Jera stood on the ramp of the 'Archangel' jet. The pillar of golden, divine light was gone.
The city of St. Louis, which seconds before had been a screaming, chaotic sea of Corrupted monsters, was now... silent.
His Ascension, his mere presence, had acted as a "Purge." The SSS-Rank Behemoth was gone. The Gateway Arch-Rift was sealed, cauterized by his power. And every lesser Corrupted creature in a 10-mile radius had dissolved, their link to the Bleed severed by his new, divine authority.
The sick, purple-green sky was still there, but the pressure was gone.
Jera looked at his hands. They were no longer the hands of Jera Murphy. They were steady. The armor that now covered them—a sleek, black-and-gold material that felt more like a second skin than metal—was a manifestation of his will.
The pain in his back was gone. The wound was gone. The S-Rank Disruptor poison was gone.
The frantic, screaming, human panic in his chest... was also gone.
It wasn't replaced by coldness. It was replaced by... clarity. A vast, cold, and terribly calm ocean of purpose.
"Jera?"
A small, trembling voice. Seraphina.
He turned. The S-Ranks—Aegis-7, Velocity, and Conduit—were plastered against the far wall of the transport, their faces white with awe and abject terror. They looked at him not as a man, but as a concept. A walking, divine event.
Only Seraphina was still on her feet, her hands clasped at her chest, her violet eyes wide, not with terror of him, but with terror for him.
"Are you... are you still you?" she whispered.
Jera looked at her. He could see her, truly see her. He could see the faint, violet glow of her "Oracle" ability, a tiny, fragile thread of magic. He could see the S-Ranks' brilliant, S-Rank mana cores, thrumming with fear. He could see the world—the Bleed, the Cage, the System—as a set of new, understandable, and breakable rules.
He nodded, the movement slow and deliberate.
"I am," he said. His voice was his own, but it resonated with a power that made the jet's metal frame hum. "I'm just... clearer."
He closed his eyes and looked inward. His System, his old, familiar, B-Rank-level interface... was gone.
It had been replaced.
The new interface was no longer a pop-up window. It was part of his consciousness. It was sleek, golden, and minimalist.
[USER: JERA MURPHY (THE 8TH ASCENDED)]
[STATUS: UNBOUND]
[LEVEL: ---]
[STATS: ??? (BEYOND MORTAL MEASUREMENT)]
[DIVINE AUTHORITY: ENABLED]
[Core Skill: Multiplier (V2.0 - EVOLVED)]Passive: Absolute baseline (All actions are passively multiplied by x8).Active: Random Multiplier (x100 to x10,000) - Cooldown: 1 hour.Active: Kinetic Ejection (Weapons-based railgun).[Core Skill: Infinite Inventory (EVOLVED)]Passive: Absolute, unlimited storage.Active: Conceptual Storage (Can now store non-physical objects, e.g., 'fire,' 'light,' 'mana-spells,' 'souls').[Core Skill: Divine Regeneration (S-RANK)]Passive: S-Rank regeneration.[Core Skill: Aetheric Shield (S-RANK, L512)]
Jera's mind reeled. His passive was now $\times 8$? He was a walking multiplier. And his Inventory could now... store spells?
Then he saw the new, primary tab.
[DIVINE DOMAIN: OVERLORD'S SHRINE (TIER 1) - (INACTIVE)]
[Status: Ready][Description: A pocket-dimension of absolute, personal authority. The user's law is supreme. Can be 'deployed' over a 1-kilometer radius, or 'manifested' internally.]
Jera opened his eyes. He had the power of a god.
And he had the guilt of a man.
"He... he cleansed the city," Aegis-7 stammered, his S-Rank power feeling like a child's toy. "He just... stood there, and he... he won."
"Conduit," Jera said, his voice calm, but the weight of it made the pilot jump. "Take us up. High. I need... to test something."
"Y-yes, sir! Lord... Walker! Sir!" Conduit's hands flew over the controls. The 'Archangel' jet shot up, leaving the silent, dark city far below.
Jera stood in the center of the cargo bay. Seraphina and the S-Ranks watched him.
"What is he doing?" Velocity whispered.
"His Domain," Seraphina breathed. "He's... he's going to open it."
Jera closed his eyes. He didn't cast a spell. He willed it.
Manifest: Overlord's Shrine.
Reality shifted.
The S-Ranks screamed.
They weren't in a jet anymore.
They were in a throne room.
It was a vast, impossibly grand hall. The floor was black, reflective obsidian. The ceiling was a high, vaulted dome, showing not a sky, but a swirling, golden nebula. In the center, on a raised dais, was a single, massive, empty throne. The air was heavy, silent, and crackling with Jera's power.
"What... what is this?!" Aegis-7 yelled, falling to his knees.
"The gravity!" Velocity gasped, her S-Rank speed useless. She was pinned to the floor. "It's... it's ten times normal!"
Conduit was flat on his face, unable to move.
Only two people were standing.
Jera, who was the source of the power.
And Seraphina. She was untouched. She looked around, her eyes wide, not with fear, but with awe.
"He... he spared me," she realized. "He's... controlling the laws of this place."
Jera looked at his hands. He felt... complete. This was his inner world. His soul.
"So, this... this is the Overlord's Shrine," he said.
He willed it, and the gravity returned to normal.
The S-Ranks gasped, scrambling to their feet.
He willed it, and the vision of the throne room dissolved.
They were back in the jet, the metal bulkheads a comforting, real presence.
The entire event had taken less than five seconds.
Aegis-7, Velocity, and Conduit were on their knees, their heads bowed.
They were no longer allies. They were followers.
They had just been inside the mind of their new god.
"Lord Walker," Aegis-7 said, his voice shaking with a new, zealous fervor. "Your... your power... it's... it's divine. You... you are the 8th. You are our only Ascended."
"Commander Kane is still on the line," Conduit whispered, his face pale. "She... she heard everything. The... the screaming."
Jera walked to the cockpit. He picked up the comm.
"Captain Kane," he said.
Elara Kane, in her dark war room, flinched. The power in his voice was so absolute, it made her teeth ache.
"...Walker," she said, her voice small. "Jera. I... I saw the energy spike. We saw the... the Purge. St. Louis is... it's clean."
"Yes," Jera said.
"And the SSS-Rank... the Behemoth..."
"It's dead."
"And... my S-Ranks?"
"Are with me," Jera said. "They are my escort."
A long, heavy silence.
"What... what now?" Kane asked. It was not an order. It was a plea. "The Ascended are gone. The Bleed is breaking out globally. You... you're the only one."
Jera looked out the viewport at the dark, burning world. He looked back at Seraphina, who was watching him, her face a mask of hope and fear.
His guilt was still there. His mistake was still his.
But his panic was gone. His desperation was gone.
He had a tool. He had a chance.
"Now?" Jera said, his voice a cold, hard, promise. "Now, I fix it."
"You trapped them," Jera said, his voice flat. "But you... you're here. You're free. You... are the key. I am the lock. We... we have to find them. The other... fragments. The... the truth."
"We... we? Jera, you're... you're an Ascended," Seraphina stammered. "You're... a god. I'm... I'm nothing."
Jera turned. He walked back to her. The S-Ranks didn't dare move.
He stood in front of her. He looked down at this small, fragile, brave woman who had slapped him. Who had saved him from his own guilt.
He slowly, deliberately, reached up.
With a hiss, he unsealed his helmet.
He pulled it off, holding it at his side.
It was Jera Murphy who looked at her. His eyes were clear, golden, and human.
"You're not 'nothing,' Seraphina," he said, his real voice quiet and raw. "You're the only one I can trust. You're the only one who sees the man... and not the... the monster."
He looked at his S-Rank team.
"I am Ascended. But I am still Level 100. I am still new. And I am still the one who broke this world. I need to find the other Runestones. I need to understand what we're really fighting."
He turned back to the cockpit comm.
"Kane," he ordered.
"Yes... Lord Walker," she replied, her voice shaky.
"Find The Vault. My broker. He... he's my only other ally. We need him. And... I need a new suit of armor. This jacket is... impractical."
"And... and what is your directive?" Kane asked. "What is the world's new directive?"
Jera looked at Seraphina, then out the window. His path was clear.
"My directive is to hunt. The Bleed is here. So I will hunt it. The cage is broken. So I will re-forge it. And the Ascended are trapped..."
He clenched his fist, his new, divine power thrumming.
"...so I will find them."