[EXPERIENCE CALCULATION FINISHED.]
[Martyred Guardian — Level 24 — Defeated.]
[Experience Awarded.]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 3 → Level 4]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 4 → Level 5]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 5 → Level 6]
[LEVEL UP!]
[Level 6 → Level 7]
I stared at the cascade of notifications hovering in front of me, momentarily forgetting about the broken Spatial Satchel I’d just shoved into my pack. One fight had given me four fucking levels.
Granted, calling what we’d just survived a fight felt generous. I’d spent a significant portion of it scrambling away from a seven-foot holy corpse while Seraphina prevented it from turning me into a particularly attractive smear across the floor, but I’d shattered its anchors, burned through its defenses, and helped put the bastard down.
The System, at least, seemed willing to acknowledge my contribution.
"Level seven," I murmured, unable to suppress the grin spreading across my face as I dismissed the final notification. "Okay. Maybe nearly dying wasn’t completely terrible."
Seraphina, who was still favoring the ribs that had introduced themselves rather violently to a stone pillar, gave me a withering look. "I’m delighted you found the experience enriching."
I glanced toward the dark bruising spreading beneath the torn fabric around her shoulder. "Check yours."
Her irritation gave way to curiosity as her attention shifted toward something only she could see. A moment later, her eyebrows rose slightly.
"Nineteen."
"You gained two levels?"
"The Guardian was seven levels above me, and I did most of the fighting."
"Excuse me?" I pressed a hand dramatically against my chest. "I contributed."
Seraphina’s mouth twitched. "You screamed several times."
"Those were tactical communications."
"You screamed my name when I hit the pillar."
The humor drained from me faster than I’d expected as my eyes returned to the bruising along her side. "Yeah. Well... that one wasn’t tactical."
Seraphina went quiet, her expression softening slightly before she turned toward the treasury. "I’m still alive."
"Let’s try keeping it that way."
Her longsword hadn’t fared much better than she had. Several fresh chips marred the edge, and the blade had developed an alarming bend near the middle from catching the Guardian’s greatsword.
Fortunately, we were standing inside an ancient holy treasury.
Seraphina examined several weapons before selecting a longsword from one of the recessed alcoves.
Unlike the ornate ceremonial blades surrounding it, this one possessed the restrained elegance of something designed to kill people. Pale silver steel formed the blade, while faded golden inscriptions traveled from the crossguard nearly halfway toward its tip.
A System window appeared when I focused on it.
[Consecrated Aurelian Longsword]
[An ancient weapon forged for the militant clergy of the Aurelian Empire.]
[Holy Conductivity: High.]
"Take it," I said immediately.
Seraphina tested the weapon’s balance with several careful movements before glancing toward me. "This is probably worth more than everything Ashfall currently owns."
"Cool. Try not to lose it."
"That wasn’t my point."
"You’re currently our strongest fighter. Selling your weapon so I can afford to buy you a worse weapon would be incredibly fucking stupid."
Seraphina stared at me for several seconds before sliding the sword into an equally ancient scabbard she’d found beside it. "Occasionally, you say something intelligent."
"Careful. Compliment me too much and I’ll start thinking you like me."
"I’ll endeavor to prevent that tragedy."
With our pack already bulging with everything we’d taken earlier, there was no reason to linger. The Guardian’s corpse and the overwhelming majority of the treasury would remain exactly where they were until I found someone capable of repairing the Spatial Satchel.
We returned to the intersection and took the right-hand corridor.
Unlike the hidden passage Seraphina had opened, I recognized this one immediately.
’Finally. Something I actually fucking wrote.’
That confidence survived for approximately thirty seconds.
The corridor from my novel had been half-collapsed when Roland discovered it. The version stretching ahead of us was pristine by comparison, lined with towering marble reliefs depicting saints beneath radiant suns.
Golden script wound across the ceiling, and alcoves I remembered describing as empty rubble still contained kneeling statues with their hands extended in prayer.
More importantly, several glowing barriers blocked our path.
"Oh, come on."
Seraphina studied the nearest curtain of golden light. "You weren’t expecting this?"
"I was expecting considerably more rubble."
"Your mysterious source of information continues to impress."
"Shut up."
She approached the barrier and pressed her palm against its surface. Golden radiance rippled outward from her fingers, briefly illuminating the insignia of the Sacred Dawn embroidered across what remained of her damaged clothing.
Then the light changed.
Thin veins of black spread through the gold.
Seraphina recoiled.
The corruption disappeared the moment she removed her hand, but I’d seen the way her expression tightened.
"It’s reacting to your bloodline," I said.
"I gathered that."
There was more bitterness in those three words than irritation.
The Order had spent fifteen years teaching her that holy power represented purity. Then they’d discovered something inside her they didn’t understand, destroyed her mana channels, and discarded her like contaminated garbage.
Now an ancient holy ward had recognized the same thing.
I resisted the temptation to make a joke.
"Can you open it?"
Seraphina looked mildly surprised that I hadn’t commented. "Probably."
She pressed her palm against the barrier again.
This time she didn’t pull away when black spread through the gold.
The ward flickered several times before dissolving entirely.
"Show-off," I muttered.
Her lips curved faintly. "You couldn’t open the last door."
"I don’t like this developing pattern."
The remaining wards required similar treatment, although one forced Seraphina to channel enough mana that black-gold light briefly crawled along her wrist. By the time the final barrier dissolved, the corridor had widened into an enormous circular burial chamber.
Unlike the forgotten treasury, this place had been preserved almost perfectly.
White marble covered every surface, threaded with veins of gold that converged around an elevated altar at the chamber’s center. Statues of kneeling priests surrounded it, their stone heads bowed toward a crystal pedestal beneath a mural depicting a woman ascending into radiant sunlight.
Resting upon that pedestal was a tiny crystal ampoule.
Golden liquid shimmered inside.
It couldn’t have been more than a mouthful, yet the droplets refused to behave naturally. Several floated above the surface before slowly climbing the inside of the vial, defying gravity as they joined a miniature sphere of liquid suspended near the stopper.
I knew exactly what I was looking at.
[Tear of the First Saint]
[Classification: Ancient Holy Relic]
[Compatible Investment Target Detected: Seraphina Vael]
[Investment Grade: SSS]
[Investment Compatibility: Exceptional]
[Potential Return: 100×]
My pulse accelerated.
Seraphina noticed immediately. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Because this is for you."
Her attention shifted from me to the ampoule. "What?"
I carefully lifted the relic from its pedestal. The crystal felt strangely warm against my palm, while the golden liquid inside brightened as Seraphina approached.
"I knew this was here," I explained. "Well, I knew it would eventually be here. The intact knight and secret treasury were unexpected bonuses."
Seraphina ignored that particular collection of concerning statements. "You brought me here for this?"
"And the money."
"Kira."
"Mostly this."
Her expression became difficult to read.
"You have twenty-three people living in a dungeon with thirteen silver to its name," she said slowly. "This relic could be worth a fortune."
"It will be worth its weight in gold after you drink it."
"And you’re giving it to me."
"Yes."
"Why?"
I exhaled through my nose. "Because you’re an investment."
Her eyes narrowed. "That’s an incredibly cold way to describe someone you’ve slept with."
"Would you prefer girlfriend?"
"Give me the fucking vial."
A grin immediately broke across my face. "That’s not a no."
...
...
Still smiling, I placed the ampoule into her hand. Seraphina looked down at the swirling gold for several seconds, but when she raised her eyes again, the irritation had faded.
"The people who raised you destroyed your mana channels because they were afraid of whatever is inside you," I said, my voice losing some of its humor. "I don’t know everything about this world, Seraphina. I’m figuring that out very fucking quickly. But I do know what you can become."
Her fingers tightened around the crystal.
"I want you strong enough that nobody ever gets to decide what you are again."
For once, Seraphina had nothing sarcastic to say as she removed the stopper.
"Drink all of it."
"You’re remarkably commanding for someone who couldn’t open a door."
"Just fucking drink it."
Seraphina lifted the vial to her lips.
The moment the golden liquid touched her tongue, the chamber erupted.
A violent surge of holy mana blasted outward and forced me backward. Seraphina’s spine arched as radiant gold raced beneath her skin, flooding through pathways that had been destroyed only days earlier. The bruising across her shoulder vanished before my eyes, followed by the swelling around her ribs and the dried blood along her mouth.
Then the gold began turning black.
Seraphina gasped as corrupted radiance twisted through the chamber. Her blonde hair lifted around her face while black-gold mana poured from her body in increasingly violent waves.
Behind her head, brilliant golden light condensed into a perfect circular halo.
A fracture split through its center.
CRACK!
More fractures raced across the halo until black radiance bled through every golden seam.
For several seconds, I forgot how to breathe.
The woman standing before me no longer resembled the crippled prisoner I’d found beneath Ashfall. Power saturated the air around her, dense enough to raise every hair along my arms, while the shattered black-and-gold halo suspended behind her transformed something already beautiful into something dangerously inhuman.
’Oh.’
My gaze traveled over her.
’That’s going to be a fucking problem.’
Notifications flooded my vision.
[Tear of the First Saint successfully absorbed.]
[Fallen Seraph Bloodline has reacted to concentrated Divine Essence.]
[Fallen Seraph Bloodline: 5% → 32%]
[Current Potential: A → S]
[True Potential: SSS]
[Physical attributes significantly enhanced.]
[Mana Capacity significantly increased.]
[All injuries restored.]
[Bloodline Skill Acquired: Fallen Halo]
[Fallen Halo: Manifest a corrupted divine halo that amplifies Fallen Seraph abilities and corrupted holy magic.]
Seraphina slowly opened her eyes.
Black-gold radiance flickered across her irises before receding.
"How do you feel?" I asked.
She flexed the shoulder that had been badly bruised minutes earlier, then drew a deep breath without flinching. Her expression shifted from disbelief to something approaching wonder.
"Nothing hurts." Seraphina remarked as she began to stretch.
"Good, because—"
My system exploded.
[SSS-GRADE INVESTMENT SUCCESSFUL.]
[Target: Seraphina Vael]
[Investment: Tear of the First Saint]
[Investment Return: 100×]
[Strength +7]
[Vitality +14]
[Agility +11]
[Magic +22]
[Spirit +25]
[Holy Resistance +15]
[Divine Resistance +10]
[Fallen Seraph Bloodline Fragment +17]
[Total Fallen Seraph Bloodline Fragments: 19]
[Skill Evolution Detected.]
[Blighted Radiance → Heretical Flame]
[Heretical Flame: Conjure and manipulate corrupted divine flame.]
[Bloodline Skill Acquired: Fallen Wings]
[Fallen Wings: Manifest wings of corrupted divine mana, granting flight and enhanced aerial mobility.]
[Evolution Progress +25%]
[Total Evolution Progress: 35%]*
The change hit me before I’d finished reading.
Mana surged through my body with enough force to make me stagger. My reservoir hadn’t merely expanded; it felt cavernous compared to what I’d possessed minutes earlier.
The ambient mana filling the burial chamber sharpened around me until I could distinguish currents flowing through the ancient wards, the residue lingering inside the altar, and the immense black-gold presence radiating from Seraphina.
My body changed with it. Fatigue evaporated from my muscles, my breathing steadied, and every movement suddenly felt lighter and more responsive.
"Holy fuck."
Seraphina raised an eyebrow. "Are you having another episode?"
"Something like that."
I lifted my hand and summoned Blighted Radiance.
Except it wasn’t Blighted Radiance anymore.
Black-gold flame blossomed across my palm and remained there, curling between my fingers without burning my skin. I concentrated on the fire, imagining it stretching outward, and a narrow ribbon of corrupted flame obediently extended several inches before coiling back around my wrist.
My grin widened.
"Oh, I am going to have fun with this."
"That expression concerns me."
"It should. I have a new toy to play with."
Before Seraphina could ask what I meant, I focused on the other ability.
Mana erupted behind me.
Two enormous wings of black-and-gold radiance unfurled from my back, scattering loose dust across the marble floor. I lurched forward under the sudden shift in balance and windmilled my arms before barely catching myself against the altar.
Seraphina stared.
I straightened with as much dignity as I could salvage.
"Not a fucking word."
Her gaze traveled deliberately from my face to the enormous wings trembling unevenly behind me.
"Those look disturbingly familiar."
"Are you jealous?"
"No." Her mouth curved into a smug smile. "Mostly because you appear incapable of standing properly with them."
"I’ve had wings for six seconds!"
A laugh escaped her, quiet but genuine.
Then pain detonated behind my sternum.
The wings vanished instantly as I doubled over, one hand clutching my chest. The sensation wasn’t physical injury. I recognized the direction embedded inside it, the invisible tether stretching across miles of wilderness toward the dungeon I’d inherited.
Ashfall.
"Kira!?"
Seraphina’s amusement disappeared.
A crimson System window materialized across my vision.
[EMERGENCY ALERT]
[ASHFALL DUNGEON TERRITORY BREACHED.]
[MULTIPLE HOSTILE ENTITIES DETECTED.]
[Humans Detected: 7]
[Estimated Time Until Dungeon Entrance: 28 Minutes.]