My Charity System made me too OP-Chapter 415: Null Void IV

The elevator doors opened not into another sky-plate or shattered ruin.

But into a citadel.

Built into a mountainside that seemed to stretch forever into the clouds, Floor 504 resembled the heart of a war-scarred empire—massive stone keeps, dark iron bridges, and banners too tattered to bear names. At the center stood a towering hall, its gates left open... as if someone knew they were coming.

Kael looked around as they stepped out. "This place is fortified. Shielded. Every structure’s layered in old sigils."

Aris rested a hand on her blade. "That means someone’s still maintaining them."

Leon said nothing, but he could feel it—eyes.

Watching.

Judging.

The moment they stepped off the elevator platform, shapes began to appear from the surrounding structures. Dozens of them. Men and women in black-and-silver armor, faces hidden behind high helms or masks shaped like snarling beasts. Some carried glaives crackling with broken lightning. Others walked barehanded, their bodies wrapped in fading enchantments that shimmered like forgotten contracts.

At their head stood a tall woman in layered obsidian robes, a single broken circlet resting above her brow. Her silver hair was tied into a tight braid, and her gaze was sharp as the tip of her drawn spear.

She raised her hand, and the gathered warriors halted instantly.

Then she spoke.

"You wear the Crown."

It wasn’t a question.

Leon stopped several meters away from her.

"I don’t wear it," he said. "I carry it."

A flicker of recognition crossed her face—but only for a heartbeat.

She stepped forward.

"You bear the six elements. The Tower has signaled your ascent. The gates opened for you."

She lowered her spear slightly, not in surrender—but in testing.

"Then answer me this, Crownbearer: Who was the last King?"

Leon didn’t hesitate.

"He never gave his name."

The woman’s grip tightened.

Leon continued.

"He ruled without sitting on a throne. He kept the balance until he couldn’t. And when the Tower turned against him, he died defending the path for the next."

Silence.

Then the woman slowly... lowered her spear.

Around them, weapons dipped. Not dropped. Just relaxed.

She studied Leon again—this time not like an enemy, but something rarer.

A possibility.

"I am Varessa Dawnshard, Blade-Captain of the Sixth Legion. We were once the sworn hands of the Elemental King."

She stepped aside, motioning toward the great citadel gates behind her.

"We have waited for a thousand years. Five claimed the title. Four fell. One vanished. We swore that unless the next King carried all six elements—and bore no title by force—we would never kneel again."

Leon didn’t step forward.

Not yet.

He looked into her eyes. "And now?"

Varessa tilted her head. "That depends. Are you here to conquer, or to continue?"

"I’m here to finish what he started," Leon replied.

She smiled. Just barely.

"Then come inside."

The seal tower loomed before them—an angular, humming structure built from petrified aetherstone and hollow iron, crackling with energy. The sky above was dark, covered in twisting shadows of clouds that didn’t move. The Legion stood in formation. Varessa at the front. Leon at the center.

He didn’t draw his blade.

He didn’t even channel his elements.

He raised one hand... and a black portal opened beside him.

From it stepped a creature older than the Tower’s floors—a Black Dragon, its obsidian scales shimmering with curse-bound runes. Eyes like molten glass. Wings that stirred the air with whispers of storms long lost.

The Legion tensed.

The dragon snarled once, and the shadows withdrew. The tower itself shook in fear.

Leon spoke calmly. "Tear the seal. Don’t damage the core structure."

The dragon growled in acknowledgment and launched into the sky, its jaws unleashing blackfire that ignited in silence. Not even the seal tower’s triple-locked barrier held for long. With a single dive, the dragon crashed through the outer shield like paper and began its devastating work.

Smoke. Collapse. Aether sparks.

It was effective. Efficient. Brutally clean.

But Varessa said nothing.

Nor did the Legion.

Not even as the dragon returned to Leon’s side, silent and unbowed.

Kael muttered under his breath, "That’s... one way to do it."

Aris narrowed her eyes. "But not the right way."

Back at the temporary base camp, the mood was different.

Leon sat quietly, tuning the Voidstream crystal linked to the dragon’s core rune, while his team checked their gear.

Then Varessa entered.

Not alone.

She brought two squad leaders with her—one bearing command badges etched in crimson lightning.

"Leon," she said without ceremony. "A moment."

Leon stood, arms crossed. "Speak."

Varessa’s tone was even, but cold. "You didn’t fight."

"I didn’t need to."

Her eyes sharpened. "You sent a summoned beast to do what the Sixth Legion came here to do. That dragon is powerful, yes. But it’s not loyal. It’s not trusted. It’s not... you."

One of the squad leaders added, voice edged with steel, "Kings bleed. Ours bled beside us. He didn’t hide behind creatures. He faced horrors we couldn’t name—and didn’t flinch."

Leon’s gaze didn’t waver. "If a general can crush a threat without sacrificing a single soldier, why wouldn’t he?"

"Because power alone is never enough," Varessa snapped. "We don’t follow you for your summons, Leon. We follow for what you choose to do when you stand in front of us—not behind."

The silence was sharp.

Even Roselia didn’t interrupt.

Aris, standing at the side, spoke finally. "They don’t want a ruler. They want a leader."

Leon looked down at his hand. The dragon’s mark shimmered faintly there—still bound, still powerful.

Then he let out a slow breath.

And nodded.

"You’re right."

He raised his hand—and dismissed the dragon back into its realm.

Then he looked Varessa in the eye. "Next floor. No summons. Just me."

Varessa stepped forward and extended her hand. Not as a challenge.

But as a test.

Leon took it.

Her grip was strong.

But so was his.

That night, as the sky began to pulse above Floor 508, the scouts returned with a report:

"Movement inside the Remnant Core. Something’s activated."

Varessa turned to Leon. "Looks like we get your promise earlier than expected."

Leon stood.

No summon. No beast. freeweɓnøvel~com

Just him.

Cloak rustling, blade at his side, six elements quiet and focused.

"Let’s move," he said.

And this time, the Sixth Legion followed.

Not because he ordered it.

But because they finally saw the man who chose to walk ahead.

New novel chapt𝒆rs are published on free(w)ebnovel(.)com