Kaien hovered at the edge of the core relic, light folding around his body like liquid glass. Time warped. Space compressed. His heartbeat slowed—each thrum echoing through the gravity shell like a drum of war.
The second Rift relic pulsed in rhythm.
Unlike the first, this one was sentient.
A consciousness rested within it—ancient and vast, pressed into the fractured matter of the Umbravault. Kaien could feel it reaching out to him, not in words, but in memory: stars being born, planets screaming as they died, the great chain of celestial order broken and remade.
He stepped into the fold.
For an instant, his body stretched across dimensions—his mind unraveling into pure intention. The katana at his side shattered into stardust and reformed as a Phasebrand Eclipse Blade, its core a sliver of spatial crystal orbiting a locked singularity.
His core flared.
The Voidframe Aether Matrix formed behind his spine, anchoring his spirit to the gravity domain. His core evolved—no longer just Celestia-aligned, but Entropic-Stellar. A balance of the Rift's chaos and the universe's law.
Kaien fell to one knee as the relic dissolved into him.
When he rose, gravity bowed in a ten-meter radius.
Ilira and Varen stared in silent awe.
His eyes shimmered with collapsing galaxies. His skin hummed with Riftlight veins. His steps no longer touched the earth—they bent it.
He was no longer simply Rift-Touched.
Kaien Morreti had become a Spatial Warden.
Meanwhile – The High Spire Council
Panic.
That was the only word that described the mood in the Chamber of Celestial Order. High Archons, Core Judges, and Rift Strategists argued beneath the concentric rings of floating data, holograms of Kaien and Ilvethe looping endlessly.
"Sirex failed."
"Ilvethe crossed the barrier."
"He's absorbed a second relic—at this rate, he'll reach Pre-Celestial Phase by solstice."
"And she let him live."
The First Chair, known only as Velthron, remained silent until the storm died.
Then he stood.
"The Rift cores were never meant to fall into mortal hands. And yet Kaien Morreti now commands space as if born to it."
"Ilvethe is worse," a Second Judge muttered. "She's hunting him. Training him."
Velthron turned to a recessed chamber. The metal wall split, revealing a bound figure surrounded by twenty stabilizing fields.
He was cloaked in seared battle robes. Chains of aetherlight wrapped around his body like serpents. A single crystalline mask hid his face.
"Activate the Thirteenth Protocol," Velthron said.
Gasps rang out.
"You're unleashing Sereth? He's uncontrollable."
"He's extinct," another muttered. "A failed hybrid."
Velthron's voice cut through the fear. "He was made to counter Rift-evolvers. If Ilvethe and Kaien join forces, nothing will stop them from reaching the Ascension Gate. Not even us."
The bound figure stirred.
"Who… must I break?"
Velthron narrowed his eyes. "Kaien Morreti."
Sereth smiled beneath his mask. "Then release me."
Back in the Umbravault
Kaien stood still, pulse steady despite the surge of power within.
He heard everything differently now. Not just sound—but space itself. The folding of wind, the gaps between vibrations, the flex of gravity tension.
"Your core," Varen whispered, "it's forming a singularity halo. That's… not supposed to happen."
Ilira scanned him. "Your spatial layering is destabilizing. You're reaching proto-Celestial compression."
Kaien sheathed his blade and looked toward the sky.
"No," he said softly. "This is only the beginning."
Above them, the stars dimmed.
A signal passed through the Rift—silent, ancient, and filled with intent.
Ilvethe smiled from her orbiting perch above the world. "Good," she whispered. "Now let's see how far you'll fall before you ascend."
End of Chapter 20.