Chapter 23: The Price of Recognition
The battlefield had grown eerily silent in the aftermath of the Celestial Core clash. Where divine energies had once roared and scorched the walls of the dungeon, there now remained only soot, shattered stones, and echoes. The light from Yuuto's newly acquired relic pulsed faintly, like a dying heartbeat in the void. He clutched it tighter, as if holding it would keep the loss at bay.
Team Astra lay scattered across the broken stone floor, their bodies battered but alive. Kaien was unconscious, his breathing shallow. A healer from the rear line, Rui, knelt beside him, channeling her limited divine energy to stabilize him.
Yuuto stood at the heart of it all, gaze fixed on the place where Lyra had vanished. Not by choice. The system had forcibly removed her after she lost. She had looked at him one last time before the light consumed her. There was no hatred in her eyes. Just sorrow. Just a whisper of something that could have been.
System Notification: New Authority Gained - Relic of Rewrite (Celestial Protocol Override unlocked).
His interface flickered erratically. The sheer amount of data was overwhelming. Diagrams of the celestial realms, timelines of dungeon spawn rates, control layers for divine laws—it flooded into his mind like an unstoppable current. For the first time, he felt the weight of power. Not just to fight, but to shape.
"What now?" Rui asked softly, bandaging Kaien's wounds. "You have the relic. You could change everything."
Yuuto lowered his gaze. "That's what scares me."
---
Back at the city's main hub, news of the outcome spread like wildfire across the SystemNet. Message boards overflowed. Memes of Yuuto defeating Lyra circulated alongside speculation of what the relic could do.
User: AngelicAegis123: "Did you see how Lyra disappeared? That wasn't a normal system defeat. She was force-removed! What does Yuuto even HAVE now??"
User: RiftReaper: "I heard the relic can rewrite system rules. That means he can technically become a Celestial himself. Or worse. A god."
Yuuto didn't reply to any of them. He couldn't. Not yet.
He sat alone on the roof of the Astra guildhouse, the city lights below blinking like constellations. The relic hovered quietly beside him, its faint pulse matching his own heartbeat now. Lyra's last words replayed in his mind:
"If only you had stayed..." "If only you had waited..."
Regret crept in. Not for winning—he had no choice. But for what they could have been. Allies. Friends. Something more. Now, the bond was frayed beyond repair.
---
"You're being watched," came a voice behind him.
Yuuto turned slowly. A tall man in flowing violet robes stood near the edge of the roof, his presence wrapped in layers of concealment spells. Yuuto hadn't even sensed his approach.
"Who are you?"
The man smiled. "A Messenger. Call me Solas. I represent the Arbitration Council."
Yuuto's eyes narrowed. The Arbitration Council was a secretive faction that governed the Celestial System's more... volatile elements. They didn't show up for tournaments. They showed up when anomalies broke balance.
"You've gained something that shouldn't exist," Solas said. "The Relic of Rewrite is older than the current Celestial framework. It's a remnant of the Lost Code."
"So you want it?"
"No," Solas replied simply. "We want you."
Yuuto rose. His aura sparked defensively, his interface flickering to combat mode. "To do what? Be your puppet?"
Solas didn't flinch. "To understand what you are becoming. You're no longer a player. You're an axis point. If you misuse that relic... you won't just break rules. You'll erase stories."
The relic pulsed slightly. Yuuto could feel it responding to the words, as if acknowledging the weight they carried.
"What do you want from me?"
"Come to the Tribunal. Not as a prisoner. As a candidate. There are ranks above Celestials, Yuuto. And responsibilities beyond power."
The messenger vanished as silently as he had arrived, leaving only a faint echo behind.
---
Yuuto didn't sleep that night. He wandered the city, unseen, thinking.
Power was what he had always chased. To protect himself. To gain respect. To stop being the weak NEET who was overlooked and broken. But now that he stood on the edge of something far greater, he wondered...
What if recognition wasn't the final prize? What if it was the first sacrifice?
He stopped at an old shrine tucked in an alley. It was simple, covered in moss and starlight. He bowed before it, relic in hand.
"If I can change the world... then let me start by understanding it."
The relic glowed faintly. Then, a new system window opened:
Quest Chain Unlocked: The Archive of Broken Laws. Travel to the First Rift. Uncover the Forbidden Histories. Witness what came before the system.
Yuuto straightened, resolve returning to his eyes. "Then I'll go. Even if the Celestials don't want me to. Especially if they don't."
He turned back toward the guildhouse. Tomorrow, he would tell Team Astra the truth. About the relic. About the Council. About Lyra.
And then, he would leave.
But not before rewriting the part of his story he regretted most.
Because power wasn't the end. It was the beginning of the price he had to pay.
End of chapter