THE GILDED LEGEND (Enternity Online)

Chapter 8 Evolusi Fusion

The golden light exploded, swallowing Axel's entire vision until only a blank white remained. The pain was indescribable, as if every single nerve fiber in his physical body was being plucked out one by one and rewoven with hot copper wire. Axel tried to scream, but his voice was trapped in his rigid throat.

"Axel! Hold on! Don't lose consciousness!" Zara's voice sounded faint, as if coming from behind a thick wall of water.

"I ... I can't ... I feel like my head is going to explode!" Axel growled. His teeth chattered violently.

[NEURAL SYNCHRONIZATION : 95% ... 98% ... 100%]

[GILDED FUSION INITIATED]

Suddenly, the pain subsided, replaced by a refreshing yet strange cold sensation. Axel opened his eyes and found himself still floating in front of the altar, but the world around him had changed. He no longer saw the texture of stone or the purple sky. He saw a data stream. Rows of golden binary code flowed through the air like an endless river.

"Do you see this, Zara?" Axel whispered. His voice echoed strangely in his own ears.

"See what? I just see you shining brightly like a giant incandescent bulb!" Zara shot back. Her voice was clear now. "Your status panel is going crazy, Axel! Your codes are overlapping!"

"I can see the code, Zara. All of it. These ruins... they aren't just graphics. This is the forced foundation of the simulation." Axel stretched out his hand, trying to touch the data stream in front of him.

[NEW FEATURE UNLOCKED : SKILL FUSION]

[PLEASE SELECT TWO SKILLS TO FUSE]

Axel stared at his limited skill list. "Zara, the system is asking me to fuse skills. Quick Slash and Parry. Do you think this is a good idea?"

"Just do it! Your Agility and Strength stats have hit the first phase synchronization limit. If you don't fuse them, that energy will blow up your own nervous system!" Zara yelled frantically while continuously pressing buttons on her analysis device.

"Alright. Quick Slash and Parry. Fuse!"

[FUSION PROCESS : SUCCESSFUL]

[NEW SKILL CREATED : BLADED DANCE (RANK : GILDED)]

"It feels weird." Axel landed on the altar floor with a movement too fluid for a human. "My body feels light, but heavy at the same time."

"Try the skill. Look over there!" Zara pointed toward a cluster of obsidian drones that had just emerged from a crack in the wall, triggered by the altar's activation.

Axel didn't answer. He simply vanished. Not with typical Agility speed, but as if he was erased from one coordinate and reappeared at another. His dagger spun, creating a circle of golden light that reflected every drone laser shot back to its origin, while simultaneously, the blade sliced through their sensor cores.

"Insane," Zara whispered, her eyes glued to Axel's movements. "You trimmed the Parry movement into part of the Slash attack. That's anatomically impossible."

Axel reappeared beside Zara, his breath coming in ragged gasps. "Damn ... that one move took thirty percent of my stamina. I feel like I just ran a marathon in one second."

"Look at your stamina panel! That's not just game stamina, Axel! Your real-world heart rate is hitting 160 bpm!" Zara gripped Axel's arm. "You have to raise your Stamina stat right now!"

"I know!" Axel quickly opened his Gilded menu. "The one remaining Gilded Point from that Sentinel ... put it all into Stamina!"

[GILDED STAMINA : PHASE 1 ACTIVATED]

A warm sensation spread from Axel's chest to all his limbs. The tightness began to subside, and he felt as if he had just gained an extra oxygen tank. However, along with it, his head began to throb painfully.

"The integration is too deep, Zara." Axel massaged his temples. Fresh blood started dripping from his nose. "Every time I use this point, I feel like someone is downloading a giant library into my brain."

"That's cellular memory, Axel. This system is forcing your biological body to remember these digital abilities," Zara anxiously wiped the blood from Axel's nose. "Wait ... look at the coordinates in the corner of your eye. Do you see the same pattern?"

Axel stared at the data stream he had seen earlier. Among the rows of code, a transparent holographic image appeared. It wasn't a map of Aethelgard. It was a satellite image of a city he knew intimately. His hometown.

"Is that ... our city center? Why is it inside Eternity's core data?" Axel stepped closer, his eyes widening.

"This simulation ... isn't for entertainment, Axel." Zara's voice trembled. "Look at the code label. Stress Test: Reality Stability. Eternity Online was created by the Operators to map how the real world would react to data anomalies."

"So we've just been lab rats all this time?" Axel growled. Anger began to burn in his chest.

"More than that. We are training units. The Gilded System is their way of creating human 'software' strong enough to handle reality breaches out there!" Zara stared at Axel with horror. "Axel, you're no longer just a gamer. You are a prototype."

Suddenly, slow clapping echoed from the darkness beyond the altar's light. Liam Fury stepped out from behind a ruined pillar, his face illuminated by the purple glow of his mage robe.

"How touching. The legend and his smart assistant finally figured out the truth," Liam sneered. His eyes stared sharply at the golden aura enveloping Axel's body. "But you know what's funny, Axel? Knowledge without the power to protect it is just a death sentence."

"Liam," Axel hissed, his hand automatically gripping the dagger's hilt. "How did you get in here?"

"I have connections you don't, Ghostwalker. Dragon Vanguard isn't as narrow-minded as you think." Liam raised his magic staff, which now pulsed with unstable dark energy. "Give me that Gilded Fusion access code, or I'll make sure your VR pod in the real world suffers a permanent short circuit."

"Don't listen to him, Axel! He doesn't know how to use it!" Zara shouted while preparing her bow.

"I don't need to know how to use it. I just need to possess it!" Liam laughed wildly, his face showing signs of mental exhaustion far worse than Axel's. His eyes were red and watery.

"You're insane, Liam. That forced synchronization is damaging your brain." Axel prepared in the Bladed Dance stance.

"Insane? I've never felt so alive!" Liam unleashed a burst of dark energy toward them.

Axel moved, his shadow splitting into three as he executed Bladed Dance to deflect the attack. But in the middle of the fight, a global system notification appeared in the sky above the ruins, glowing bright red, visible to every player on the server.

[ANOMALY DETECTED AT AETHELGARD RUINS. HIGH-LEVEL ENERGY SPIKE CONFIRMED]

"Damn," Zara whispered, staring at her communication panel which was suddenly flooded with thousands of pings. "It's not just Liam. The major guilds ... they're all sending intel here. The whole world is watching us, Axel."

"Let them watch," Axel replied, his eyes locked on Liam. "It's time they knew that the game is over, and reality has just begun."

In the distance, atop the hills surrounding the ruins, a dozen player silhouettes in high-level gear began to appear. They weren't ordinary players; they were elite units from various guilds, hungry for the secret of Axel's power.

"We have to get out of here now, Axel! If they surround us, we won't be able to log out!" Zara pulled Axel's arm.

Axel looked at Liam, then at the approaching crowd. He felt his Gilded power pulsing, as if demanding to be fully unleashed.

"Hold your breath, Zara," Axel whispered softly. "We're going to show them what it feels like to fight an anomaly."