Ruler of Heat: One Man, A Thousand Thirsts
Chapter 45: Before the Womb Wakes

Chapter 45: Chapter 45: Before the Womb Wakes

72 hours.

That was all the time they had.

Rivan stood at the edge of the crater now known as the Crown’s Root, watching energy veins crackle like lightning across the blackened landscape. The air pulsed with tension — not heat, not magic, but anticipation.

Kael knelt near the system pedestal, his eyes scanning the countdown interface.

[Crown’s Womb Awakening: 71:42:16]

"Three days," he said. "Maybe less if the pulses accelerate."

Selina had been quiet since the fusion. Her aura still shimmered faintly with golden sparks — residual energy from the bond core they’d unlocked.

Rivan turned to both of them. "We don’t wait. We move. I need a team. A real one."

Kael rose. "Then we go south. The Flameborne Raiders owe me a debt. If even half of them survived the last Purge, they’ll come."

Selina nodded. "I’ll call on the Scarlet Sisters. If they know what’s coming, they’ll help — even if it means breaking exile."

Rivan’s system blinked.

[Quest Updated: Assemble Allies Before the Awakening]

[Required: 4 Named Factions Minimum – Bonus for High-Affinity Units]

[New Title Pathway Unlocked: Flamecaller Tier I – Leadership Recognition Based on Emotional Bond Network]

"Good," he muttered. "Because we’ll need every weapon we can get."

He stepped away from the crater’s edge, lifting a shard from the shattered core — a beacon stone engraved with Architect code.

[Transmission Capable: Radius 250km – LustCore Sync Required to Activate Fully]

He looked to Selina. "You and I will handle the central call. Kael — head south. If anyone can convince the raiders, it’s you."

Kael smirked. "They hate my guts."

"Exactly," Rivan said. "But they hate the Crown more."

Selina touched Rivan’s hand. "And if Dorian shows up first?"

Rivan didn’t hesitate.

"Then we end the brotherhood for good."

Kael moved fast.

He broke away from the ruins at dusk, taking a side route through the Razorfang ridges — narrow cliffs laced with fog and old bones. Below them stretched the Ashen Expanse, a cursed no-man’s-land still scarred from the last LustCore war.

No one sane ventured there.

Kael wasn’t sane. He was desperate.

[Side Mission: Retrieve the Flameborne Raiders – Status: In Progress]

[Faction Loyalty: Low. Success Rate Depends on Influence and Shared History.]

As the sun dipped, orange haze lit the horizon like blood in water. Kael wrapped his scarf tighter and stepped through the first perimeter — half-sunken barricades, singed banners, rusted spikes.

"Still standing," he muttered. "Barely."

A low whistle broke the air.

Three shapes stepped from the mist — heavily armored, weapons drawn. Their leader wore a wolf-shaped helmet and bore the red sash of command.

"Kael of the Broken Fang," she said. "Never thought I’d see you again."

Kael raised both hands. "Captain Rynn. Still pissed?"

"You left us to burn in the Sulfur Rebellion."

"I came back. You were gone."

"We buried twelve that day."

Kael’s voice dropped. "And I remember every name."

Rynn didn’t lower her blade. "What do you want?"

Kael pulled the shard from his pocket — the Crown’s signal flare. He activated it, projecting the 72-hour countdown in front of her.

Rynn stared.

Then cursed. "That’s real?"

"It’s waking. The Womb. Crown tech from the old world. Rivan’s going to stop it. But we need fire. Your fire."

Her men shifted nervously.

"Why now?" Rynn asked. "Why should we die for a war we’ve already lost?"

Kael met her eyes. "Because this time, we’re not running. We’re burning our way through."

Silence.

Then:

"You get twenty. That’s all I have left."

Kael nodded. "Twenty fire-forged is worth two hundred cold soldiers."

[Raiders Joined: +1 Faction – Loyalty: Neutral/Stable]

They moved out by midnight.

The fire was growing.

Selina moved east under a sky laced with smoke.

The path to the Ashen Bluffs was lined with burnt trees and rivers that hissed steam. She traveled alone, cloaked in heat-dampened leather, her sigils dimmed to avoid detection.

The Scarlet Sisters hadn’t been seen in years.

Not because they were dead.

But because they’d sworn to disappear—until the world deserved them.

[Side Mission: Summon the Scarlet Sisters – Status: In Progress]

[Faction Bond: Dormant – Affinity: Tied to Selina’s Core Signature]

She reached the old monument by midnight — a towering shard of obsidian carved with seven women’s names.

She whispered a phrase only she and six others had ever known.

"Blood-born. Ash-bound. We rise in silence."

A gust of wind swept the cliffs.

Then fire erupted.

A ring of crimson flame blazed around the monument, and six cloaked figures appeared—eyes glowing, weapons glowing brighter.

The tallest stepped forward. Her voice was silk and smoke.

"Selina."

"I need your strength, Ava."

Ava studied her, eyes narrowing. "You left the Circle."

"I found something worse than the world we feared."

[LustCore Bond Recognition: Match Confirmed – Sister Tier Acknowledged]

Selina held out the beacon shard.

Ava stepped closer, touching it.

The 72-hour countdown displayed.

One of the Sisters gasped. Another cursed.

"I know we were broken," Selina said. "But this... this is the fire we were born for."

Ava hesitated.

Then: "You’re still one of us. And if this is the end of the world, we might as well write the last Chapter ourselves."

[Scarlet Sisters Joined: +1 Faction – Loyalty: High (Selina-Specific)]

Selina breathed out. "Then let’s make it burn beautifully."

They moved as one, fire licking the cliffs behind them.

The ambush came at sunrise.

Rivan and Selina were still returning from the signal summit when the system spiked.

[Alert: Crown Signature Detected – Proximity: 2.3km – Movement Pattern: Infiltration]

[Threat Classification: Assassin-Class Elite – System Name: Malthis]

Selina drew a blade. "We’re being hunted."

Rivan narrowed his eyes. "Let them try."

The forest around them thickened—too fast. Trees twisted unnaturally. Shadows danced. The wind carried whispers.

Then he stepped from the mist.

Malthis wore a suit of segmented obsidian armor, no face, just a smooth mirrored helm. Two hooked daggers spun in his hands like extensions of his will.

"Subject R-001," he said. "You’ve wandered too far."

Rivan didn’t wait.

He charged.

The impact rattled the trees. Flame burst from Rivan’s shoulder as he tackled Malthis mid-spin, slamming him through two black trunks.

Selina flanked, daggers ready. Her strikes blurred with heat sigils.

But Malthis wasn’t ordinary.

He bent his body mid-fall, countered with precision, and struck Rivan’s ribs with a blow so sharp it cut into the LustCore tether.

[System Interruption Detected – Sync Disruption: 14%]

Selina launched a protective blast, knocking Malthis back. "He’s targeting your Core directly!"

Rivan growled. "Then I’ll rip his system out first."

The next clash was brutal.

Flame and shadow. Speed against rage. Malthis used Crown-tech counters, striking at the flow of LustCore surges instead of blocking the power.

But Rivan adapted.

He let the flame draw low.

Let Malthis step in.

And then—unleashed it all.

[Ability Activated: Core Flare Lv.2 – Area Eruption]

[Success – Enemy Shield Integrity Compromised – Internal Core Fractured]

Malthis screamed as flame tore through his helmet. His mirrored face cracked, revealing a twisted, half-fused visage of a failed host.

"Not... over..." he hissed.

Selina stepped in.

"No. But you are."

Her dagger pierced his exposed node. The system flickered. Malthis crumpled.

[Elite Eliminated – Crown Signal Interrupted]

[LustCore XP: Significant – Core Threshold Progress 89%]

Rivan stood over the remains.

"This was a test."

Selina nodded. "Then what’s next... won’t be."

The war camp formed at dusk.

Smoke rose from newly kindled fires as scouts returned from the ridges, their eyes sharper, their hands never far from their hilts. Makeshift banners fluttered—half from old allegiances, half drawn fresh with flame-born symbols.

Kael oversaw the Flameborne’s arrival. Two dozen warriors hardened by exile. Each bore scars that spoke louder than any words. Their armor was mismatched, but their fire matched the sky.

Rivan stood at the camp’s center.

Selina arrived shortly after, leading the Scarlet Sisters—six silent figures cloaked in crimson veils, each radiating raw, focused power.

For the first time in years, Rivan felt it.

Unity.

[System Notice: 3 Factions Aligned – War Readiness 78%]

[Flamecaller Tier I Bonus Activated – Command Influence +15%]

Kael approached. "Still need one more group to hit the threshold."

Rivan looked west. "The Obsidian Guard. If they survived the Crown’s purge... they’ll answer."

Selina frowned. "They follow no one."

"They’ll follow a purpose," Rivan said. "And we’re the last one burning."

He turned to the war council—an impromptu circle of old rebels, new allies, and half-believers.

He planted the LustCore shard into the center of the map.

"The Crown’s Womb wakes in less than three days. If we wait, it unseals. If we charge blind, we die. So we prepare for both."

[New Quest: Defend the Root – Time Until Activation: 68:44:09]

"We hold the canyon. We bait their next move. And we bleed them when they step through."

Kael grinned. "Finally. A fight that counts."

Selina touched his arm. "And if they break through?"

Rivan’s eyes glowed.

"Then we burn the world before they do."

---

Coming Next: Chapter 46 – March of the Obsidian Guard

Last call for allies. The battlefield awaits.

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