Chapter 128: Chapter 128 : Awakening of the chosen one

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Ethan Williams.

The supposed hero of this world.

The “Chosen One” of Etheron.

But in truth… he was just a guy who never got to choose his own destiny.

The day the Church of the Holy Empire of Celestara announced his name, the world didn’t just celebrate—it changed. For everyone else, it was a divine miracle. For Ethan… it was the beginning of lifting a burden no one but him could carry.

People started treating him like he was something more than human. Not a person anymore, but a symbol. An icon. A divine vessel.

Even the nobles—who had once respected him for his swordsmanship, his tireless discipline, his unmatched skill and the effort he put in—now only saw the divine light shining over his head.

They crowded him. Praised him. Offered him fake smiles, false friendships, empty compliments to curry favor with him.

’All the effort I put in… the sweat, the blood, the hours spent training until I collapsed… does none of it matter now? Was it all just… because I was chosen?’

They acted like everything he had ever achieved was because the gods had lifted him up from the dirt—when in reality, he had clawed his way up.

And yet, amidst the chaos, the one thing that kept him grounded… was the people who never changed.

Charlotte. Alden. Seraphina.

They still treated him the same—as their friend. Their equal. They joked with him, argued with him, supported him without kneeling at his feet.

And then there was her.

The person Ethan respected more than anyone—perhaps more than even his own parents.

Evelyn Williams. His older sister.

She was the only one who saw him. Truly saw him.

And it was because of one moment—one sentence—that he could never forget.

When he was drowning… when the burden of being “the Chosen One” became too heavy to bear…

She looked him in the eyes, calm and steady, and said:

“If you ever want to run away from all this hero nonsense—just tell me. I’ll take your place. Gladly.”

No conditions. No judgment. Just a simple promise.

’She… would take my place? She’d carry this burden for me?’

That was the moment something in his heart melted.

She was the only one who gave him permission to be Ethan, not the Hero.

But there was a part of his story no one else knew. A memory burned so deeply into his mind that even now, it haunted his dreams.

It happened just two days after the church announced his role to the world.

He had been taken. Kidnapped in the middle of the night while he was alone at their mansion. No one knew how the information had been leaked. His sister was at the academy, and his parents had been summoned by the Pope to discuss matters about Ethan.

They came without warning—silent shadows, skilled and merciless. He had tried to fight back. He remembered drawing his sword—but then the world went black.

When he woke up, he was in a cold, sterile facility. White lights. Chrome walls. The air reeked of antiseptic and mana.

He couldn’t move at first. His body was restrained. Numb.

And surrounding him… were people.

Men and women in white coats. Scientists. Researchers. Some in robes etched with strange runes. All of them staring at him.

One of them stood out—a man with maroon-colored hair and wild yellow eyes, like a predator who’d finally caught something rare.

He stared at Ethan like he was a priceless specimen.

’He wasn’t looking at me like a person. He was looking at me like an experiment.’

They began speaking—terms Ethan didn’t fully understand at the time.

“Marionettes.”

“Ascendants.”

“Artificial awakenings.”

“Extract the divine essence from the Chosen One’s blood.”

Ethan’s blood.

And then… the experiments began.

They drained his blood in slow, agonizing intervals. Injected him with strange fluids that made his body spasm and his vision blur.

He screamed until his voice cracked—but the room was sealed, soundproofed. No one would hear.

They pierced his nerves with cold needles laced with unknown medicines. They forced his body to endure overlapping mana fields until his muscles seized up and his bones felt like they were cracking.

’Make it stop. Please. I’ll do anything. Just… let it end…’

Two days.

Forty-eight hours of pain so intense, so dehumanizing, Ethan felt his mind beginning to fray.

Hope slipped from him like water through trembling hands.

He thought he would die there. Forgotten. Reduced to some monster’s blueprint for an artificial god.

The room they kept him in was made of reinforced, transparent glass—so they could watch him at all times. Like a lab rat. Like an animal.

And that night… it rained.

He could barely move, but he lifted his head and watched the raindrops slide down the glass.

’The sky’s crying for me…’

He hadn’t even realized he was crying too. Quiet, helpless tears tracing down his bruised face.

And then…

The rain stopped.

Not slowed—froze.

Mid-air. Suspended in time. As if the world itself had hit pause.

Then came the boom.

An explosion so massive it shook the ground, shattering half the compound in an instant. The lights flickered. Smoke billowed in from down the halls.

And when he looked up…

There she was.

Evelyn.

Standing on the glass roof above him—golden hair glowing, golden eyes burning like the sun.

For a moment, she didn’t even look human.

She looked like a goddess of retribution.

With a simple flick of her fingers, the glass cracked and splintered.

He couldn’t stop the tears from falling. He couldn’t even speak. Just looked at her… and broke inside.

She dropped down gracefully, landing in front of him. Her eyes scanned his wounds—burn marks, injection sites, bloody restraints.

At first, her face was unreadable. Cold. Focused.

But then… a single tear slid down her cheek.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all this, brother. I’m really… sorry.”

Those words.

So simple.

So sincere.

They shattered the dam inside him.

He stumbled forward, collapsing into her arms, gripping her with every ounce of strength he had left.

And he cried.

He cried like he hadn’t since he was a child.

“I didn’t want this… I didn’t ask to be chosen…”

“Why me… why me… why me… Sis?”

And Evelyn held him tighter.

Not as a hero.

Not as a chosen one.

Just as her little brother.

And in that moment… for the first time since it all began… Ethan felt human again.

“I’m sorry, Eth… I’m so sorry…” Evelyn whispered again, her voice shaking like a fragile flame in a storm.

Ethan, despite the deep wounds and the cold blood still dripping from his lip, looked up at her through dazed eyes. Her hands were trembling—not from fear, but from rage and guilt.

He reached up weakly, placing a battered hand on hers. His lips curled into a tired smile.

“Why are you apologizing, Sis? It’s not your fault…”

Evelyn stiffened. For a brief moment, she couldn’t look at him. Then, with a voice barely above a whisper, she replied, “You’ll understand in time…”

Without another word, her hand began to glow with golden mana. A warm, healing light spread over Ethan’s body, mending bones, stitching torn muscles, wiping away the traces of blood and pain. In just a few seconds, it was as if he had never been tortured.

But the scars in his mind… those would take longer to heal.

Suddenly, the temperature in the room shifted.

Six distinct presences emerged around Evelyn, each radiating a pressure that made the entire underground facility tremble. Arcane symbols lit up on the walls as reality itself seemed to reject their existence.

Ethan blinked in confusion.

They were powerful. Far beyond Master-rank. More than mere mages or knights—these were monsters in human skin.

Yet in that terrifying group, these were the Seven Shades of Zenith Academy.

His eyes locked on one familiar figure with flowing white hair, even though she wore a silver masquerade mask.

Alicia von Crestvale.

Even behind the cold elegance, her soft smile reached her eyes. She stepped forward, placing a reassuring hand on Ethan’s shoulder.

“Everything’s going to be alright now,” she said gently.

Then the world shook.

A colossal barrier, shimmering with divine script and stretching for kilometers, enveloped the entire research facility.

Everyone inside was shocked. When Ethan looked up, he saw an old man hovering in the sky—his silver robes billowing, staff raised to the heavens. His presence alone silenced the air.

Aldric Verlane, the Headmaster of Zenith Academy.

“Eve,” the old man called out calmly, “I suppose you want to punish these people yourself. Don’t worry about the politics… I’ll deal with everything else. Go wild.”

Evelyn, her expression turning cold and blank, looked up at him and nodded. “Thank you, Master.”

She turned back to the six powerhouses behind her, her voice now devoid of warmth.

“I don’t want any of them to die peacefully.”

Her mana flared—dark, divine, and absolute.

“Torture them. Burn them. Heal them. Then burn them again. They tortured my brother for two days… we’ll torture them for ten.”

She took a step forward, her glare fixed on the maroon-haired man with the insane yellow eyes—the one who had led it all.

“Use psychic magic to drive them mad. Use your summons to devour their limbs. Then heal them and do it again.”

Each of the six smiled, their eyes gleaming with cruel delight.

“With pleasure,” they said in unison.

A chill ran down Ethan’s spine.

His throat dried up. “S-Sis… t-ten days?”

Evelyn looked at him with a blank stare. “Would you prefer fifteen?”

He gulped. “No… ten will do just fine.”

Then the screams began.

Fire roared. Summons with nightmarish forms emerged from rifts and pounced. One researcher’s mind was split apart and stitched back together in a loop of insanity.

Another was burned alive, only to be healed and have the process repeated. The maroon-haired man begged—screamed in tongues. It didn’t matter.

Their cruelty wasn’t chaotic. It was methodical.

And it was all for him.

After barely a minute, Ethan turned away, bile rising in his throat.

“I… I want to go home,” he whispered, eyes shaking.

Evelyn’s coldness vanished the moment she heard that. Her mana calmed, her expression softened. She walked over, brushing the back of his hair with that same gentleness he remembered from when he was a child.

“Okay,” she said softly. “Let’s go home.”

She smiled at him, a warmth only he got to see.

“And remember, Eth… I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: if you ever want to run away from all this hero business, from destiny and gods and the world’s expectations—just tell me. I’ll take your place. I’ll fight the world for you if I have to. Don’t carry this burden alone.”

Those words etched themselves into his soul.

From that day on, Ethan no longer simply respected Evelyn Williams.

She became sacred to him—someone to be worshipped, never questioned, never defied.

And something else became painfully clear. If he truly wanted to protect her… if he wanted to protect Alden, Charlotte, Alicia, and everyone he loved—

Then he had to become strong enough to defy the world itself.

Even if it killed him.

He trained harder than ever before. Nothing mattered more than growth. The world’s praise or insults? Irrelevant. Rankings, titles, politics? Meaningless. His one focus—power.

He surpassed everyone in his generation.

Seraphina. Charlotte. Alden.

They were all strong—but he was relentless. He didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

Then came Zenith.

And a silver-haired guy named Alex Dragonheart appeared.

The first thought Ethan had about Alex was:

’He has the kind of presence that could make friends with a demon if he tried…’

Ethan found himself drawn to him. He had charm, wit, and an ease with people that Ethan couldn’t replicate. And though Ethan never liked comparing appearances…

Even he had to admit—Alex was dangerously good-looking.

’He might even be… better looking than me. Damn him.’

And then—Alex won the Apex position.

Ethan didn’t mind. He knew titles meant nothing. If he really wanted it, he could have taken it back by challenging him to a duel.

But then came the duel with Alicia von Crestvale.

Alex had lost, yes… but that one move. That one strike he used.

Ethan knew in his heart—if it had landed on him instead of Alicia… he wouldn’t have been able to stop it.

For the first time, the calm superiority Ethan held cracked.

He started training even harder, an uneasy feeling blooming in his chest. Was it jealousy? Admiration? Something else?

He didn’t know.

Then came the Freshmen Ball.

Ethan nearly choked when he saw it—Alex Dragonheart… had come with his sister.

Evelyn. The untouchable. His hope. Someone for whom Ethan could fight the gods themselves.

She was a woman who could flatten noble houses with a glance. The woman who barely acknowledged any man’s existence.

And now she was smiling beside Alex.

’This can’t be real…’

Then Alden punched him, and he came back to reality.

From that moment on, one singular thought looped in his head:

’This silver-haired bastard… is dangerous. I should break the hand he used to hold my sister’s.’

Ethan shadowed them the entire evening like a protective older brother with a vengeance checklist.

But fate wasn’t done with him.

Because then—it happened.

His sister. The same Evelyn who could scare anyone with just a stare. Who tortured people with that expressionless face—

Kissed Alex Dragonheart.

Right on the ballroom dance floor.

Ethan froze.

His world almost collapsed.

Every rule. Every belief. Every rational boundary his mind had built… shattered.

Before he could even think, golden light surged from his body. The floor beneath his feet cracked. The ceiling above trembled. Glasses shattered.

Everyone turned toward him, gasping.

The world’s will of Etheron—responded to him.

An invisible force wrapped around him. Symbols no one could read floated around his body.

Only Ethan saw the message appear in front of him, written in glowing words.

[The Will of the World Responds to the Chosen One.]

[Dual Divine Heritage Detected.]

[Lineage of the Dragon God Tiamat – Confirmed.]

[Lineage of the Phoenix Goddess Solara – Confirmed.]

[Fusion Initiated…..]

[Fusion Complete.]

[Bloodline Awakening: Complete.]

A Superior Bloodline and Physique Has Been Born through the fusion.

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A/N:

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