The pain came like thunder, burning and piercing through Kyrian's eyes.

The heat consumed his eyes, and inside, the gray flame he had pressed against them invaded him endlessly. As if it wanted to burn his eyes completely.

Kyrian tried to breathe, but it was as if there was no air. Only fire.

The heat corroded everything, his eyes, his mind, and his thoughts.

At last, in an instant, everything went dark.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a place without sound. Without light.

The same darkness that had received him other times.

Kyrian looked around slowly, already knowing where he was.

Right in front of him, four lights appeared in the void.

The first was an ice crystal, emanating a cold that cut through the skin. Around the crystal, a thin layer of translucent frost seemed to form.

The second was a crimson drop of blood, pulsing at a steady rhythm, exuding an intense and violent life force.

The third light, a sword slash suspended in the air, like a floating green half-moon. It radiated a pure cutting intent that wanted to divide everything.

And the fourth… a new one that hadn't existed there before.

A gray flame.

It floated silently in the darkness. Burning slowly.

It was hot, yet there was still a hidden coldness within it. A terrible calm in the flame, as if it were alive and dead at the same time.

Kyrian observed the flame for a moment, for a few seconds.

Without hesitating any longer, he extended his hand and touched it.

The flame immediately merged with him, or rather, fused completely into his eyes.

Suddenly, a flood of knowledge came along with it, countless understandings that had never existed in his mind before.

His dantians spun as they transformed into the newly discovered energy.

Then, his eyes finally changed.

His snowflake-shaped pupils gleamed.

The light blue color disappeared, the ice dissolved, and everything was taken over by a deep, dark gray.

At the center of each iris, a small flame appeared, moving, flickering slowly as if a spark of life existed within his eyes.

A new pair of eyes had awakened.

Kyrian blinked. And in the next instant, he vanished from the place filled with darkness.

The sound of beating, a heavy, suffocating rhythm, echoed around him.

Everything around him was crushing him.

He opened his real eyes.

Immediately, he realized. He was inside something.

The walls pulsed like living flesh, and the beating sound was that of the giant ash heart from before.

The heat was intense, but different from before. Kyrian felt it, but it didn't burn him. His body now resisted heat better, just as it resisted cold.

The real problem now was the pressure. Everything around him pressed in from all directions.

As if the heart of ashes wanted to crush him.

Kyrian tried to move, but his muscles barely responded. The pressure kept him from moving even an arm.

He took a deep breath, drawing in any remaining scrap of air in that place, and then his eyes glowed gray.

"…then, there's only this left."

Qi began to swirl in his eyes. Suddenly, gray flames took form around Kyrian's body, expanding in waves.

Inside the heart, the heat suddenly rose, and the living walls began to crackle.

A dry sound spread, like burning flesh.

The entire heart began to burn. Slowly at first, then faster and faster.

The beats became irregular, and a strong smell of burnt ashes filled the air.

Kyrian kept his eyes open the entire time.

The gray flames spread through every fiber of the ash heart, every pulsing part of the living organ.

And then, it burned completely.

The heat and the sound of beating ceased.

All that remained was ash. A sea of dense ashes floated in the air, and those settled on the ground lay still.

Kyrian breathed slowly.

But then, instead of the remaining ashes scattering and staying still, something suddenly happened.

The ashes began to move.

An invisible current formed, and the particles began to swirl in the center of the cavern.

It was slow at first, but it didn't take long to take shape.

Before Kyrian's eyes, the ashes began to concentrate in a single point.

The whirlpool of ashes closed in until it formed into a solid sphere. A core the size of a clenched fist.

It was of a dull gray, almost metallic. But inside, a faint red glow pulsed.

Kyrian stood still, watching.

The energy emanating from the core was heavy, dense, and far more concentrated than any spirit stone he had ever seen before.

He extended his hand and held the sphere.

The faint heat vibrated in his palm.

He could feel the power contained within it, and also something deeper.

Within that sphere, there were thousands of echoes of those who had been sacrificed, erased, and forgotten from this world. Their essences were trapped there as energy.

Kyrian stayed silent.

He thought for a moment.

"…thousands of lives."

He looked at the core once more.

For an instant, he hesitated.

That thing had been formed from human sacrifices. Each particle being a part of those who had died.

If he absorbed it, it would be the same as consuming all of them.

But the doubt didn't last long.

"If this will make me stronger… then that's what truly matters. What happened is already in the past. There's no way to change it."

His hesitation dissolved. The cold, determined look returned.

Kyrian brought the core to his face and positioned it before his eyes.

The sphere touched his pupil, and then the flame in his eyes trembled with satisfaction.

The entire core dissolved, completely absorbed into his eye, just like with the spirit stones.

The next instant was brutal.

The accumulated energy of the core exploded within his eyes and rushed through him like a violent tide.

Kyrian clenched his teeth but focused on his eyes.

The flow of energy passed through the infinite spiritual channels in his eyes and concentrated in his two dantians.

His entire body reacted, trembling slightly.

Kyrian's Qi expanded, growing endlessly.

The dantians spun at maximum speed.

The energy was pure after passing through the channels, heavy, and seemingly endless.

Kyrian felt his cultivation in the first stage reaching its peak and then breaking through.

Qi exploded within his eyes, and a new layer of power enveloped him.

The 2° stage of the Qi Liberation Realm.

But the energy didn't stop.

There was still a vast amount left.

His dantians continued to absorb and expand, devouring every fragment that remained of the core.

Kyrian breathed slowly, maintaining control.

The pressure in his eyes was now immense.

Then, at the last moment, the energy began to run out.

He was close, very close, to the third stage. But the potent energy dissipated before he could cross over.

Qi then stabilized on its own.

Kyrian slowly opened his eyes.

The gray flames in his pupils flickered in a steady rhythm.

"That was close…"

He could now feel the invisible limit before his eyes, a wall that prevented him from advancing further for now.

He had almost broken through two realms due to the sheer amount of energy, but perhaps it was a good thing he hadn't reached the 3° stage. Kyrian didn't want to force his eyes to absorb more than they could handle.

After all, they were his source of power and what gave him the confidence that he would grow stronger above all.

Kyrian took a deep breath, calming his mind.

The heart had been destroyed. The leader of the organization was dead. And the energy of the ashes now belonged to him.

He stood still for a few moments, watching the empty space where that immense heart once pulsed.

Now, all that remained was dust.

Kyrian crouched, touched the ground, and watched the ashes slip between his fingers.

There was no more pain, no sound.

The entire cavern was now filled with silence.

"Power and eternal life…" Kyrian murmured, recalling the man's words.

He raised his gaze, then turned and began walking out of the place.

The sound of his footsteps was the only noise echoing in that empty place.

Kyrian didn't look back. He adjusted his clothes and followed the tunnel from where he had come.

"It's time to finish the mission and return to the sect."

His voice was firm.

Then, as he walked, it didn't take long before new sounds arose in the distance. The distant sound of metal and screams.

Soon, the underground dome came into view again.

Down below, hundreds of people moved, shouting. Transporting bodies, essences, and materials.

But the one who fed all of it was no longer alive.

Kyrian watched the scene for a few seconds. The indifference in his eyes was absolute.

"There isn't a single one here worth thinking twice before killing."

The flames in his eyes ignited. The air trembled.

An absurd amount of Qi gathered around his eyes. And then, the gray flames appeared before his vision. Silent, dense.

They spread like a living wave, devouring everything in their path.

People, structures, experiments, formations.

Everything burned, without smell, without sound.

"You, who incinerated so many lives… I believe you won't complain that your fates are the same." Kyrian said quietly, walking calmly amidst the fire and the screams.

Some tried to resist, releasing their Qi barriers, others attacked, shouting, but it was all useless.

Kyrian's flames were not ordinary fire. They brought pure destruction.

In just moments, the entire underground turned into a sea of ashes.

When everything was over, Kyrian stood in the center, breathing in the little air that remained, while silence surrounded him once again.

Somehow, that emptiness brought him peace. It was comforting.

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