---
The first sign wasn't sound.
It was absence.
Mana stopped moving.
Across the proto-domain, the ever-present flow of energy, wind through leaves, pulse through stone, hum beneath the soil, froze as if reality itself had drawn a sharp breath and forgotten how to exhale.
Yuto felt it instantly.
His borrowed authority had faded hours ago, but the echo of that connection made the silence deafening. His spirit core throbbed, warning him before the world did.
"…Everyone," he said quietly. "Don't move."
Seraphina tightened her grip on her shield. "Why?"
Before he could answer...
The ground twitched.
Not a quake. Not yet.
A subtle, unnatural adjustment, like something massive turning over in its sleep.
Elira's face went pale. "That wasn't tectonic."
Zarek swallowed. "That was… alive."
Mimi's ears flattened. "Something's waking up."
[ Advisor: "Confirmation received."]
Yuto closed his eyes.
"Ven'rael has fully awakened".....
---
Miles away, far beyond the basin, far beyond Nerulia Haven...deep beneath layers of corrupted stone and crystallized mana, something inhaled.
The effect was immediate.
The sky dimmed.
Clouds spiraled inward toward an unseen focal point, forming a colossal vortex that stretched from horizon to horizon. The wind howled, not chaotically, but with direction—as if pulled by command.
In the distance, a column of dark crimson light pierced the heavens.
BOOOOOOOOOOM....
The sound followed seconds later, a low, rolling thunder that rattled bones and cracked stone across the region.
Seraphina stumbled. "That- that was just a breath?"
Yuto nodded grimly. "A warning breath."
[ Advisor: "Ven'rael has transitioned from Dormant to Waking State."]
Elira clenched her staff. "What does that mean for us?"
[ "It means," the Advisor replied evenly, "that passive observation has ended, and he is probably coming for the strong aura he has been sensing for a long time now, which is Yuto].....
---
Pressure descended.
Not localized like before.
This was continental.
Yuto felt it slam into his spirit core, crushing without touching, an overwhelming sense of hierarchy, of being measured and found lacking.
Kneel.
Submit.
Know your place.
Zarek dropped to one knee with a grunt. "Damn it!"
Elira gasped as her barrier shattered instantly. "My magic...it's not responding!"
Seraphina dug her shield into the ground, muscles screaming. "Yuto!"
Yuto stood.
Not easily.
Not cleanly.
But he stayed upright.
Blood ran from his nose. His vision blurred.
Yet his feet didn't move.
"No," he said hoarsely.
The pressure surged.
[ Advisor: "Warning. This is unfiltered Overlord Authority. Not focused. Not targeted."]
"So he's not even looking at us," Yuto muttered.
[ "Correct. This is environmental fallout."]
Yuto laughed weakly. "Figures."
He clenched his fists.
Mana answered sluggishly but it answered.
Not because it was forced.
Because it recognized resistance.
---
In a crack...
A second sound echoed across the land,
CRRRRRRAAAAAACK...
The sky itself fractured.
Not literally breaking, but splitting visually as layers of mana peeled apart, revealing an immense silhouette moving within the crimson vortex.
Wings.
So vast they eclipsed the clouds.
A serpentine body coiled around nothing and everything at once.
Eyes like twin suns of corrupted gold opened,
And looked outward.
Not at Yuto.
Not at the basin.
At the world.
Mimi screamed.
Elira fell to her knees, tears streaming as her senses overloaded. "I, I can feel it everywhere…"
Seraphina whispered, voice trembling. "That's… a god."
Yuto shook his head.
"No," he said softly. "That's a tyrant."
[ Advisor: "Designation confirmed: Ven'rael, former Overlord, now Corrupted Dragon."]
Former Overlord...
Not longer complete.
And that,
That was the only reason the world hadn't already ended.
---
Ven'rael's gaze shifted.
Not physically,
Conceptually.
A ripple passed through reality, and suddenly Yuto felt it.
Attention.
Not curiosity.
Recognition.
The pressure spiked violently, slamming into Yuto like a mountain falling sideways.
His knees buckled.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
Seraphina screamed his name.
Yuto caught himself at the last second, one hand braced against the earth.
"Yeah," he coughed. "I see you too."
The world screamed in response.
The land rejected Ven'rael's will, then failed.
Cracks raced across the proto-domain, corruption flaring wildly as Ven'rael's authority asserted dominance.
[Advisor: "You have been noticed."]
"No kidding."
["This is not a challenge."]
Yuto forced himself to stand again, legs shaking violently.
"It will be."
---
Ven'rael did not attack.
Instead, the pressure condensed, focused into a single, suffocating pulse that struck Yuto's spirit directly.
Images flooded his mind.
Cities burning.
Overlords kneeling, or dying.
Dragons ruling skies stained red.
A throne of bone and crystallized corruption.
And at its center...
Him.
Yuto.
Crushed beneath overwhelming power.
A promise.
A warning.
A declaration of inevitability.
Yuto snarled, vision shaking. "You think you've already won."
The pressure intensified.
[Advisor: "Yuto, your spirit stability is dropping fast."]
"Good," he growled. "Means I'm still alive."
He dug deep past stats, past skills, past borrowed authority.
Down to the core of what made him him.
Not a system.
Not a title.
Not an overlord.
A will that refused to bow.
Silver-blue light flared faintly around him, weak compared to Ven'rael's presence, but stubbornly persistent.
For the briefest instant..
The pressure hesitated.
Ven'rael's gaze sharpened.
Not angry.
Interested.
" go catch a breath, I'll be back...
Then,
The dragon withdrew.
The sky sealed.
The vortex collapsed inward.
The pressure vanished like a snapped cord.
Silence crashed down.
---
Yuto collapsed fully this time.
Seraphina caught him, holding him upright as Elira rushed in, healing magic flaring weakly but steadily.
Zarek lay flat on his back, gasping. "I… really hate dragons."
Mimi trembled but stayed conscious. "That… wasn't the fight, was it?"
Yuto managed a faint smile. "No."
[ Advisor: "Ven'rael has declared presence, not war."]
Elira swallowed. "So when does the war start?"
Yuto stared at the sky where the dragon had been.
"When I'm ready..." he said,
" The bastard Is actually waiting for me to get prepared "
His evolution meter flickered faintly in his peripheral vision.
93.6% → 94.1%
Still slow.
Still incomplete.
But now...
Now he knew exactly what waited at the end.
Yuto closed his eyes.
"Tell the city," he murmured. "Prepare."
Seraphina nodded. "For evacuation?"
He shook his head.
"For survival."
---
" Cause the battle has begun...."