. It would rise .5 every day, a slow, relentless tide that never slept.
"I just need 300 before I can access the Lesser Chamber." He muttered before activating the orb spawning two training dummies. Both were at the C rank, one higher than his, hulking figures of living iron and runic muscle that locked glowing red eyes on him the instant they materialized.
Ash rolled his shoulders once, cracked his neck, and stepped forward.
The first dummy lunged, fist the size of his head screaming toward his face. He slipped inside its reach, palm snapping up to catch the wrist. He then activated his talent as black paradox like fire flickered across his knuckles.
|Inferno Dominion|
He said as their fire turned cold enough to bite absolute zero. The dummy's arm flash-froze in his grip and then in the next moment it detonated into glittering dust.
[EL +20]
The notification went ignored by Ash as old flashes shot through his mind. Aster's face flashed behind his eyes... the eldest brother's perfect, emotionless smile. Years ago, when Ash was nine years old, he taught Ash the very same wristlock… only for him to use it a year later to slam Ash's face into marble as a "lesson about weakness."
Ash continued to move, his next punch landed harder, knuckles singing, as his eyes were icing over.
The second dummy tried to grapple. Ash let it wrap iron arms around his torso, then activated another skill.
|Absolute Null Zone|
Every rune on the construct's body went dark; mana vanished like breath on winter glass. While it froze in confusion he drove an elbow through its chest.
|Absolute Density|
BANG!
Metal screamed, folded, then shattered.
[EL +20]
As he stood in the middle of the proving ground, Shia's laughter echoed in memory, sweet and poisonous, the day she smiled at court ladies, maids, and even butlers while whispering that Ash's birth had angered the gods and cursed the bloodline. He didn't understand the issues his siblings had with him....
'Was weakness truly that much of a sin?' He thought as his smile turned razor thin.
Both dummies respawned instantly. This time they attacked together. Ash exhaled, and the torches lining the walls guttered as every photon and flame in the chamber bent toward him like iron filings to a magnet.
|Absolute Sol Invictus Sovereign| He said.
The dummies' own glowing cores dimmed, with their light stolen. He blurred between them, fists wrapped in white-gold starfire that burned hotter than any sun. One head exploded into molten rain. The other torso simply ceased to exist, erased from sight and record.
[EL +40]
Then came another bout of old memories.... Draven's roaring laughter at age 11, already awakened and in the rank D but still he offered to "spar,".
And the supposedly spar only turned into a beating leaving Ash three broken ribs.
Ash's eyes went completely cold.
The orb pulsed again. New dummies. Stronger. Faster. He welcomed them.
Although he was fighting... it was like he was in a completely different zone. As he fought the visions seemed to haunt him. He could see all the times Caelum's indifferent back turned on him in the throne room, never once glancing at the son who was too weak.
BANG!
A spinning kick warped with Absolute Density took a dummy's head clean off.
Then came flashes of the Queen.... his mother. All the times she provided him with warmth, only to slowly turn her back on him as well. At his lowest moments, she even struggled to meet his gaze...
BANG!
His final uppercut punched straight through a dummy's chest and kept going, cracking the far wall fifty meters away.
[EL +40]
[You have ranked up. Rank C (Existence Level - 321.5)]
The proving grounds fell silent except for the soft drip of molten metal and Ash's steady breathing.
[Ever-Calm Haven's Lesser Chamber unlocked.]
He flexed his fingers, as a multitude of flames and stolen light danced between them, black paradox fire licking against veins of molten gold, absolute zero frost curling into star-core heat, every flicker obeying his heartbeat alone. And the smile that cut across his face no longer belonged to the boy the forgotten prince had been.
It belonged to the thing the world had created when it broke him one too many times, sharp, cold, and hungry.
"Well, that came quicker than expected…"
The words left his lips like a satisfied exhale. He closed his eyes, reached inward, and felt the gentle tug of the Haven, warm and familiar as a lover's hand at the back of his neck. The underground chamber dissolved in a ripple of soft green light.
When his feet touched grass again, the world had changed.
Endless sky the color of pale jade stretched overhead, soft sunlight pouring down without source or shadow. A breeze carrying the scent of moon-lilies and distant rain brushed his skin. The field itself seemed to breathe with him, every blade of grass shimmering faintly as the dense ambient mana flowed into his pores like warm water into parched earth.
As his physique naturally drank in the mana, he felt all his past worries and stress vanish, melting away layer by layer until only crystal clarity remained.
"This place is truly amazing…" The words slipped out on a quiet breath, reverent, almost disbelieving.
He rolled his shoulders, felt the pleasant weight of limitless time settle over him like a cloak.
"Alright," he said, voice steady and low, "six months outside. Eighteen months in here. I want to try reaching A-rank at the minimum. That will give me a fair shot to go forth with my future plans."
His gaze drifted across the serene horizon, the Lesser Chamber's gentle heartbeat thrumming beneath his feet, and a slow, wicked grin curved his mouth.
"However, before that, I think it's time I finally meet Vaeloria."
He spoke her name like a promise and a threat at the same time, the sly smile deepening as silver moonlight began to gather in the air in front of him, thick and sweet and waiting.