The pressure in the room shifted from a magical ritual to a literal natural disaster. The Black Tornado wasn't just wind; it was a localized collapse of reality. The training hall's reinforced walls groaned under the strain, and the air turned so cold that frost began to crystallize on the magic circles.
Ivory staggered back, her eyes wide with shock.
"I can't read it! The mana is corrupted! This isn't a spirit—it's a hole in the universe!"
Seeing the danger, the SSS-rank spirits immediately leaped into action to protect their owners:
Logos instantly shifted back into his humanoid form, slamming his foot into the ground to manifest a Hexagonal Logic Shield around the group.
Elysia cast a high-tier acceleration spell, reinforcing the shield with golden particles to prevent the wind from shattering it.
Kratos stepped to the very front, his massive 8-foot frame acting as a physical anchor. He drove his God-Slayer blades into the floor, using his raw power to stabilize the room's gravity.
Smoke was so paralyzed with fear that his form started to flicker. Asobi had to grab him by the collar and pull him behind her, shielding him with her own mana. "Stay focused, you idiot!" she hissed.
As quickly as it had appeared, the tornado began to shrink, collapsing in on itself until it vanished into a single point of absolute darkness.
Toya was trembling so hard his teeth were chattering. "Haruto... what did you pull out of the system?"
Haruto stood in the center, gasping for breath, his eyes locked on the figure that remained. As the dust settled, a girl stood where the tornado had been.
The atmosphere in the room didn't just feel heavy; it felt reverent. As the black mist fully dissipated, the true form of the spirit was revealed, and even the Goddesses felt a shiver of primal recognition.
The Manifestation: The Empress of the Void
She stood exactly at Haruto's height, her presence commanding every inch of the hall.
She wasn't wearing a dress, but a sleek, form-fitting Black Plate Armor made of a strange, abyssal metal that seemed to swallow the room's light. The edges of the plates glowed with a thin, menacing crimson line.
Resting on her brow was a sharp, obsidian crown from which a faint, ethereal golden light radiated, contrasting against the darkness of her gear.
Her skin was porcelain white, and her eyes were a piercing, robotic Red. Her most striking feature was her hair—pure, snow-white and so long it nearly touched the floor, flowing around her like a living silk cape.
She looked around with a calm, bored elegance. "So... this is where I've been dragged to?"
As she turned to survey the room, something unprecedented happened. The three SSS-rank spirits—Logos, Kratos, and Elysia—and even the SSR Smoke, felt an instinctual weight on their souls.
Without a word from their owners, all four spirits dropped to one knee.
Kratos lowered his head, his massive God-Slayer blades clattering as he bowed. Logos shut his book, and Elysia trembled, pressing her forehead toward the ground. Their owners—Ivory, Lustra, and Bellona—watched in total shock. Their legendary, world-ending spirits were acting like common soldiers in the presence of a Queen.
Haruto stared at her, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. He looked at the kneeling legends, then back at his new partner. "I didn't just summon a spirit," he realized, his eyes glowing with excitement. "I summoned the Boss of the Bosses."
With a casual flick of her wrist—a sharp Snap!—the shadows behind her coalesced and solidified. A massive, ornate Throne made of black obsidian and filigreed gold materialized out of thin air.
She sat down with crossed legs, resting her chin on her hand as she looked down at the kneeling spirits.
"Hmm... my, my," she purred, her voice echoing with a haunting melody. "Even in a layer like this, I see my followers have already found their places."
The atmosphere in the room turned from awe to pure, jagged tension. Smoke, already fuming from being the lowest-ranked spirit in the room, couldn't handle the ego hit.
"Who do you think you are, you stuck-up crown-wearer?!" Smoke roared, his purple aura flickering wildly.
"I don't bow to anyone but Lady Asobi! You're just another glitch in a black dress!" He followed up with a string of insults that made Toya flinch.
The girl didn't even stand up from her throne. She simply tilted her head, and a loud, rhythmic CRACK echoed from her neck—a sound of shifting metal and bone that resonated directly inside Smoke's skull.
"Aaaagh!" Smoke screamed, clutching his head as he collapsed into a kneeling position. The sheer weight of her authority was physically crushing him.
Asobi's eyes flared with protective rage. She stepped forward, her pipe glowing.
"I don't care what rank you are," she hissed.
"Nobody touches my spirit without my permission. Revert the pressure, now!"
The girl yawned casually, completely unimpressed by Asobi's threat. "I did what I felt like doing," she said, her voice smooth and bored. "Disrespect in my presence is a system error that needs... correction."
Ivory, Lustra, and Bellona were in a state of total panic. They tried to command their weapons to stand up, but for the first time in history, the SSS-rank spirits ignored their owners. Kratos, Logos, and Elysia remained pinned to the floor, their forms trembling under the girl's shadow.
"They won't get up," Ivory whispered, her face pale. "Their internal code is being suppressed by a higher-tier command. It's like she's the Root User and they're just guest accounts."
The girl finally turned her gaze away from the spirits and scanned the room.
"Alright, enough drama. Which one of you actually dragged me out of the abyss? I was having a perfectly good nap."
Haruto stepped forward, trying to maintain his "Player" composure despite the chaos. "That would be me."
She looked Haruto up and down, then flicked her wrist. A thin thread of Pure Mana materialized, connecting her finger on Haruto's chest. "Oh? So it's you," she said, her tone suddenly becoming incredibly casual, as if they were just meeting at a cafe.
She pointed a finger at him. "What's your name, human?"
"Haruto," he replied, his voice steady.
"Haruto, huh? Not bad. Sounds like a protagonist's name," she teased, a small, predatory smirk appearing on her porcelain face. She stood up from her throne, the shadows dissolving behind her.
The air in the training hall finally stopped vibrating as Haruto looked at his new partner and then at the legendary spirits still pinned to the floor.
"Hey," Haruto said, gesturing to the others. "Can you let them up now? It's getting a bit awkward."
The girl laughed, a sound like silver bells ringing in a graveyard. "Haha! Fine, fine. Everyone, stand up. The show's over for now."
Instantly, the invisible weight vanished. Kratos, Logos, and Elysia scrambled to their feet, gasping and checking their spiritual forms for damage. The three Goddesses—Ivory, Lustra, and Bellona—rushed forward, their faces pale. "What was that? Who are you?" Lustra stammered.
Smoke stood up slowly, clutching his stomach as if he'd been hit by a truck. He stared at the white-haired girl with wide, trembling eyes. "I... I know this feeling," he whispered, his voice cracking.
"That pressure... that absolute authority... there is only one being in the entire history of the System with that mana signature."
He pointed a shaking finger at her. "She is the Sovereign. The Queen of all Armaments. She is AETERNA!"
The silence that followed was absolute. Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Asobi looked like they had just seen the world's source code catch fire. Toya just stood there, looking back and forth, knowing things had just gone from "cool" to "apocalyptic."
Aeterna's eyes narrowed into a playful glare. "You idiot!" she barked at Smoke.
"I was going to introduce myself with a bit of mystery and flair, and you just blurted it out! Why do you always have to butt in?"
Smoke didn't even argue. He immediately dropped back into a submissive kneel, his head bowed low. "S-sorry, Your Majesty! My mouth moved faster than my brain!"
Aeterna sighed, running a hand through her long white hair. "Ugh, whatever. Though... I suppose hearing one's own greatness from a peasant's mouth does have a certain charm."
Haruto looked at her, then back at the others. "So, you're a Queen? Like, officially?"
Logos stepped forward, his voice filled with a rare, shaky reverence.
"Queen is an understatement. Allow me to explain. She is the Mother of Origin. In the earliest cycles of this world, she was the one who birthed the very concept of Weapon Spirits. Every sword, spear, and staff you see today is just a diluted, weak copy of her original power."
Aeterna actually started to blush, waving her hand dismissively as if she were embarrassed.
"Okay, okay, that's enough history. You're making me sound like an old lady."
"And her rank?" Haruto asked, a smirk growing on his face. "Is she SSS+ like Kratos?"
Logos let out a nervous, high-pitched laugh.
"Rank? Sir, she is the one who created the ranking system. She is beyond SSS+. She is the Root."
Haruto looked at Aeterna, and for the first time, he felt like he had truly broken the game. This wasn't just a partner; this was the ultimate cheat code.
"Alright, enough talk about me," Aeterna said, turning her crimson eyes toward Haruto.
"You summoned me, which means you have a vessel. What kind of weapon are you carrying?"
Logos tried to chime in again, but Aeterna put a finger to her lips. "Shhh." The librarian's mouth snapped shut as if it had been deleted.
"You have to assign a weapon to me," she explained casually.
"Show me what you've got."
Haruto focused his mind, suppressing the chaos around him until the Void Reaper manifested in his hands. The jagged, black sword pulsed with the dark energy of a "void."
Aeterna's eyes widened. She stepped closer, her armor clinking softly. She reached out and touched the blade, her fingers tracing the flickering black static. "Magnificent," she whispered.
"I've birthed millions of weapons, but I've never seen a 'Void' type. This isn't a weapon... It's hunger."
Suddenly, her expression shifted from playful to intense. She grabbed the hilt of the sword while Haruto was still holding it, her long white hair beginning to glow with a blinding golden-white light. She leaned in until her forehead was almost touching his.
"Haruto," she whispered, her voice echoing in his very soul. "I am the Origin, and this is the Void."