They didn’t speak on the return from the mountain.
Reed walked ahead, Hollowblood dripping from his knuckles, boots coated in mud and ash. Shia followed, silent, hooded, the light of the
Hero Core Fragment
still pulsing from beneath her skin like a buried sun.
The others—a single Spine Unit survivor and a limping scout—kept their eyes low. They had seen gods flicker behind stone and live walls. They had seen men burn from words never spoken.
And they had seen
Shia
change.
At the edge of Goblin’s Hollow, as the war altar loomed like a broken fang against the blood-red sky, Shia dropped to one knee.
"Stop," she gasped. "It’s... still happening."
Reed knelt beside her.
Beneath her skin, the
crystal
pulsed harder. It was no longer contained. It had fused with her bones.
[System Alert: Hero Mutation Progressing]
Soul Compatibility: Stable
Side Effects: Unknown
Current Status: Transcendence Threshold
Her breathing slowed, then stopped.
Then she screamed.
Her body convulsed, cracking as her bones rearranged. Muscles tightened. Scars peeled back to reveal glowing marks beneath—
runes
older than language. Her claws lengthened, blackened. Her eyes turned pitch, no longer reflecting light.
[Hero Class: WRAITHBLADE – Rank E]
New Skills:
– Phase Reaver
– Blink Cut
– Shadow Split
Passive: Predator’s Mind – Shares tactical instinct with bonded Lord
She stood, trembling. Taller. Leaner. No longer entirely goblin. Something between life and system.
Reed reached for her.
And flinched.
Because
he saw through her
.
[Bond Enhancement Triggered]
Psychic tether established between Lord and Hero.
Shared experience initiated.
Without warning, Reed was
ripped
into memory.
A boy stood before a summoning circle.
Young. Rich. Scared.
He summoned her—Shia—not as a Hero, but a
test subject
. She was not beautiful. Not divine. Just wrong. Too feral. Too real.
"Kill it," the boy screamed.
And they tried. Fire. Whips. Chains.
But she lived.
Trapped beneath the Hollow, with only hate to keep her warm.
She remembered their faces.
And
Reed saw them all.
Then she was alone.
Chained. Forgotten.
Until
Reed
called her.
He staggered back, choking.
Shia stood above him.
"You saw."
He nodded. "I didn’t ask to."
"You needed to."
She stepped closer, not menacing—resigned.
"Now you understand what I am. What I’ve always been."
"No," Reed said.
"I understand what they tried to destroy. And what I’ve built instead."
They returned to the War Altar.
Goblin masses fell silent at the sight of Shia. They whispered:
Shadow Queen. Blade-Mother. Hollow’s Wrath.
Reed raised his voice.
"She is no longer F-rank. No longer broken. The System lied. Her limit was never real. And neither is yours."
He turned to the altar.
"Raise the banners."
"We take everything."
That night, Reed tested the psychic link. Thoughts weren’t just shared—they
echoed.
In battle scenarios, Shia preempted his orders. In silence, she responded to fears he hadn’t voiced.
But it cut both ways.
He felt
her nightmares
—trapped flesh, the smell of burnt bone, the sound of chains dragged in darkness.
And he saw her rage—
not as emotion, but geometry
. Calculated fury, dissected revenge.
"Are you afraid of me?" she asked once.
"No," he said. "I’m afraid of who I’d be without you."
The System responded to their ascent:
[System Broadcast: WARNING]
Hero "SHIA" has exceeded permitted rank via unsanctioned augmentation.
Classification:
System Breach
Action: Monitored
Result: Domain of Goblin’s Hollow designated
Rogue Tier
Rewards/Penalties: Variable. Unpredictable. Dangerous.
And then—
[Hero Limit Broken: SHIA – E+]
New Trait:
Null Signature
– Untrackable by standard Hero detection. Immune to tracking glyphs.
Unlockable:
Rank D Ascension Trial
(Suppressed by System Instability)
The world shuddered again.
Not from tectonics.
From
authority
breaking.
The ground behind the War Altar
ruptured.
Veins snapped open.
From the wound, a
pillar of flesh and black light
erupted, reaching into the storm-choked sky.
[Entity Emergence: 10 HOURS]
Then came the second alert.
[LORDS’ EMERGENCY PROTOCOL]
A coalition force of
five lords
, including Hadren, Kheldrin, and Marseth, has been dispatched.
Estimated Arrival: 6 HOURS
Objective: "Neutralize the Hollow. Execute Lord Reed. Contain or destroy Hero Shia."
Reed clenched Thornblade.
"They’re not sending an army."
Shia stepped beside him, cloak billowing, eyes hollow stars.
"They’re sending an execution."