MY HIDDEN TALENT IS FORBIDDEN BY THE HEAVENS-Chapter 115: AUTHORITY BLEED

Chapter 115 — THE ONE WHO STEPS FORWARD

Morning over Ruinsand came with heat before light.

The sky was pale when Bronze Squad assembled at the side gate, but the sand already shimmered as if the desert had been awake long before them.

Zehell stood at the front, her spear resting lightly in her grip. The faint silver lines along its shaft pulsed once as she adjusted her hold. Controlled. Balanced.

Colby stretched his shoulders and rolled his neck. "Sector Three again?"

"Yes," Zehell replied calmly.

Ryn frowned. "That area just had a construct emergence."

"Exactly."

No one argued after that.

Long Hao climbed into the rear of the jeep without speaking. The others did not notice the slight shift in his breathing.

He could feel it.

A faint hum beneath the city.

The same pulse that had echoed through him the night before.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 32% ]

The interface hovered faintly in his vision.

Longyu’s voice was steady.

"The frequency is rising."

"I know."

"If synchronization exceeds fifty percent, your sealed core may destabilize."

He didn’t look surprised.

"What does destabilize mean?"

A pause.

"Authority bleed-through."

The words carried weight.

Authority.

He leaned back slightly, letting the wind strike his face as the jeep rolled through the side gate and into open desert.

Zehell glanced at him once during the ride.

He noticed.

She said nothing.

—

Sector Three looked unchanged.

The dune line curved gently where yesterday’s slab had emerged. Wind had smoothed over most of the disturbance.

But the air felt wrong.

Colby stepped down first.

Darius followed, spear angled diagonally across his body.

Marek climbed the nearest rise and scanned with his bow half-drawn.

Zehell walked to the center of their formation.

"Spread five meters."

They moved.

Long Hao’s boots sank slightly into warm sand.

The pulse strengthened.

[ ANCHOR PROXIMITY: CONFIRMED ][ SYNCHRONIZATION: 33% ]

His heartbeat did not quicken.

But something deeper shifted.

A memory brushed the edge of consciousness.

Black sky.

Broken wings.

He blinked.

Gone.

Ryn’s voice cut through the silence.

"...Captain."

Zehell turned.

Ryn was staring toward a ridge thirty meters away.

There, standing against the pale horizon—

A construct.

Not the massive guardian from yesterday.

Smaller.

Humanoid.

Stone and compacted sand fused into a body that looked carved rather than formed.

It did not charge.

Did not move.

It simply stood.

Watching.

Colby’s hand dropped to his weapon immediately.

"Contact."

"Hold," Zehell said sharply.

The construct turned its head.

Not toward Zehell.

Not toward Colby.

Toward Long Hao.

Silence thickened.

The wind whispered between dunes.

Long Hao took one step forward.

The construct did not react.

He took another.

The construct slowly lowered its right arm.

Not in surrender.

Not in attack.

It stepped sideways.

Revealing something behind it.

A dark fracture in the sand.

A fissure that hadn’t existed yesterday.

Black stone visible beneath the drifting grains.

Colby’s voice tightened. "That wasn’t there."

Zehell’s gaze narrowed.

"No."

Long Hao could feel it clearly now.

The hum was no longer distant.

It was directional.

Below.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 34% ]

Longyu’s tone sharpened.

"It is responding to your movement."

The construct remained motionless.

Waiting.

Zehell stepped beside Long Hao.

"It’s not hostile."

"No," he agreed quietly.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"Yes."

She didn’t press further.

Instead she turned her head slightly.

"Bronze Squad. Perimeter hold."

Colby frowned. "You’re not serious."

She didn’t look at him.

"I am."

Then, to Long Hao—

"You’re going down."

"Yes."

She studied him for a heartbeat.

"Are you in control?"

"For now."

"That’s not comforting."

He didn’t argue.

Longyu spoke again.

"If you descend, synchronization will increase."

"I know."

"At fifty percent, destabilization probability rises sharply."

"Understood." He replied.

Zehell tightened her grip on her spear.

"I’m coming."

He glanced at her.

"It may not be safe."

She raised a brow.

"I didn’t ask."

A pause.

"Understood," he said.

—

They approached the fissure.

The construct did not block them.

As Long Hao stepped within two meters of it, the stone body tilted slightly—almost like acknowledgment.

Then it went still again.

The fissure sloped downward at a sharp angle, the sand giving way to polished black stone carved into descending steps.

Zehell exhaled slowly.

"This wasn’t here yesterday."

"No."

They began the descent.

The temperature shifted immediately.

Cooler.

Denser.

The light above faded as the stone walls enclosed them.

Symbols lined the passage.

Not Ruinsand script.

Older.

Angular.

Coiled patterns that seemed to curve like scales.

Long Hao’s fingers brushed one of them lightly as he walked.

A flicker—

A battlefield under crimson sky.

A towering shape collapsing.

A voice echoing through thunder—

Carry it.

He pulled his hand back.

Zehell noticed.

"You recognized something."

He did not deny it.

"I’ve seen patterns like this before."

"Where?"

"...I don’t know."

That wasn’t entirely true.

But it was all he could offer.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 36% ]

Longyu whispered:

"You have been here before."

"No."

"Not this body."

He didn’t answer.

The passage widened gradually.

The hum grew stronger.

His pulse aligned with it.

Each step felt like stepping closer to something that had been waiting.

Zehell slowed.

"You hear that?"

"Yes."

The sound was subtle.

A low vibration in the stone.

Like a heartbeat.

They reached the end of the descent.

The tunnel opened into a vast chamber.

Zehell stopped.

Long Hao stepped forward.

The chamber was enormous—circular, carved from black stone that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

At the center—

Embedded in a vertical slab—

A fractured core.

Half a sphere.

Cracked.

Dark red light pulsing faintly through its veins.

Not bright.

Not blazing.

But alive.

Long Hao’s breath stilled.

[ FRAGMENT MATCH CONFIRMED ]

Longyu’s voice was barely above a whisper.

"...It found you."

The core brightened slightly as he stepped into the chamber.

Zehell tightened her grip instinctively.

The silver lines on her spear flared faintly in response.

The air thickened.

Sand particles suspended in the chamber air began to shift slowly toward the core.

Not violently.

Gently.

Like dust drawn toward gravity.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 38% ]

Long Hao moved forward.

Each step caused the pulsing to intensify.

Zehell followed close behind him.

"Is this what the constructs were guarding?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You knew."

"I suspected."

She didn’t comment.

The core’s light flickered.

As he came within five meters—

It surged.

Not outward.

Inward.

A pull.

Subtle.

But undeniable.

His chest tightened faintly.

The Eclipse interface flared.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 40% ]

Pain did not come.

But pressure did.

Like something pressing against the inside of his ribs.

Longyu’s voice trembled slightly.

"It is attempting integration."

"Can I stop it?"

"Yes."

"Should I?"

A pause.

"If you retreat now, synchronization will stabilize below forty percent."

"And if I continue?"

"Unknown outcome."

Zehell stepped beside him.

"Your breathing changed."

"I’m fine."

"That wasn’t a question."

He exhaled slowly.

"I need to approach."

She looked at the fractured core.

Then back at him.

"If it consumes you?"

"It won’t."

"You don’t know that."

"No."

The core pulsed again.

Stronger.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 42% ]

The chamber walls vibrated faintly.

Long Hao stepped forward again.

Three meters.

Two.

The light within the fractured sphere intensified.

Not blinding.

But focused.

Zehell felt the pressure now too.

Her spear hummed in response.

"What is this place?" she whispered.

"A prison," he said quietly.

The word felt right.

Not learned.

Remembered.

He reached one meter from the core.

The pulse aligned fully with his heartbeat.

For a moment—

He saw it clearly.

A dragon’s chest split open.

A core torn in half.

One fragment thrown into darkness.

The other sealed beneath stone.

A voice echoing through void—

If I fall, carry the eclipse.

His vision snapped back.

The core flared.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 45% ]

Longyu’s voice was urgent now.

"Approaching instability threshold."

Zehell stepped closer.

"If this goes wrong—"

"It won’t," he repeated.

But this time, it sounded less certain.

The core cracked slightly along one vein.

A faint thread of light extended outward—

Toward him.

It did not strike.

It hovered.

Waiting.

Longyu whispered:

"It recognizes the fragment."

He raised his hand slowly.

Zehell’s eyes widened.

"Don’t—"

His fingers brushed the light.

And the chamber exploded with silent radiance.

Not outward.

Inward.

The light flooded into him like compressed gravity.

His vision went white.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 49% ]

Longyu shouted:

"Stop now!"

He held steady.

For one more second.

The pressure inside his chest surged violently.

A crack of invisible force rippled outward, forcing Zehell to brace herself.

[ SYNCHRONIZATION: 50% ]

Everything stopped.

Silence.

The core dimmed slightly.

The light thread severed.

Long Hao staggered half a step—but did not fall.

His breathing stabilized gradually.

The pressure eased.

Longyu’s voice returned, shaken.

"Stability regained."

Zehell stared at him.

"What did you just do?"

He exhaled slowly.

"...Confirmed."

"Confirmed what?"

He looked at the fractured core.

"It’s the other half."

The chamber remained silent.

The core pulsed once more.

Just acknowledgment.

And somewhere deep beneath Ruinsand—

The Anchor had recognized its missing fragment.

And he had chosen to step forward.

[Chapter ENDS]