Darkness.
Endless.
Silent.
Lysander opened his eyes.
The Celestial Arena was gone.
The crowd.
The altar.
Everything.
Only an endless void remained.
There was no ground beneath his feet, yet he stood.
The darkness stretched infinitely in every direction.
Then a voice spoke.
Deep.
Ancient.
Amused.
"You seem calmer than most."
Lysander frowned slightly.
"…Where am I?"
The voice echoed through the abyss.
"Between moments."
"Between fate."
"Between worlds."
Lysander slowly looked around the darkness.
"So this is… inside my head?"
A quiet chuckle followed.
"Something like that."
The pressure in the void increased slightly.
Not hostile.
But immense.
Like standing near something far older than the world itself.
Lysander narrowed his eyes.
"…Who are you?"
Silence lingered.
Then the voice answered.
"I am the one the world forgot."
"The name erased from temples."
"The god removed from history."
The darkness trembled faintly.
"I am Abyssion."
Lysander remained quiet.
The name meant nothing to him.
Which was strange.
A god he had never heard of.
"That altar rejected you," Abyssion continued.
"Because divine blessings cannot coexist with my authority."
Lysander crossed his arms slightly.
"…Authority?"
"The fragment you call a system."
"It is a remnant of my power."
The void shifted.
Small lights appeared in the darkness.
Twelve glowing symbols floated in the abyss.
Each radiating divine energy.
"The gods of this world."
Abyssion's voice echoed.
"Sun."
"Storm."
"Stars."
"Flame."
"Twelve thrones ruling the heavens."
The symbols pulsed faintly.
"But you cannot receive their blessings."
"The moment my fragment chose you…"
"…their authority rejected you."
Lysander studied the glowing symbols.
"So I'm incompatible with them."
"Correct."
"But that does not mean their power is beyond you."
The symbols flickered.
Fragments of light broke away from them.
"These are divine fragments."
"They appear when fate shifts."
"When events occur that should not exist."
"When the story of this world changes."
Lysander frowned slightly.
"…Story?"
Abyssion chuckled again.
"You already understand more than most."
"Do not pretend otherwise."
The fragments slowly faded.
"With those fragments," Abyssion continued,
"you may temporarily borrow the authority of other gods."
"Not their full blessing."
"Only echoes of it."
Lysander thought for a moment.
"So every time I change something…"
"I gain fragments."
"Yes."
Abyssion's voice lowered slightly.
"You create deviations."
"And deviations create opportunities."
The void began shifting again.
The connection was ending.
But before Lysander returned—
Abyssion spoke once more.
"You are not the only anomaly in this world."
Lysander's eyes narrowed slightly.
"What does that mean?"
The god's voice sounded almost amused.
"Another variable walks this world."
"One who moves fate like a chessboard."
"But unlike you…"
"…that one knows far more."
The darkness began dissolving.
"Interesting times are coming, Lysander Vale."
Abyssion's final words echoed softly.
"Let us see how much of the story you can break."
Light exploded around him.
The arena returned instantly.
Thousands of people.
Students whispering.
Priests watching.
The ceremony had never stopped.
To everyone else—
Only a second had passed.
The priest looked at the altar.
"…No divine resonance detected."
Murmurs spread across the arena.
"Blessingless?"
"That's rare…"
Lysander simply nodded.
"…Understood."
He stepped away from the altar calmly.
But inside his mind—
The system appeared.
Abyssal Authority Confirmed
Fragment Capacity: 1
Lysander closed the window quietly.
The crowd had already lost interest.
Just another student.
Just another failure.
Exactly how he preferred it.