Ethan Cole - The Unlimited System

Hera gave one last glance toward the sealed entrance before she raised her umbrella again.

With a flick, a new portal shimmered to life in the center of the workshop. Its surface rippled like calm water, glowing with a soft blue light.

She looked at Alden and pointed to Ethan, who still hadn't spoken.

"Bring him in," she said. "We don't have time."

There was no explanation. No urgency in her voice. And yet, something about her tone made it clear—something was coming.

"Alright, Hera." Alden didn't question it.

"Let's go, Ethan." He looped his arm around Ethan's shoulder and guided him toward the portal.

Ethan didn't resist. His legs moved on their own, his eyes unfocused, blood still drying on his fingers.

They stepped through and vanished.

Moments later, a surge of energy burst into the workshop.

Seven cloaked figures appeared in tight formation, spreading out instantly.

Behind them walked a tall man with piercing eyes and a long silver cloak trailing behind his armor—Vareth, the Protector.

He didn't speak.

He didn't need to.

The cloaked men began to search. Two moved toward the connected house. One scaled the side beams of the workshop.

The rest scattered, flipping debris, checking corners, and prying open containers with glowing tools.

Vareth remained in the center of the room, standing still. He was looking at the blood on the floor. He knew there was a battle between Duran and the outsider.

He closed his eyes, sensing his surroundings.

The air whispered to him.

The scent of shattered earth lingered thick in the space. Splintered wood, crushed stone, cracked beams. The raw release of elemental force was everywhere.

Too much… for such a small place.

"Earth…" he murmured. "Too much earth in too little time."

"The outsider must be pretty strong and was playing around with Duran," he guessed. "Or might be prying for information from Duran."

Vareth opened his eyes and scanned the room again. He believed that Duran had done his best to fight against the outsider.

A faint trace brushed past his senses. A breeze almost missed. Weak, but present.

His eyes narrowed. "So the outsider… is a Wind God Vessel."

But the words didn't match the truth. That flicker had come from Alden, not from Ethan who had been mistaken as a Wind God Vessel.

Vareth didn't know that.

One by one, the seven cloaked figures returned.

"We found nothing, Protector," one of them said. "The house has been swept. Nothing relating to the Council Hall. Nothing about the Elder's Library. And… no sign of Duran."

Vareth's brow furrowed.

He looked down at the bloodstained floor. Walked toward it.

He could feel that this spot was the most chaotic.

The place where Duran had fallen. He pointed.

"You," he said to one of the cloaked figures.

The man stepped forward.

"Check this spot."

The cloaked figure pulled out a thin crystal rod. It flickered as he placed the tip against the floorboards. The glow pulsed slowly, then brightened.

"There was a spell used here," the figure confirmed.

"A spell?" Vareth asked. "What kind?"

"Teleportation."

Vareth fell silent, gaze lingering on the ground. Teleportation was an advanced magic. Not something that could be mastered easily.

"Who in the world can use that spell here?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

One of the seven figures wanted to answer but Vareth raised his right hand, cutting him off. Then he turned away, his voice calm but firm.

"Spread out. Check the perimeter. Look for any spatial disturbance. If the portal led somewhere close, that's where they would appear."

The figures moved without a word.

Vareth stood still, eyes narrowed.

His thoughts were unreadable.

The moment their feet touched solid ground again, the glow of the portal faded behind them.

Ethan, Alden, and Hera were now standing inside Hera's house.

It was quiet. Clean. The air smelled faintly of aged wood and jasmine.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The curtains were drawn tight, and the lamps dim. Nothing about the space matched the chaos they had just left behind.

Alden blinked, startled. "Wait… Your house?"

Hera moved ahead, not looking back. "Yes."

"But… why here? Of all places?"

She reached the center of the room and took her usual spot—an empty stretch of polished floor framed by shelves and low cushions. With a light tap, the tip of her umbrella touched the floor. Not magic this time. Just habit.

"Then where do you want us to reappear?" she asked, her voice cool. "In the wilderness? Bleeding in a forest? Surrounded by wolves?"

Alden had no reply.

Hera turned slowly.

Her gaze landed on Ethan, who was still standing by the door, stiff and silent as if he hadn't fully returned with the rest of them. Blood dried along the edge of his fingers. His eyes were distant.

She frowned.

"What's wrong with you?" she said, sharper now. "Why are you still like that?"

Ethan didn't move.

Hera's voice rose.

"Why are you so soft?"

She took a step closer, her umbrella tucked under her arm, her eyes narrowing.

"You think this is how it's going to go? You think the path ahead is neat, clean, without blood?" She scoffed.

"This is not a story where you get to choose the easy road."

She paused. Her tone lowered, colder now. Final.

"This is a merciless world, Ethan."

Then, softer still.

"No. A merciless universe."

Ethan stood frozen.

Hera's words echoed in his ears. It was not just the tone, but the weight behind them.

"A merciless universe," he repeated the words.

Not just Anterra. Not just this world.

The whole universe.

The thought hit him harder than her glare ever could.

He looked down at his hands, the blood drying in the cracks of his knuckles. Still warm. Still real.

"Why me?" he asked.

Both Hera and Alden looked at him, saying nothing. Hera chose not to answer but Alden didn't know what to answer.

That question had followed Ethan from the moment the Unlimited System chose him.

Why was he offered the Eternal Trial? What was its true purpose?

He used to think it was chance.

Now… he wasn't so sure.

Maybe it wasn't the System that chose him.

Maybe it was Kaelthor.

The Eternal Dragon.

That ancient being who lived beyond realms, who spoke of truths buried across galaxies, who offered him a path no one else was given. Somehow, he believed that Kaelthor had something to do with the System.

Ethan's breath slowed.

'He sent me here for a reason. There must be a reason.'

He believed the reason was not to only fight and surely not just to survive.

But to understand. To see the world for what it really was. To strip away the comfort, the illusion, the hope that things could always be fair. To prepare him.

Because the Unlimited System—whatever it truly was—wasn't meant for someone soft, like the old Ethan. It wasn't meant for someone who would hesitate every time they had to make a hard choice.

It was meant for someone who could carry the weight of truth.

And the truth was cruel.

The truth was this.

A merciless universe.

And Ethan… had to be ready to face it.

Hera's voice cut through the silence, calm and flat.

"Done with your internal conflicts?"

Ethan blinked, her words snapping him out of the storm in his mind. He looked at her, the corner of his mouth twitching into a tired smile.

"Yeah," he said. "Thanks, Hera. If it weren't for you… I don't think I would've reached this point."

He exhaled slowly.

"I wouldn't be firm in my decision. I wouldn't be able to think like this."

As if answering his clarity, a chime echoed inside his mind. The familiar presence of the Unlimited System surged forward.

[Mission Complete: Break the Blacksmith]

[Reward Distribution in Progress]

=====

[Warning]

Prepare your mind and body. The rewards include a double increase to all Attributes. This increase is not a system set as how it was set to 300 when you formed the Ascendant Core. Physical and mental resistance will be tested. Pain levels will exceed prior thresholds.

=====

Ethan's eyes widened.

He wanted to curse.

"Are you serious?" he muttered.

Alden looked at him, confused. "Why? What happen, Ethan?"

Hera was chuckling. Alden turned to her. Hoping to get an answer.

Ethan was stunned. Back then, when he first formed his Ascendant Core, the system had set his attributes to 300. Thus the reason why he didn't feel the pain.

The last time he had a massive increase in attributes was twenty points. That was already unbearable. His bones screamed. His skin nearly tore. That had been a set value—one-time stabilization.

Now?

This was an increase. A real, brutal climb.

Two hundred points. Across every Attribute.

It wasn't gradual. It wasn't gentle.

It was pain, and without further notice, it began.

His breath caught.

He dropped to his knees.

The pressure hit his chest first, then his limbs, then his skull. Muscles clenched involuntarily. His eyes burned. His back arched as his insides twisted, stretched, and tore. Only to rebuild again.

He groaned, then roared through clenched teeth, falling to his hands. His forehead pressed against the floor, cold sweat dripping.

Alden stepped forward in alarm. "Ethan?! What's happening to him?"

"Don't bother," Hera said without looking. "He's undergoing something."

Alden stared. "Undergoing? It looks like he's being torn apart!"

"Yes," Hera replied simply.

She raised her umbrella and pointed it at Ethan. A faint glow pulsed from the tip as she cast a spell.

A translucent orb shimmered into existence around Ethan, encasing him completely.

The moment it formed, all sound from inside was sealed.

But Alden could still see.

Ethan's mouth was wide open in a silent scream. His body convulsed. Veins bulged across his neck and arms. His skin reddened like it was boiling from beneath. His entire frame trembled violently, knuckles clawed into the floor as if trying to hold himself together.

Alden looked away, jaw clenched. "That looks… insane."

"It is," Hera said.

"And he'll survive that?"

"If he doesn't," she said calmly, "then we'll bury him."

Hera's eyes remained on Ethan as his body twisted inside the orb, veins glowing faintly under his skin. Alden stood to the side, concern in his eyes, but Hera said nothing more.

Her thoughts had drifted far from the room.

'It's all happening,' she told herself. 'Exactly as he said it would.'

She remembered the sky on the day she met Kaelthor, the Eternal Dragon.

The clouds hadn't just darkened. They had split. Stars shone through at midday. The world had turned still, as though Anterra itself had stopped breathing.

Hera had fallen to her knees, not in fear, but in understanding.

He was not a god.

He was something worse.

And something better.

His voice had thundered not through the air, but through her bones. Through her soul.

"There is a force coming," Kaelthor had said. "Not of this world. Not even of this cycle."

She had lowered her head. She dared not question.

"They call it prophecy," he said. "But prophecy is not destiny. It is a warning, one can prevent."

Then he showed her what was coming.

A darkness spreading across stars. Not just a war. A plague. A corruption.

Demons.

Not the kind whispered of in children's tales. These were devourers of worlds. Crawlers between realms. They did not conquer in one day, they infected over time. Slowly. Quietly. Until the soul of a world no longer remembered what light felt like.

Kaelthor showed her two worlds at the edge of that infection.

One was Anterra.

The other… was Earth.

"There is one coming," Kaelthor had told her, his voice heavy with purpose. "Born of Earth. Not shaped by Anterra, yet bound to it."

"He will hold no element. But the elements will bend to him."

"Not because he was chosen… but because he survived."

She remembered the chill of those words.

The demons were already moving, sending whispers, making pacts, offering power in exchange for passage. Both Earth and Anterra were being tested. Softened. Lured.

And the one called to stand between them?

Was now kneeling in pain before her.

Ethan.

Kaelthor had said he would come broken. That he would be tested, more than any other. And only if he survived, would he become what was needed.

Not a hero.

Not a king.

But a barrier.

A living wall between the worlds and the devouring dark.

As she watched Ethan writhe in silence, Hera finally looked away, just for a moment.

'You better survive this,' she thought.

'Because if you fall… there won't be a next one.'