Immortal Mythos Awakening-Chapter 64: Fragmented – Kingdom Arc

The wind carried dust and golden light across the training grounds of the Ember Kingdom. Sparks from each weapon still danced in the air like fireflies refusing to vanish. The group stood in a half-circle, weapons in hand, freshly awakened and soul-bound. Yuki spun his obsidian scythe once, its curved edge humming with resonance. It felt alive—as if the weapon was reacting not just to him, but something inside him.

"Alright," Ren called out, lifting Jinrai, his thunder-wind blade. "Let's see what we've really unlocked."

Before anyone could react, Haru had already blurred forward. "I was waiting for this!" he roared, fists gleaming with radiant energy. The moment his punch met Ren's blade, a gust of wind exploded outward, shaking the very air.

"ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?" Kairo shouted, sitting cross-legged on a rooftop with a bowl of ramen in hand. "I JUST got this!"

Yuki chuckled as he stepped forward. "Guess it's our turn."

Aiko watched him carefully, her aura vision revealing how his scythe glowed faintly... and how something else was stirring in him. "Don't push too hard," she warned softly, reaching for his wrist. "Your body's still adapting to the forge's blessing."

"I'll be fine," Yuki smiled. "Wanna watch me win?"

Her face flushed. "I—I'm only watching for safety reasons, not because—ugh, just go already."

Yuki launched into the sparring circle, clashing against Ren and Haru mid-motion. The scythe danced like it had a will of its own—arcing, twisting, humming. Each swing sent vibrations through the ground, the air curling in unnatural ways around his strikes.

Haru grinned like a maniac. "YEAH! Now this feels like training!"

Ren narrowed his eyes. "You're holding back, Yuki."

"I'm not."

"Then this kingdom's about to need a new floor."

Meanwhile, Kai was in the background with Himari, adjusting the grip on his dual tonfa-like flame blades. "So... should we stop them?"

Himari tilted her head. "Eventually. But this is helping them sync with their weapons. Plus..." She glanced at Aiko—who was now pacing and muttering worriedly. "Some things need to be seen with your own eyes."

Suddenly, Yuki ducked a spinning axe kick from Haru and swept Ren's legs with the back of his scythe. Both opponents landed on their feet, but barely. For a second, silence filled the courtyard.

Then Ren broke it with a soft laugh. "Alright... now we're getting somewhere."

The celebration of weapons had cooled to quiet awe. The group sat around the courtyard now, some sipping drinks, others fine-tuning their weapons. Even Kairo had finally stopped complaining about his ruined ramen and started showing Aiko how to redirect energy through the scythe's core handle.

But Yuki?

He stood beneath a lone torch-lit archway, gazing up at the stars.

He's out there, isn't he...?

Velar.

That memory of raw destruction—the soundless pressure that crushed space itself. The boy he'd sealed. The being who wore the form of a 12-year-old but wielded the terror of something ancient and infinite. Yuki clenched the handle of his scythe tighter.

Aiko walked up behind him, arms crossed. "Still thinking about him?"

Yuki didn't answer at first. "...It's quiet. Too quiet."

She studied his profile. "It's okay to rest, Yuki. Just because you can feel everything doesn't mean you should carry it all alone."

He gave a small smile. "Since when did you start sounding like Kairo?"

"Please. I have way better hair."

They shared a small laugh. But somewhere behind their joy, tension still lingered. freēwēbnovel.com

Far away—in the broken veil between mythic planes...

Nogitsune stood in a dim spiritual chasm, barely lit by flickers of ghostlight. His arm bled dark smoke, body battered. Opposite him—what remained of the battlefield floated in stillness. Velar was no longer visible. Only the ancient sigil of a seal glowing faintly on the ground, pulsing like a heartbeat.

"I didn't kill him," Nogitsune muttered to himself, teeth gritted. "I embalmed him. Like Yuki did to Kairo."

But Velar had fought back. Not physically, but psychically. He tore through illusions, devoured light, twisted the laws of space and memory.

Nogitsune had to burn nearly all of his tethered life-force to push the seal into place. And still...

Something was watching.

Something else had arrived before the seal was even done.

"I don't have time," he growled. "Yuki... you'd better be ready soon."

He turned his back on the still-burning battlefield, vanishing into a corridor of unformed memory.

Back in the Kingdom, the forge blazed anew, and Ashir approached the group with something in his hands: a sealed scroll.

"This kingdom... has layers even I didn't carve. And one of them just stirred," he said.

Yuki raised a brow. "Meaning?"

"Meaning," Ashir continued, "your weapons chose you, but the Kingdom chose its heirs. There's more to uncover—and your next trial is buried beneath the roots of the old city. The deeper you go, the closer you get to your truths."

Kairo blinked. "Wait, does everyone get a creepy underground prophecy or is that just us?"

"Just you," Ashir said with a smirk. "Because your scythe isn't just a weapon. It's a key."

Everyone turned to Yuki.

And somewhere beneath the kingdom... that old glowing eye from before opened wider.