[The Inheritance of the First]
The dust settled in the trial arena, revealing Crimson lying on his back in the cratered stone, his primordial wings slowly fading into ambient embers.
Cynthia stood over him, her white-hot plasma hair cascading around her shoulders as she deactivated her combat stance.
"I won, Crimson," Cynthia said, her voice echoing with a low, resonant heat. "Now, give me the Eternal Flame."
Crimson groaned slightly, pushing himself up onto one elbow. A faint, proud smirk touched his lips. "I have already given it to you."
Cynthia blinked, looking down at her bare palms. "What? Where?"
Without answering, Crimson reached out and snapped his fingers, opening a roaring emerald portal to the exit right behind her and Techyon.
"You will understand it later," Crimson said softly, standing up as his form began to turn translucent. "But first, go and help your friends... The Pyro Arcon."
As Crimson began to dissolve into golden ash, Cynthia's eyes widened. For a fleeting split-second, the phantom image of Ruta appeared in Crimson's place, flashing her the same warm, confident smile.
Cynthia's chest tightened, and she gave a firm, unyielding nod. "Understood."
Without another second of delay, Cynthia and Techyon turned and leaped into the portal.
[The Burning Spark]
FLASH!
The duo materialized back near the roots of the World Tree.
The Arcon of Life floated forward instantly, her translucent green eyes sweeping over them. "You both came back."
Techyon looked down at his right hand. The small, primordial ember Crimson had placed on his palm during the challenge was still burning brightly, showing zero signs of fading.
"Why is it not extinguishing?" Techyon asked, staring at his palm in confusion.
The Arcon of Life smiled faintly, looking toward Cynthia. "Follow me."
[The Shadow Over Floor 1]
BOOM! CRASH!
On the main battlefield of Floor 1, the sky had turned pitch black, choked by dense void clouds pouring out of the expanding gate. Shockwaves tore through the earth as the combined armies of Hydrocity, Netland, and the Z-Elites clashed endlessly against the void horde.
"If this continues, we will lose!" Gaia yelled, slamming a cracked Geo-shield down to block a claw strike from a Void Behemoth.
"Don't think about that!" Neweland roared back, his trident spinning into a vortex of pressurized water that shattered three void knights. "We will win!"
"My barrier outputs are dropping to fifteen percent!" Saina called out through the comms as her tactical drones sparked.
"Hold the line!" Captain Carod bellowed, his mechanical chassis venting thick black smoke as he drove his fist through another monster core. "Carod crew, keep firing!"
"We're running out of space!" Fraxy gasped, her healing light flickering as Nefa landed beside her, breathing heavily with her daggers drawn.
Suddenly, a blinding streak of white-blue starlight cut across the frontline.
SLASH!
A massive void monster was instantly cleaved in half, exploding into dark mist before it could reach the vanguard.
Techyon landed cleanly on the bloody soil, his white-blue aura flaring.
Yoru dropped down beside him, her shadow daggers humming. "Techyon! Where is Cynthia?!"
[Baptism of the Eternal Flame]
Far behind the battlefield, atop a high, secluded altar of the sanctuary, Cynthia stood surrounded by spectral figures made of pure, ancient fire—the ancestral spirits of every previous Arcon of Flame in history.
The spirits circled her in a radiant ring, their flames merging and flowing directly into Cynthia's chest. In absolute unison, their ancient voices resonated through her soul:
"We unite as one,
Baptized by the Eternal Flame,
Bearing the blessing of the Sun Goddess,
Knowing true flames,
And accepting our responsibility...
We embrace the Eternal Flame!"
Cynthia threw her head back, raising her hands high toward the black sky, and screamed with absolute, world-shaking conviction:
"FOR A PEACEFUL WORLD!"
"FOR A PEACEFUL WORLD!" the ancient Arcons roared back, their spectral bodies dissolving completely into a blinding stream of pure solar light that surged into her core.
PING!
A translucent blue system interface erupted in front of Cynthia's vision:
[ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ]
===================================
PASSIVE ABILITY UPGRADED: LEVEL 4
NEW TITLE DETECTED: THE PYRO ARCON
ABILITY UNLOCKED: [ PHOENIX OF ETERNAL FLAME ]
===================================
[The Dawn of the Pyro Arcon]
KABOOOOOOOM!
Back on the battlefield, the ground shattered behind the vanguard. A colossal, divine pillar of white-hot plasma flame erupted straight out of the earth, piercing through the dark void clouds and soaring into the upper atmosphere.
The massive pillar shifted, expanding violently in the sky until the darkness was completely incinerated—replacing the pitch-black sky with a blinding, newborn Sun.
Stepping out from the center of the solar glow, hovering directly in front of the sun, was Cynthia. Her solar crown burned with white plasma, her long red hair streamed with golden starfire, and her aura dominated the entire First Floor.
"Is that..." Alya gasped from the deck of Hydrocity, her jaw dropping in awe.
"No way..." Lapis muttered, his Honored Eyes reflecting the impossible thermal output.
"She did it..." Techyon smirked, looking up at his sister with pride.
Neweland let out a booming laugh, pointing his trident toward the sky. "Look at that! The Pyro Arcon has arrived!"
[The Blessing of sun]
The blinding, newborn sun hanging above the battlefield flooded the entire First Floor with an incandescent, holy radiance. Across the plain, the endless hordes of void monsters shrieked in agony, cowering and covering their eyes with their claws as the purifying heat burned away their corrupted aura.
The ambient light focused intensely, drawing the gaze of everyone present toward the figure hovering before the solar core.
Cynthia stood in absolute, divine composure. Her luminous, bright golden-yellow hair flowed in wild, radiant waves around her shoulders, framing her sharp, composed face. Her eyes burned like miniature suns, blazing with double-ringed golden irises that radiated absolute authority. She wore a sleek, high-collared dark combat suit accented with fiery red piping and golden, sun-shaped geometric earrings that hung delicately from her ears, while a striking solar emblem locked tightly across her chest armor.
Her gaze swept across the battlefield, her voice echoing with the resonance of a true deity.
"In the name of the Pyro Arcon, I declare this war underway!" Cynthia commanded, her voice ringing out across the earth. "The Eternal Flame will guard all life until the war is over!"
As the decree left her lips, a wave of warm, golden light washed over the allied forces. Instantly, the bodies of every single fighter—from the Z-Elites and Carod's crew to the troops of Hydrocity and Netland—began to glow with the exact same radiant sunlight, filling them with boundless stamina and conceptual protection.
[The Null Dimension]
Cynthia narrowed her glowing eyes, shifting her attention upward toward the colossal dungeon gate, which was expanding violently as the void fabric tore open.
High within the swirling vortex, the giant crimson eye of the Void Drachoon locked directly onto Cynthia.
WHOOSH!
Through the piercing gaze of the Void Drachoon, reality fractured, shifting the perspective instantly into the cold, desolate expanse of the Null Dimension.
Deep within the swirling abyss, a massive, ancient red eye watched the projection of the battlefield, a voice rumbling with pure, primordial malice:
"Is that... the Goddess of sun?" the entity hissed into the void. "I will kill every single God..."
FLASH!
The vision snapped instantly back to the reality of Floor 1.
The Void Drachoon's physical maw parted, its roar shaking the heavens as dark void energy condensed around its claws.
"As my lord said..." the Void Drachoon boomed, its crimson eye burning with apocalyptic intent. "...I will destroy everything!"