We dropped from the second-story roof directly into the Grand Plaza of Oakhaven.
Rain slammed against the cobblestones, but in the center of the plaza, the air was suffocatingly hot. Two hundred Imperial Paladins in gold-trimmed plate armor stood in tight, military ranks, their swords drawn.
At their head stood three Grand Archons, wearing towering, gilded armor with glowing holy runes carved across their breastplates.
"Why is the Solari Barrier flickering?!" the lead Archon, a man with a scarred jaw named Archon Gabriel, barked at a paladin. "Fix the array!"
"I-I can’t, Your Eminence!" the paladin panicked. "An anti-magic field is suppressing our holy formations from the shadows!"
’Thanks, Raven,’ I thought, flexing my right hand inside the silver Soul-Channeler Gauntlet. The blue runes along the metal hummed against my skin, linking seamlessly with Valeska’s black fire.
"Look! It’s the Heretic!" a paladin shouted, pointing a broadsword at me. "He came out!"
Archon Gabriel turned, his pale eyes locking onto me, then onto Valeska standing beside me.
Gabriel let out a booming, arrogant laugh. "An F-Rank peasant stepping onto a battlefield himself? Do you think that dark abomination can protect you from two hundred of Sol-Valen’s finest warriors?"
Gabriel raised his hand, pointing at my head. "Vanguard, charge! Decapitate the boy!"
Thirty heavy paladins broke formation, their boots thundering across the wet cobblestones as they rushed us with raised shields and broadswords.
Valeska took a step forward, preparing to draw her greatsword, but I held out my gauntleted right hand.
"Hold on, Valeska," I said, a slow, dark smirk spreading across my face. "Let me test the new gauntlet first."
Valeska paused, her featureless helmet tilting slightly. "You, mortal? Against thirty armored paladins?"
"Watch and learn, Empress."
I planted my boots into the wet cobblestones, channeled my Aether through the silver gauntlet, and thrust my right palm directly toward the charging vanguard.
[Skill Activated: [Ashen Pulse Lv. 1]]
BOOM!
A seventy-foot-wide wave of jet-black kinetic force exploded from my palm.
The dark shockwave slammed into the thirty paladins, crushing their heavy steel shields like paper and blasting all thirty of them backward through the air. They crashed into the plaza’s stone fountain in a shower of sparks and scorched metal, out cold.
The remaining hundred and seventy paladins stood completely paralyzed, their mouths hanging open under their visors.
"W-What?!" a paladin whimpered, stepping back. "How could an F-Rank peasant unleash that mind of force?!"
"He didn’t even draw a weapon!" another yelled. "That’s why I hate anomalies!"
"Oh, shut up. Acting like it’s not your first time seeing an anomaly!" another retorted.
Beside me, Valeska’s visor flared with a bright, surprised red glow. She looked at the destroyed fountain, then down at my glowing silver gauntlet. "You channeled my kinetic force through your own vessel," Valeska noted, her voice carrying a rare trace of genuine shock. "Your body didn’t even break."
"Told you," I grinned, shaking the excess black smoke off my gauntlet. "The Soul-Channeler works."
Valeska scoffed, though her visor stayed glowing bright red. "It would seem you already place rather too much trust in that shadow-dweller."
She drew her six-foot black greatsword, the blade instantly bursting into a pillar of pitch-black fire. "Do not get arrogant though, insect. You only took out the trash. The real targets remain."
Valeska and I moved in synchronization, tearing through the remaining paladins.
With the Starlight Essence keeping my soul stabilized and the gauntlet easing the Aether drain, I didn’t have to stand in the back like a fragile glass doll anymore. I used [Adaptive Resonance] to dodge spear thrusts and blasted enemy formations with [Ashen Pulse], while Valeska’s greatsword incinerated dozens of paladins in a roaring ring of black fire.
[System Notice: Soul Synchronization Deepening Through Combat!]
[Resonance Level: 12% -> 18%!]
[Soul Essence Capacity Increased: 720 -> 880 -> 1,000 / 3,000!]
DING! DING! DING!
A massive, golden System notification erupted in front of my vision, blindingly bright.
[MILESTONE REACHED: 1,000 SOUL ESSENCE!]
[New Soul-Tether Skill Unlocked via Valeska, The Ashen Monarch:]
[Ashen Cleave (Basic) Lv. 1]:Converts Valeska’s kinetic fire into a massive, slashing crescent blade that cuts through physical and magical defenses. (Cost: 50 Soul Essence).
’New Skill? Ashen Cleave? Hell yeah!’ I grinned, feeling a surge of raw, destructive power flooding into my right arm.
At that exact moment, Archon Gabriel and his two Grand Archon lieutenants stepped forward, their gilded armor glowing with furious holy light.
"Solari’s Judgment!" Archon Gabriel roared.
The three Grand Archons raised their golden swords in unison. A blinding dome of holy light erupted above the Grand Plaza, converging into three colossal, sun-like spears of light floating above their heads.
"Die, Heretic!" Gabriel commanded, thrusting his sword forward.
All three golden spears plunged from the sky, aiming directly for my chest.
Valeska prepared to step in front of me, but I stepped ahead of her, raising my gauntleted right hand into the rainy air.
"My turn, Empress," I smirked.
I channeled 50 Soul Essence into my gauntlet and slashed my hand downward in a violent, sweeping arc.
[Skill Activated: [Ashen Cleave Lv. 1]]
SWOOSH—BOOM!
A hundred-foot-wide, razor-sharp crescent blade of pitch-black kinetic fire shot out from my gauntlet.
The black crescent cut through the falling rain, slicing straight through the three golden spears of light and detonating them mid-air. The shockwave blew the roofs off nearby buildings and shattered Archon Gabriel’s gilded chestplate, cleaving his Mythic Holy Sword in half.
Archon Gabriel was launched backward through the air, crashing through a stone wall fifty feet away.
The two lieutenant Archons dropped their broken weapons and fled into the rain in sheer terror.
High above the battlefield, on the rooftop of a five-story clocktower, Raven leaned against the stone railing. She took a slow drag from her glowing blue cigar, letting out a ring of smoke that dissolved into the storm.
Her sharp blue eyes watched Kaelen standing amidst the ruined plaza below, his right hand still smoking with the black residual fire of Ashen Cleave.
"An F-Rank unlocking an Ashen Monarch’s signature cleave at 1,000 Soul Essence," Raven murmured to herself, a subtle, razor-sharp smile appearing on her lips. "Not bad, kid..."
She touched the dark, ancient crest hidden beneath her trench coat collar.
"Keep growing," Raven whispered into the wind. "Because when the High Empire falls... you’re going to need every drop of that Calamity power."