Chapter 386: MORRIS’S PATH
Kaelen blinked, brows furrowing. "Wait, what do you mean it can be taken?"
That was when all three froze—Kelvin, Neana, and Drake exchanging stunned glances. Drake, usually composed and unreadable, actually stepped back a fraction, his golden eyes narrowing.
"Don’t tell me... no one has ever told you about the rituals? Or you weren’t taught in Pacesetters Academy" Drake asked, his voice carrying a rare trace of sharpness.
Kaelen’s confusion deepened. "Rituals?"
Kelvin exhaled harshly, almost a scoff, but there was no mockery in his tone—only disbelief. "Gods, Kaelen... you’re walking blind, even me which didn’t stay in the academy for long, I know about such things. That latent dragonic power... if someone performed an Ancient Forbidden Ritual, it could be stolen from you. Torn out of your very core."
Kaelen’s grip tightened around his sword unconsciously, his heart thundering at the weight of those words. "...Stolen?"
Neana stepped closer, her expression softening though her voice was stern, carrying the weight of knowledge passed down from her people. "Yes. Rituals and Forbidden Magic exist for exactly that purpose—transference, usurpation, rewriting the very laws that bind mana and spirit. If your dragonic power truly awakens only at the brink of death... then at that moment, you’re most vulnerable to it being ripped away. And once stolen, it’s almost impossible to reclaim."
Drake folded his arms, his gaze piercing Kaelen as though measuring him anew. "The stronger the power, the greater the target painted on your back. You’re carrying not just Eternity within you... but another unknown force that might be just as ancient. You think the world won’t notice?"
The weight of their explanation sank like a boulder into Kaelen’s chest. He remembered the chaos at the Rookie Tournament, the crushing duel at the Valoria convention... those fleeting, fiery moments where the dragon inside had roared free to save his life. He had thought it was just a miracle, some buried legacy that appeared only when needed. But now...
"...So anyone... could just—" Kaelen’s voice trailed off, rough with unease.
Kelvin cut him off firmly. "Not anyone. But someone who knows the rites. Maybe the dark mages known as the Harbingers, the Dark Magi just like Allen, even a Celestial who’s fallen far enough—they would kill for it. And if they succeed... you’d lose that power forever. Maybe even your life."
Kaelen’s fists trembled. For the first time in years, the silence of Eternity inside him felt like a curse rather than guidance. ’Why won’t you answer me now of all times...?’
Neana placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, her voice carrying quiet strength. "You need to understand, Kaelen. Power isn’t just about how you wield it... it’s about how you guard it. If you don’t, the world will take it from you without hesitation."
Drake’s voice rumbled low, final, as if sealing the truth into the very air. "You must learn to master it, or prepare to watch someone else claim it. There is no middle ground."
The wind swept across the fractured battlefield again, carrying with it the ominous weight of their words. Kaelen stood still, gaze hardening, the shadows of doubt flickering within his dark blue eyes. For the first time, he realized—perhaps his greatest enemy wasn’t only Endless and his minions ... but the very world itself, waiting for the moment his guard slipped.
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Meanwhile, at the outskirts of Eldoria lies a carvern chamber.
This cavern chamber shook as Morris’s aura erupted outward, shaking the stone and forcing Guinevere to raise a fiery shield of Lehavot flames to avoid being scorched by his storm of power.
The Elemental Eternal stood before him in its grand form—he was now an ethereal being woven entirely of pure elemental essence: flame, frost, storm, and stone converging in a body that shimmered with blinding radiance. Its voice, ancient and resonant, rumbled through Morris’s core.
"So, you have chosen to bear the weight of the elements themselves, child of Grey. Then show me your will. Do not merely inherit—forge!"
Morris’s breathing was ragged, his fists trembling as he pressed his palms against the ground. From beneath him, streams of multi-colored mana burst outward in all directions, weaving themselves into a lattice of glowing geometric patterns. They expanded, layer by layer, until they overlapped the cavern walls like a living grid.
Guinevere’s eyes widened, firelight reflecting in her irises. "Morris... what is this...?"
His voice carried determination through the strain.
Morris: "My domain... the Elemental Matrix. It isn’t just control of one element... it’s the harmony of all. Fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, ice—woven together into a single construct. If Kaelen can wield Pandora, and Kelvin can stand as a storm of vengeance, then this—" He slammed his fist to the floor, and the glowing lattice expanded again, pulsing with crystalline light. "—this will be my path to catch them!"
The lattice shifted like a living tapestry, strands of elemental mana intersecting to form runes older than civilization. Within its glow, chunks of stone levitated, frost crystallized in midair, arcs of flame danced with lightning, and streams of water coiled like serpents. The Matrix was not just a domain—it was a forge of elements, a foundation upon which Morris could build infinite possibilities.
The Elemental Eternal gave a booming laugh, its voice filled with pride.
Elemental Eternal: "Yes! That is the mark of one who does not follow, but carves their own eternity."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the chamber, Guinevere’s inheritance was just as ferocious. The Eternal’s flames lashed at her, not with malice but with trial. The black-blue blaze of her Lehavot flame clashed against the divine silver fire of Amaterusu, the collision threatening to burn the chamber into nothingness.
She gritted her teeth, her Inferno domain bursting open around her. It was not calm and structured like Morris’s Matrix—it was wild, a roaring sea of endless fire. Within it, her Lehavot flame slithered like living dragons, while Amaterusu descended like falling stars.
Elemental Eternal: "You burn brightly, little phoenix, but your flame is scattered. Unite your fires, and let them roar as one!"
Guinevere’s body shook from the strain, sweat and tears evaporating the instant they touched her aura. Her Inferno expanded, her flames devouring even the silver fire that opposed her until the entire chamber pulsed with the heat of creation itself.
Morris glanced at her briefly through the glow of his Matrix, his usually stoic expression breaking into a small grin. "We’ll all reach that height, Guinevere... Kaelen, Kelvin... none of us will be left behind."
The chamber rumbled louder, as if the world itself acknowledged the birth of two rising stars.
The cavern continued to tremble with a deep hum, a resonance that wasn’t born of stone or earth but of pure mana—the pulse of of undiluted mana itself. Before Morris Grey stood the Elemental Eternal, its form an amalgam of the primal forces that birthed the world: stone shifting like lungs, fire dancing like blood, winds weaving like veins, and waters flowing like breath. Its gaze, though formless, pressed into Morris’s very soul.
"Morris Grey," the Eternal’s voice thundered, layered with countless elemental tones, "resolve is the furnace that tempers power. Show me the strength of your will, and I shall grant you the spell that bridges mortality and the infinite."
Morris’s fists clenched. Sweat mingled with the faint blood that streaked down his forearm from the earlier trials. His breathing was ragged, but his amber eyes burned with an unwavering flame. ’Father... Mother... Drake... I won’t falter. Not here. Not now.’
The Eternal’s hand stretched, and in its palm coalesced a sphere of radiant threads woven from every element known—fire, water, earth, air, lightning, and even rarer forces: void, light, shadow. They pulsed in perfect harmony, a miniature world in constant flux.
"This," the Eternal declared, "is the spell—Genesis Array. A construct born from the origin of all mana. Few mortals can even perceive it. To master it, you must bind it to your soul and carve your Elemental Matrix into existence."
The sphere floated into Morris’s chest, and the moment it touched him, agony ripped through his body. His mana veins screamed, stretched beyond capacity, as though the elements themselves were fighting to tear him apart.
He dropped to his knees, teeth gritted, fists slamming against the ground hard enough to crack stone. His aura flared wildly—ice shards bursting out only to melt into rivers that circled him, flames roaring only to be extinguished by storms of wind, bolts of lightning cutting across his skin as jagged veins of earth erupted around him. He was chaos incarnate, his body a battlefield of clashing elements.
The Eternal’s voice echoed within him, calm yet thunderous: "Balance them, child of Grey. Do not command them as a tyrant. Weave them as kin. Only then shall the Matrix take shape."
Morris’s breath came in shudders, but amidst the storm, his thoughts sharpened. He saw, in his mind, the faces of his parents—warm, smiling, proud. He saw Drake, his elder brother, standing tall, always carrying himself as the Grey family’s strength. He whispered through clenched teeth,
"I won’t disappoint you... any of you..."
His resolve crystallized. Instead of resisting the elements, he extended his will, not as a master demanding obedience, but as a brother reaching out to siblings. The fire calmed, nestling alongside the streams of water. The earth steadied, becoming the anchor for lightning’s chaos. Wind flowed gently, guiding the others into harmony. One by one, they answered—not as conquered forces, but as trusted allies.
Then it happened.
A surge of brilliance erupted from Morris’s chest, and above him unfurled a vast domain—an intricate lattice of elemental threads that expanded into a geometric sphere encompassing the cavern. Each strand pulsed with an element, interwoven with precision and elegance. The Elemental Matrix was born.
The cavern rumbled, unable to contain the sheer balance and magnitude of the mana domain. Guinevere, training deeper within her inferno, paused, her flames bending instinctively toward Morris’s creation, as though acknowledging the greater balance at work.
Morris stood slowly, body battered yet unbroken, his amber eyes glowing with multicolored light. The Eternal’s presence loomed, a faint smile hidden in its elemental voice.
"You have done it, Morris Grey. You did not just accept the spell—you forged it into yourself. The Genesis Array lives within your Elemental Matrix. From now on, your path is your own, but remember... balance is not the end, but the beginning."
Morris exhaled deeply, his knees trembling, but his aura no longer flared wildly. Instead, it flowed smoothly—refined, elegant, a symphony of elements harmonized into a single will.
He whispered to the empty air, to the family watching over him from beyond, "I’ll make you proud. I swear it."
And for the first time, the cavern didn’t just hum with mana—it resonated with his resolve.