Alarm bells thundered across the lands of the Imperial Court Empire as soldiers poured from barracks and watchtowers, while messengers carried the same terrifying report from one territory to the next: a mysterious dragon had appeared in their skies and was stripping the mana from everything in his path at a rate no one could explain.
The news spread faster than Max himself, passing through the hands of commanders, nobles, and regional officials until it eventually reached the imperial palace. Orders were issued almost immediately, sending every available force toward the dragon before the damage could spread any farther, yet anger quickly gave way to unease when the first soldiers failed to return.
More troops followed, only to disappear as well. No messages came back, and no survivors arrived to explain what had happened. Each group sent after Max simply vanished, leaving the officials within the palace with nothing but silence and an ever-expanding trail of land stripped of its mana.
Max welcomed their response. The more soldiers the empire sent, the more mana they carried directly toward him. Their bodies, weapons, armor and magic all contained power that his void heart could consume and purify before Max tore it back out, gathered it beside the darkness, and continued shaping his second heart.
He did not care how many lives the process cost. As far as Max was concerned, everyone who came to stop him had already chosen to stand as his enemy, and until the heart inside his chest was complete, each enemy was another source of mana.
What Max did not yet know was that he could not have chosen a better day to shake the foundations of the Imperial Court Empire. Its greatest warrior, the emperor himself, was away dealing with a matter so secret that most officials within the imperial palace were forbidden from learning where he had gone or why he had left.
Without the emperor present, there was no one within the empire capable of stopping Max. Every warrior who approached him was forced to choose between retreating and dying before his endless hunger. Those who recognized the danger early enough fled before the void heart could reach them, while those who attempted to fight soon felt the mana being torn from their bodies, leaving them powerless before the darkness surrounding him.
The outline of the Mana Heart within Max’s chest grew clearer with every passing moment. What had begun as a faint gathering of multicolored light gradually took on a more complete shape as he continued forcing the purified mana into place with his will.
Even the void heart appeared satisfied by the feast the empire had provided. It consumed the mana filling the land along with everything carried by the warriors sent against him, and the amount Max managed to reclaim after each wave was finally enough to keep the forming heart stable while steadily bringing it closer to completion.
At this rate, he would not need much longer. He only had to prevent the void heart from swallowing everything again.
Max could still feel a pulling force between the two hearts, constantly dragging the gathered mana toward the darkness, but that attraction weakened as the Mana Heart became purer and more complete. The void heart no longer attacked it with the same violence as before, almost as though the mark left behind during purification had deceived it into recognizing the mana as its own.
His method was working. Max was using mana carrying the void heart’s presence to shape a Spirit Sovereign’s Mana Heart beside it, and if he could complete the new heart before the darkness reclaimed what it had released, it might become stable enough to resist being swallowed.
Yet as the Mana Heart grew clearer, the voice inside Max’s mind also became louder and more alive. It whispered constantly, urging him to stop holding back and allow the void to consume everything within reach. It wanted the soldiers, the cities and every trace of mana spread throughout the Imperial Court Empire, caring only that there was more power waiting to be devoured.
Max did not mind destroying his enemies, but surrendering completely to the voice might leave him unable to stop once there were no enemies left. If he allowed its hunger to replace his thoughts, nothing would prevent him from eventually turning toward Voidstar and consuming the people he had come here to protect.
That possibility frightened him, yet the fear itself also gave Max hope. His emotions had not returned entirely, but the unease tightening his chest belonged to him rather than the void, proving that something buried within his soul was beginning to awaken as the Mana Heart continued taking shape.
By then, forces from across the empire had converged upon Max. Thousands of soldiers surrounded the devastated region, yet even the strongest warriors among them remained at a distance after witnessing what had happened to those who approached too closely.
Messengers were already racing toward the Crimson Horde Empire with desperate requests for reinforcements and powerful mages capable of stopping the creature draining their lands. At the same time, the few trusted officials who possessed a way to contact the emperor sent word after him, begging him to return before there was nothing left of the empire to save.
Their fear only deepened when several veterans of the battle in Frankindia recognized the dragon hovering above their land.
They knew Max. They had fought against him in Frankindia and witnessed their emperor kill him with their own eyes. None of them could understand how he was alive, much less why the power surrounding him now felt even more terrifying than before.
While the imperial forces struggled to decide how to approach him, another figure arrived behind their gathering armies.
Golden ice flames wrapped around Henry as he returned from Voidstar, only to discover that Max had already reached the Imperial Court Empire before him. He stopped at a distance and studied the darkness swallowing the mana around Max, his expression tightening as even he felt fear before the power spreading across the land.
Henry made no attempt to help the imperial soldiers. He watched without concern as the mana was torn from their bodies, his attention fixed entirely upon Max and the immense power gathering within his chest.
"Just who are you?" Henry muttered beneath his breath. "What is your secret?"
The golden ice flames surrounding him burned brighter as greed began replacing the fear within his eyes.
"I must uncover it. Whatever that power is, I will take it for myself and use it to rule this world."
Max remained unaware of Henry’s arrival. His entire concentration was fixed upon the Mana Heart and every change taking place within it as he continued forcing purified mana into its unfinished structure.
Its purity could not have been more different from the endless darkness of the void heart. Two completely opposing forces now existed beside one another within his chest, one devouring everything it touched while the other grew from mana so pure that even Max struggled to believe it had passed through the void.
The Mana Heart had already become far more solid than the faint outline he had created at the beginning. Its multicolored light gradually compressed into a white orb covered in countless carvings and runes, and the more complete it became, the better it resisted the void heart’s pull.
At first, Max had been forced to fight constantly to prevent the gathered mana from being dragged back into the darkness, but the Mana Heart was now beginning to resist on its own. It no longer trembled whenever the void heart released a heavy beat beside it, and Max could even feel its growing presence slowly pushing the darkness away as though creating a place for itself within his chest.
The two hearts had not accepted one another, but the Mana Heart was no longer helpless before the void.
"Almost there. Just don’t break now..." Max muttered through clenched teeth.
His concentration was beginning to fail him as the strength that had carried him through the first days of the process disappeared. Nearly three days had passed since he began forming the Mana Heart, and throughout that time, he had not allowed himself a single moment of rest.
The final stage was proving even more difficult than the beginning. Every trace of mana had to be placed exactly where it belonged, while the slightest mistake could weaken the unfinished structure and allow the void heart to swallow everything again. Max’s thoughts had begun to slow, his body no longer responded as quickly as he needed it to, and exhaustion constantly pulled at his consciousness.
He was slowly losing himself between the voice growing louder in his mind and the effort required to maintain control over both hearts. All he wanted was to close his eyes and sleep for an entire week, yet losing consciousness now would destroy everything he had spent the last three days creating.
His body and mind were beginning to betray him, but Max continued forcing both to obey.
The only thing giving him hope was the transformation taking place within his Magic Soul. Cracks had begun spreading across its surface, growing longer and deeper with every moment, and although the sight terrified him, the magical power coming from within continued becoming stronger.
It did not feel as though the Magic Soul was simply breaking apart. Something was changing beneath its surface, pressing against the widening cracks as though it would soon burst free and transform, while every new fracture released another wave of magic through Max’s body.
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