The skies above World 7 were aflame.
Not with fire, but with runes—vast, spinning symbols of power, etched in golden light across the firmament. They pulsed in rhythm with something ancient, something alive. Something awakening.
Zhen stood at the edge of the storm, his cloak torn, his shirt soaked in both blood and dimensional energy. Behind him, a dozen high-level Rankers lay scattered—some unconscious, some kneeling, and others staring at him as if witnessing a myth.
Because they were.
> [System Notice: You have defeated a Domain-Lord Class Threat — "Kal'Torak, Keeper of Chains"]
[World Rank Score: +27,000]
[Current Multiverse Rank: A+]
[Warning: You have triggered the Trial of Collapse (First World Break Event). Prepare for Repercussions.]
The System's voice echoed like thunder in his ears.
Zhen's eyes narrowed. "So it's finally starting..."
---
The Meaning of Power
Moments earlier, Kal'Torak had stood as an unchallenged guardian of this shattered realm—a living weapon forged by the Sovereign Council, tasked with erasing all rogue Ascendants.
Even Sovereign-ranked beings avoided direct combat with it.
But Zhen?
Zhen had walked straight into the heart of its fortress and cleaved through its suppression fields like paper.
He hadn't just won. He had rewritten the outcome.
At his side, Lira—one of his bonded companions and a Ranked SS+ Temporal Witch—watched the skies twist as the aftermath of their victory bent reality itself.
"You know what this means, right?" she said, brushing strands of silver-blonde hair from her bloodied face.
Zhen turned to her. "It means they'll finally stop underestimating me."
"No," she said softly. "It means they'll start fearing you."
---
The Sovereigns Stir
Far beyond World 7, in a throne-room stitched from dying stars and folded timelines, a meeting was taking place.
Seven thrones. Seven Sovereigns. Each one a ruler of a realm, a shaper of fates.
And now, one of their agents had been destroyed by a mortal.
"Zhen…" said Sovereign Nytheris, her voice silken and dangerous. "The boy has crossed into forbidden thresholds."
"He bears the Paradox Seed," Sovereign Xahl said. "Even the System can't predict him anymore."
"Then we must act," said Sovereign Dremon, his body made of obsidian flames. "Before he unlocks the World Code."
But Nytheris only smiled, her fingers dancing through strands of stardust.
"No," she said. "Let him break the first world. Let him believe he's winning. That is how you shatter a prodigy—from within."
---
The Path Forward
Back in World 7, Zhen sat cross-legged in a crater of his own making. The sky was clearing, and around him, the surviving Rankers kept their distance. Respect had turned to awe—and fear.
He had crossed a line.
Lira approached him, carrying a golden tablet marked with shimmering glyphs.
"This dropped from Kal'Torak's core. It's... not from this world."
Zhen took it, and the glyphs shifted into readable text.
> [Classified Item: Ascendant Directive 001]
[Authorization: Sovereign-Level Only]
[Directive: If Paradox-Bearer reaches A-Rank or higher, initiate Protocol Omega: First World Break.]
[Target: Zhen, Bloodline Status — UNKNOWN]
[Threat Level: Omega-Black.]
He frowned.
"I was right," he murmured. "This isn't about rankings anymore. They've marked me as an anomaly."
"Zhen," Lira said cautiously, "what's your plan?"
Zhen stood slowly, crushing the directive in his palm as it disintegrated into ash.
"Simple. If they want to see a world break—"
He looked up at the cracked sky.
"—I'll show them one."
---
The System Evolves
That night, as Zhen meditated beneath the moonlit ruins, the System's voice returned—this time, less mechanical, more... personal.
> [Warning: Host has surpassed normal Ascension trajectory.]
[System Evolution Triggered.]
[Loading New Module: Mythic Path (Hidden Class Line unlocked)]
[Bloodline Recognition... success.]
[Initializing Legacy Memory...]
Zhen's body convulsed as fragments of a memory not his own poured into him.
Golden palaces above the stars. A war that tore through ten thousand realities. A voice—his father's?—saying:
> "The throne of all realities will fall to one who does not belong."
When he opened his eyes, a new screen appeared.
> [Class Updated: Mythic Sovereign Candidate]
[New Skill Acquired: Realmwalker's Mark (Passive)]
[New Mission: Ascend to Sovereignhood before the Final Collapse.]
Zhen smiled grimly.
"So I am one of them... but not like them."
---
Allies and Doubts
At dawn, Zhen's team regrouped. Aside from Lira, they included:
Juno, a war priestess with divine lineage.
Kaen, a mercenary from World 12 who had once tried to kill Zhen.
Mira, a beast-tamer from the Feral Realms, half-fox, wholly unpredictable.
They met in what remained of the Skybridge Citadel.
"This world is destabilizing," Juno said, pointing to the cracks in the sky. "The First Break is real. If it spreads—"
"It won't," Zhen cut in. "I'll contain it."
"You shouldn't do it alone," Mira added, her tail flicking. "Even you can't fight a collapsing reality by yourself."
"I won't be alone."
He turned to the sky, where a new rift was forming—an invitation.
"The next world is calling. And I intend to answer."
---
Departure and Destiny
That evening, as dimensional portals began to rupture across World 7, Zhen stood at the edge of the final gate.
> [Do you wish to leave this world and enter the Second Stage of Ascension Trials?]
[Warning: All ties to this realm will be severed.]
[Proceed?]
He looked behind him—at the companions who followed, the enemies he left broken, the sky he had marked forever.
"Yes."
He stepped through.
---
Beyond the Break
The new world was nothing like the last.
It had no ground. No sky. Just endless rings of floating islands, each tethered to a core sun that bled violet light.
He landed on a slab of marble, where a single figure awaited him.
A young woman—no older than twenty—dressed in black ceremonial armor, eyes burning with amber fire.
"I've been waiting, Zhen," she said.
"Who are you?"
She smiled.
"Your match."
Then the sky split, and combat began.
---
To be continued...