A storm of screams tore through the burnt air.
Amidst a valley of corpses and smoke, a figure lay half-buried beneath shattered stone and ash-drenched snow. Blood ran down his back like cracked ink, pooling beneath him—evidence of a battle long lost.
The youth's chest rose shallowly. His eyes, once silver and proud, were now dull and broken, crusted with dried tears. The smell of burnt flesh choked the air around him.
He was Raen Xirian, the last of the Xirian bloodline.
Once a minor noble clan cultivating in peace, the Xirians had been erased overnight. Their home, their legacy, their future—turned to dust under the boots of the Skyborne Saint Court.
And he… the only survivor.
"Why…?" his voice cracked, a mere whisper. "Why did the heavens allow this?"
No answer came. Only the hissing of the wind through ruined stone.
As the blood-soaked wind danced across his broken body, the birthmark on Raen's chest suddenly pulsed with eerie light—a six-pointed crimson star, dormant since his birth. Its lines shone with magma-like energy as if reacting to something ancient and buried.
Then he heard it.
"Plunder… Devour… Rise…"
A voice echoed in his mind—raw, ancient, and terrifying. It wasn't spoken with words but carved into his very marrow. His body seized, every vein igniting in agony. The crimson star spun wildly, and then—
A blinding pulse of crimson light exploded from his chest, ripping through the surrounding earth.
The world faded into void.
Within the Void – The Myriad Cauldron Space
Raen opened his eyes, only to find himself floating inside a dark, cosmic expanse. Stars twinkled like embers, and below him hovered a vast obsidian cauldron, suspended in space, its surface etched with ancient runes that shimmered in blood-red.
The cauldron pulsed like a heartbeat.
"You… are the one."
A voice emanated from the cauldron. Cold, commanding. Divine.
Raen gritted his teeth, sensing no hostility—only boundless power. "Who… what are you?"
"I am the Myriad Void Cauldron, forged from the bones of a thousand worlds. You are my wielder… born of broken fate."
Runes lit up on the cauldron's rim: Soul Garden, Memory Lake, Flesh Forge—each locked behind chains made of crimson starfire.
Raen felt a heat bloom in his chest as his blood was pulled forward, forming a connection with the cauldron. Something primal clicked into place.
Then—he remembered.
When his clan was slaughtered, he'd hidden beneath the corpse of his elder brother. When his spiritual root shattered, he was left behind like trash. The heavens had turned away from him.
But now…
"Feed me your enemies. Grow your might. Transcend all fates."
The cauldron's final words thundered across his mind as the space collapsed—
—and Raen awoke in the real world.
Back to the Ruins – Dawn Breaks Over Ash
Raen's body jerked up from the rubble, his breath ragged.
The wound on his chest had closed. His shattered spiritual root pulsed anew—no longer ordinary. His veins flowed with a different rhythm, as though something was... alive inside.
He clutched his heart as black smoke coiled from his palm—an alchemical mark. His Alchemy Vein had awakened. And on his back, a faint outline of the Myriad Void Cauldron flickered.
More shocking still—beneath his hand, in the broken soil, sprouted a spiritual seedling.
A Blood Orchid, grown from the pooled blood of the corpses around him.
"My cauldron… it can grow herbs from death itself."
Raen stared, eyes flickering with a mix of awe and rage. "Heaven rejected me… so I'll raise myself with the bones of those you chose."
He stood.
Around him, corpses of Saint Court disciples lay scattered—those who had died from an earlier skirmish. Raen extended his hand.
With a single breath, the bodies melted into smoke and were pulled into his back—the cauldron fed.
[Myriad Void Cauldron – Soul Garden: Unlocked]
[One Spirit Seed Grown]
[Alchemy Path Initiated]
A system of runes etched into his vision. It was crude, raw, ancient—not a man-made artifact, but something deeper. Something alive.
Then, his fingers brushed against something cold beside the largest corpse.
It was a saber.
Jet-black, chipped, and half-buried, its hilt wrapped in dried beast tendons. But as his hand gripped it, it pulsed with a hunger that answered the darkness in his own heart.
Bloodhowl Saber – "Vorruk" recognizes new wielder.
Slaughter Count: 231. Evolution Initiated.
The saber howled—a beast's scream mixed with a dying man's wail.
Raen's lips curled.
"Good. Let's go kill some more."
Somewhere Far Above – Tribunal of Fate
In a floating temple built on starlight, robed figures kneeled around a glowing Fate Mirror. Images of Raen flashed within the reflection—awakening his cauldron, consuming the corpses, binding the saber.
One elder gasped. "The Heavenless Mark… has awakened again?"
Another sneered. "Seal him before the world knows. Slaughter his spirit. Burn his fate."
A deep voice echoed from the throne. "Too late. The Heavenless Path has found its vessel."