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Chapter 3 - Chapter 3 – The Voice of the Tyrant’s Heart

The forest was too quiet.

Smoke curled upward in thin, ghostly spirals from the direction of the ruined village. The faint orange glow of dying flames painted the night like fading wounds on the earth. Lian sat on a cracked stone slab, his chest heaving as he forced himself to breathe slowly, deliberately.

His hands still shook. His blood mingled with the starbeast's black ichor, painting his fingers crimson and shadow alike. The fight replayed in his mind—flashes of teeth, glowing eyes, the desperate swing of his broken blade. He had survived. Barely.

But something was wrong.

The forest had gone silent after the beast fell. No wind, no crickets, no night birds. Just the soft, steady thud of his heart and the whisper of flames dying in the distance.

It was the kind of silence that pressed on the ears, heavy and unnatural.

Lian's eyes narrowed. He reached for the chipped sword leaning beside him, his knuckles tightening around the rough leather grip.

That was when he heard it.

Ding.

A single chime echoed in his skull. Clear. Metallic. Completely alien.

He froze.

The sound wasn't from the forest. It wasn't something his ears had heard. It rang inside his mind, cold and absolute, like the toll of a bell from a temple that had never existed.

Then came the voice.

[Tyrant's Heart Awakening: 32%]

[Core Link initializing…]

[Connection established.]

[Welcome, Heir of the Tyrant.]

Lian shot to his feet, sword raised, eyes scanning the tree line.

"Who said that?" His voice was hoarse from smoke and exhaustion, but it carried a sharp edge.

No answer.

Only more words blooming across his vision in pale, ghostly light, as though written on the night itself.

[Designation: Tyrant System.]

[Purpose: To guide the Heir toward ascension.]

[Warning: Nine Tyrants detected. Only one may reign supreme.]

Lian's grip on his sword tightened until his knuckles whitened. Nine Tyrants?

He didn't like the sound of that. At all.

Before he could ask anything, the air shimmered faintly, and a strange, pulsing warmth spread from the center of his chest. He staggered, one hand clutching the spot above his heart. It was beating too fast. No—

It wasn't just his heart.

Something inside was waking up.

[Quest Unlocked: Path of the Tyrant]

Objective 1: Devour three Star Cores to stabilize the Tyrant's Heart.]

Reward: First Evolution.]

Objective 2: Survive the coming Beast Tide.]

Reward: Star Core Map Fragment.]

The words hung there, cold and merciless.

Lian lowered his sword slightly, frowning. "Star Cores… Beast Tide… What in the hells are you talking about?"

The voice didn't answer his question directly.

Instead, another line appeared.

[Information Locked: The Nine Tyrants.]

[Condition to Unlock: Devour first Forbidden Core.]

Lian scowled, irritation flickering in his chest alongside the unease. Of course. Power always came with conditions. It seemed even strange cosmic systems played by the same cruel rules as kings and courts.

"Fine," he muttered under his breath. "Keep your secrets. For now."

But the words about the Beast Tide gnawed at him. He had fought one starbeast tonight, nearly died doing it. The idea of more of those things coming… maybe in numbers enough to drown a kingdom…

His hand drifted unconsciously to his chest again. That faint pulse from earlier was still there, like a second heartbeat beneath his own. Every time it throbbed, he felt strength trickle faintly into his limbs, his senses sharpening.

The Tyrant's Heart.

That's what the voice had called it.

And the system… the quests…

A slow, grim smile touched Lian's lips.

This was power.

Power he hadn't had when the palace burned. When his brother's blade pierced his chest. When he died beneath falling stars, helpless and broken.

Not this time.

"All right," he said softly to the empty forest, to the strange presence in his mind. "If this is the path to vengeance… then I'll walk it. I'll claim the Cores. I'll hunt your Nine Tyrants. And when it's done, the world will kneel."

The Tyrant's Heart pulsed harder in response, as if it approved.

Somewhere beyond the mountains, a roar split the night.

It was not the cry of one beast.

It was thousands.

The trees shook with the force of it, birds exploding from the canopy in panicked flocks. The ground trembled faintly beneath Lian's feet.

The system spoke again, voice as cold as the void.

[Warning: Beast Tide approaching.]

[Time until arrival: 3 hours.]

Lian exhaled slowly, sheathing his battered sword. His eyes burned with the reflection of distant firelight, the ghosts of the past dancing there.

Three hours.

Plenty of time to sharpen his blade.

The hunt had begun.

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