Kael woke up three days later, naked in the ruins, the fragment embedded in his chest, pulsing. His eyes were no longer silver. They glowed with primordial white — terrifying, divine.
That night, Dead Hollow was attacked. Not by spawn — but by something worse: a Reaver, a Guild weapon gone rogue. No one was supposed to survive.
But Kael stood.
He didn't know how to summon a weapon. But when the Reaver charged, his body moved. Instinct took over.
Light burst from his hands. He formed a halberd of etherium, carving the Reaver in half. He fell to his knees, confused, gasping — and laughed.
He was awakening.