2026-11-02 23:42:11Ethan fell heavily onto his knees in the crimson snow of the Outer Wastes. His shattered hands throbbed with white-hot agony as he tried to lift his arms.
With shaking limbs, he pulled his little brother Toby against his chest. A healthy warrior would freeze out here within an hour, and Toby was only a frail child. The boy’s lips were dark purple, his shallow breathing rattling against the roar of the blizzard.
"Stay with me, Toby, please don't close your eyes," Ethan begged, his voice cracking as he rocked the boy back and forth. He pressed Toby tight against his coat, trying to shield him from the wind, but his own body carried no warmth.
Beside them, his blind mother fell to her hands and knees, weeping as she felt blindly through the snow. Her frostbitten fingers were torn and bleeding, freezing the moment they touched the ice.
"My boys... where are you?" she sobbed, tears turning into frozen crusts on her pale cheeks. She crawled forward until her trembling fingers touched Ethan’s arm. "We can't survive this storm, Ethan... my heart is breaking for you!"
"Don't cry, Mother, I've got you both," Ethan whispered through chattering teeth. He pulled them both close, feeling completely helpless against the howling gale.
Heavy footsteps crunched through the snow as the two armored guards stepped closer. They didn't leave; instead, they drew long, jagged hunting knives from their belts, their faces twisted with cruel grins.
"Look at them shiver!" the lead guard laughed, kicking a clump of frozen dirt into Ethan’s face. "Like three stray dogs dying in a ditch!"
"Why are you doing this?" Ethan cried out, his voice hoarse with despair. "You already took our home and threw us into the storm! Why are you pulling blades?!"
"Because your lives are still worth gold, beggar!" the second guard sneered, waving his knife. "Since you're going to freeze anyway, we're taking your hearts back to the city! The dark alchemists pay a fortune for fresh human blood!"
"No! Take me instead!" the blind mother screamed, throwing herself forward to grab the guard’s boot. "Spare my children! Please!"
"Get off me, old hag!" the second guard barked, kicking her hard into the snow and pinning her down by her hair.
"Mother!" Ethan roared, struggling to stand, but his broken fingers dragged uselessly through the red snow.
The lead guard ignored him and walked straight toward Toby. He raised his jagged hunting knife high, aiming directly for the little boy's chest.
Ethan didn't think twice. He threw his entire body over his brother, using his back as a human shield.
The heavy blade drove down with sickening force, piercing straight through Ethan’s back and puncturing his heart. A blinding flash of agony tore through his body, and his breath caught as hot blood filled his mouth.
"Ethan! My son! Heavens, no!" his mother shrieked, the sound of tearing flesh driving her into pure madness. She sobbed uncontrollably, clawing at the ice as the smell of fresh blood hit the air.
The guard yanked the bloody knife free, laughing with pure malice. "The big one is down! Now hold the runt still!"
As the last beat of Ethan’s heart faded, the cold took hold of his soul. But right at the edge of death, the sheer injustice of his betrayal shattered the realm's cosmic rules. A dark flame exploded inside his fading mind, freezing time itself.
[Absolute Zero Environment Detected.]
[Lethal Malice Harvested: +2,000 Eclipse Points.]
[Eternal Solar-Eclipse System Awakened!]
[Fatal Wounds Purged. Inverted Black Hole Solar Core Ignited.]
A wave of blazing golden warmth rushed through Ethan's veins, instantly knitting his shattered bones. The fatal puncture in his heart closed within a single second, leaving behind smooth, unblemished skin.
The biting frost of the storm and the killers' hatred poured directly into his chest, feeding his inverted core like dry wood on a wildfire. The deeper their cruelty and the colder the world grew, the more unstoppable his power became.
Ethan opened his eyes, his pupils glowing with sharp, merciless gold.
He reached up with his bare hand and caught the guard’s incoming blade mid-strike.
The steel blade stopped dead in the air, instantly frosting over with black ice. The lead guard's smirk vanished, replaced by sheer terror. "What... how are you moving?!"
"He's playing a trick on us!" the second guard yelled from behind. "He's just a beggar with broken bones! Cut his head off!"
"Die!" the lead guard roared, putting all his weight into a desperate punch.
Ethan didn't flinch. The heavy fist struck his jaw like a dry twig snapping against stone. Ethan stood up slowly, towering over the guard like a predator stepping from the shadows.
He clamped his bare hand around the guard’s wrist, letting black solar flames seep straight into the man's veins. In a fraction of a second, the guard’s entire body froze into solid black ice, his eyes locked in silent horror.
Ethan threw a single punch into the frozen man’s chest.
The frozen guard shattered into a cloud of black dust, scattered across the snow by the howling wind.
The second guard dropped his knife, his knees slamming into the frozen ground as he wet himself in pure panic. "Mercy! Lord, have mercy! I was just following orders!"
"Did you show mercy to my mother?!" Ethan growled, his voice deep and lethal as golden energy swirled around his boots.
Driven by blind panic, the trapped guard lunged sideways, pulling a hidden dagger and driving it straight into the blind mother's neck before Ethan could cross the snow.
The mother gasped softly, her head falling back into the snow as bright blood stained the white ice. "Ethan... protect... Toby..." she whispered with her final breath, her sightless eyes closing forever.
"Mother! No!" Ethan screamed, a roar of pure heartbreak tearing from his throat.
He blurred across the snow like a shadow, his hand locking around the guard’s throat before the man could even pull the blade free. With a brutal twist of his wrist, Ethan snapped the man's neck with a sharp, sickening crack.
He threw the dead body aside and fell to his knees in the crimson snow, gently lifting his mother's cooling face into his trembling hands.
Tears fell from his golden eyes, sizzling as they hit the ice, while an unyielding, blackened hatred hardened his heart into stone.
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Chapter 20
The icy blizzard howled violently through the narrow, snow-covered alleyway behind the ancient clocktower. Cold white flakes rained down from the dark night sky, covering the rotting wooden shanties in a freezing blanket of ice. Ethan Vance stood tall in his gray woolen cloak, his golden eyes glowing with a calm, lethal light under the pale winter moon. Cynthia stumbled backward into the dirty snow, her heavy boots slipping on the frozen slush as Ethan's cold words struck her like a physical hammer. She clutched her pale throat with both hands, her violet eyes wide with absolute, terrifying horror as her breath caught in her chest. "Ethan... what... what are you talking about?!" Cynthia shrieked, her trembling voice cracking against the roaring winter wind. "I didn't do anything! Garrick lied to you! Someone else put poison in Toby's food! I swear on my life!" she wailed frantically, wiping cold sweat from her pale forehead. Ethan took one slow, deliberate step forward, the sn
Chapter 19
The bitter winter wind howled through the narrow, snow-covered mouth of the dark alleyway. Cold gray fog rolled past the rotting wooden shanties, carrying the faint scent of sulfur and wet frost. Ethan Vance stood tall at the entrance of the alleyway, his heavy leather boots planted firmly in the freezing slush. His gray woolen cloak snapped gently in the rising blizzard, but his broad shoulders remained steady as a mountain peak. Under the faint silver glow of the winter moon, his golden eyes shone with quiet, divine authority. Stepping out from the heavy shadows of a broken wooden fence, Cynthia shivered violently in the bitter cold air. She wore a torn fur cloak she had stolen from a maid's quarters, its frayed edges dripping with filthy melting snow. Beneath her pale skin, dark black veins of decaying necrosis crawled up her thin neck like a spiderweb of poison. The three Blood-Ignition Pills Garrick had forced down her throat were devouring her inner meridians f
Chapter 18
The midnight bell of Aethelgard chimed heavily across the frozen sky, its deep metallic ring carrying no warmth into the dark streets. True to Lord Director Balor's vicious command, a sudden, terrifying freeze gripped the outer Ironworks Slum. Dozens of heavy syndicate enforcers marched into the border alleys, hauling massive blocks of jagged blue ice on wooden sleds. They slammed the ice blocks together with loud thuds, erecting tall runic barricades that completely sealed off every entrance to the slum district. Glowing blue runes flared along the icy walls, creating an impassable barrier that shut down all incoming traffic. City coal wagons were turned away by armed guards, clean water carts were smashed in the mud, and bread transport trucks were seized at spearpoint. "Turn back!" a heavy syndicate captain roared through a loud brass trumpet, his voice echoing off the frozen shanties. "By order of the City Energy Board, the Ironworks Slum is under total Quarantine
Chapter 17
The Crimson Flame vanished into Ethan’s open palm like water soaking into dry sand. Not a single spark remained in the cold air, nor did a drop of sweat show on Ethan's calm face. The entire banquet hall fell into a suffocating, dead silence that felt heavier than mountain stone. Every governor, noble lord, and trade merchant stood frozen in place, their mouths hanging open in sheer disbelief. No one in the thirty-year history of Aethelgard had ever absorbed Director Balor's Fifth-Rank flame with bare hands. Lord Director Balor stared down at his own right gauntlet, his bloodshot eyes narrowing with genuine, cold caution. The arrogant sneer on his granite face melted away, replaced by the grim calculation of a veteran tyrant. He realized in an instant that the young man standing before him was not a simple slum rebel or a corporate tool. Ethan Vance was a terrifying, unpredictable anomaly—an entity that could swallow Fifth-Rank solar energy whole without a scratch.
Chapter 16
The golden needle of solar gravity vanished from the tip of Ethan's finger. Before the Grand Patriarch could unleash his lava broadsword, stone dust rained heavily from the collapsed ceiling. A violent, crushing force tore through the upper rafters, shaking the high marble pillars of the grand hall. Every crystal chandelier that remained whole shattered into thousands of tiny, flying pieces that struck the floorboards. A massive figure descended from the shattered roof, slamming heavily into the center of the marble room. The ground buckled violently, sending deep cracks tearing across the polished floor toward the high banquet tables. A suffocating aura of deep crimson heat exploded outward from the newcomer's heavy iron body. It was a Fifth-Rank Solar Flare aura, radiating a heavy, burning weight that made the air feel like liquid lead. The sheer pressure slammed into the surrounding crowd of trade lords, city governors, and high merchants. One by one, the wealth
Chapter 15
The shattered fragments of the fire-crystal blade rained down onto the polished floorboards like glowing red dust. Garrick fell back hard against the base of the main banquet table, clutching his bleeding, mangled right wrist. The kinetic backlash from Ethan's solar barrier had snapped his wrist bones and scorched his skin into raw, black meat. Garrick screamed in sheer agony, his face turning pale with sweat as dark blood dripped onto his ruined velvet coat. "Guards!" Garrick shrieked, his voice cracking into a desperate, high-pitched squeak that echoed off the high rafters. "Guards of Aethelgard! Kill him! Attack this slum traitor at once! I command you!" "He has attacked a noble master of the city!" Garrick wailed, his eyes bulging as he thrashed on the floor. "Draw your blades!" A dozen heavily armored city guards stood at the grand entrance of the banquet hall, holding their heavy iron spears. They looked at the official imperial eviction notice unrolled on the
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