After a journey carved in blood and silence, Jin stood at the threshold of the ancient temple.
His coat fluttered like a dying flame. Above, the sky trembled—clouds splitting under the pressure of unseen forces. Before him hovered an old man, blindfolded, his robes stitched with constellations that shifted and shimmered with every second, as if the universe whispered through the threads.
"You've come far," the old man said—his voice a symphony of thunder and velvet. "But power alone will not carry you further."
Jin raised a brow, exhaustion painted beneath his sharp eyes.
"Let me guess. Some ancient quiz? Riddles and riddles until I go mad?"
A smirk crept across the old man's face. "Not a quiz. Just four questions. Speak, and you may pass. But know this—every answer seals a path. Lie, and your soul is forfeit. Tell the truth, and you may still shatter."
Jin's gaze narrowed. "Ask."
The wind died. The air stilled. Time itself inhaled—and held its breath.
Question One: "What will you destroy first?"
The old man's voice echoed like a memory buried under centuries.
"If your body is restored…
And Olympus kneels…
What will you destroy first—your enemies, or the broken boy who once begged to be loved?"
Jin froze.
He remembered the nights clawing at darkness for warmth. The prayers to gods who never answered. The echo of Lia's voice, his parents' rejection, the hollow spaces where love was supposed to live.
He exhaled slowly.
"…Neither."
The old man raised a brow.
"I'll destroy the illusion—that love was ever meant for me. That kindness wasn't just the first move in betrayal's game. I won't kill the boy. I'll bury him inside me… so he remembers why I fight."
The temple whispered: "Truth."
Question Two: "What is she to you?"
"The one you loved—Lia.
She came from another world. Gaia used her.
If she loved you, it was an accident.
Is she still your anchor… or your curse?"
Jin's breath hitched.
He remembered her laugh—fragile and defiant. Her tears on his shoulder. Her silence as she was sacrificed, thrown into Olympus' cruel plan. One tear escaped him—just one.
"…She was never my anchor."
He clenched his jaw.
"She was the storm that broke me—and the light that taught me how to rebuild. Curse or gift, I chose to love her. And that choice… that pain… is the last part of me still human."
The air shivered.
"Truth."
Question Three: "Will you break fate… or yourself?"
"The Absolute Line.
It binds destinies across lifetimes.
You were never chosen to ascend—but to serve.
If power is only a leash… will you wear it?"
Jin's fists trembled.
"They made me a pawn. Designed me to fall and rise again. A marionette in a divine joke."
He looked skyward.
"I'll wear their leash—only to strangle them with it."
The old man's blindfold fluttered.
"Truth."
Question Four: "Will you still walk forward?"
"If you surpass Zhel-Vorah…
If you destroy the very gods…
But the cost is your soul, your humanity, your name erased from all of creation—
Will you walk forward, alone, a god among ghosts?"
Jin hesitated.
He saw it. The end of everything. No Lia. No Kaelros or Lysander. No warmth, no memory. Just silence. Just power.
He trembled.
"Even if I forget how to cry…
Even if my name dies with me…"
He stepped forward.
"I'll keep walking. Because if I stop—then everything I lost meant nothing."
And the heavens split.
"TRUTH."
The old man smiled, mournfully. "You have passed."
He moved aside. "But understand this—until you complete what this place demands, you will never leave. Time will abandon you. Reality will bend. You will be forgotten."
Jin said nothing. Just looked forward—and stepped inside.
The Temple was silent. Heavy with time.
Each step was like walking through the memory of a dead god. At the heart stood a colossal statue of a woman—eyes closed, hands folded, carved in divine elegance.
For a moment, nothing.
Then, the statue moved.
"You are not of this time," she said, voice both motherly and monstrous.
"Why have you come?"
Jin answered with steel in his voice. "To reclaim my body."
The statue shook her head.
"Your body was lost in the flow. But I can give you something far greater—something that can bend fate itself."
She raised her hand.
Three silver strands of liquid light—alive, pulsating, divine—floated into the air.
"This is Origin DNA. The true essence of what your body was meant to become."
Jin squinted. "So I inject that and become… Superman?"
The statue blinked. "What is a… super man?"
He coughed. "Never mind. Go on."
She explained:
"This DNA adapts. Evolves. Mimics gods. It responds to your will to surpass Zhel-Vorah. Do you want it ?"
Jin recalled something he had once read in the Akashic Records:
"Only those who survive the Trial of Horror Beasts may touch Ancient DNA."
He nodded. "Alright. Let's begin.
The statue opened a portal.
Jin stepped through.
And Darkness fell.
He stood on an endless plain beneath a crimson moon. Then—it appeared.
A creature crawled out of the abyss. Its limbs twisted in ways reality refused. Its face had no eyes—only mouths, each whispering curses in forgotten tongues.
It screeched.
Jin smiled.
"Hello, you horrifying beauty."
He killed it in seconds.
Another appeared.
Then another.
Stronger. Horrifying. More monstrous than language could describe. Time bent, space shattered. Jin's body evolved. His mind sharpened. His soul aged.
A day passed.
Then a week.
Then a year.
Then four hundred years.
His hair grew silver. His skin became metallic at times. His eyes glowed with runes.
And finally—the last horror arrived.
A creature like an octopus, made of galaxies, dripping black light.
Jin grinned.
"Let's end this."
He fought for what felt like eternity—and won.
Back at the Temple
The statue blinked in disbelief.
"You… cleared the Root of the Horror Beasts? That trial was meant to be endless."
Jin coughed dust. "Well, I'm not a patient guy."
"…You're insane."
He grinned. "That's the nicest thing anyone's said to me."
She handed him a silver vial. "This… is the True Origin DNA. Take it. You've earned it."
"What's it called?" he asked.
She whispered:
"The Genome of the Forgotten Cosmos —Xir'Vanta, Yggdrasil, Nihilith.
This will grant you outerversal level of Strength, Speed, Durability, Agility, Replexsis, Senses, Immortality also give you special abilities."
Jin asked "what's are my special abilities ?"
She looked at him for a moments then spoke " Time and Reversal "
Jin asked "what is reversal ?"
She nodded. "You can reverse anything. And mimic any power you see."
His eyes widened.
But as he turned to leave, she raised her voice.
"Jin. Never speak of this to anyone."
He frowned. "Why?"
She lifted a hand.
His vision flooded with light—
He sawsomething that he didn't expect.
Jin fell to his knees. Breath stolen.
"Why…did you show me this?"
"Because power has a price. And silence is the only mercy I can give you."
The statue smiled—a motherly.
The statue moved again… not with the mechanical grace of carved divinity—but as flesh, as soul.
Her form shimmered, the stone falling away like ancient dust. From it stepped a woman, radiant and graceful, eyes like the moon, warmth like spring's first breath.
Jin's knees weakened. His lips parted, trembling.
"…No…"
She smiled, tenderly. "Yes. Finally… we meet, my son."
"Mom…?" he whispered.
He took a step forward, disbelief churning in his chest.
"How…? How did you come here?"
She nodded softly. "When I died… my soul drifted through the cracks of realms. I should've disappeared. But Aurelion found me."
" Sovereign of Overlords. " Jin's voice cracked.
She smiled again. "Yes. He brought me here. To become something more than memory. A guardian. A statue goddess to watch over the temple that you would one day walk into."
Jin's heart shattered quietly. "All this time… you were here?"
"I waited for you," she said, tears forming. "Even in silence. Even as stone."
Her form began to shimmer, light pouring from her skin.
"Wait—what's happening?!" Jin rushed forward.
"It's time," she whispered. "The temple's duty is complete. And so is mine."
"No!" Jin's voice broke. "Please—don't go. I just got you back!"
She hugged him, her warmth a balm to every scar he had buried.
They held each other, crying—two broken souls in the quiet ruin of gods.
Jin sobbed, clinging tighter. "Where are you going…?"
She gently caressed his hair. "To where your father is now."
Jin whispered. "He's alive?"
"In a place beyond names," she said. "We'll wait for you. One day… when your journey ends."
And then—she smiled one last time.
Her body dissolved into radiant particles, swirling like fireflies in moonlight.
"Goodbye… Jin."
He reached out, grasping at light that slipped through his fingers.
And then—she was gone.
The temple echoed with silence.
Jin knelt there, hand still outstretched, eyes hollow. A piece of him gone… yet something newly whole inside him.
After a long moment, he stood.
He looked at the vial in his hand.
"If I'm to rival Zhel-Vorah… then I'll need more than strength."
"I'll need to become something not even gods understand."
He walked forward, power and grief woven in his footsteps.