Time dissolved as Ash drowned in thirty thousand years of another person's life.
He watched a four-year-old girl with four shimmering tails stagger through training that would break grown warriors, tears frozen on her cheeks while elders bowed as if she were already a goddess. He felt the weight of every gift lavished on her, every smile that never quite reached anyone's eyes, every whispered prayer that sounded more like fear than love.
He saw her grow into a beauty that stopped hearts across continents, saw her laugh at her reflection and call herself a pretty monster because at least the mirror never lied. He walked beside her through rivers of blood she carved herself, missions that left kingdoms in ashes and her name a curse on dying lips. Witnessed at how at just 22 she left her clan and fully joined the court, while just at A rank.
For seven thousand years she was the Last Sovereign, the untouchable blade of the Silver Court. On her journey factions and even the loftiest beings fell under her blade. Then she eventually stepped into the S rank reaching the mortal peak.
With power, her clan being untouchable, and her name long etched in blood everything began to feel dull. It was the same feeling she felt back home at her clan like she was trapped in another gilded caged.
Time passed again as Ash now stood with her in silent libraries older than mountains while she hunted for a way forward. During all of this time he learned so much, about the power system things the novel hadn't even mentioned. But through all of this he couldn't understand why Vaeloria was stuck on her obsession....
He remembered clearly when she stepped in the S rank and made her vow that formed her path. And currently as he watched her eyes light up the night, he felt a bad feeling coming about. She found a forbidden scroll about linking with the moon itself. He felt her hope, her terror, her desperate certainty that this was the only path left.
In this moment he wished he could talk some sense into her, but he couldn't, as he was just a silent observer.
And then he felt the betrayal when the moon answered, chains of starless night snapping shut around her soul, dragging her into an eternity of screams no one would ever hear.
After that the memories ended.
Ash came back to himself with a gasp, chest heaving like he'd been the one living for thirty millennia. The violet grass beneath him was wet; he hadn't even noticed the tears cutting tracks through the sweat and starlight on his face.
Thirty thousand years of everything Vaeloria ever felt crashed over him in a single wave.
He looked down at the sleeping fox curled against his side, nine tails draped over them both, her face finally peaceful for the first time in eras.
"Shit…" he whispered, voice raw. "The Silver Court… the world back then… everything was so different."
A shaky laugh escaped him. He brushed a strand of silver hair from her cheek, thumb lingering on skin that had once made gods kneel.
'Beauty was the obsession you chose to mask your true self....' He thought to himself as he smiled and spoke.
"Hehe… I'll just make you the most beautiful monster then." His fingers tightened possessively in her hair.
"My beautiful monster."
After finally settling his emotions a bit, only then did he turn to thepanels still glowing in the air.
[Talents Acquired: Sovereign Dreamweave (S), Ninefold Starlight Veil (S), Eclipse Sovereign's Gaze (A), Moon Devouring Regeneration (SS), Eternal Night Dominion (SS)]
[Affinities Acquired: Lunar, Dreams, Illusions]
[Bloodline Acquired: Ten Tailed Sovereign – SS]
[MP Acquired: 250,000,000]
[Choose three for enhancements.]
His voice was steady again, but softer than before.
"Ten Tailed Sovereign Bloodline, MP, and Eternal Night Dominion."
The world shuddered as the enhancements locked in.
[Abyssal Selene Bloodline (SSS) - This bloodline holds a fragment of the primordial moon's authority. It grants regeneration of mana and health under the moonlight.
-The User can manifest 1–10 spectral void-moon tails (×10 in MP when all tails are manifested. Battle Prowess is also boosted 1 Rank.).
-At completion (Ten tails), the user for 9-minutes can use Eclipse Sovereign overdrive in any form.
This form will turn the users Human form into a 300-meter-tall void god with ten spectral tails of pure night. In the base fox form the user becomes a walking lunar eclipse that swallows continents in darkness.
-Ten Tailed Apocalypse Transformation (Full Fox Form.)]
[Eternal Night Dominion (SSS) - Blanket any region in starless, mana-dead night. Within the domain, all non-lunar mana is crushed, enemies fall into inescapable dream-prison, and bearer becomes absolute ruler of darkness and sleep. Strength multiplies exponentially in true darkness.]
Ash closed the panels with a quiet exhale. The weight of thirty thousand years still pressed against his ribs, but something fiercer burned beneath it now. He rose carefully so he wouldn't wake her, rolled his shoulders, and faced the endless meadow.
"Good," he murmured, voice low and dangerous. "Now let's continue with my training."
If she slept too long, he decided with a faint, possessive smile, he would wake her himself.
And it seemed, the moon itself would have to learn what happens when someone tried to take what belonged to him.