Chapter 3Breaking the Chains of Dust

As Javier’s words faded, he made a show of turning to leave.

Lyra’s eyes immediately reddened.

“Javier, no. With me here, no one can bully you. You have a family now.”

Tears streamed down Javier’s face. “Lady Lyra, you’re too good to me! For all my lives to come, I would be your beast of burden, your loyal servant, just to stay by your side!”

Lyra, her heart aching for him, pulled him into a gentle embrace, whispering words of comfort.

I had no interest in this melodrama.

The Ordeal was imminent. I began to focus, to center my spirit, and the power around me began to hum and swirl.

Seeing this, Lyra’s tone turned to ice.

“Kaelan, are you actually thinking of fighting me? No one in this world is my match. I am showing you dignity because we were once bondmates. Do you take my kindness for weakness?” she raged. “When will you learn to be as selfless as Javier!”

Her furious shouts echoed across the sky.

I watched her shield Javier protectively, her defiant posture utterly laughable. For millennia, I had sheltered her so completely that she had no concept of what the celestial energy coiling around me truly meant. She had no idea why the most powerful mages in the land had always shown her such deference.

Now, convinced of her own invincibility, her first act was to brandish her power at me. It was pathetic. It was tragic.

I shot her a cold glance and said nothing. Just then, Javier stepped forward again.

“Lady Lyra, please don’t be angry. Why don’t you step aside for a moment? Let me talk to him, brother to brother.”

“Brother Kaelan,” he began, walking toward me with a look of manufactured sincerity. “I’m not here to ruin your relationship. I… I just want to join this family.”

Lyra was hesitant, but at Javier’s insistence, she reluctantly agreed.

“Kaelan, when will you learn to be as gracious as Javier?” she huffed, before finally departing.

I gave them both a cold, sweeping glare, then turned my attention back to the heavens. The storm clouds of my Ordeal were gathering.

The moment Lyra was out of earshot, Javier’s face transformed.

“Kaelan, you’re really pushing your luck, aren’t you?” he sneered. “Lyra is now the undisputed master of this world. She’s far too good for a no-name adept like you. Only an Aether-touched genius like me is worthy of being her partner.”

He puffed out his chest. “If I were you, I’d disappear. Don’t force my hand.”

I couldn’t be bothered to respond to this dog borrowing its master’s ferocity. But then, a flicker of movement at his waist caught my eye. A jade pendant.

It was a gift from my master, who had ascended long ago.

It was the token of my love I had given to Lyra.

The day we were bound, under a canopy of a billion stars, I had placed it in her hand and sworn an oath to never harm her.

And now, she had given it away so casually.

I thought my heart was a frozen stone, that nothing of her could move me. But seeing that pendant swaying at Javier’s hip, I lost control. With a flick of my will, I summoned it, and the pendant flew from his belt into my hand.

Javier’s eyes suddenly lit up with a triumphant, malicious glee.

The next second, he sprayed a great mouthful of blood, his face turning as pale as parchment.

“KAELAN! HOW FAR ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THIS!”

Lyra’s shriek ripped through the sky. She flew to Javier’s side, cradling him in her arms.

“Javier was trying to make peace with you, and you attack him out of spite!” she screamed, her eyes blazing with fury. “Kneel and apologize to him right now, or…”

“Or what?” I cut her off.

Lyra froze for a second, then her face turned into a mask of cold fury. “Or our bond as soulmates is severed today!”

The absurdity of it all was almost amusing.

“Then let it be severed.”

Her face twisted in rage. An instant later, a devastating blast of energy shot toward me—it was the ultimate, life-or-death technique I myself had taught her.

My heart, in that moment, became perfectly still. For a common stray, she would use such a strike against me.

The attack hit the shimmering shield of my own power and vanished without a trace.

“Ant,” I said softly.

The next moment, the clouds of the Ordeal fully converged. The world-shaking trial of ascension was about to begin.

And at the same time, a shimmering stairway of light reappeared in the sky.

The great powers of the realm were finally free.