Alex felt his knuckles buckle and turn white under the hilt of Virtue''s Edge, even though he knew – felt – that the sword wouldn''t release him even if he wanted it to.

    It wasn''t his will keeping him there.

    It was Virtue''s Edge itself…

    In conjunction with Soulforge.

    The instant Mikhail''s light vanished, his life extinguished, the power buried deep within Alex roared to life.

    He gasped, as if struck by lightning.

    There was no visual guide provided by the System to guide him, no details about how his unsealed Soulforge worked, no status prompts, requirements, no anything.

    It was all gone the moment he stepped into this sealed fragment of space, hence he only had his own instincts to rely on.

    But Alex trusted fully in his instincts. That was what Mikhail advised him to do anyway, and since it was the advise of someone at the Universal God level, Alex wasn''t going to doubt or question it one bit!

    His instincts seemed like a whisper at first, but they quickly turned into a scream! Not in fear, or confusion, but in triumph. In freedom.

    And Alex… he understood.

    Not in a way he could exin. There were no words for this, only feelings.

    Just sensations. Truths. Impressions that bypassednguage and carved themselves directly into his soul.

    It was a no brainer that this was the doing of Soulforge''s unsealed power.

    Mikhail''s essence, his very soul, was caught there.

    Weightless, and yet no doubt as heavy as the universe itself.

    Alex''s body continued convulsing. His heart raced with such force he thought it might burst, but he held firm, locking his trembling body around the sword like it was the only solid thing left in the copsing world around him.

    The moment Mikhail''s soul detached from his body, Alex acted.

    He moved, not physically, but spiritually, ushering Soulforge with his instincts to sp onto it.

    And he guided it through the pierced heart of Mikhail''s lifeless body, into Virtue''s Edge.

    It wasn''t like any of the weak,ughable forging he had done back in the smithing association. It wasn''t reshaping metal or refining materials.

    This wasn''t a transformation.

    This was a fusion.

    Virtue''s Edge responded instantly – it had been waiting for this very moment ever since it first came into existence.

    If the sword had a mouth, it would be singing the most beautiful melody to have ever existed at that moment.

    A high, clear resonance like the first note of a divine chorus rung out from the de due to the vibrations it gave off. Light streamed from its de, twisting in delicate strands that engulfed both Alex and Mikhail''s body in their light, spiralling around Mikhail''s fading soul like loving arms.

    And in that moment – Alex saw it.

    Not with his eyes, but with everything else.

    The entire fragment of space around them began to shift.

    Reality itself was reacting to the fusion of God and de.

    The ground beneath him glimmered with fractured patterns, and the air itself seemed to be sporadic, filled with lightness, and gravity defying tion.

    The universe knew.

    A Universal God had just died, but brought a new hope with his death.

    The soul of Mikhail, the one who had challenged the System, who forged the greatest weapons to have ever existed, now intertwined with the sword he had created.

    ''His final legacy, meeting its final form…''

    Virtue''s Edge no longer trembled.

    Itypletely still, as did everything else in the fragment of space.

    ''Time… has stopped?'' Alex questioned, too enraptured by everything else that was happening to divert his attention to this phenomenon.

    The sword red with a blinding surge of incandescent energy, shifting through hues that Alex didn''t even recognise to exist on the colour spectrum.

    Virtue''s Edge wasn''t just a weapon anymore.

    It wasn''t just a tool used to cut down mindless beasts.

    It was a vessel of rebellion.

    A god''s final act of defiance against a tyrant.

    And Soulforge… it pulsed with one final act of satisfaction, before settling down like it had exhausted itselfpletely.

    Like a hunger, long denied, had been sated.

    Alex copsed to one knee, exhausted but awed.

    He didn''t feel drained like Soulforge did. Instead he felt more alive than he ever did, just from holding thepleted sword in his hands.

    Though, he didn''t exactly know what to call this new weapon, as it was no longer the same Virtue''s Edge that he once knew.

    He felt he owed it to Mikhail for it to be reborn, as the legend had through his fusion with the sword.

    However, before he coulde up with any names, a foreign string of words entered his mind.

    [I know the interfaces provided by the System are too useful to give up, especially since you''ve spent your whole awakened life relying on it. So consider this my final gift. — Mikhail.]

    It was almost identical to the System interface Alex recognised all too well ever since bing an Awakened.

    He was surprised but grateful.

    And since Mikhail was kind enough to setup such a gift for him, he was obviously going to take advantage of it!

    ''The old man was confident enough to give this thing to me, so it should surely be able to tell me this new sword''s details, right?''

    He knew that the System was able to feed all of the information of Virtue''s Edge to him when he first obtained it, just that it was heavily sealed…

    So he felt rather confident in his assumption.

    And so…

    [System Breaker]

    ''Is that this thing''s name? Seems like Mikhail beat me to it…'' Alex smiled, realising that Mikhail didn''t want to leave naming his greatest ever creation to someone like Alex, who had the naming sense of a pebble.

    [The final, greatest creation of the greatest smith the universe has ever seen. Forged for the sole purpose of breaking the shackles ced by the System, something only possible through the sacrifice of a Universal God.

    P.S. You''ll only have a few seconds upon returning to the Primordial Expanse before the System notices you and the System Breaker''s presence.

    Make sure to use it before this, lest all of my nse to an end before they can even start… — Mikhail.]

    No shy stats or rank. No description of abilities or the likes.

    But Alex was satisfied.

    The sword was only created for one purpose, and he couldn''t wait to see just what would transpire when it achieves this purpose…

    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and

    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!