The blood had already left his body.
It dripped, warm and wet, down the cold stone blade still embedded in his chest. Auron Kael coughed once, tasting copper. He could barely lift his head, but he forced himself to look up—into the face of the man who had once called him brother.
"Why…?" His voice came out broken, the word barely a breath.
Kaireth smiled. "Because you trusted me."
Auron's hands trembled. Not from fear. Not from weakness. But from the sheer, raw fury that bloomed inside his dying soul.
Around him, the heavens wept. Stars collapsed. The divine realm cracked and groaned like it knew something was wrong.
He had climbed higher than anyone. From a lowborn in the slums of Ashenveil to the Immortal Sovereign of Ten Realms. He had defeated gods. Outwitted titans. Broken the Divine Seal and stood at the edge of Infinity.
And yet here he was—slain by the people he'd trusted most.
"Your path ends here," Kaireth whispered, wrenching the blade out with a wet squelch. "The God of Infinity has decreed it. You were never meant to exist."
Auron's vision blurred. The last thing he saw before his soul was torn apart was a golden eye—limitless, eternal, uncaring.
The Eye of Infinity.
Then—darkness.
---
But it was not the end.
A heartbeat. A breath.
And then—
Pain.
Blistering, soul-splitting pain seared through every nerve, every memory, every molecule of his being. And then… clarity.
He opened his eyes.
The air was cold. Dirt. Stone. The scent of damp wood. Auron gasped, sitting upright.
He wasn't on the broken throne in the celestial palace.
He was in… a cave?
No. He remembered this place. The rough stone walls. The sigil carved in blood above the altar. The sting of iron in the air.
This was where he made his first contract.
The place where he first bound himself to the gods… before he knew what they truly were.
He staggered to his feet. There was a shard of broken glass in the corner. He grabbed it, hands shaking, and stared at his reflection.
A teenage boy stared back at him. Sharp black hair. Silver eyes, too bright for a mortal. A face not yet hardened by war.
It was his face.
From over five hundred years ago.
He wasn't dead.
He had regressed.
---
[System Awakening…]
His breath hitched.
A voice echoed in his skull, deep and ancient—like it had slumbered since the birth of time.
[Oathbreaker System Installed.]
[Binding to Host: Auron Kael.]
[You have returned… to burn the heavens.]
Auron's vision blurred again—but this time, it wasn't from weakness.
It was rage.
They had betrayed him. The gods. His comrades. The one he called brother.
And the God of Infinity… the thing that ruled over fate, time, and death itself…
He had feared Auron enough to erase him.
But he had failed.
Auron clenched his fist. The cave trembled.
He looked up at the bloodstained sigil on the wall and smiled. It was not a kind smile.
"I remember everything."
The world had forgotten the name Auron Kael.
But he would make them remember.
He would shatter their thrones. Break their vows. And drag the God of Infinity from his eternal seat.
Even if it meant burning through a thousand universes.
---
[New Quest: First Betrayal Detected.]
Target: Seris Valen, former companion. Estimated betrayal in: 3 days.
Reward: Soul-Fragment of Divinity.
Auron laughed softly.
Three days.
The same girl who had saved him from a mob when they were twelve… the one who once swore to die for him… was already plotting betrayal?
Perfect.
He would let her betray him.
And then he would feed on it.
---
"You took my past. Now I'll take your future."
---
End of Chapter 1