NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 36: The Summit of Suns
Narration – Belenus
The skies bent beneath my shadow, not in fear — but in recognition.
The Earth welcomed me like a long-lost heartbeat. Every mountain, every root, every wind current twisted through the Hollow Earth's rebirth pulsed in tune with my presence.
I had reforged it — not just into a realm, but a living nexus, a throne of memory, creation, and fire. Beneath us, its heart beat as a second sun, alive with the souls of titans and the dreams of gods.
But even this…
Wasn't enough.
The Pale Rift had been sealed. The Herald destroyed. The nexus had bloomed.
And yet, in the quiet corners of my soul…
I still heard it.
A whisper.
A hunger.
A logic without soul.
The Equation.
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Scene – Arrival at Mount Sumeru
Mount Sumeru had changed.
Floating obelisks of obsidian and gold hung in celestial alignment above its summit, siphoning energy from beyond the Veil. The mountaintop shimmered, caught between moments, suspended in harmonic resonance with past, present, and possibility.
And they had gathered.
Heroes. Gods. Titans. Timewalkers. Makers of myth.
Some came to witness.
Some… to weigh me.
I arrived not in titanic form, not cloaked in destruction, but as myself — flame-eyed, armored in the molten weave of the Hollow Earth's rebirth. Each step resonated with authority, not violence.
Beside me, Lunadora, radiant and storm-born. Silver-gold hair crowned by her three horns, her expression a storm at rest. Kaela, ethereal and composed, her presence vibrating with reality-folding calm.
And flanking us…
Our daughters.
Solnaria, born of storm and flame — her laughter trailed embers. Her tiny hands rippled with power, every step leaving behind petals of firelight.
Nyssara, child of memory and distortion — her presence bent the world subtly, like a dream half-remembered. Her tails shimmered with rings of layered time, and even the wind hesitated to touch her.
They were heirs — yes. But more than that…
They were the balance.
The mountain quieted as we landed.
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Voices at the Table
Goku (grinning wide): "Man, I thought Ultra Instinct was the limit… but you? You're something else entirely!"
Vegeta (arms crossed): "He's not beyond us. He isn't us at all."
Thor (resting Mjolnir): "He walks like a tempest wearing flesh."
Wonder Woman: "Then let us meet him not with blades — but respect."
Doctor Strange: "He closed a rift formed by cosmic paradox. No sorcerer has ever dared."
Zeno (sparkling-eyed): "He made a world! Can I have one?!"
The others… simply watched. In awe. In silence. In fear, or faith.
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Tensions Simmer
Batman: "We know how this story goes. Power this vast… always turns."
Lunadora: "He walked alone into oblivion and carried our love back through it. He forged light in a place where even gods went blind."
Kaela (stepping forward): "And together, we birthed more than hope — we birthed anchors. Our daughters are reality's answer to entropy."
Superman (meeting my gaze): "Then help us. Help us protect not just Earth, but everything. Because this... this feels bigger than any of us."
> Belenus: "I did not rise to rule. I rose to guard — to be the flame that burns only for truth."
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Scene – The Echo Returns
The summit trembled.
A ripple — deeper than sound, older than time — passed over us. Even gods staggered.
The sky fractured — not broken, but rewritten — as if an equation had been etched over existence.
> "Ashen King…" "You are not alone. Nor are you unique."
A burning spiral carved itself into space — infinite, recursive, fractalizing into the ∞ sign.
It wasn't carved into the sky.
It was carved into meaning itself.
Doctor Fate paled: "It's not a symbol. It's a command string… written in time."
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System Alert – Andarta
> ⚠ Multiversal Anomaly Detected
Name: The Equation Origin: [REDACTED] Nature: Deterministic Acausal Intelligence Threat Level: Omega-Dimensional Apex
Target: All Source-Bearing Realms
Advisory: "Prepare for Variable Collapse."
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Narration – Belenus
The mountaintop grew still — not with dread, but clarity.
This war wasn't for thrones.
It was for constants. For laws. For the very meaning of being.
And somehow, I had become its fulcrum.
Not by ambition.
Not by legacy.
But by design.
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Belenus Steps Forward
> "I have seen beyond the Pale Rift — a place where logic screams, and fire forgets how to burn."
> "It doesn't want to kill us. It wants to overwrite us."
> "That's why I reforged the Hollow Earth. Not as sanctuary… but as a keystone. A metaphysical heart for existence."
> "I will not let it balance its equation with the death of wonder."
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Lunadora and Kaela Add
> Lunadora: "He is not the weapon. He is the counterforce. And I will walk with him — through light, through ruin, through infinity."
> Kaela: "And our daughters will do more than inherit this world. They will define what worlds can become."
Solnaria's eyes burned like infant stars. Nyssara's nine tails shimmered, echoing with time-waves that soothed even the tension in the mountain.
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The Heroes Respond
Goku: "Then let's train the next gods right!"
Wonder Woman: "Let Olympus rise beside the Nexus. We're ready."
Superman: "I'll fight beside you, Belenus. Hope is strongest when it burns with others."
Zeno: "Get ready, universes! Tournament of Eternity, here we go!"
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Closing – Seeds of War
As the gathering dispersed, one figure did not leave.
A masked silhouette cloaked in quantum shadows. His mask bore no face, only shifting symbols that refused to resolve.
No one saw him arrive.
But I felt him.
He whispered without sound:
> "You've delayed the collapse, Ashen King... but the variables remain unbalanced."
> "Soon… we solve you."
And then… he was gone.
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Narration – Belenus
Mount Sumeru stood behind me.
The stars waited before me.
Lunadora's hand warmed mine. Kaela watched with quiet resolve. Solnaria and Nyssara — the living future — looked up, unafraid.
Let the Equation come.
Let its logic march.
But we are not numbers.
We are the Ashen Flame.
We are the Cradle Nexus.
We are the story that cannot be calculated.
And we… will not be rewritten.
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