Chapter 173: The Fall Down Of Hrafnviõr

The roar rolled through Hrafnviðr.

Trees bent beneath the pressure.

Leaves tore from their branches and spiraled into the darkness as something enormous moved beyond the crimson-eyed collectors.

Noah stared into the forest.

"That wasn’t one of them."

Roana shook her head.

"No."

Dead Zone slowly lowered Shadowfang.

The collector he had wounded was still standing.

Its crimson eye flickered as the wound across its chest regenerated.

"You were never supposed to awaken," it said.

Dead Zone’s expression hardened.

"Neither were you."

The collector raised its hand.

Every other collector stopped fighting.

Sophia lowered her weapon slightly.

"Why did they stop?"

Laura looked toward the darkness.

"They’re waiting."

A massive silhouette emerged between the trees.

At first, Noah thought it was a creature.

Then he realized it was wearing armor.

Black armor covered its enormous body, layered like overlapping scales. Crimson light leaked through the gaps, illuminating thick golden chains wrapped around its arms, torso, and neck.

Its head was hidden beneath a horned helmet.

Only one eye was visible.

Crimson.

The collectors immediately lowered themselves.

"Keeper," they said together.

The armored giant continued walking.

Each step shook the forest.

Noah felt the golden seal inside his chest respond.

One pulse.

The giant stopped.

Its eye locked onto him.

Then it looked at Dead Zone.

Silence.

Dead Zone raised Shadowfang.

"You’re staring."

The Keeper spoke.

Its voice sounded like stone grinding against stone.

"Failed inheritance."

Dead Zone’s crimson aura erupted.

"I hate that name."

The Keeper continued.

"Because it is true."

Dead Zone vanished.

He crossed the distance instantly, Shadowfang descending toward the Keeper’s neck.

The Keeper caught the blade.

The impact exploded through the forest.

Dead Zone pushed harder.

The Keeper didn’t move.

Instead, it tightened its grip.

Shadowfang began cracking again.

Dead Zone’s crimson eye widened.

The Keeper leaned closer.

"You were created to carry what Ragnarok rejected."

Dead Zone froze.

Noah felt the words inside his own consciousness.

Created?

The Keeper suddenly threw Dead Zone aside.

He crashed through several trees before stopping.

"Noah!" Laura shouted.

Noah looked toward Dead Zone.

He was already standing.

His crimson aura was unstable.

"You heard it too," Noah said.

Dead Zone didn’t answer.

The Keeper turned toward Noah.

"You inherited Ragnarok."

It pointed toward Dead Zone.

"He inherited its failure."

Noah’s golden eye flickered.

"Then why is he inside me?"

The Keeper became silent.

Roana’s expression changed.

The Keeper finally answered.

"Because the failed inheritance was never meant to survive independently."

Dead Zone’s crimson aura went completely still.

Noah’s stomach dropped.

The Keeper continued.

"It needed a vessel."

Noah looked at his own hands.

"A vessel..."

Roana stepped forward.

"Noah, don’t listen to it."

The Keeper’s eye shifted toward her.

"You already know."

Roana stopped.

The Keeper raised one hand.

A crimson symbol appeared above the forest.

The same broken-crown symbol Noah had seen beneath the golden seal.

Noah’s chest suddenly burned.

[UNKNOWN SIGNATURE DETECTED.]

[SECOND SIGNATURE: DEAD ZONE.]

[THIRD SIGNATURE:—]

The system glitched.

Then a final line appeared.

[VESSEL: NOAH BLACKWOOD.]

Noah stared at it.

Dead Zone looked at him.

For once, neither of them spoke.

The Keeper lowered its hand.

"Now you understand."

Noah slowly raised his head.

"No."

Golden light began gathering around him.

"I understand one thing."

The Keeper waited.

Noah’s expression hardened.

"You don’t get to decide what I am."

Dead Zone stepped beside him.

Crimson energy returned to his body.

The two stood together.

The Keeper’s crimson eye narrowed.

"Then prove it."

The chains wrapped around its body snapped.

And Hrafnviðr began to burn.

The first tree caught fire.

Then the second.

Within seconds, flames raced through Hrafnviðr, climbing the ancient trunks with unnatural speed. The fire wasn’t orange.

It was crimson.

The same color as the Keeper’s eye.

Laura raised both hands.

"Barrier!"

A translucent wall of mana formed around the group as burning branches crashed around them.

Sophia and Luna moved closer together.

Eric looked toward the burning forest.

"This place is going to collapse."

Damien nodded.

"Then we need to move."

"No."

Roana’s voice stopped them.

Everyone looked at her.

She stared at the Keeper.

"If we run, it follows."

Noah stepped forward.

"Then we don’t run."

Dead Zone appeared beside him, Shadowfang resting against his shoulder.

The Keeper pulled its arms apart.

The remaining golden chains snapped.

The sound shook the forest.

BOOM.

A pressure wave exploded outward.

Laura’s barrier shattered.

Everyone was thrown backward.

Noah remained standing.

Barely.

His feet dug trenches into the soil as golden light wrapped around his body.

Dead Zone stood beside him.

The Keeper charged.

Its massive fist descended.

Noah raised both arms.

The impact drove him into the ground.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

The earth beneath him cracked.

Dead Zone attacked from the side.

Shadowfang struck the Keeper’s armor.

CLANG!

The blade bounced away.

Dead Zone immediately swung again.

The Keeper caught his wrist.

"You still rely on borrowed power."

Dead Zone’s crimson eye burned.

"I rely on him."

He pointed toward Noah.

"And he relies on me."

Dead Zone released a burst of crimson energy directly into the Keeper’s face.

The Keeper staggered.

Noah rose.

Golden light covered his injured arm.

He rushed forward.

His fist connected with the Keeper’s chest.

The impact created a golden shockwave.

The Keeper slid backward.

Only three meters.

But it had moved.

Eric stared.

"He actually pushed it back."

Roana’s eyes narrowed.

"No."

She looked at Noah.

"It let him."

The Keeper straightened.

Cracks appeared across its chest armor.

Behind those cracks, something glowed.

Not crimson.

Gold.

The same golden light inside Noah.

The Keeper touched the damaged armor.

"Interesting."

Noah frowned.

"Stop saying that."

The Keeper looked directly at him.

"You are synchronizing."

"With what?"

The Keeper pointed at Dead Zone.

"With the failure."

Dead Zone’s expression darkened.

The Keeper’s finger shifted toward Noah’s chest.

"And the prison."

Noah’s golden eye flickered.

The golden seal inside him pulsed.

Once.

Twice.

Then Dead Zone suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

"Noah."

"What?"

"Something’s wrong."

Noah felt it too.

The crimson fire around the forest had stopped spreading.

Every flame had turned toward them.

Thousands of burning leaves rose from the ground.

They formed a massive circular pattern around Noah and Dead Zone.

Roana stepped backward.

"That isn’t the Keeper."

Noah looked at her.

"Then what is it?"

Roana stared at the flames.

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"The forest itself."

The burning trees began bending inward.

The Keeper looked upward.

For the first time, it appeared uncertain.

A deep voice emerged from beneath the earth.

"THE INHERITOR HAS BEEN FOUND."

Noah’s blood ran cold.

The Keeper raised its head.

The collectors immediately dropped to their knees.

Even Dead Zone stopped moving.

The ground beneath Hrafnviðr split open.

Something enormous opened its eye beneath them.

And this time, it wasn’t crimson.

It was gold.