Vessel Tiers measured a creature’s innate physical potential. Everyone was born with one, and under normal circumstances, it never changed. A Tier 0 human was the baseline, while each successive Tier added another multiple. Tier 1 was twice as strong as an ordinary human, Tier 2 was three times, and Tier 5 was six times.
But Tiers weren’t everything. Stages were what truly mattered.
As far as anyone knew, there were eight Stages, from Stage 0, Stagnation, through Stage 7, Dominion. In between came Awakening, Ascension, Manifestation, Empowerment, Synthesis, and Transcendence. Whether more existed beyond Dominion, nobody knew.
Each Stage required the Vessel Tier, Mind Level, and Soul Rank to align. Reaching one granted a universal ability and doubled the output of the body, mind, and soul.
That was why Ash stood frozen.
He was born with a Tier 5 Vessel. At Stage 1, the Stage of Awakening, his physical capabilities were equivalent to twelve ordinary men.
Max had only a Tier 2 Vessel. Yet at Stage 2, the Stage of Ascension, his strength had reached the same level.
They were now physical equals.
But no... that wasn’t what truly unsettled Ash.
Max had never cared about raw power. Unlike Tyrin, who lived and breathed for combat, Max had always walked the path of the Mind. While others honed their bodies and chased higher Stages, Max buried himself in strategy, engineering, and ancient lore. He was the brother who believed a sharp mind would always outlive a strong fist.
He had never expressed the slightest desire to ascend. The last time Ash saw him in Varagos, he was still at stage 0.
Yet somehow... he had reached Stage 2.
Ash stared at his brother hurtling through the air, feeling as though he were looking at a total stranger wearing his brother’s face.
"...Dammit. So that shockwave was an ability."
Ash muttered as a bitter smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"You’ve really been keeping secrets, haven’t you?"
The smile faded instantly.
"All the more reason why you’re not dying here."
Ash crouched, snatched a heavy chunk of shattered bedrock, and hurled it with terrifying precision toward the airborne Max.
The stone struck Max hard in the ribs, altering his momentum in midair and knocking him sideways, just in time to dodge a sweeping strike from the colossus’s left arm.
Ash seized the opening. Sprinting forward, he leaped onto the Colossus’s sweeping forearm, using its momentum as a launchpad to vault himself directly in front of the monster’s face. He got close enough to smell the acrid stone dust pouring from its mouth.
The colossus opened its jaws. Its terrifying maw of jagged stone was ready to swallow him whole.
Ash was a fraction of a second from being crushed when the hot shockwave slammed into his ribs, blasting him out of the air and sending him crashing straight through a massive stone pillar.
"Seriously?!"
Ash coughed, spitting blood and stone dust as he scrambled out of the rubble.
Max shot Ash a faint, cynical smirk.
"What? You think I’d let you win this suicide contest that easily?"
Max sprinted toward the giant, leaping onto its left foot as the Colossus raised its leg. He scrambled up its thigh, vaulted off its shoulder, and dived straight toward the monster’s open mouth.
Ash didn’t hesitate. He was already surging forward, launching himself straight into Max’s trajectory. He slammed into Max mid-air, tackling him out of the way a split second before the colossus’s jaws snapped shut with a deafening crash. Debris rained down like shrapnel as the floor quaked under the impact.
The two brothers tumbled across the ruined floor, bruised and breathless. Ash immediately scrambled to his feet to charge the Colossus again, but Max’s hand clamped around his ankle, yanking him down hard.
Ash thrashed against the floor, but Max’s grip was like iron.
"Let go! Dammit, Max, let go!"
"No!"
Max shouted back, his voice cracking.
"Please, Ash... don’t do this!"
Ash looked down and froze.
Max was crying.
The sight hit Ash like a physical strike. The last time he had seen Max shed a tear was the day their mother died. Max rarely showed weakness; he was calculated, cold when necessary, and always found a way to win.
’No...’
Ash thought, his jaw clenching. Max was smart. He’d use any trick, any emotional leverage to win... This is just another tactic.
"I’m not falling for that," Ash growled.
Max’s eyes widened.
"What...?"
Ash lashed out, kicking violently at Max’s arm and face to break the grip. But Max refused to let go, absorbing the blows and using Ash’s momentum to keep him pinned.
Ash growled in frustration. He was trapped. And worse, the colossus was stepping over them, its shadow engulfing them both.
"Tell me, is this what you want?!"
Ash screamed over the thundering footsteps.
"If you don’t let go right now, we both die!"
Max gritted his teeth, tears streaming down his dust-covered face.
"Then let us both die! I’d rather die beside you than live with the guilt of letting you throw yourself away for me!"
Max let out a dry, desperate laugh.
"Besides... aren’t you the one protected by fate? You aren’t going to die here anyway!"
Ash’s breath hitched. Max had already thought three steps ahead. Because of Ash’s Root, his destiny was anchored, which meant he wouldn’t die here. But Ash wasn’t about to let Max die either.
Ash relaxed his posture.
"Fine. You win..."
Max immediately dragged them both sideways just as a titanic stone foot slammed down onto the spot where they had been lying a second ago.
Max scrambled up, breathing heavily.
"Good. I’m glad you came to your senses. Now, I don’t see a way out of this unless—"
Before Max could finish, Ash grabbed his collar and hurled him backward with all the strength he could muster, sending Max flying toward the far wall.
"Like hell I’m letting fate dictate my choices!"
Ash roared, turning to sprint toward the Colossus.
"I’m ending this right here!"
Max hit the ground hard, tumbling several times before coughing up blood. He looked up, a sad smile breaking across his face.
"You fool..."
Max whispered.
"You’ve already lost."
A glowing green barrier materialized directly in front of Ash. He pivoted violently to bypass it, but another wall snapped into place, blocking his path again.
"Dammit, Max!"
Ash searched his jacket desperately, but he couldn’t find the device anywhere. Still, it didn’t matter. Those barriers weren’t going to save him from a Tier 7 attack. They were only meant to stall him. He was as good as dead anyway.
Suddenly, the barrier in front of him didn’t just block him; it surged forward, slamming into Ash’s chest and blasting him backward at bullet-like speeds, dragging him away from the giant’s descending foot just in time.
"What the...?"
Ash was yanked backward with brutal force, slamming hard against the far wall near the hall’s entrance, his breath exploding from his lungs. Through the translucent red glow of the barrier, Ash watched Max race toward the Colossus’s shadow. The barrier flickered and disappeared as the energy tethering it to Max stretched to its limit.
"Argh!"
Ash forced his broken body upright, grinding his teeth against the pain. He tried to burst forward, but the green wall solidified into a complete rectangular cage, locking him in place.
"What the..."
Ash placed his hands against the walls. Green walls surrounded him on all sides. He didn’t even know technology like this existed.
"Shit."
Ash slammed his fists against the energy wall. The barrier suddenly flared red, absorbing the impact effortlessly.
Then, Max’s calm voice echoed above him.
"Don’t waste your energy hitting it, Ash..."
Ash froze, staring at Max’s back as his brother continued his death sprint toward the colossus.
"Max?"
The voice continued.
"This is a reinforced displacement barrier. Even Tyrin couldn’t break it in time..."
Ash reached for his hair and found a microchip. This was a recording device. It seemed Max had planted recording devices on him during their earlier fight.
Ash crushed it in his fist. As it shattered, another speaker activated from near his boot, blasting Max’s recorded laughter.
"Oh... you broke that one. Expected. Anyway, I’ll be quick. I won’t say much because you might be watching me try to commit suicide right now... or because you’ll probably break this one too—"
Ash ripped the second chip off his boot and smashed it, only for a third voice to whisper from a device clipped to his collar.
"...But I will say this: looks like I’ll be going first. So Ash... take care of everyone for me."
Rage, horror, and grief erupted inside Ash’s chest.
"AS IF!"
He slammed his fists against the barrier over and over, the sound drowned out by the thundering steps of the colossus.
The Colossus loomed over Max now, raising its massive stone fist to erase him from existence. As the shadow swallowed him, Max turned his head toward Ash, his expression serenely at peace.
Ash’s knuckles bled against the glowing wall. His voice cracked with raw, desperate fury.
"As if I’m going to lose another member of my family!"
He drew his arm back, his soul energy surging wildly toward its limit.
[Ability: Fire Palm]
Searing, crimson fire engulfed his hand, burning into his skin as he funneled every drop of his remaining soul energy into the strike. He slammed his burning palm directly into the center of the cage. Spiderweb fissures spread across the holographic barrier.
Without wasting a millisecond, he triggered his second ability:
[Ability: Lightning Space]
The world instantly slowed to an absolute crawl. The air thickened like ice, and an agonizing sensation ripped through Ash’s internal organs as the burden took hold.
Ignoring the unbearable pain, Ash forced his heavy legs forward, pushing through the frozen space as his muscles strained under the sheer pressure.
Everything in the room was suspended in slow motion:
The ancient sovereign leaning forward on his throne, a cold smile spreading across his face.
The Colossus’s titanic hand descending inch by agonizing inch toward Max.
And Max... standing there with his eyes closed, waiting for death with a smile.
’You idiot...’
Ash pushed past the threshold of his physical limits. He reached Max just as the shadow blotted out the ceiling, grabbing his brother’s vest and hurling him backward toward the safety of the thrones.
The colossus’s fist struck the empty stone floor in slow motion, sending frozen fragments of bedrock erupting into the air like suspended shrapnel.
Ash didn’t stop there. Determined to disable the shields for good, he grabbed a small anchor device on Max’s wrist, snapped its casing, and crushed its internal circuitry until the green glow died completely. Then, he shoved Max further away.
Max’s eyes were wide with shock, his lips moving in a slow-motion scream that Ash couldn’t hear.
Ash didn’t need to hear it.
Releasing a long, exhausted breath, Ash allowed a calm smile to settle on his face. He deactivated the skill.
Time snapped back to normal.
"Max..."
Ash whispered as the air rushed back into his lungs.
"Take care of everyone for me."
The colossus loomed above, turning its burning eyes down onto Ash as if accepting the new target.
Ash looked up at the descending shadow.
"This is it. A Tier 7... this thing can actually end me. About time, huh? Maybe this way, fate won’t take anyone else from me. Maybe I’ll finally see Mom again on the other side... Well... that is, if there’s anything on the other side."
The colossus raised its massive foot, the shadow swallowing Ash whole.
"NO! STOP! STOP IT!"
Max screamed from the floor, scrambling toward the throne in absolute desperation.
"OLD MAN, ENOUGH! KILL ME INSTEAD! LET HIM GO!"
The sovereign didn’t even blink.
The colossal foot slammed down.
"ASH, NO—!!"
There was a loud snap and the world went dead silent.
Ash opened his eyes.
The Colossus’s foot hung motionless inches above his face. Specks of stone dust were suspended in the air like glitter. Billowing smoke stood completely still. Far behind him, Max was frozen mid-scream, a single tear locked on his cheek.
Ash looked around, bewildered. This wasn’t [Lightning Space]. Time hadn’t just slowed down. It had been completely frozen.
’What’s going on?’
Then, a cold, rasping voice slithered directly into his ear.
It was no longer the calm, arrogant tone of the ancient sovereign. It was thick with disbelief... and an unmistakable edge of fear.
"Wait... Tell me, boy... Are you Ashley Burns?"