Location: The Flameblood Archives – Forbidden Wing, Crimson Hollow
Time: One hour after Kairo defied the Pantheon
The world should've been quiet.
But rebellion has a heartbeat.
And Kairo could hear it.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
In the deepest chamber beneath the academy, hidden by spells older than the Pantheon itself, a sealed vault pulsed with fire-red glyphs.
> [Flameblood Geneprint Verified]
[Welcome, Kaiel Seraphim Flameblood]
[Unlocking Legacy Access… 1%]
A cold voice whispered behind him.
"You know opening that means war."
Kairo turned slowly.
It was Headmaster Volen—former war general of the gods, now quietly retired behind paperwork and tea leaves.
"You trained me to stand, didn't you?" Kairo said. "So I'm standing."
Volen's eyes, usually dull, glimmered like flint. "Then I'll give you one truth before the flames take you."
He stepped closer and pressed a glowing hand to the vault.
The lock hissed open.
> Inside were scrolls bound in dragonhide, tomes made of memory itself, and a single mask… made of molten gold and shadow.
Kairo picked up the mask.
And it breathed.
> "Do you know what this is?" Volen asked quietly.
"This was your father's."
Silence.
> "He was the first Flameblood who dared speak the words—kill a god."
The vault shook. The temperature rose.
> [Flameblood Archive Unlocked: Flame-Soul Protocol]
[Forbidden Technique Acquired: "Solar Severance" – Strike a divine soul directly, bypassing immortality.]
But then—
BOOM.
The entire archive exploded inwards as a figure appeared in a flash of white steel.
A being wrapped in divine robes and a mirror-faced helm.
The Executioner of Purity.
A walking judgment.
A divine assassin sent by the Pantheon.
"You're not supposed to exist," it said.
"Correction: you're not supposed to live."
Kairo stepped forward.
No hesitation.
His aura ignited—not just red.
But gold-black.
A signature of ancient Flameblood royalty.
"Tell your gods…" Kairo growled, sliding the molten mask onto his face, voice warping with Zerith's echo.
"Next time they want to erase me, send someone who bleeds."
> [ZERITH BOND LEVEL: 30% – Threshold Passed]
[Passive Unlocked: Divine Intimidation – Fear now weakens gods within 20 meters.]
[Flameblood Legacy Awakened – True Inheritor State Initiated.]
---
What followed wasn't a battle.
It was an execution.
But not of Kairo.
---
AFTERMATH:
The Executioner's helm shattered.
His body lay cracked across twelve broken glyphs.
The vault still burned.
And across the divine realms—
dozens of oracles screamed in their sleep.
The Rebellion had found its spark.
And the gods just realized…
they weren't safe anymore.
---