Aspect: [King's Shadow]
Aspect Rank: Divine
Aspect Description: [You are the autonomous war-shadow of Ares, the Scarlet King—a living fragment of his divine will made manifest. Forged by his blessing, you move with the silence of a falling star and the swiftness of a blade drawn in war. Yours is a power shaped by loyalty, yet not bound in chains. You are free… but freedom under a crown comes with weight. To be loved by your King is to be hated by the world—and to carry his burden as your own.]
Attributes:
[King's Mark] – To be marked by the King is to follow him through life and death. You carry the love and burden of your sovereign… and the scorn of the world.
[Shadow manipulation: Shadows bend in your presence. They stretch, shift, and shiver—not in fear, but in obedience. No whisper of shadows denies your touch, for they know what you are: the hand of the King, his echo in war, his will in silence.]
[Limit Break: When all else fails—when strength shatters, and the end draws near—there remains one final answer: to burn.]
Sunny stared at her runes, expression blank and eyes narrowed with disbelief.
Gone.
Most of her old abilities—stripped away, or maybe merged. Her Aspect rewritten, reshaped into something unrecognizable.
And her True Name...
Greyed out.
"What...?" she whispered.
"Congrats," Ares spoke with a thoughtful hum, resting a finger on his chin. "You guys broke from fate. Kinda."
Nephis—quiet, sharp-eyed, but now clearly shaken—spoke for the first time in a long while. Her voice was calm, but strained.
"Could you explain what happened? That ocean we saw—why were we transported to the Spell? And… what do you mean, broke from fate?"
Sitting cross-legged, Ares drew in a deep breath and began, his tone low, steady. Almost reverent.
"Accepting my Blessing means becoming one of mine. It's not a gift—it's a pact."
He extended his palm, letting a pale flame flicker to life—eerily similar to the fire that once danced in Nephis's hand earlier.
"You break your limits. You evolve. And in return… I take what's yours."
He clenched his hand shut, extinguishing the flame in an instant.
"What you saw while being rewritten by the Blessing... was the Multiverse. A vast, endless ocean of possibilities. Each bubble you saw floating in it? A Verse—its own world, with its own laws, its own fate."
His voice dropped, grave.
"The Corruption—the thing you saw devouring bubbles, snuffing out light—that isn't like the version of Corruption you know. It's worse."
He met their eyes, one by one.
"The being we encountered yesterday… that was 'Order'. One of the two forces poisoning the Multiverse from within."
"The other," he said bitterly, "is Chaos."
"They can't enter the ocean in their true forms, separated by the veil protecting the collection of bubbles, So they send fragments. Possess, corrupt, manipulate events, They feed on the Core of a Verse—its very heart—until it collapses."
Ares tilted his head back, eyes shadowed.
"Our world's Core… is intertwined with the Spell. That much I've figured out. But it's already fightingwith its own kind of Corruption."
Silence stretched for a moment, until Ares continued—softer, almost with shame.
"I'm not from this bubble."
"I… was saved. By something greater, from the ruins of my own Bubble. It gave me a second chance—and a mission. To stop the corruption from spreading. To fight back."
He chuckled lightly, but the glare in his eyes was cold steel.
"Believe me, if we let them run wild, what comes next is worse than death."
He looked up, his expression unreadable.
"That's what the Blessing is. It's not just power. It's a burden. When you accepted it, you accepted my mission—and cast off your fate." As he said this, his eyes glanced at Sunny.
"Whatever fate this world had in store for you…" he paused, "…it wasn't a good one. From what little I've grasped from the Spell, this bubble was always doomed. But the Spell fights back—tries to rewrite destiny. And now… you're part of that effort." He paused a bit, "Of course that is all my guess and understanding."
Then, his gaze fixed on Nephis.
"What you felt, when we first met—that violent instinct? That wasn't just paranoia. It was the touch of Order inside you. It seems a tiny fragment of it arrived with me… and chosen you as it's host"
His eyes narrowed in darker thoughts.
'Is that truly the reason? i faintly remember being able to absorb some of Selene's soul before the bubble collapsed, did it merge with nephis's soul upon arriving? It also remembered me, which means it already established its consciousness at the time I've fought it, way before even merging with Nephis...' (Selene is Ares's non blood related sister, and also nephis's counterpart in his old world.)
Nephis's lips parted in realization.
"…So that's why I wanted to kill you," she murmured, nodding slowly. "I thought it was just instinct."
"It was, just twisted." Ares said simply. "But now, thanks to the Blessing, that corruption's been absorbed. Burned away."
He tapped his chest, over where his heart beat—a gesture more solemn than proud.
"One of the side effects of the King's Blessing. My followers… are safe from the Corruption. As long as you carry my mark, they can't touch you, sadly I can't mass produce it...yet at least."
He stood slowly, brushing dust from his hands.
"And just in time, too. Our first mission is near."
Silence followed—each of them processing the truth in their own way.
Sunny looked down at her hands, lips pressed tight, as though trying to feel who she was now.
Nephis stared out over the horizon, remembering the ocean of bubbles they'd glimpsed.
Cassie, however, hadn't looked away from Ares for a single moment. Watching him. Weighing him, her ring patterned pupils shining briefly.
Ares huffed a quiet laugh.
What a strange group, he thought.
Then, with a grin, he clapped his hands once.
"Alright, enough brooding. It's time to test those new powers of yours."
And for the first time in a long while… he wasn't alone.
.
.
.
.
"Time sure flies," Ares mused, lounging lazily on a thick tree branch, his crimson eyes half-lidded as he gazed at the scenery below. Towering branches loomed above, interwoven like a living cathedral, red, colossal leaves filtering the sunlight into a bloody haze.
It had been a week since the King's Blessing, and in their wake lay a trail of ash and carnage. Dismembered bodies, incinerated remains... even Cassie had taken down a few carapace scavengers on her own.
"Speaking of Cassie..." Ares tilted his head back, eyes drifting toward the canopy above. Hundreds of thick branches veiled the sky, but he looked as though trying to peer beyond them—beyond the physical.
His pupils morphed into glowing rings for a heartbeat.
Agony slammed into his skull.
He blinked it away, hissing slightly between his teeth. But even through the pain, he smiled.
"Sunny's about to stumble on something... interesting," he murmured to no one in particular.
Earlier, he'd sent her off to retrieve her Fated Treasure—a key piece in the script he had briefly glimpsed over the week. All thanks to Cassie and her ability. With it, he had briefly pierced the world's predetermined narrative. Just long enough to see fragments of what should happen. Of course, sorting through the thousands of possible futures was on him.
He glanced down again, locking eyes on a slumbering carapace demon, its grotesque form half-submerged in the ashen sand below. Cassie's illusions had kept them hidden—so far.
He nudged Nephis, seated beside him.
"Wanna handle it before Sunny gets back?" he asked, grinning mischievously.
She tilted her head at him. A smirk tugged at her lips.
"You just want to show off before she does."
"Guilty."
Nephis stretched, brushing invisible dust from her new armor—earned after making an unlucky Centurion into a hot soup, the gleaming white plates a masterfully crafted art piece. She rose to her feet in a fluid motion, anticipation glinting in her eyes.
Sunny had been bragging nonstop about her shadow ability—how all Nephis could do was burn things while she, the "creative genius," could do so much more.
Nephis was curious where that sudden confidence came from. And ready to put it to the dirt.
Ares laughed approvingly and reached out to ruffle Cassie's hair. She sat quietly, eyes flickering faintly with soft light.
"I'll be back soon." His voice was warm, genuine.
"Umu." Cassie nodded, unbothered about his well being, she already knew the result after all.
Crimson armor surged over Ares like living metal, denser and darker than ever—a reflection of how much he had consumed. A predator in regal plating.
His eyes flashed once more with ringed brilliance as he stepped off the branch.
The wind screamed around him as he plummeted, a crimson comet aimed at the earth below.
"Let the fun begin."
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Give your thoughts, and spare me some powerstones will ya