Awakening My Sovereign Authority

Chapter 3

The three seconds felt like a lifetime. 

Julian lay on the cold, sharp rocks. He could not run. He could not hide. The twelve pairs of glowing red eyes moved closer. The Abyssal Wolves stepped out of the shadows, their large paws making clicking sounds against the stone. 

The Alpha Wolf led the pack. It was a nightmare made of muscle and black fur. Thick, terrible scars covered its face, showing that it had survived many battles in Demon's Maw Valley. The beast opened its mouth, letting out a hot breath that smelled like rotting meat and old blood. 

“This is it,” Julian thought. His heart hammered in his chest like a trapped bird. “This is how my story ends.” 

He closed his eyes, waiting for the sharp teeth to tear into his throat. He waited for the final flash of pain. 

But as the seconds passed, fear slowly turned into something else. 

Deep inside Julian’s chest, a tiny spark of heat began to grow. It pushed past the freezing wind. It pushed past the terrible pain of his broken ribs and his burned arm. It was anger. Pure, burning anger. 

He saw Dominic’s smiling face in his mind. He heard Caleb’s cruel laugh. He remembered Sophia looking away, choosing money over his life. For three long years, Julian had taken their pain. He had broken his own bones so they could stand tall. He had burned his own skin so they could look perfect. He had been a loyal shield. 

“And they threw me away like garbage,” Julian thought, his fists tightly clenching in the dirt. He opened his eyes. The fear was completely gone. "No," Julian whispered into the dark valley. 

The Alpha Wolf stopped for a second, tilting its massive head. It seemed confused by the sound. Prey was supposed to cry. Prey was supposed to beg. 

"I said NO!" Julian screamed. The sound tore from his bleeding throat, echoing loudly off the canyon walls. 

Julian refused to die as a forgotten stepping stone. He refused to let Dominic Sullivan build a perfect life on top of his dead body. If he died right here, the world would only remember him as a weak, pathetic Support who was not good enough. 

“I want to live!” Julian’s mind roared. “I want to live and make them pay!”

Inside Julian’s body, right next to his heart, sat his Mana Core. Every person had one. Julian’s core had always been a soft, gentle red color. It was meant to heal, to absorb, and to protect. 

But right now, under the crushing weight of his absolute rage and his intense will to survive, the soft red core began to vibrate. 

Julian gasped. He felt a sudden, sharp pain deep inside his soul. It was a thousand times worse than the broken ribs. 

His Mana Core exploded. 

Usually, when a person’s Mana Core broke, they died instantly. But Julian did not die. Instead, the shattered pieces of his core began to spin wildly. The soft red light was eaten by a sudden, blinding flash of gold and black energy. 

A heavy, invisible pressure exploded out from Julian’s body. The sharp rocks around him lifted into the air and floated for a second before dropping back to the ground. 

In Julian’s mind, a clear, ringing voice spoke. It was not a human voice. It was the voice of the world’s magic system. 

[CRITICAL INJURY DETECTED. WILLPOWER EXCEEDS MORTAL LIMITS.]

[MANA CORE MUTATION SUCCESSFUL.]

[SUPPORT SKILL 'AURA OF BURDEN' HAS EVOLVED.]

[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SOVEREIGN’S AUTHORITY.]

Julian gasped for air as the golden and black energy flooded his veins. He felt different. He felt heavy, powerful, and dangerous. 

For the first time in his life, he did not feel like a sponge meant to absorb pain. He felt like a king meant to give orders. But there was no time to think. 

The Alpha Wolf, angered by Julian’s scream, roared loudly. Its powerful back legs dug into the dirt. With a massive leap, the giant beast flew through the air, its terrible jaws opening wide to bite Julian’s head off. 

Time seemed to slow down. 

Julian looked up at the flying monster. His new power whispered to him, telling him exactly what to do. He still had all of Dominic’s pain stored inside his body. He had the terrible burns from the purple fire. He had the force of the tail strike that broke his ribs. 

Before, Julian could only take that pain into himself. Now, as a Sovereign, he could command it. He could move it. 

Julian raised his uninjured right hand and pointed a single finger directly at the Alpha Wolf. 

"Take it," Julian commanded. His voice was cold, calm, and completely different from the scared boy he was five minutes ago. "Take my pain. Fatigue Transfer!"

Instead of the weak, red chain that used to connect Julian to his team, a massive, thick chain made of solid black and gold light shot out of Julian’s palm. It moved faster than a bullet. 

The golden chain stabbed directly into the Alpha Wolf’s chest while it was still in the air. 

Instantly, the magic worked. The transfer was not slow; it was immediate and violent. 

Julian forced every single drop of physical trauma, exhaustion, and magical damage he had taken for Dominic straight into the monster's body. 

The Alpha Wolf’s eyes went wide with sudden, unimaginable terror. 

While the beast was still flying through the air, the skin on its left front leg suddenly blistered and burned away, exactly matching the severe burn on Julian's arm. The wolf let out a high-pitched scream of agony. But it did not stop there. 

A loud, sickening crack echoed through the valley. The Alpha Wolf’s ribs suddenly snapped inward. The invisible force of the Abyssal Drake’s tail, the same force that had broken Julian’s bones earlier, was now crushing the wolf from the inside. 

The massive monster lost all its strength. The complete, bone-tiring exhaustion of a three-hour boss fight hit the wolf all at once. 

The beast fell from the sky like a rock. It crashed into the dirt right at Julian’s feet, completely paralyzed by the sudden, overwhelming pain. 

The Alpha Wolf tried to breathe, but its lungs were crushed. It looked up at Julian, not with hunger anymore, but with complete fear. Its massive heart, unable to handle the sudden shock of a hundred different injuries appearing at once, simply gave up. 

With a wet, bursting sound inside its chest, the Alpha Wolf’s head dropped into the dirt. Its glowing red eyes slowly faded to black. 

It was dead.