NOVEL NEXT Chapter 69 — Silver Dawn
…
The silver light didn't burst from Cassian—it exploded. Like a star going supernova within the confines of flesh and bone, his aura erupted outward in waves that made the very air shimmer with raw potential. Werewolf corpses that had littered the battlefield were lifted and scattered like leaves before a hurricane, their lifeless forms tumbling through the grounds with wet, meaty impacts.
Holy shit.
The pressure was immense. Cassian felt his bones vibrating under the strain, his blood singing with power that threatened to tear him apart from the inside.
[DING! ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: AURA AWAKENING]
[DING!….]
[DING!….]
[DING!….]
[DING!….]
.
.
.
System screens flooded his vision, but a sharp mental command dismissed them. Focus. Remember. Feel the changes.
[DING! BOND WITH ARTIFACT «SINDIVINITY» EVOLVING!]
[DING! SOULBOUND ARTIFACT «SINDIVINITY» ACCEPTED THE EVOLUTION]
And in his hand, Sindivinity... changed.
The dagger's matte-black surface rippled like liquid shadow disturbed by moonlight. Cassian watched in fascination as the blade began to stretch, elongating with fluid grace that seemed to defy physics. Silver veins of pure aura crackled along the expanding metal, racing from hilt to tip in branching patterns that pulsed with his heartbeat like living lightning.
What had once been a simple dagger transformed before his eyes into something magnificent—a sword of black steel wreathed in silver light, humming with deadly purpose that made the air itself sing.
[DING! SOULBOUND ARTIFACT «SINDIVINITY» FORM EVOLUTION: CURRENT FORM "SWORD"]
I didn't know you could do that! Sindi, you beautiful—
WHAM.
Memories flooded Cassian's mind like a dam bursting under the weight of an ocean. Ancient wisdom carved from centuries of accumulated knowledge crashed into his consciousness with the force of a battering ram. The [AKASHIC ECHO] card released its hoarded secrets in a torrent that threatened to drown his sanity.
Sword forms materialized in his mind's eye—each movement perfect, each strike lethal, each technique honed by masters who had died protecting these secrets. Footwork patterns refined over generations carved themselves into his muscle memory with burning intensity. Blade angles that existed only in legend became as familiar as breathing.
Moonlight Severing. Starfall Riposte. Phantom Step… lots of techniques, but all of them were the base versions.
The card wouldn't just feed him everything; he would have to master these forms and reach his peak, then and only then would it let go of more knowledge.
But even with just the base versions, Cassian's body remembered techniques he'd never learned. His hands knew grips that masters had killed for. His feet found stances that had toppled kingdoms. The knowledge didn't just flow into him—it became him.
This is what it means to truly fight.
The silver radiance pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, no longer wild and uncontrolled. It flowed through him like liquid starlight, filling every cell with power that felt both alien and perfectly natural. The pain of his wounds faded to distant echoes. His exhaustion melted away like morning frost under the sun.
For the first time since entering this nightmare, Cassian felt ready.
From the shadows beyond the carnage, slow applause echoed through the chamber.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"Magnificent," Graath'mor's voice carried genuine appreciation, but underneath lurked something far more dangerous—the focused attention of a predator who had found truly worthy prey. "Absolutely magnificent. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I witnessed a proper aura awakening?"
The Alpha stepped into the silver light, and Cassian's blood ran cold. Gone was the playful predator from moments before. Graath'mor's eyes held the focused intensity of a killer who had found something worth his full attention. His muscles coiled with barely restrained power. His claws gleamed with anticipation.
"Allow me to properly introduce myself again," the Alpha continued, his voice dropping to a whisper that somehow carried perfectly through the chamber. Each word dripped with the promise of violence. "I am Graath'mor the Render, Fourth Alpha of the Southern Hunt, Breaker of the Iron Gates, and Bane of the Crimson Company."
He paused, yellow eyes blazing with predatory hunger that made the air itself feel heavier.
"Peak Second Ascension of the Destruction Path."
Destruction essence. Cassian's eyes narrowed. But no cards though… why don't these demons have that system, but the ones out in the story had cards?
Question for later… for now, focus. Adapt.
"I would have played with you, satisfied my curiosity, and left you both breathing..." Graath'mor's grin turned feral, revealing fangs that seemed longer than before, dripping with anticipation. "But now..."
"You talk too much," Cassian said, raising the transformed Sindivinity. The weapon felt perfect in his grip, balanced as if crafted specifically for his hand by the gods of war. Silver light danced along its edge like captured lightning. "Two aura users against one overgrown dog? I like our odds."
The Alpha threw back his massive head and laughed—but this time the sound carried no amusement, only the promise of violence that would shake mountains. The laughter built to a crescendo that made the stones beneath their feet vibrate with its intensity.
"Spirit! You still think this is a game, don't you, pup?"
[DING! "The Wild One" whispers urgently: "Cassian, he's not playing anymore."]
[DING! "The Eternal Wanderer" warns: "He is one full ascension ahead of you. Rank suppression is minimal at starting levels, but still... be vigilant."]
"Let's find out," Arin said, golden light flaring around his spear like a miniature sun. The young knight stepped up beside Cassian, their auras—silver and gold—casting dancing shadows across the corpse-strewn battlefield. The combined radiance was almost blinding.
"Your path ends here," Cassian added, silver energy crackling along Sindivinity's edge with the sound of breaking thunder.
"Ends?" Graath'mor snarled, his massive form beginning to coil like a predator preparing to strike. His voice carried the weight of avalanches. "Oh, my dear little legends—it's just beginning."
Cassian reached for his essence, muscle memory guiding him toward familiar power. "[Expedite]—"
The spell died.
[DING! SORCERY CASTING FAILED - AURA INTERFERENCE DETECTED]
[DING! DESTRUCTION SORCERY INCOMPATIBLE WITH ACTIVE SILVER AURA]
What the hell?
But there was no time to process the system's warning. Graath'mor moved.
Where before the Alpha had flowed like liquid death, now he struck like a natural disaster given form. His charge crossed twenty feet in the space between heartbeats, the stone floor cratering under his explosive acceleration. Claws wreathed in dark fire aimed directly at Cassian's heart with surgical precision.
The silver aura responded instinctively.
Power flooded Cassian's limbs as the world sharpened to crystal clarity. He could see everything—every detail of Graath'mor's approach, the micro-adjustments in stance, the way claws angled for maximum penetration, the slight weight shift that telegraphed the next movement. Time itself seemed to slow under the intensity of his perception.
Sindivinity sang through the air in a perfect parry, black steel meeting supernatural claws in a shower of sparks that lit the chamber like fallen stars. The impact sent shockwaves through both combatants—but this time Cassian didn't give ground.
This time, he advanced.
"My turn," Cassian whispered, pressing forward as silver light blazed around him like armor made of starlight.
Graath'mor's eyes widened—not in surprise, but in recognition. "How delicious."
The Alpha spun with liquid grace, his follow-up strike aimed at Cassian's exposed flank with killing intent. But Arin was there, golden spear intercepting the blow with precise timing that spoke of desperate coordination forged in blood and survival.
"Don't forget about me!" Arin shouted, his aura flaring brilliant gold like a dawn breaking over a battlefield.
What followed was the most intense exchange of Cassian's life.
Every technique the [AKASHIC ECHO] had downloaded into his mind flowed through his body with perfect execution. Sindivinity wove patterns of silver death through the air, each strike guided by decades of accumulated wisdom. Crescent Moon Cut—the blade traced an arc that seemed to bend light itself. Falling Star Strike—a downward slash that carried the weight of dying suns.
But Graath'mor was faster.
The Alpha's claws found gaps in their coordination with predatory precision, raking across Cassian's ribs in a spray of crimson that painted the air red. The wounds burned with unnatural cold—some form of curse that made his aura flicker and dim like a candle in a hurricane.
«HP: 556/919»
"Tsk," Graath'mor purred, dancing away from Arin's retaliatory thrust with insulting ease. "Aura makes you dangerous. It doesn't make you invincible."
Cassian gritted his teeth, silver light pulsing as he pushed the pain aside through sheer willpower. Blood ran down his side in warm streams, but the fire in his eyes never wavered.
"Maybe not," Cassian replied, spinning into a complex blade pattern that forced Graath'mor to backstep—Shadow Weave, a technique that created afterimages in the silver light. "But it makes us fast enough to hurt you."
Arin read the opening instantly, his spear thrusting forward in perfect coordination. The golden point caught Graath'mor across the shoulder, drawing black blood that steamed and hissed in the silver light like acid eating through metal.
The Alpha snarled, pressing one clawed hand to his wounded shoulder. When he pulled it away, his palm was slick with ichor that dripped to the stone floor with audible sizzles.
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"First blood to us," Cassian said, silver light dancing in his eyes like captured starfire.
Graath'mor studied the blood on his fingers with something approaching scientific curiosity. Then he looked up at them both and smiled.
"You magnificent little bastards," he said, and there was genuine fondness in his voice that was somehow more terrifying than his rage. "You actually drew blood. Do you have any idea how long it's been since someone managed that in single combat?"
His already impressive frame began to expand.
Muscles swelled with supernatural power that made his fur stand on end with static electricity. His claws extended into foot-long talons that glowed cherry-red with heat, the tips dripping molten metal. The temperature in the chamber spiked as flames began to wreath his form, turning the air itself into a shimmering mirage.
But it was his presence that truly changed. Waves of destruction essence rolled off him like heat from a forge, carrying the weight of centuries spent perfecting the art of war. The very stones began to crack under the pressure of his killing intent.
"Behold," Graath'mor's voice was thunder rolling across a battlefield, each word carrying the promise of annihilation. "What real power looks like."
Oh, fuck me sideways.
The Alpha's first strike in his enhanced form came without warning—a backhand that caught Cassian across the chest and sent him sprawling twenty feet through the air. The silver aura flickered under the assault, nearly guttering out entirely as Cassian crashed through a stone pillar that exploded into fragments.
«HP: 412/919»
Shit! He's so much stronger—
"Cassian!" Arin's warning cracked through the chaos as Graath'mor followed up with a diving attack aimed at finishing what he'd started. The Alpha moved like a falling meteor, claws extended for the killing blow.
But the [AKASHIC ECHO] was screaming guidance into Cassian's mind. Roll left. Counter-strike. Use his momentum against him. Phoenix Rising technique.
Cassian twisted aside at the last possible moment, bringing Sindivinity up in a vicious arc that opened a gash along Graath'mor's ribs. The blade sang as it tasted demonic blood, and Cassian felt a surge of stolen vitality flood his system like liquid fire.
[DING! SINDIVINITY SOUL-DRAIN ACTIVATED]
[DING! PARTIAL ESSENCE AND VITALITY RESTORED]
«HP: 612/919»
That's more like it.
The Alpha caught Arin's spear thrust in one massive paw, claws scoring deep grooves in the blessed steel. Metal screamed under the pressure. With casual strength that defied physics, he yanked, sending Arin stumbling forward into the path of his other hand.
"No!" Cassian launched himself forward, silver aura blazing as he drove Sindivinity toward Graath'mor's exposed back. The blade moved faster than thought, trailing silver light like a comet's tail.
The Alpha spun with impossible speed, releasing Arin to catch Cassian's blade on his forearm. Steel met supernatural hide in a spray of sparks and blood that painted both combatants crimson. The wound was shallow, but it hurt—Cassian could see the pain flicker across Graath'mor's features like lightning across storm clouds.
But his retaliation was brutal.
Claws raked across Cassian's shoulder, opening parallel gashes that burned with cursed fire. The wounds went deep, scraping bone. The silver aura flickered and dimmed as unnatural cold spread through his system like poison.
«HP: 553/919»
The curse is getting worse. Each hit makes it harder to maintain the aura.
"Cassian, stay close!" Arin called, his golden light flaring as he moved to guard his friend's back. "Whatever he's doing, we counter it together!"
They moved in perfect synchronization—not the desperate teamwork of survival, but the coordinated assault of warriors who had found their rhythm. Silver and gold light danced through the chamber as they pressed their attack, each strike building on the last in a symphony of destruction.
Cassian flowed through the Seventeen Sacred Forms—Moonlight Severing flowed into Starfall Riposte, which became Phantom Step and then Blade's Edge. Each technique was perfect, executed with the precision of centuries of accumulated wisdom.
Arin matched him beat for beat, his spear weaving golden patterns that complemented Cassian's silver arcs. Where one created an opening, the other exploited it. Where one defended, the other attacked. They moved like two parts of the same weapon.
Graath'mor laughed as he danced between their strikes, claws deflecting blade and spear with predatory grace that made their coordinated assault look clumsy. "Yes! This is what I was promised! Two awakened warriors, fighting as one!"
But even enhanced, the Alpha was taking damage. Their coordination was overwhelming his individual superiority. Black blood spattered the stones with increasing frequency. Shallow cuts accumulated across his hide like tally marks of their defiance.
We're actually doing it. We're matching him.
Then Graath'mor's expression changed.
The playful predator vanished, replaced by something far more dangerous. His molten eyes narrowed to slits. The flames wreathing his body began to burn brighter, hotter, until the very air around him shimmered with heat distortion.
"Enough games," Graath'mor suddenly snarled, his voice carrying such absolute finality that both warriors instinctively stepped back. The temperature spiked so high that their breath began to steam.
The air itself seemed to thicken as his already enhanced form began to change again. More muscles bulged, stretching his hide to the breaking point. Bones cracked and reformed with sounds like breaking thunder. The flames wreathing his body turned from red to white-hot, then to something beyond visible light that hurt to look at directly.
When he opened his eyes, they were molten gold that cast their own light in the darkness—twin suns burning in a face that was no longer entirely mortal.
"You wanted to see true demonic power?" Graath'mor's voice was no longer recognizably human. It was the sound of avalanches, of forest fires, of cities falling to ruin. "You wanted to face something that has conquered armies?"
The temperature in the chamber became unbearable. Stone began to melt where his feet touched the ground, leaving molten footprints that glowed like brands.
"Here I am."
Well, we're fucked.
What followed was annihilation.
Every technique Cassian had learned, every perfect form, every flawless coordination with Arin—none of it mattered against power that transcended mere skill. Graath'mor moved like living destruction, each strike carrying enough force to level buildings. His first blow caught Cassian in the ribs, sending him flying through three stone pillars that exploded like bombs on impact. The silver aura flickered like a dying candle.
«HP: 387/919»
His second strike nearly took Arin's head off, the knight barely managing to duck as superheated claws passed through the space where his skull had been. The air itself ignited from the passage of those talons. His third was an overhead smash that cratered the floor, sending up a geyser of molten stone that forced both warriors to dive for cover as liquid rock rained down around them.
"Is this what you call coordination?" Graath'mor roared, his voice shaking the very foundations of the dungeon. "Is this your legendary teamwork?"
Silver aura met demonic flame in explosions that cracked the dungeon walls and sent fissures racing across the ceiling. Arin's golden light blazed like a dying star as he threw everything he had into keeping them alive, but it wasn't enough.
Nothing was enough.
Graath'mor caught Cassian's desperate thrust on his forearm, then backhanded him through another pillar. Stone dust filled the air like choking clouds.
«HP: 298/919»
He seized Arin's spear in both hands and snapped it like kindling, then grabbed the knight by the throat and hurled him across the chamber. Arin hit the wall with a sickening crack and slumped to the ground, golden light flickering weakly around his broken form. Cassian tried to rise, silver aura guttering like a candle in a hurricane. Blood ran from his mouth in rivers. His vision swam with each labored breath.
"Why won't you stay down?" Graath'mor roared, frustration bleeding into his voice as Cassian rose yet again, silver aura dim but defiant. The Alpha's patience was finally cracking under the weight of their stubborn refusal to die.
«HP: 234/919»
Cassian spat blood, silver light flickering around him like a dying flame. Sindivinity felt heavy in his grip, the weapon's hunger the only thing keeping him upright. His knees shook with exhaustion, but his eyes still burned with unquenchable fire.
"Because," Cassian gasped, raising his sword with trembling hands that refused to quit, "some promises are worth dying for."
The words came from somewhere deep inside him—from the place where his mother's memory lived alongside his unbreakable determination to never surrender. From the core of who he was, stripped of everything but the will to keep fighting.
Arin nodded grimly beside him, struggling to his feet with his broken spear clutched in bloodied hands. Golden aura steady despite his wounds. "And because hope doesn't quit."
The two warriors stood side by side, battered and broken but unbroken in spirit. Their combined light—silver and gold—pushed back the darkness one last time.
That's when the Truth awakened.
[DING! «TRUTH: "I'LL BURN THE WORLD IF IT MEANS THAT YOU WILL BURN WITH IT" [TRIGGERED]
[DING! «IMMOLATION PACT» ACTIVATED. TARGET: GRAATH'MOR]
[DING! «BOUND BY ASH» TRIGGERED! TARGET: GRAATH'MOR WILL TAKE 50% EXTRA DAMAGE]
« Scorched Oath activated: The more destruction the character causes in total (environmental, collateral, and direct), the greater the stacking 'IMMOLATION PACT' on the target, increasing over time.»
« Equal Price activated: The user takes % of the damage dealt to the target, ensuring that destruction is just.»
« World Cinder: If you die in battle while the ability is active, your burning soul detonates, dealing one final wave of destruction equal to all the destruction caused since activation.»
About damn time!
The moment the Truth manifested, Graath'mor froze.
Not just stopped moving—froze. Every muscle locked in place as if turned to stone. His molten eyes went wide with an expression Cassian had never seen on that predatory face.
Terror.
"No." The word escaped Graath'mor's throat in a strangled whisper. "No, that's impossible. You're just a human. You can't—you don't—"
The Alpha began to shake. Not with rage, not with power, but with something approaching hysteria. His flames guttered and flared erratically as his control slipped.
"A TRUTH?" Graath'mor's voice cracked like breaking glass, rising to a shriek that made the stones themselves tremble. "A TRUTH? OF DESTRUCTION?"
"HOW!!!!"
The Alpha staggered backward, claws scraping gouges in the stone floor as he fought to maintain his balance. His enhanced form began to flicker and waver like a mirage in the desert heat.
Cassian could see the fear growing in those molten eyes. Fear of something far more dangerous than two bloodied warriors with their backs to the wall.
Fear of implications that stretched beyond this single moment.
"I'll kill you now, no matter what!" Graath'mor's muscles coiled; Cassian could see massive amounts of destruction essence flowing towards him.
He is preparing something.
But then, cutting through the silence like a blade through silk—
HOOOOOOOOORRRRMMMMM.
The horn call echoed through stone and shadow, carrying the promise of dawn. Ancient law given voice. The sound of salvation wrapped in tradition older than kingdoms.
All three combatants turned toward the surface, but it was Graath'mor who reacted first. The fury in his eyes was replaced by regret… defiance.
"Dawn comes," he rumbled, his voice returning to silk over broken glass as his demonic form began to fade like morning mist. "The Hunt must return to shadow. Ancient law demands it, and even I am bound by the old ways."
The flames wreathing his form guttered and died. The molten gold in his eyes cooled to their familiar amber. His muscles returned to merely impressive instead of supernatural.
"You fought magnificently, pups. You've earned something precious tonight—my respect." His grin widened, revealing fangs like curved sabers, but now it held no malice. "And you've given me the greatest mystery of my very long life."
The Alpha began to fade into shadow, but his voice carried clearly through the chamber:
"Cassian. Arin. I'll be watching."
He paused at the threshold between light and darkness, molten eyes finding Cassian one last time. The darkness swallowed him whole, leaving only smoke and promises that felt heavier than mountains.
In the sudden silence, Cassian and Arin collapsed, breathing in ragged gasps that echoed through the chamber like prayers of gratitude. The silver aura finally guttered completely, leaving Cassian feeling hollow but fundamentally changed.
The legendary knowledge was his now. Sindivinity hummed with quiet satisfaction in his grip. And somewhere in his bones, he could feel the potential for so much more.
"Did we..." Arin wheezed, golden light fading to ember, "actually survive that?"
Cassian looked at his hands, still trembling from channeling power beyond his limits. Sindivinity had returned to its dagger form, but he could feel the sword waiting just beneath the surface—patient, eternal, ready.
"Yeah, seems like it," he said softly, his voice carrying new weight. "I'm stuffing my face with food… and sleeping, I guess."
"Sure, I'll join."
More horns were calling in the distance. Dawn was breaking over the world above, painting the darkness with the first hints of hope. But Graath'mor's words echoed like a promise and a threat: Next time, I'll remember your names. The Alpha had watched them evolve from desperate survivors into something approaching legends. The question was—would they be strong enough when that knowledge came back to haunt them?
Cassian closed his eyes and felt transformation settling into his bones. The truth was still active, faintly linking him with Graath'mor.
The system notifications felt distant, unimportant. What mattered was the warmth of companionship in the darkness, the knowledge that he wasn't alone, and the silver light that still flickered—faint but unbroken—in the depths of his soul.
Dawn was coming.
And with it, the promise of becoming something more than human. Something that could make even demons fear.
…