The figure repeated. "You have finally arrived."

"The moment you awakened your class, I was also awakened from my slumber." The figure’s low but clear voice surprised Leo.

I can actually communicate with a man in my visions?

Leo was stunned by this revelation.

"You are not the first holder of the eternal flame, and you probably won’t be the last. I was also one of its previous holders. I have been waiting for centuries for a person recognized by the Eternal Fire to come forth."

Leo’s jaw dropped. "How is this possible? Am I not seeing a memory from the past? How can you have a conversation with me?" Leo’s voice came out rough.

The figure, the previous holder, just smiled without offering any explanation.

Leo asked further, "What happened to this place in the past?"

The smith simply shrugged. "I was forging a weapon."

Leo "..."

Smith "..."

"I was forging a blade. A sealing blade, to be exact. The one that would anchor this forge permanently to this space, making this place a sanctuary that no force could breach. I was almost finished."

"Then... the raiders came."

"The raiders?" Leo asked, confused by the word.

"Raiders. The invaders." The atmosphere suddenly turned solemn; the smith was releasing an air of hostility, his face distorting in fury.

"They came through the inverse. A crack in reality. They wanted the forge, wanted to corrupt it, use its fire to open a large passage into this world. I could not let it happen."

A sword familiar to Leo appeared in front of the smith — the same blade Leo had restored during the first chamber’s trial. "They wanted to use this sealing sword to anchor the channel, the passage they would create using the eternal fire."

His expression hardened. "So I broke the blade myself, denied them the anchor, and sealed the forge from inside."

"You trapped yourself here?"

"I trapped them here with me," the smith said, without a single sign of regret in his tone. "The forge died, guardians fell. But the fire remained burning eternally. I waited along with the fire, but my lifespan could not hold out longer."

He added, "But the fire continued waiting for someone who could rekindle its spark."

"In my last moments before death, I compressed a part of my heritage along with the spirit of the eternal fire and blasted it out of this space, hoping someone would be able to be recognized by it. I don’t know how long it has been, but you were recognized by the flame."

The smith stood in front of Leo. His hands rose, light gathered — gold, dense, heavy with purpose.

"You carry the fire; now you shall carry on the crown of the Eternal Forge as the next Forge Holder."

Leo tried to move, but he was frozen in place.

"The forge has tested you for your combat, craft, sacrifice, war, and heart. You have passed all the trials. You are not merely the wielder of the eternal forge but now its sovereign."

A blazing light reached out to Leo and something settled over his head.

A Crown..

The crown felt real but also felt like an illusion. Leo could not feel the weight of the crown on his head, but he could still feel the crown there somehow.

The entire chamber glowed; the fire in the hearth recognized Leo as its master.

"The lineage of the eternal forge has been lost. I hope you can reestablish its name and glory. But being a forge holder is not just the power you gain, but you also gain the responsibility to fight against the Inverse."

"You need to grow faster and stop the Inverse at any cost, otherwise the universe will be corrupted by them, leaving not a single life."

The smith’s form was becoming more transparent.

"Your banner may gather those worthy to stand beside you. Knights of the Forge. Bound to your flame, as you are bound to theirs."

The smith’s form was fading away, the vision releasing him.

He added," This is last speck of my will, after I fade away, the sealed raider will also awake. be careful."

The fading smith left a few words, "Choose your knight well, Forge Holder."

"I as well as previous forge holders have left the inheritances across the universe. The eternal flame will slowly lead you there when the time comes. Please grow stronger."

The vision shattered.

....

Leo was back in the chamber, his hand still resting on the forge’s edge. The amber-hued flame had risen higher.

Shen’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Hey, Leo."

"Leooooooooooooo..."

Shen was shouting at him.

Leo turned to Shen. "I can hear you, stop shouting."

"Are you fine? You just sat there frozen, you couldn’t hear me. I couldn’t even move you. Fuck, what was that?" Shen asked.

"I don’t know. I saw some weird visions," Leo muttered.

Shen nodded and added urgently, "Well, if you can move then start fighting, don’t make me work alone."

"Huh???" Leo looked confused. He turned around and found Shen facing a spectral echo.

It was different from all they had faced till now.

It was taller, over seven feet, its form more solid than the translucent specters from before. Its body was wrapped in armor, and its head was covered in a translucent helmet that had two jagged horns rising from the temples. In its hand, a great sword — black, chipped, and stained with darkness that predated this place and era.

The temperature dropped. The air cooled down. Leo felt a shiver run down his spine.

"I don’t think that’s a specter," Shen said. "I have tried attacking with multiple talismans, but nothing seems to be working against it."

Leo was in horror; he recognized the figure. He had seen it in his visions which the previous forge holder had shown him and warned him about it being unsealed.

"It’s... it’s the leader of the invaders. The raider," Leo said as he drew the ember-touched sword.

"This guy was the one who led the attack against this forge. The previous owner of the forge had sealed this guy in this place," Leo added.

The previous owner is now gone; so this guy was also freed from the seal? Was the previous forge holder talking about this?

Leo had many thoughts running through his head.

But the raid leader was already moving towards them. Its great sword raised, and the light in the chamber dimmed, as if the sword was swallowing the light.

[ECHO OF THE INVERSE — LEVEL 12 (MINI-BOSS)]

[HP: ???]

[The echo of the commander who led the raid on the First Forge. Bound here when the forge sealed itself — trapped but never destroyed. His body is gone, but his will remains, still carrying out his final order: extinguish the forge.]

The forge, which had just started to come alive, seemed to be dimming under the swallowing force of the raid leader.

Both Leo and Shen were bracing for the attack, but the attack never came.

Leo noticed it.

He looked towards the forge fire. It was being pulled and seemed to be resisting.

Then a realization dawned on him.

"It’s not here to fight us," Leo said.

Shen glanced at him in confusion. "Huh?? It’s raising a fucking seven-foot sword and preparing to attack, what else could it be doing?"

"It’s here to stop the forge from rekindling. It’s trying to absorb the remaining eternal fire in the forge. We need to stop it."

"Stop it?.." Shen muttered in a daze, not knowing what Leo was talking about.

He added, "And if we don’t?"

Leo replied, "If we don’t, then this place will remain dead, while the Inverse will invade after it manages to gain a foothold in this place."

"Inverse? Is that supposed to be some game update?" Shen replied jokingly.

Leo ignored him and continued. "If I can finish what the previous forge holder started... forge the sealing blade and anchor this place away, then the forge will come back and the Inverse will not be able to invade this place."

The moment Leo mentioned this, the raid leader took a step forward, its cold gaze intensifying.

Shen got into a defensive stance, a Warden’s Pact talisman between his fingers. "How long do you need?"

Leo looked at the forge, at the anvil beside it. The sword he restored in the first chamber was already sitting on the anvil.

"I don’t know how long." He stood in front of the anvil, taking a closer look at the ceremonial sword he’d forged before. "I will have to start forging it to know."

"Then get started." Shen patted the Warden’s Pact at the chamber entrance; green-white light flared across the seal. "I’ll buy you some time, but try to be quick."

...

Leo nodded and grabbed the sword.

The forge responded the moment he touched the anvil. Flames surged, heat washing over him from the hearth. The restored blade heated quickly on the anvil. The forge fire surged and wrapped the sword and heated it on its own.

Behind him, Shen was already clashing with the boss.

Shen met the raid leader’s attack with the Warden’s Pact boundary; ink chains, body talisman, warding talisman firing in sequence. The great sword came down on the ward barrier, cracking it, but it was not broken. Shen quickly restored it.

Leo was intensely staring at the sword burning with flames. Soon the flames receded into the hearth. Leo grabbed the hammer beside the anvil. The hammer was heavy, with a star-shaped inscription engraved on it.

He raised the hammer and started striking the sword. The sword didn’t resist him. His own eternal flame surged through his arm into the hammer. The sword was accepting the flame’s baptism with each strike.

Forge Sight mapped every molecular bond as it formed, showing him the minute fractures in the forging area. Previously the sword was only joined together, and Leo had no idea what the sword was to be used for. It was just a piece of metal that had been forged into a ceremonial sword.

But now, he had to find the sealing mechanism in the sword and complete it.

His hammer came down again and again, and a rhythm settled into something ancient and familiar. Sparks scattered across the anvil. He struck the tang of the sword and walked the hammer towards the hilt with light taps.

As he was hammering, he realized something else.

Not sealing...?

Watching the lattice fold under each blow.

More like anchoring, hmm...

The pattern in the sword was not meant to close the door. It was driving a stake through the world and daring to pull a part of the world away.

As he was busy, Shen was still facing the raider. Shen’s barrier rang like a struck bell, barely holding up.

"Leo," Shen’s voice was a bit anxious. "Whatever pace you are working at... try faster."

"Working on it," Leo replied.

The shape of the lattice was coming together. It was the lattice on the part of the sword’s seam that worried him... a hairline fracture running through the seam.

He hammered the seam, trying to mend the crack.

But...

It’s resisting, pushing me back.

The hammer came down again and connected.

Clang!

But something felt different; the eternal flame was not reaching the crack.

"Leo..." Shen’s voice was sharper and more urgent now. He could hear the barrier cracking. He turned to look, and a spiderweb of cracks could be seen across the barrier Shen had deployed.

Leo didn’t answer and turned back to the sword. He was looking at the hairline fracture on the lattice. It was probably caused by the damage it received before being completed. The previous forger hadn’t failed the sword but had left it incomplete on purpose, an unfinished intent....

He couldn’t hammer this away.

Leo was in dilemma.

What should I do.. ?, Come on Leo think... Thinkkk.

The sword was not accepting his eternal fire. Its as if it was not recognizing him as its forger.

Because its previous forger had broken it, It was resisting to be completed.

...