The heavy oak doors of the Grand Hall didn't just open; they were shattered inward by a concentrated blast of solar mana. The golden light that flooded the darkened chamber was blinding, a sharp contrast to the abyssal silence Ren had just created. At the center of the light stood Duke Vane. He was a man built like a fortress, encased in "Sun-Steel" plate armor that shimmered with an orange hue. His Soul Armament, a six-foot claymore named Solstice, hummed with the literal heat of a furnace.
Behind him, five hundred Royal Guards—the "Solar Phalanx"—moved with the precision of a single machine. Their spears were leveled, each tip glowing with a spark of white fire.
"Ren Thorne," the Duke's voice echoed, thick with a mixture of rage and genuine confusion. He looked at the shattered remains of the Sun-Forge Stone, the empire's holiest relic, now reduced to grey, lifeless slag. "You have committed a crime beyond the reach of mercy. To destroy the Stone is to blind the Empire. To steal its essence is to sign your soul away to the gallows."
Ren stood his ground. The weight of the tiny black orb in his palm was comforting now. It felt like a heartbeat—heavy, rhythmic, and demanding. The System's interface flickered in his peripheral vision, a translucent blue screen that only he could see.
[URGENT: Combat Mode Initiated]
[Enemy Power Level: Duke Vane (Level 75 - Master Rank)]
[Royal Guard Average Level: 30 - Knight Rank]
[Current Host Level: 5]
[Tactical Advice: Confrontation equals 100% fatality. Suggestion: Deploy 'Gravitic Collapse' as a diversion.]
"I didn't destroy it," Ren said, his voice surprisingly steady. "It was hungry. I was just the one who let it eat."
"Blasphemy!" the High Priest shrieked from the floor, clutching his scorched robes. "Kill him! Slay the void-born before he taints the air we breathe!"
Duke Vane raised Solstice. The blade erupted in a pillar of flame that reached the vaulted ceiling. "For the glory of Aethelgard, die."
The Duke moved faster than a human should be able to. He was a blur of gold and fire, his heavy claymore descending in a vertical arc meant to split Ren from crown to heel.
Ren didn't have the training to parry a Master-Rank knight. He didn't have the speed to dodge. But he had something the Duke had never encountered in three decades of war: the subversion of physics.
"Gravitic Collapse," Ren whispered.
He didn't aim at the Duke. He slammed his hand, holding the Void Orb, directly onto the marble floor at his own feet.
The effect was instantaneous. A sphere of distorted space, ten meters in diameter, surged outward. Within this zone, the rules of the world broke. The floor didn't just crack; it folded in on itself. The heavy marble tiles rose into the air, swirling around Ren like a hurricane of stone.
Duke Vane's sword hit the edge of the field and slowed. It looked as if the blade had entered thick honey. The flames on the sword were pulled sideways, stretched toward the center of the void like ribbons of silk.
"What... is this weight?" Vane gasped. He was forced into a half-crouch, his armor groaning under a pressure that felt like an elephant was standing on his shoulders. The Royal Guards at the edge of the hall were thrown off balance as the very air was sucked toward Ren.
[System: Gravitic Collapse Active. Mana Drain: 10 MP/Second.]
[Current MP: 45/150]
[Time remaining: 4 Seconds.]
Ren felt the strain. It felt as if his veins were being filled with lead. His nose began to bleed, the crimson drops floating upward before being consumed by the black marble in his hand. He looked at the Duke, who was struggling to lift his sword against the crushing force.
"You call me a traitor because of my father," Ren said, gritting his teeth against the pain. "But you're the ones who are afraid. You're afraid of the dark because you can't control it."
Ren saw an opening. To his right, a stained-glass window depicted the first Emperor. It was the only exit not blocked by a wall of spears.
"Evolve," Ren commanded the System. "I need movement!"
[Notice: 20 Void Points consumed.]
[Skill Unlocked: Void Step (Phase 1)]
[Effect: Short-range blink through the sub-space dimension.]
As the Gravitic Collapse reached its limit, the sphere turned inward. For a fraction of a second, the pressure reached a breaking point.
CRACK.
The air rushed back in to fill the vacuum with the force of a thunderclap. The resulting shockwave sent Duke Vane stumbling back and shattered every remaining window in the Grand Hall. In that moment of blinding dust and chaos, Ren disappeared.
He felt a sensation of being squeezed through a straw. The world turned grey, cold, and silent. He saw the Hall from a different perspective—as if he were looking through a veil of smoke. He saw the Duke roaring in fury, swinging his sword at empty air.
Then, Ren tumbled out of the "Void" and onto the cold grass of the academy's outer gardens.
He didn't stop to catch his breath. He could hear the alarm bells ringing across the capital—a frantic, metallic tolling that signaled a "Code Black" threat. Within minutes, the Griffon Riders would be in the air. The mages would start a mana-trace on his soul signature.
Ren ran toward the Outer Districts, the slums where he had grown up. In the labyrinth of narrow alleys and sewage-slicked streets, he might have a chance to hide.
As he ran, his mind raced. The System was still active, icons blinking in the corner of his vision like a digital pulse.
"Status," he thought.
[Name: Ren Thorne]
[Level: 5]
[Class: Void King (Seed Phase)]
[Health: 30/100 (Internal hemorrhaging detected)]
[Mana: 5/150 (Critically Low)]
[Void Points: 15]
[Inventory: Fragment of the Sun-Forge Stone (S-Rank Crafting Material)]
[Warning: Your Soul Armament 'The Eater of Heavens' is hungry. If not fed within 6 hours, it will begin consuming the host's life force.]
Ren stopped in a dark alleyway, leaning against a damp brick wall. He coughed, spitting a glob of dark blood onto the cobbles. He looked at his hands. They were trembling.
"I have to feed it?" he whispered. "I just ate a god-tier artifact. How much more does it want?"
The System didn't answer with words. It showed him a map of the city. Several points were highlighted in a soft, pulsating violet.
The Imperial Armory.
The Mage Association Library.
The Black Market Vault.
"You're insane," Ren muttered to the empty air. "You want me to rob the most guarded places in the Empire while the entire army is looking for me."
[Response: The path of the Void King is not one of moderation. You must consume, or be consumed. Choose.]
Ren looked back toward the Inner City. He could see the silhouettes of Griffons circling the Academy, their riders carrying lanterns that cast beams of magical light across the rooftops. They were closing in.
Suddenly, a heavy hand dropped onto Ren's shoulder.
He spun around, his hand instinctively forming the Void Orb, ready to collapse the entire alleyway. But he stopped.
Standing before him was a man wrapped in tattered grey bandages, his face hidden behind a rusted iron mask. He smelled of ozone and ancient parchment. In his hand, he held a dagger made of bone that seemed to absorb the moonlight.
"Slow down, little singularity," the masked man rasped. His voice sounded like sandpaper on wood. "You've caused quite a stir. The Duke is currently ordering the execution of every student in your year until you turn yourself in."
Ren's blood went cold. "He... he wouldn't. They're nobles. Sons of his friends."
"In Aethelgard, the Stone is more important than blood," the man replied. "But I can help you. For a price."
Ren narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
"A ghost. A remnant of your father's mistakes," the man said, stepping closer. "But more importantly, I'm the only one who knows how to keep that thing in your chest from eating your heart by midnight."
Behind the man, at the end of the alley, a squad of soldiers appeared. "There! The traitor! Surrender in the name of the Emperor!"
The masked man didn't flinch. He looked at Ren. "The clock is ticking, King. Do you trust the ghost of the past, or the fire of the present?"
Ren looked at the soldiers, then at the man. He felt the hunger in his soul grow sharper, a literal physical pain clawing at his ribs.
"I don't trust anyone," Ren said, stepping toward the man. "But I'm not ready to die."
"Good," the man chuckled. "Hold your breath. This is going to hurt."
As the soldiers fired their crossbows, the man slammed his bone dagger into the ground. A cloud of thick, grey mist exploded outward, smelling of sulfur and old magic. When the mist cleared, the alley was empty.