Chapter 97: Hellfire Cleave
The walk back to Villa Seven was quiet.
Lyra held his jacket folded over her arm instead of giving it back. Holden noticed but didn’t say anything.
When they stepped through the villa’s front door, Renna exploded out of the living room.
"YOU BROKE A GREATSWORD WITH YOUR BARE HANDS! Emric is trying to calculate how much force that would take and he keeps getting errors because his numbers aren’t going high enough"
She paused to breathe, which was a rare event.
"I need to know how you did it."
"Tough skin," Holden said.
"Tough skin?" Renna repeated flatly.
"It’s a serious medical condition."
Renna stared at him for a moment, then threw her hands up and marched back into the living room, muttering about impossible boys and unreasonable secrets.
Lyra covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh.
Holden headed for the kitchen. Lyra followed him, still carrying his jacket.
"Sit down," he said. "I’ll make something."
"You just destroyed a royal prodigy. You should be resting."
"I’m not tired."
"You’re never tired. That’s the problem."
She sat on one of the kitchen stools anyway, placing his jacket neatly on the counter beside her. Holden opened the fridge and started pulling out ingredients. Eggs, cheese, some leftover meat from last night.
For a few minutes, the only sounds were the sizzle of butter in the pan and the soft clink of plates being set out.
Lyra watched him cook with her chin resting on her hand. Her earlier anxiety had faded, replaced by something warmer. Softer.
"You scared me," she said quietly.
Holden didn’t look up from the pan. "Which time?"
"The sword. When you slapped that greatsword with your bare hand." She paused. "I know you’re strong. I’ve known for a while. But seeing it like that, right in front of everyone..."
"I had it handled."
"I know." She let out a small breath. "That doesn’t mean I can’t worry."
Holden slid a plate of food in front of her. Eggs, crispy meat, toast cut into neat triangles because he knew she liked it that way.
Lyra looked down at the plate, then back up at him. "You remembered."
"I remember most things."
She reached across the counter and took his right hand. She turned it over slowly, running her thumb across his palm.
"Does it actually hurt?" she asked, her voice dropping to something almost shy.
"A little," Holden lied.
Lyra’s thumb traced a small circle on his palm. "You’re a terrible liar."
"Only with you."
She looked up at him through her lashes. For a moment, the noble confidence slipped, and she was just a girl holding a boy’s hand in a kitchen, glad he came home safe.
Then she let go and picked up her fork.
"Eat your own food before it gets cold. You’re not skipping meals just because you flexed in public."
"Yes ma’am."
They ate together. Lyra left twenty minutes later for her advanced theory class, pausing at the door to remind him that the villa’s new security wards needed to be checked before nightfall. Holden promised he would handle it.
The front door closed.
Holden cleaned the dishes, wiped down the counter, and checked that Maeve was in her room reviewing beast ecology notes. She waved him off without looking up from her tablet.
He went upstairs to his bedroom and locked the door.
He sat on the edge of the bed and let out a long breath.
Then the System chimed.
[Ding!]
[MILESTONE ACHIEVED]
[100,000 KP Upgrade Threshold Reached]
[Multiplier Successfully Upgraded to: 10,000x]
[Reward Unlocked: Skill Synthesis]
Holden raised an eyebrow.
[Skill Synthesis: A crafting feature unique to the 10,000x Evolution System. When a skill is pushed beyond its maximum theoretical tier (e.g., a Rank 1 skill evolved to Transcendent Tier), it becomes eligible for fusion with another compatible skill. The result is a brand-new, customized technique of a higher rank.]
[Conditions Met:]
- Iron-Cleaver Sword Art: Transcendent Tier (Max Evolution for Rank 1)
- Asura’s Ignition: Perfect Tier (Compatible Element)
[Fusion Available: Yes]
Holden stared at the screen. His heart rate kicked up a notch.
He had been using Iron-Cleaver since the early days. It was his foundational skill, the backbone of his swordsmanship. And Asura’s Ignition was the fire technique he had merged into it during the Queen fight. They had worked well together.
Now the System was telling him he could combine them permanently.
Not just merge them temporarily. Fuse them into something entirely new. A Rank 2 technique born from two skills he had grinded to their absolute limits.
"Let’s do it," Holden muttered.
[Select Skill 1: Iron-Cleaver Sword Art (Transcendent)]
[Select Skill 2: Asura’s Ignition (Perfect)]
[Confirm Fusion?]
"Confirm."
The gold border around the screen blazed bright.
The text dissolved. Two icons appeared in its place. One was a cleaving sword. The other was a flame. They spiraled around each other, faster and faster, drawing closer together.
The room temperature climbed.
Holden felt the System reach into his mind, into the muscle memory etched into his nervous system. It was pulling apart the Iron-Cleaver forms he had practiced thousands of times. It was unwinding the fire-breathing technique he had refined through combat after combat.
For a brief second, his hands felt empty. Like he had forgotten how to hold a sword.
Then the two icons collided.
Whoosh!
A wave of heat burst from the System screen.
The two spinning icons broke into a thousand pieces of light. The fragments swirled, compressed, and reformed into a single new icon.
A burning sword wrapped in crimson flames.
[ fusion complete ]
[ new skill acquired: hellfire cleave ]
[ rank: rank 2 (origin tier) ]
[ classification: offensive / fire element ]
[ description: a devastating technique that channels hyper-concentrated thermal energy into the edge of a blade. the strike produces an explosive wave of crimson fire capable of melting armor, shattering defenses, and leaving severe burn damage. created from the fusion of transcendent swordsmanship and perfect fire manipulation. ]
[ mastery level: beginner (0.1%) ]
[ warning: skill fusion resets mastery. further training required to unlock full potential. ]
Beginner.
Holden grinned.
He had just taken two skills he had maxed out and combined them into something brand new. A Rank 2 Origin Skill.
His 10,000x multiplier was starving for something to chew on. He had maxed out his old skills. There was nothing left to grind. But now he had a fresh, high-level technique that offered plenty of room for improvement and growth.
Every swing would give massive returns. Every hour of practice would yield weeks of progress for anyone else. He could climb from Beginner to Master in a single night if he pushed hard enough.
Holden closed the System screen and stood up.
He looked down at his hands, still able to feel the faint trace of his old techniques in his muscles. They were gone now, replaced by something hotter. Something sharper.
Something that was entirely his.
He cracked his knuckles.
"Beginner," he said to the empty room, smiling. "Not for long."