The Artifact of Balance
With a deep breath, Leon nodded slowly, unwillingly. "Fine. Ask ."
A soft smile crept at Cynthia’s lips—appreciative, but uncertain. "Thank you," she replied, her voice barely audible. "This... this ans more than you know."
Leon did not respond. He rely looked at her, and wait for her to ask what she want to ask.
Cynthia took his silence in stride. "How did you get here?" she asked, her voice low.
Leon’s brow furrowed deeper. ".What?"
She blinked, then coughed delicately and herself "I an. Lord Duke," she said. "This location is locked by a barrier of space. My cultivation and sacred items create it. No one should be able to breach—unless they’re beyond Grandmaster Realm. or know the what’s going on here.
Her eyes narrowed a little. "And you... your cultivation is only mid-level Master Realm."
Leon’s eyes narrowed as comprehension flickered behind them.
He slowly pivoted, looking at the devastated plaza once more—but now more carefully. And now... he sees it.
Weakly inscribed into the stone were radiant lines, veins of lightlike through marble, coming together and creating a 200-radius circle that sprang from the earth like tal roots growing towards the sky. Suspended above each location were ancient artifacts—objects vibrating with barely-held power. They throbbed, like living things, radiating pale energy.
He glanced over at Cynthia, then at the artifact suspended in the air—the chakra.
Leon’s expression strange slightly as he said in voice low. "I felt it... sothing. Like soone was calling here."
As if stirred by his words, the chakra above shimred, casting ripples of light. The air thickened, humming faintly with unseen power.
Cynthia’s eyes glinted, a light flickering within them.
Behind her, Syra and Kyra made fleeting, fierce glances at each other—their eyes too, now slightly charged. Leon did not perceive this. He was staring intensely at the shimring chakra.
With a soft sigh, Leon finally lifted his gaze off the shining chakra. His steady, now sharp eyes now fixed on Cynthia.
"I’ve told you what you wanted..." he growled, voice low but authoritative. "Now it’s your turn. Tell what I want to hear."
Cynthia bowed slightly. "Of course, my lord."
She hesitated, then spoke softly, "But first. could I ask sothing of you?"
Leon’s eyebrow went up, wary. "What?"
She gestured toward the center of the plaza. "Would you stand under the chakra? Just for a mont."
His gaze tightened, suspicion growing keen. "Why?"
Cynthia’s words were serene, her aura emitting quietness. "I would like... to confirm sothing."
He glared at her, gaze keen, but she didn’t even blink. Her aura was as even as possible, serene and still. He couldn’t detect the slightest fissure in it.
He closed his eyes and Eye of the Judge—his passive ability—had been already engaged since they started talking. It always was.
The skill had other main purposes: to catch lies, and to judge intent. Malice, dishonesty, bloodlust—it all ca out in the end.
But now, watching her through the skill... nothing.
No lie. No threat. Just calm, steady truth.
Too steady.
Still not satisfied, Leon summoned the system in his head.
[System.]
A robotic voice responded instantly:
[Yes, host?]
"Tell ," Leon asked silently, suspicion twisting in his belly, "my skill—Eye of the Judge—is it functioning correctly?"
[For host’s information, all gifts and abilities given by the system are the best in any field. The Eye of the Judge was made by the system. It will not fail.]
Leon’s eyebrow flickered. That should have been comforting. But sohow... the absence of dishonesty made him even more uncomfortable.
"...Then why," Leon whispered to himself, eyes narrowing as he looked at Cynthia, "do I feel like I can’t find a single thing wrong with her?"
A mont later, the system’s voice responded in his mind—calm, almost amused.
[Because, host, there is nothing to find.]
[You don’t need to be so cautious.]
[Go with the flow.]
[You already know what you’re ant to do.]
Leon’s brows furrowed, his jaw tightening slightly. He didn’t like vague reassurances—even from the system. Especially from the system.
But still... the words lingered. Sank in.
Leon stared at Cynthia, lost in thought—until her voice broke through.
"Lord Duke?"
He blinked. "Huh?"
She tilted her head slightly, her voice still soft. "What are you thinking?"
"...Nothing," Leon answered brusquely, shaking his head as if to clear away the fog obscuring his mind. He couldn’t allow this unease to continue. "Fine. I’ll stand there. But you better start talking after."
Cynthia bowed her head slightly, her movents fluid and smooth. "Of course, my lord."
Leon walked to the plaza’s center, every step careful, boots echoing off ancient stone. Arriving at the position directly beneath the chakra, he hesitated and stared up, weighed down by the force of what rested above.
"Now, talk—"
Before he’d finished speaking, however, sothing shifted in the air around him.
The whole devastated city quivered, as if the bones of the earth itself had been awakened. An undertone of humming ran through the earth, causing the stone on which he stood to shudder.
Above him, the twin moons danced—then, as if they were in subli harmony, began to change, their shining faces blending, blurring into a single, glorious sphere. The sky went black, and the illusion engulfed all, a ghostly eclipse shrouding the world in its unnatural hug.
Leon’s breath froze. The air chilled, and mana thickened until it was on the verge of suffocation.
Cynthia’s voice was a whisper in the taut quiet, almost lost above the growing hum. "It’s starting..."
The chakra over Leon shook, whirling faster now, its light flashing and pulsing with growing strength. Then, in a heartbeat, the whole plaza seed to throb with power, as if the land itself was breathing in.
The chakra dropped.
Slow. Gentle. As if drawn to him by an unseen force. Leon’s eyes grew wide. The nearer it got, the tighter the pressure on his chest—such as the crush of an oncoming mountain forcing its way down.
"Wait—" Leon breathed, a hard knot in his stomach, but his body would not budge.
And then, with a terrifying WHOOSH, it hurled itself at him, a jag of sheer energy—such as lightning ripping through the sky.
Leon’s heart dropped into his stomach. His breath caught in his throat. This is it, he thought. I’m dead.
All the muscles locked up. Every fiber cried out for him to run, but his body would not respond. The air was electric with energy, the planet careening wildly out of control. For an instant, his brain hung on the precipice of madness. He closed his eyes, heart pounding, his breath locked in his chest as he awaited the inevitable.
But nothing occurred after the passage of seconds.
He was waiting for the unstoppable crash of energy. The end of the world should have begun at that very mont, yet... silence.
Leon’s eyes flew open.
Leon blinked. The world surrounding him remained eerily still.
He frantically looked around with wild eyes in an attempt to locate sothing, the artifact—it was missing. The chakra? Missing.
There was nothing. No shimring relic of energy. No glow.
Leon’s eyes scanned wildly about, confused, but there was nothing. The plaza, where power had thrived, now lay vacant. Only the chilly quiet of the night sky lood above him, the air abnormally quiet, as if the whole world had stopped moving. Even his breathing seed muted, as if the very voice of life had been stifled.
.What the devil just happened?" he grunted, his voice coarse, a rough-sounding whisper engulfed by the creepy silence around him.
He turned, hoping for explanations—sothing. His eyes locked with Cynthia, Kyra, and Syra standing before him, their eyes wide, their faces white with shock. The three won seed to have seen a ghost, rooted to the spot, blinking furiously as if they were struggling to make sense of what they’d just seen.
Leon’s brow creased, his confusion increasing. What the hell...?
He had his mouth open to talk, to demand an answer, but before he could utter what he thought, a tallic tone sounded within his head, piercing the tension like a bell.
[DING! Unrecognized artifact discovered.]
The words hung in space, disorienting, their purpose just out of sight.
Leon’s eyes opened wider.
[Deciphering source of artifact ... 10%. 32%. 68%. 100%]
[Scan completed. Information transmitted to system.]
An transparent screen flickered into sight before Leon’s eyes—invisible to everyone else.
[Divine Artifact of Balance: Chakra {Incomplete}]
Another window materialized.
Leon froze, eyes reading the glowing text suspended in his mind like a divine edict.
[The Chakra of Balance—an ancient holy weapon of great power. Wars were waged over its ownership in the ancient era. No group ever managed to retain it. It eventually disappeared, broken into six pieces throughout the worlds.
Ancient prophecy states: "Whosoever holds the Chakra shall balance all things—creation and destruction both.????????????????????????????????????"]
[Current status: Incomplete. Fragnt 1 bound.]
His breath caught. "A... holy weapon?"
The word wasn’t familiar to him. In Galvia, all arms fell into three known categories—Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Beyond that was myth, superstition spoken in hushed tones over ancient war stories. But this... this was different. Sothing tangible.
Divine? That wasn’t even beyond Gold. That was madness.
Then his gaze landed on the string of question marks tacked onto the end of the prophecy.
His jaw clenched. What the heck is that supposed to an? He call system.
[Yes, host?]
"...What’s with the question marks in the prophecy description?"
[Due to the host’s current cultivation level, additional details are withheld.]
Leon clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Tch. Of course."
But before he could shut the interface, another question ca up—one that had been gnawing at the back of his head since the mont the light disappeared.
"...You said I got the divine artifact. But it’s not here. Not in my hand. Where is it?"
A mont of silence, and then the system replied:
[The artifact is within your body.]
Leon tensed. "My... body?"
[Yes, host. Imbued directly on your life force. If you would like to view it, close your eyes and concentrate close to your heart.]
There was sothing in the system’s voice that sounded almost awed.
Leon complied before his brain had ti to catch up. He shut his eyes.
Darkness enveloped him—but not empty.
He concentrated.
Thump... thump... thump.
His heart sounded in the quiet. Then, out of the emptiness behind his eyelids, light blossod.
A pale blue light whirled into sight—a rotating chakra, suspended softly in a sea of darkness. It floated close to his heart, alive, thrumming with energy like a second heartbeat. Its shape was unnatural, between solid and ghostly, changing with each pulse. Incomplete... yet divine.
"...Incredible," Leon whispered, hardly audible.
A thousand questions burst in his head—but before he could get out even one—
THUD.
A harsh, sudden noise shocked him.
He snapped his eyes wide—and stopped.
Cynthia, Kyra, and Syra knelt, heads bowed low, foreheads almost on the ground. The vision took him by the chest.
Their voices rang out as one, firm and unmoving:
"We greet our lord—our Goddess’s chosen one.
Our Goddess’s future husband."
Leon’s blood chilled.
His mind went blank.
"...What..." His voice broke; eyes wide. "What did you just say?"
Cynthia slowly raised her head, her eyes glinting with sothing between wonder and destiny. "You bear the Chakra of Balance, the sacred center of our Goddess’s intent. You were never intended to co here by chance, Leon. You were summoned."
Kyra and Syra repeated in grave unison, "And the one destined to stand beside her... is you."
Leon recoiled a step, heart pounding.
"...You’ve got to be kidding ."
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