Rise of the Mega Elements
But without hesitation—without even the space for fear to root itself—Riven, Kael, and Nova charged into battle.
The forest exploded around them in a rush of heat and motion, trees shattering beneath the dragons' massive claws. The air was thick with the scent of burning resin and scorched earth, illuminated by the flickering glow of dragonfire crackling across the clearing.
Riven felt the High Connection ignite inside him like a star being born. Power surged through his bloodstream, rising to his fingertips with a sharp, electric sting. He thrust his palms forward. Mana Link flared, connecting to Kael and Nova to synchronize their movements.
White-blue torrents of magic blasted from his hands with a roar like tearing metal.
The beams spiraled through the smoke and struck the nearest dragon square across its molten scales. The impact cracked the forest floor beneath the beast, sending shockwaves rippling outward. Sparks erupted from the collision point—bright, violent, dancing across the dragon's hide like shattered glass.
"Focus… stay focused," Riven reminded himself, jaw clenched.
"Every spell has to hit where the armor is weakest. If I miss even once, one of us dies."
The dragon responded with a furious bellow, wings beating the air hard enough to topple the surrounding trees. Flames shot towards him in a sweeping arc.
Before the fire could reach him, Kael streaked past in a blur.
His High Rubber powers stretched his body like a living slingshot. His torso elongated, twisting in midair as flames surged beneath him, heat rippling across his skin but failing to touch him. He snapped back into shape above the dragon's head, fist cocked back. Stretch Strike and Elastic Armor flared as the energy around him shimmied, absorbing residual heat.
"Hey! Coal Face—!"
Kael dropped like a hammer.
His punch cracked against the dragon's jaw, the impact thundering through the forest like an earthquake. The dragon's head slammed sideways, carving a trench across the earth as its massive body skidded across the clearing. Impact Redirect subtly sent the recoil outward, keeping Kael safe.
Kael landed beside Riven, rolling his shoulders, steam rising from his hair.
"First hit's mine!"
"Just don't die," Riven shot back.
Nova was already moving.
Her High Neutrality pulsed outward in a swirl of shimmering light—neither warm nor cold, neither sharp nor soft. It was balance incarnate, a perfect shift in harmony with her intentions. She swept her hands across the air, bending the battlefield to her will. Partial Nullification nullified the residual fire magic around them.
A vortex formed.
Neutral energy spiraled around her like a living storm, washing across the ground in invisible waves. The dragons slowed instantly—their massive limbs faltering as the vortex tugged at their equilibrium. One stumbled, claws shaking, unable to orient itself. Barrier of Equilibrium subtly buffered Kael and Riven, distributing elemental and physical forces evenly.
Nova's eyes glowed with gray-white intensity.
"I can't match their strength… but I can disrupt it. Just keep breathing. Keep the balance steady."
The vortex tightened.
The dragons roared—angry, confused, off-center. Their fire sputtered instead of flooding the field.
"Nice work!" Kael shouted as he stretched a leg, snapping it back like a whip into one dragon's ribs. Spring Jump propelled him for precise follow-up hits.
Riven seized the opening.
He thrust his hands upward, pulling energy from the High Connection in a surge so powerful it rattled his bones. Synchronized Strike linked his force with Kael and Nova, amplifying precision and damage.
Three luminous sigils formed beneath his feet, the familiar pattern of Synchronized Strike. Linked Aura flared along Kael and Nova, connecting the trio in a mesh of raw, synchronized power. This wasn't just brute force—it was precision, coordination, evolution.
Riven felt the Ambition Catalyst ignite within him—a spark of something sharper than fear, colder than survival. A system warning blinked at the edge of his vision, but he barely noticed. His mind focused on the fight, on the raw energy coursing through his veins. The Behavioral Shift whispered, a subtle nudge, and he grinned despite the heat of battle.
"Trinity Rupture!"
The sigils detonated.
Columns of white-blue energy erupted from the ground beneath the dragons, blasting them upward in a stunning explosion. The clearing shook with the impact—trees uprooted, boulders reduced to dust, the sky itself flickering with the blast's brilliance.
One dragon crashed back down in a heap, its molten-scaled throat smoking. Kael leapt onto its neck, delivering a series of blows that dented the creature's armor with rapid-fire cracks. Kinetic Overload surged, storing and releasing the force of the impacts for maximum damage.
Nova's vortex slammed the second dragon into the third, sending them both staggering into a half-fallen tree that splintered beneath their weight. Mana Equalizer neutralized lingering elemental energy, leaving them vulnerable.
The battle raged on—minutes stretching into an eternity of fire, light, and thunderous impacts. The three fought with an almost instinctive harmony, watching each other's blind spots, timing attacks like a single organism with three hearts and one purpose.
And then—
One dragon fell.
Its final roar broke into a choking rumble before its colossal body collapsed. The second resisted longer, but Nova's vortex and Kael's elastic ferocity overwhelmed it. A final synchronized strike—Kael's punch, Nova's distortion blast, and Riven's Shared Vitality–enhanced energy spear—tore through its heart.
When the third dragon fell, it hit the ground like a collapsing mountain.
Silence followed.
The forest crackled with residual flames, but all three dragons lay defeated—their bodies sinking into the earth, dissolving into radiant particles.
And then the air shimmered.
System windows burst into existence around the trio, glowing a brilliant gold.
DING!
⟢ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
[You have defeated: Red Cycle Dragons ×3]
[Level: 68]
[Class: Dragon]
[Reward: +204,000 (Total)]
[Exp Distributed]
[Element Evolution Threshold Surpassed]
Kael's breath caught.
"No way—did we actually…?"
Nova stared in disbelief as light spiraled around her body.
⟢ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
[Party Member: Nova Aetherwynd]
[Enemy Defeated: HP and Mana Restored]
[Exp Gained: +68,000]
[Level Up! Lv. 53 → Lv. 80]
[Element Evolution: High Neutrality → Mega Neutrality]
[Lifespan Increased: +500 Years]
[Mana Increased: +1,200]
[Excess Exp Detected]
DING! DING! DING!
[Level Up! Lv. 80 → Lv. 81]
[Level Up! Lv. 81 → Lv. 82]
[Level Up! Lv. 82 → Lv. 83]
[Level Up! Lv. 83 → Lv. 84]
[Level Up! Lv. 84 → Lv. 85]
[Mana Increased: +1,300]
Neutrality surged through her—deeper, heavier, fuller. Absolute Balance hummed faintly as her new aura stabilized the battlefield.
Kael shouted as his own transformation struck.
⟢ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
[Party Member: Kael Elastor]
[Enemy Defeated: HP And Mana Restored]
[Exp Gained: +68,000]
[Level Up! Lv. 55 → Lv. 80]
[Element Evolution: High Rubber → Mega Rubber]
[Lifespan Increased: +500 Years]
[Mana Increased: +1,200]
[Excess Exp Detected]
DING! DING! DING!
[Level Up! Lv. 80 → Lv. 81]
[Level Up! Lv. 81 → Lv. 82]
[Level Up! Lv. 82 → Lv. 83]
[Level Up! Lv. 83 → Lv. 84]
[Level Up! Lv. 84 → Lv. 85]
[Level Up! Lv. 85 → Lv. 86]
[Mana Increased: +1,320]
Energy burst from his skin in waves, his limbs glowing with Elastic Armor, Tensile Recovery, and Kinetic Overload fully awakened.
However, Riven Nexusborn's transformation was different.
Echoes of the Mega Connection
It began quietly—almost too quietly for something so catastrophic.
A soft hum vibrated behind his ribs, then spread outward in waves that shook the air. White-blue cracks of light crawled along his arms like lightning trapped beneath his skin. His heart thrashed, beating in irregular, frantic bursts as if trying to escape his chest.
His breath stuttered.
"What… is happening to me?"
But the moment the question formed, something else answered.
A window of pure light flashed before his eyes:
⟢ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
[Party Member: Riven Nexusborn]
[Enemy Defeated: HP And Mana Restored]
[Exp Gained: +68,000]
[Level Increased: Lv. 54 → Lv. 80]
[Element Evolution: High Connection → Mega Connection]
[Lifespan Increased: +500 Years]
[Mana Increased: +1,200]
[Excess Exp Detected]
DING! DING! DING!
[Level Up! Lv. 80 → Lv. 81]
[Level Up! Lv. 81 → Lv. 82]
[Level Up! Lv. 82 → Lv. 83]
[Level Up! Lv. 83 → Lv. 84]
[Level Up! Lv. 84 → Lv. 85]
[Level Up! Lv. 85 → Lv. 86]
[Mana Increased: +1,320]
[Warning: Cognitive Shift Detected]
[Warning: Emotional Interference Detected]
[Warning: User Personality Integrity: 41% … 27% … 12%]
Pain exploded through him.
It wasn't a clean pain—not sharp, not burning. It was a crushing, suffocating pressure that pushed him inward, folding him into himself like the world was collapsing inside his skull. His vision blurred. Colors distorted. The voices of Kael and Nova became warped echoes fading through a tunnel.
He felt something slipping.
No—not slipping.
Being taken.
"Stop… stop—STOP!"
His scream tore through the clearing, but it felt distant, as if someone else had screamed using his throat. Magic vomited from his core in surges of uncontrolled light. Network Surge and Connection Chain erupted involuntarily, pulsing threads of energy across the battlefield. The ground cracked beneath him. The air rippled outward with pulses that shook even the fallen dragon corpses.
Kael sprinted toward him, reaching out. "Riven! Hey—HEY—snap out of it!"
But Riven's mind was tearing apart and stitching itself back together.
Piece by piece.
And the pieces didn't fit the same way anymore.
When the light finally dimmed, Riven rose to his feet.
Slowly.
Silently.
The cracks of light faded from his skin, retreating inward as if hiding beneath flesh and bone. His eyes opened—no longer their warm, deep hue, but sharpened, bright, almost metallic. Reinforce Link subtly hummed around him, extending his influence on Kael and Nova.
A new system notification appeared in the corner of his vision—one he didn't share with his friends.
⟢ SYSTEM NOTICE — MEGA CONNECTION SIDE EFFECT
[Ambition Catalyst: Activated]
[Empathy Threshold: Reduced]
[Power Drive: Maximized]
[Behavioral Shift: Ruthless Determination]
The words sank into him like hooks.
His breath steadied.
His heartbeat slowed.
And something dark settled in his chest—quiet, calculating, cold.
"Power… I need more power."
The thought came uninvited.
And disturbingly natural.
Kael reached him first, grabbing his shoulder. "Riven! Are you okay? For a second I thought we lost you!"
Riven turned toward him.
He forced his lips into a small, familiar smile—the one he used to wear so effortlessly.
"I'm fine," he lied, voice calm, warm, reassuring.
Nova exhaled shakily and stepped closer, relief softening her features. "We were terrified. Your element went out of control—the system even gave us danger warnings for you…"
Riven nodded gently, placing a hand over his chest in mock reassurance. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
But inside?
Inside, his thoughts were twisting like vines, cold and hungry.
"They trust me. Good. Keep it that way.
I need them unworried. Predictable. Close.
Until… I have no more use for them."
The Mega Connection pulsed inside him, feeding the thought, encouraging it, sharpening it.
He did not resist.