Kael's bare feet touched the cracked frost as silence echoed after his exhale. The divine avatar hadn't fully dissipated...only scattered. Its fragments still hung in the air like flickering thoughts that refused to die. But none dared reform. Not after that breath.
And yet...Kael wasn't calm.
His muscles tensed beneath his robe. Not out of fear. Not out of fatigue. But from something...unfamiliar.
His veins were glowing.
Not red. Not blue. But silver. A cruel, arctic silver that pulsed with a rhythm he had never commanded.
> What is this
His heartbeat slowed. The mana around him refused to obey now—not out of resistance, but reverence. Every ounce of ambient energy was bending toward the thing crawling under his skin.
Lightning. But not natural.
Not System-grade lightning either.
It was colder than froststeel. Sharper than void crystal. And it wasn't just inside him...
It was becoming him.
> [System Warning]
[Unidentified Force Detected]
[Synchronization: 0%]
[Rejection Protocol Activated...]
[...Protocol Failed]
Kael staggered for the first time in days. A sharp burst hit his spine like a whip. He collapsed to one knee, panting, steam rising from his body even as the ground iced over.
The Sovereign Breathing Technique had awakened something ancient. Something buried beneath his soul coding. A remnant from the First Cycle of Sovereignty.
He gritted his teeth. "So this is the price..."
His fingertips sparked.
Not normal sparks. These had form. Geometry. Runic shapes danced across his nails like dancing frost spiders.
Suddenly, a voice echoed—not from the sky, not from the system, but from within.
> "Cold Lightning is not to be tamed. It is not a power. It is a curse disguised as ascension."
Kael blinked. "You again..."
It was the same voice he heard during the Sovereign Brand ritual. The whisperer beyond the system. The one who bled black light in his visions.
> "You opened the gate too soon...but now it's yours."
Lightning surged up his spine. His vision flashed.
He saw himself—no...another version of him—standing atop a mountain of chains, laughing as gods burned.
Kael's hand clenched.
He didn't know what this Cold Lightning truly was yet...but if it made the System nervous, then it was exactly what he needed.
"Fine" he muttered, eyes burning silver. "Let's see how long the world can hold its breath."