The next day started early.
After our match in the round of 32, we returned to the dormitory, completely exhausted.
But the tournament wouldn't wait.
In the morning, we were back at the arena.
The crowd was even bigger.
Only the strongest teams remained.
And the matches became… completely different.
The 1/16 stage was tough for us.
The opposing team was experienced. Their mage nearly knocked Karina out with a single powerful spell, but Rilay took him down just in time with a precise shot.
We won.
But even then, it was clear-it would only get worse.
The 1/8 finals were a real meat grinder.
Orpheus held off three opponents at once while Scarlett took them out of the fight one by one.
I almost lost my bracelet twice.
Karina was almost out of mana.
But we won again.
And then came the quarterfinals.
And that's where it all pretty much ended.
The opposing team turned out to be incredibly strong.
They took out Karina and Rilay almost immediately.
Then Orpheus.
I didn't last long.
In the end, only Scarlett remained in the arena.
Against two of them.
I stood at the edge of the field, clenching my fists.
One of them was a huge fighter with a two-handed sword.
The other was a quick duellist.
The crowd roared.
And Scarlett… just stood there calmly.
Then the fight began.
And I realized why she had always been stronger than me.
Her rapier moved like a silver lightning bolt.
Step.
A dodge.
A jab.
She danced between the blows.
Every lunge was precise.
Every movement was calculated.
She wore them down.
One minute.
Two.
Three.
And then…
one mistake.
A jab to the ribs.
A flash.
The first bracelet shattered.
The crowd roared.
The second opponent lunged forward in a rage.
He attacked like a madman.
But Scarlett… just waited.
And when he overreached-
her rapier found the weak spot.
A flash.
The fight was over.
"Victory for the Ash Storm team!"
To be honest, watching this, I was growing more and more amazed.
Back home, they taught us how to handle weapons and fight, but it was so superficial…
Looking at Scarlett, I can only feel the difference between us. Whether it's because she was trained from childhood to be a heroine or something else, fighting is clearly in her blood.
We made it to the semifinals…
The arena was buzzing.
The crowd was even louder.
When we were called onto the field, I felt a strange tension.
Because the opposing team…
was famous.
The announcer called out their name:
"The Night Lords!"
The crowd erupted.
Orpheus let out a quiet sigh:
"Oh."
"Now we're in trouble."
Five figures stood before us.
A massive man in heavy armor stepped forward first.
"I am Bragor."
His voice sounded like stones falling into a well.
"The team's shield."
Next to him stood a tall guy with long dark hair.
He was smiling.
But his eyes were… predatory.
"My name is Kael."
He tilted his head slightly.
"I'm a little… fast."
Behind him stood a thin man with a staff.
"Lucian," he said briefly.
"Mage."
Next to him stood an archer-but he had two daggers hanging from his belt.
"Teren."
He winked.
"Sometimes I shoot."
"Sometimes I cut."
And finally, the last one.
A thin guy with cold eyes.
He was looking straight at me.
"Varis."
He stepped forward.
And vanished for a moment.
Then reappeared somewhere else.
A flicker.
He smiled.
"Looks like we've got similar toys."
I clenched my teeth.
The herald raised his hand.
"Begin the fight!"
Everything erupted into motion.
Kael was the first to transform.
His body contorted.
Bones cracked.
A second later, a massive panther stood before us.
But it was covered in black scales.
Its claws were like daggers.
Its fangs were longer than fingers.
It lunged forward.
Bragor blocked the front with his shield.
Lucian raised his hands-the air burst into flames.
Teren started shooting.
Varis vanished.
The battle turned into chaos.
Orpheus collided with Bragor.
Their shields clanged against each other.
I tried to catch Varis.
But he was… better.
Every time I used Ash Step, he was already waiting.
"Slow," he smirked.
"Very slow."
I struck.
He vanished.
He appeared behind me.
The blade slid across his armor.
Pain.
"Is that all?" he said.
Meanwhile, the battle at the other end of the arena was no less brutal.
Rilay fired almost without stopping.
Karina tore through space with wind and light.
Scarlett fought the panther.
And it was terrifyingly beautiful.
But the opponents were too strong.
Orpheus held his ground against Bragor… and suddenly found his opening.
The shield slammed into the helmet.
Scarlett took advantage of it instantly.
Her rapier pierced the seam in the armor.
A flash.
The tank was out.
The crowd roared.
Rilay immediately fired at the mage.
A powerful shot.
Lucian didn't have time to defend himself.
His bracelet shattered.
Now there were five of us against three.
But…
we were already exhausted.
The panther struck Rilay.
A flash.
She was out.
Teren wounded Karina.
Her bracelet cracked.
Orpheus fell under the panther's blows.
Scarlett fell from Varis's strike.
And suddenly…
I was left alone.
Against three.
The panther walked slowly around me.
The archer twirled his daggers.
And Varis looked at me.
With a sneer.
"I told you," he said.
"You're slow… Maybe I'll give you a couple of lessons, for a couple hundred tokens or an artifact…"
I gripped my sword.
Ash began swirling around me.
"Still standing there?" he smirked.
"Stubborn."
He vanished again.
I barely managed to step into the Ash Step.
But when I emerged-
his blade was already waiting.
A strike.
The bracelet cracked slightly, but didn't shatter.
One more blow-and the fight would be over.
I was breathing heavily.
Rage was boiling inside me.
We were losing.
Not because we were weak.
But because he was better than me.
"Looks like it's over," said Varis.
He raised his blade.
And at that moment…
a chill ran down my spine.
The mask on my face grew unusually hot.
The ash around me suddenly began to swirl more violently.
The ash flared brighter.
The arena roared.
But I could hardly hear anything.
Three figures stood before me.
The panther slowly paced in circles, its clawed paws thudding heavily on the sand. The scales on its body creaked softly.
The archer Teren already held daggers in his hands.
And Varis… just looked at me.
With a sneer.
"Is that all?" he said.
"Or do you have another trick up your sleeve?"
I was breathing heavily.
The ash around my feet swirled slowly.
And then…
I heard a voice.
Inside my head.
Quiet and mocking.
"Oh, what a dreary sight. Is my heir really this pathetic?"
I almost flinched.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
"Who do you think?" the voice replied arrogantly.
"Why now of all times?" I wondered to myself.
"When else?" the voice replied lazily. "You're losing, and you're truly angry."
Varis's blades flashed.
He vanished.
I stepped into the Ash Step.
For a moment, the world turned gray.
I appeared off to the side.
But Varis was already there.
Our blades clashed.
And at that very moment, the panther lunged at me.
I barely managed to jump out of the way.
The archer threw a dagger.
I parried it.
"Poor coordination," the voice commented. "Very poor."
"Shut up!" I hissed.
"Oh?" the mask drawled with interest. "Are you still talking to me?"
Varis vanished again.
I barely managed to parry the blow.
The blade grazed my armor.
Pain flared in my side.
"You're losing," said the voice.
"I can see that."
I clenched my teeth.
"Then help me!"
"Me?" the voice laughed. "Help you?"
The panther pounced.
I rolled out of the way.
Her claws tore into the sand where my chest had been just a moment ago.
The archer attacked again.
Daggers flashed before my face.
"Too bad," the mask sighed. "I thought you'd last longer."
I struck Teren with a gust of wind.
He flew back a couple of steps.
But Varis appeared beside me again.
"It's over," he said calmly.
His blade was already at my throat.
I barely managed to parry it.
Our faces were mere inches apart.
Rage flared within me.
I snarled in my head:
"WHAT'S THE POINT OF YOUR BOASTING?!"
"IF YOU'RE JUST GETTING IN THE WAY?!"
For a second, it went quiet inside.
Then a voice spoke…
almost with interest:
"Oh."
"Finally."
"True anger… Has it been a long time since you felt so weak and insignificant?"
I parried another blow.
The Panther was advancing toward me again.
"Do you want to see…" the mask said slowly, "the true power of the Ashen Wanderer-the one who escaped his fate, the one who punished the gods for their arrogance?"
I exhaled heavily.
"Just show me something already!"
The mask laughed softly.
Arrogantly.
"Then watch."
And at that moment…
something changed.
The mana inside me surged violently.
As if someone had opened a floodgate.
It was being sucked out.
Quickly.
Incredibly quickly.
I almost screamed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Watch and learn," the voice said smugly.
And the world changed.
Before my eyes…
lines appeared.
Thin.
Ash-gray.
They stretched across the arena.
From every opponent.
From their hands.
From their feet.
From their weapons.
Hundreds of threads.
Movements.
Trajectories.
I saw…
where they would strike.
The panther would leap in two seconds.
Varis would appear on the left.
The archer would throw a dagger at my right shoulder.
As if…
I was seeing their future.
My head exploded with pain.
I groaned.
Blood streamed from my eyes.
It ran down the mask.
"Oh yes…" the mask whispered with delight. "That's it."
"See?"
"And now…"
"MOVE!"
I moved.
The dagger flew.
I was already out of the way.
The panther leaped.
I took a step forward-to where she wouldn't be.
She missed.
Varis appeared on the left.
I was already turning.
Our blades clashed.
He frowned.
"What-"
I struck.
He barely managed to parry.
But now I could see.
Every move he made.
Every flicker.
"Impossible…" he whispered.
The mask laughed.
"Oh, he doesn't like this."
"Go on, punish that arrogant bastard!"
But my mana was draining away.
Like water from a broken vessel.
"You have two minutes," the mask said lazily.
"Maybe less."
I lunged forward.
The archer threw a dagger.
I caught it in midair.
And hurled it back.
A flash.
His bracelet shattered.
"A member of the 'Night Lords' team has been eliminated!"
The crowd erupted.
The panther pounced.
I was already at its feet.
The blade sliced through its scales.
A flash.
The panther collapsed.
"Another contestant is out!"
Now only Varis remained.
He was looking at me.
For the first time, without a smile.
"What… did you do?"
I saw it.
In a second, he'd appear on the right.
Then from above.
I stepped forward.
He appeared.
Our blades clashed.
But now…
I was faster.
I struck.
He vanished.
He appeared behind me.
But I was already turning.
My blade struck his shield.
He staggered back.
"No…" he whispered.
I put everything into that strike.
My last bit of mana.
Ashes flared.
The blade sank into his chest.
A flash.
His bracelet…
shattered.
For a second, the arena fell silent.
Then the announcer shouted:
"Victory for the Ash Storm team!"
But I could hardly hear anything anymore.
The ash lines vanished.
The world spun.
My legs gave way.
I fell to my knees.
Blood was still flowing from my eyes.
Now it was flowing from my mouth, too.
My mana…
ran out.
I collapsed onto the sand.
My consciousness slowly drifted away.
And just before the darkness engulfed me…
I heard the Mask's satisfied voice.
"Ha!"
"Not bad."
Pause.
And a mocking addition:
"Although, of course…"
"Without me, you wouldn't have been able to do anything."
My own soft voice echoed in my head.
You have bestowed a new epithet
Darkness engulfed me.
And I lost consciousness.
When I woke up.
The first thing I felt was pain.
It was everywhere.
It was as if someone had decided to take my body apart and then put it back together… but had forgotten how to do it.
I slowly opened my eyes.
A white ceiling.
Stone walls.
The smell of medicinal herbs.
A hospital.
My consciousness returned slowly, as if making its way through thick fog.
I tried to move.
Bad idea.
A wave of aching pain swept through my entire body, causing a moan to escape my lips involuntarily.
"Ugh…"
I turned my head.
There was a chair next to my bed.
Karina was sleeping on it, her head resting in her hands.
Her long chestnut hair partially covered her face, and dark circles were visible under her eyes.
It looked like… she'd been sitting there for a long time.
I tried to sit up.
Very slowly.
Elbows.
Shoulders.
Back.
Every muscle protested.
"Okay…" I whispered.
"Slowly…"
I put my feet on the floor.
The world spun for a second.
But I tried to stand up anyway.
And a second later, I realized I'd overestimated my strength.
To put it mildly, I'd overestimated…
My legs simply… refused to work.
"Damn-"
I fell off the bed and landed right on the floor.
THUD.
"OSCAR?!"
Karina woke up instantly.
She jumped up so fast she nearly knocked over a chair.
"Are you okay?!"
She rushed over to me.
I was lying on the floor, trying to figure out where it hurt the most.
"I guess…" I croaked, "no."
She looked genuinely scared.
"What are you doing?!"
"You just woke up!"
She helped me up.
I leaned on her shoulder.
She gently sat me back down on the bed.
Her hands were already glowing with the soft light of healing magic. But despite that, I didn't feel any effect, even though usually everyone felt incredible relief from her healing.
"Idiot…" she muttered quietly.
"You can't move so abruptly."
I exhaled heavily.
"How long… was I unconscious?"
She fell silent for a second.
Then she replied:
"Four days."
I blinked.
"…What?"
"Four days," she repeated.
I stared at her.
"FOUR?!"
She nodded.
"You're almost completely drained."
"Your mana's down to zero."
"And you've damaged your nerve channels."
"And your mana channels…"
"Maybe something else too…"
She sighed.
"To be honest, we were afraid you wouldn't wake up at all."
I ran my hand over my face.
The mask hadn't been summoned.
But I could still feel it… somewhere deep inside.
Memories began to return.
Ash-colored lines.
Blood streaming from my eyes.
A voice.
I jerked my head up.
"The tournament."
Karina winced slightly.
"Yes."
"The tournament."
"What happened?" I asked.
She sat down on the edge of the bed.
"When you won…" she began.
"You collapsed right away."
"But the arena… it just exploded."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
She smiled.
"People were screaming."
"I've never seen anything like it."
"You defeated three Citadel legends all by yourself."
She laughed softly.
"That's all anyone was talking about."
"Your fight became… the talk of the town."
I tried to make sense of it.
But my thoughts drifted to something else.
"What about the finale?"
Karina looked away for a moment.
"It was the next day."
"We asked them to reschedule it."
"Scarlett almost got into a fight with the organizers."
"But they refused."
She sighed.
"Too many people had come to watch."
"They couldn't cancel it."
I already knew what she was going to say next.
But I asked anyway:
"And?"
"We went out," Karina said quietly.
"The four of us."
"Without you."
Pause.
"And we lost."
She didn't try to sugarcoat it.
"Devastating."
I lowered my gaze.
My chest gave an unpleasant twinge.
Karina continued:
"But you know what people are saying?"
I looked up.
"What?"
She smiled.
"That if you had been there…"
"We would have won."
I was silent.
Somewhere inside, that voice was still echoing.
I slowly closed my eyes.
"Hey…" I said quietly in my mind.
Silence.
"Mask."
No answer.
"Ashen Wanderer."
Silence.
Not a whisper.
No mockery.
No arrogant laughter.
As if…
she had never been there at all.
I frowned.
"Great…" I muttered.
Karina tilted her head.
"What?"
I shook my head.
"Nothing."
But a strange feeling was growing inside me.
I sat in silence for a few more seconds.
My thoughts were jumbled.
The pain in my body was gradually subsiding thanks to Karina's magic, but my head was still buzzing.
And somewhere deep inside, there remained a feeling…
that I had done something I shouldn't have done.
I exhaled slowly.
"Alright…"
And I reached out my hand.
"Bond."
A familiar translucent interface flashed before my eyes.
I'd summoned it hundreds of times over the past few months.
But this time…
the numbers were different.
I frowned.
Name: Oscar
Mana Core: Flame
16/1000
Soul Attributes:
- Integrity: 30/100
- Resonance: 29/100
- Depth: 22/100
Essence: Ashen Wanderer.
Understanding: 60/100
I froze.
"Sixty?"
Karina tilted her head.
"What?"
I didn't answer.
And these spiritual attribute readings-they hardly ever changed before.
But now…
all three had risen so sharply.
My gaze had already drifted downward.
Epithets:
Fierce Defiance
Ashen Blood
Favourite of Fortune
Terror of Kings
Doomed
A new epithet.
I frowned.
And mentally focused on it.
A line of text flashed.
And a whisper began to murmur words in my head.
And a description appeared.
Doomed
The one who once saw the path along which fate moves.
Doomed to be bound to it more strongly than the rest.
The one who saw the threads of the future. The threads of the past. The threads of all living things.
Once seen, they can be seen again.
Your path is predetermined, and you can change it. But will you have the strength?
I stared at the text.
"... "
Karina noticed the look on my face.
"Is everything bad?"
"I…"-I rubbed my temples.-"I'm not sure."
Ashen Paths.
So…
it was real.
I slowly broke the bond.
I was still sitting there, trying to make sense of it all. It sounds… to put it mildly, terrible.
Karina said gently:
"Don't look like that."
"Whatever happens… you're still doing great."
I smiled.
"Even if we lost the final?"
She snorted.
"Even if we did."
Then she added:
"Besides, we didn't come away empty-handed."
She suddenly held out her hand.
"Give me your hand."
"Why?"
"Just give it to me."
I shrugged and held out my hand.
She touched my palm.
A gentle flow of mana ran through my fingers.
I felt a familiar sensation…
as if something had fallen into the depths of my soul.
"What was that?" I asked.
"Your share of the reward," Karina said.
I frowned and mentally opened the Arsenal of the Soul.
Inside, among the familiar items, a new one appeared.
A simple…
leather bag.
I took it out.
It looked completely ordinary.
Worn leather.
A drawstring.
Nothing special.
"Is this… a bag?" I said.
Karina nodded.
"Not just any bag."
She smiled.
"It holds much more than it seems."
I blinked.
"Seriously?"
"Yep."
"And best of all-you can store it in the Arsenal of the Soul."
She tapped the bag with her finger.
"So it won't get in the way when we're traveling."
I turned it thoughtfully in my hands.
"A useful thing."
"Very," she nodded.
I thought for a second.
Then I suddenly asked:
"By the way…"
"What's the date today?"
Karina looked surprised.
"You don't know?"
"No."
I shrugged.
"I've never really… kept track of dates."
She thought for a moment.
"Today is. . . I think. . ."
"April 20th."
I nodded automatically.
"So my birthday is coming up soon."
And only then did I realize I'd said it out loud.
Karina froze.
Then her eyes widened suddenly.
"WHAT?!"
I blinked.
"What?"
"Your birthday is coming up soon?!"
She jumped up from her chair.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"
"I hadn't even thought about what to get you!"
"And we need to throw a party!"
"And-"
"Karina," I said wearily.
She stopped.
I sighed.
"It's still five days away."
"It's fine."
"I don't need a party."
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
I shrugged.
"A regular dinner together will be more than enough."
She thought for a moment.
Then she nodded anyway.
"Okay…"
"But we still need to come up with something."
I smiled.
"If you want. Back on Earth, I used to celebrate my birthday, but only when my parents were still with me."
I paused.
Then I added:
"Besides…"
"I won't be the only one celebrating soon."
Karina tilted her head.
"What do you mean?"
"Scarlett," I said.
"She was born on April 26th."
Karina blinked.
Then she smiled.
"So we'll have a double celebration."
I chuckled softly.
"Looks like it."
The memory came unexpectedly.
As if someone had opened an old door in my head.
And I was there again.