“These bones have been preserved across Chaos Cycles,” said Reina, breathless. “Even million-year bones have a chance of fading away. But sometimes the System catches them.”

  She showed him a few. There were tons—Flood Dragon bones, Golden Roc bones…

  Even Titan Rhino.

  He blinked. “There are 10 million-year bones in here.” Though they did cost dozens of credits.

  He wasn’t sure how he was meant to afford it.

  “You get credits from challenges, right?”

  “Mhm.”

  “How many would I have to do to get one?”

  “It’s hard to know for sure,” said Reina. She hesitated. “I couldn’t find hard numbers. But Zane…I really think you have a shot at this.”

  Zane perked up.

  “The harder the challenge, the more credits you get,” she explained. “Though it usually has to do with kill count or boss strength. It’s meant to do two things.”

  She held up fingers.

  “First—incentivize killing monsters as fast as possible. The System's supposed to spawn tons of challenges—it’s meant to help all of Dragonspire earn store credits. It helps everyone get stronger too. It’s why every wave so many powerhouses get made.”

  “That, and you get to kill a bunch of Monsters.”

  Made sense.

  She nodded. “It’s hordes like nothing else… it’s like holding back an apocalypse, all by yourself.”

  She considered him, head tilted. “You’re excited.”

  “…A little," he admitted.

  She looked slightly amused, slightly exasperated. It was one of her oh, Zane… looks.

  There were some other interesting rewards in there too. A few extremely high-grade Primordial steels, for instance. He spotted the C-grade ‘Midnight Lightning Blacksteel,’ and the B-grade ‘Sun Core Gold.’ There were even some A-grades in there.

  For now, Zane had an ample supply of dreamsteel. But he consumed a Core Disciple armory’s worth of treasure on a regular basis—and steel was in pretty high demand in the war.

  A few very high-grade steels might just max out his body.

  Then there was that Shard of Destruction, which was his first priority.

  Lots to consider.

  ***

  Festival of Might

  The best the Steelheart Conclave had to offer—from Patriarch Steelheart, with his magnificently thick beard, to Chosen Viria, to 7-time Festival Champion Orin Thunderfist—were gathered in the Plaza of Titans.

  Gathered to watch one man as he made his way to his final lift.

  Zane placed two hands on the Worldbreaker Hammer and took a deep breath.

  His body was running near its peak; each heartbeat rang strong.

  Beside him gleamed the Minor God steles—and at its peak was Orin Thunderfist’s record.

  #1. 16 AU. Sitting slightly below him, at 14 AU, was Founder Thalgrim himself.

  When Thalgrim set that record it was thought it’d never be broken. For millions of years that record lay untouched…

  And then, at the peak of the Chaos Cycle, in just ten short years—it faced its most serious test.

  Orin took in two 100,000-year-old bones of the Heavenly Elephant. His physique took to the Bloodline as well as anyone in history.

  In any other era, the gentle giant would be the unquestioned #1 of his generation.

  He simply had the misfortune to be born in the same generation as Zane.

  He didn’t seem cut up about it. He beamed and looked excited, even, as Zane took the stage.

  Any true Steelheart Conclave disciple knew it was man against the weight.

  Every Steelheart in the Plaza was there to see a new standard set for humanity.

  Cheers and shouts reverberated through the arena.

  Zane took a deep breath and threw up the hammer in one swift motion.

  He roared—and brought it straight down.

  BANG!

  The shockwave made the forges jump.

  Zane’s name shot to the top of the Stele.

  And the number just kept climbing. It went up, and up, and up—14… 29… 38… 47… 53…

  It settled at 62 AU.

  A silence. Then—

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” roared the announcer. “The Champ is BACK!”

  The plaza exploded. Weight belts soared through the air.

  “Zane! Zane! Zane!”

  Zane was briefly seen carried around by the crowd before the Barbarian Sage tackled him in a hug, and he vanished.

  ***

  Then it was just about time to attempt the Minor God Breakthrough.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “Let’s go beat up some heart demons!” cried Avery.

  They weren’t actually demons, according to Reina’s briefing. But her heart was in the right place.

  He said his last goodbyes to his friends. Reina gave him a kiss. She was still quite worried.

  From what she could tell—in body, with his Bloodline, as well as Law, with his Destruction—he was, far and away, the most potent Ascendant in recorded history.

  That meant the difficulty of the trial—the sheer pressure he’d be subjected to, the standard required to pass—was like nothing any man had ever seen.

  Avery and Evan were heading off too, to do their own breakthroughs. He gave them all one last wave, feeling rather melancholy.

  Then he set off for the North Pole.

  ***

  His stat sheet before he broke through looked something like:

  Zane Walker

  Essence Level 499

  Signature Title: Savage Sage

  Key Laws:

  Solar Flare [Legendary (P)]

  Key Skills:

  Limit Breaker [Unique]

  Solar Storm [Legendary (P)]

  Solar Flare Punch [Legendary (P)]

  Solar Flare Smash [Legendary (P)]

  Solar Flare Slash [Legendary (P)]

  Prometheus Noose [Legendary (P)]

  Asura Titan’s Body, Second Form [Rare (P)]

  Overlord Annhilation Charge [Rare (P)]

  Mephisto’s Pleasure Sutra [Mythic (H)]

  Stats:

  Vitality: 94,344,182

  Regeneration: 59,003,841

  Strength: 101,953,294

  Dexterity: 63,297,077

  Speed: 70,690,812

  ***

  Reina had made a meditation room for him—sealed in deep isolation at the heart of the highest mountain of the North Pole. An isolated zone. Nothing but desolate barren landscape for hundreds of miles; all snowy mountain and glacier and tundra, and only the aurora borealis for light at night.

  Grizzly polar bears hunted in the far distance.

  This would take most of a year. An extended meditation, a trance.

  If all went right, he’d have broken through just when the First Wave was starting to break out.

  He took a deep breath and sat down.

  A single shaft of sunlight lit the cavern, drenching where he sat, lighting him up gold. The air was an alert cold, a cold that cleared the mind.

  He focused on his soul.

  Focused on his heartbeat. Felt the rhythm of it beating a note in his mind, over and over…

  His Asura Body began burning, just slightly.

  Then he felt it.

  It felt like his heart was thudding against some invisible pressure. A barrier imposed by the Heavens itself…

  He fought. Willed against it.

  It felt flimsy. Just about to break.

  He felt it shiver…

  Then he raised a single vial of elixir and drank.

  He wiped his lips, closed his mouth. Felt that golden liquid searing through him, resting against that pressure.

  It broke open.

  The mountain began to tremble.

  He sank into the vision.

  ***

  By the time he emerged, he’d be a new man—or broken in body and spirit.

  It’d come to him as a dream. That much he knew. While he took that trial, he wouldn’t know he was taking it—just as in dreams, you weren’t aware you were dreaming.

  It’d seem he just woke up that way. Totally real in that moment.

  Only then could his heart truly be tested.

  From what Noughtfire had said, it was the Heavens’ best try to screw with his head. They’d try to break him. It was their only way to keep him from challenging them.

  Let them try.

  ***

  Zane coughed blood.

  His head was ringing. Piercing pain ripped through him. His left leg had to be broken. An arm, too, and most of his ribs. His face was swollen—beaten badly, by the feel of it.

  His face hadn’t swollen like that since he’d gotten his steel body.

  His arms were bound by thick rope to a chair. Bound so tight he could hardly move.

  His vision came in harsh; a bright light stabbed at his eyes.

  …He was just a man again.

  He had his physique—but by the looks of it—though mostly broken. No Laws. No Skills.

  He was just Zane again.

  He looked around, bewildered.

  Then he saw the men in the shadows. Heavily armed.

  “He’s awake!”

  He recognized that voice. It was out of another life.

  A grinning face resolved before him.

  “…Brad?”

  His high school bully. The same man he’d met at the start of Integration.

  “So you do remember me.”

  Then he gave Zane a swift kick. Pain erupted up his torso.

  He growled, strained against the rope—but Brad cracked him in the face, and blood splattered the ground.

  “All that time in another world,” mused Brad. “You’ve gotten stronger. You’ve gotten bigger.”

  He elbowed Zane so hard his nose shattered; his head snapped back.

  “But in the end, it doesn’t mean shit.”

  It felt strange, being in a body that broke this easily. He blinked, dizzy.

  But now Brad was examining him, head cocked. Took a good close look at Zane’s face and saw the cold defiance there.

  “No? Nothing?” he sighed. Then he knelt down and tapped Zane in his heaving chest. “…Shit. Guess you’ve changed after all.”

  “What do you want?” growled Zane.

  Then he heard a little wheeze.

  He glanced across the room, and his heart went cold.

  There was Reina. Eyes red, hair in a mess, clothes torn, mouth bloodied.

  Evan was shivering right next to her, in tears—black and blue all over. Avery was gagged with a towel, but she was still shouting insults. Then one of her captors slapped her so hard she went into a daze.

  “There we go,” purred Brad. “That’s it.”

  Zane took the measure of the room, heart pounding. A dozen men or so. Knives. Bats. Four gunmen. His body was so shattered he wasn’t sure he could stand. Then there was the rope—he could barely even wriggle; it was bound so tight.

  “They’re your weakness, Zane,” said Brad. He pointed at Reina. “See how quick you lose your head? How fast your heart’s going? My… we’ll have to do something about that.”

  He made a hand gesture. “I’m about to give you a very simple test.”

  One of his black-masked goons put a gun up to her head.

  “Ten seconds, and he pulls the trigger,” said Brad. “The only way you pass… is to do nothing.”

  He knelt down to Zane’s level. “Give up on them, and you’ll go free. So how about it?”

  Zane headbutted Brad so hard his nose shattered.

  He shot to his feet, swinging his chair so hard it took a man’s legs out from under him—then he felt a spike of pain as his leg gave out. He stumbled.

  A knife took him in the back; he bucked the man off—a baseball bat hit him in the chest. He nearly blacked out then and there.

  “Zane!” cried Reina.

  He grabbed the bat before it could go back, wrenched it free, and put the other man down in one hard blow.

  The knife had maimed him—but it’d also sliced the rope. The gunman flicking off the safety.

  He broke free of the rope—and lunged.

  At that point, the rest of them unloaded straight into him.

  It took nine bullets before he went down, with his fingers around the man’s throat.

  He blacked out in excruciating pain.

  ***

  Revive.

  Zane jerked awake, gasping. A man pulled a glowing green flask away; he spat out some liquid.

  He was back in the stool—tied up again.

  He must’ve been given some healing draught. But it only worked halfway. His body still felt mostly shattered.

  “Not even close,” said Brad. “Let’s try that again, shall we? Ten seconds.”

  He took Reina’s cheek in his hands; she glared at him and tried to bite him.

  Brad laughed and pistol-whipped her so hard her head snapped all the way back.

  Zane went for it.

  Seven seconds later, he lay in a pool of his own blood, flat on the floor, eyes dulling.

  ***

  Revive.

  “I guess one thing hasn’t changed,” said Brad. He knocked on Zane’s head. “That thick skull of yours. But that’s fine. We’ve got all day, don’t we, boys?”

  Mocking laughter.

  “Alright, alright. One more chance—”

  Zane attacked.

  Then the shouting started.

  BANG—BANG—BANG—

  The last thing he heard as he slumped was Reina’s choked cry.

  Then he blacked out.

  ***

  “How many times will it take, do you think,” said Brad, using his head as an armrest. “Before you give in?”

  He smashed his chair into Brad so hard it shattered a kneecap.

  This time he made it four steps before he went down.

  ***

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Brad shook his head. “It’s designed to be impossible! The more you fight—”

  Zane nearly managed to strangle the man unconscious this time before the last bullet put him down for good.

  ***

  He tried. He just kept trying.

  It seemed if they shot him before 10 seconds was up, it reset. They wouldn’t kill her unless they broke him first.

  It was the thought that kept him going.

  Each time he gave it everything.

  Each time, it was just not enough.

  “Looks like we’ve found your greatest fear,” said Brad. “That no matter how hard you try, you’re just not enough to save your friends.”

  65 deaths.

  He sat there, breathing heavily, head bowed.

  “But do you know how you get rid of it?” Brad leaned in. “Just let go.”

  Then—“No,” snarled Zane, and lunged.

  He hit the ground for the 45th time.

  It was too much for one man.