Delanna’s warning lingered in the room long after she disappeared.
Ethan sat down, then stood again almost immediately, restless.
If the Seven False Gods could kill Lava Lords…
The line between “impossible” and “forbidden” was thinner than he’d ever thought.
Delanna had called him the type who liked to lie flat—someone without the reckless passion that got young men killed.
Maybe she was right.
But Ethan wasn’t chasing glory.
He was chasing a way out.
When Delanna returned later that night, she didn’t bother with small talk.
“You want details,” she said. “So ask.”
Ethan didn’t waste time. “How many Lava Lords are there?”
Delanna’s expression turned grim. “There were eleven. Long ago—back when the Endless Sea was still one landmass.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed. “Eleven…”
“They served the Lava King,” Delanna said. “When the Creator God fought the Lava King, the world broke. The land shattered into islands. Some of the Lava Lords died in that war. Some were wounded. Some slept.”
She looked at Ethan. “And then the first Black Dragon King arrived.”
“A traveler,” Ethan said.
Delanna nodded. “A traveler. A Player.”
She took a breath, then continued.
“He joined forces with the Seven False Gods. Together, they killed five Lava Lords with True Dragon Flame. Not sealed—killed. Burned down to nothing.”
Ethan held his gaze steady, forcing himself to stay calm.
“And the System recorded it as sealing,” he said.
“Yes,” Delanna said. “Because the System was deceived.”
Ethan’s mind flashed to something he’d fished from the Lost Book—an item that still sat in his inventory like a coal that never cooled.
Undying Flameheart.
A “heart” that refused to go out.
If Delanna was right… then that was more than a trophy.
It was a key.
Delanna continued, pulling Ethan back to the present.
“The first Black Dragon King died,” she said. “He left behind the Lost Book. It was passed down through his bloodline.”
Ethan’s eyes sharpened again. “And after he died, the rest of the Lava Lords woke up.”
Delanna nodded, expression heavy.
“Five rose,” she said. “Five that the Seven False Gods couldn’t kill anymore.”
She raised a finger for each name.
“Split Serpent.”
“Night Crow.”
“Scarlet Nun.”
“Soul Devourer.”
“Nightmare.”
The names alone made the room feel colder.
Ethan forced himself to speak. “And each one has an anchor.”
Delanna’s gaze flicked up, surprised. “You’re learning fast.”
“Tell me,” Ethan said.
Delanna’s voice turned precise.
“Split Serpent’s anchor is the Snakebone Idol.”
“Night Crow’s anchor is the Gate of the Raven’s Eye.”
“Scarlet Nun’s anchor is the Cinnabar Cup.”
“Soul Devourer’s anchor is Damp Moss.”
“Nightmare’s anchor is the Nightmare Coin.”
Ethan’s thoughts snapped into place.
The Cinnabar Cup and Snakebone Idol had been sealed in the Radiant Treasury.
Until the Nova Players broke in, stole them—and assassinated Governor Lloyd.
The Gate of the Raven’s Eye was in the Fireworship Church’s hands.
Damp Moss had been sitting in Murphy’s back room, hidden like contraband.
And the Nightmare Coin… was still out there.
“These anchors,” Ethan said slowly. “They’re not just symbols.”
“They’re fragments,” Delanna said. “Pieces of a Lava Lord’s power. They can stir the seal. They can call the Lava Lord. They can make humans and players do stupid, holy things.”
Ethan’s voice went flat. “So the Nova Players didn’t just steal treasure. They stole keys.”
Delanna nodded once.
“And Cocoon?” Ethan asked. “The Lava Lord sealed in Isralai’s Tomb.”
Delanna’s expression tightened. “Cocoon is different. It was sealed by Isralai herself—back when she was still an angel.”
Ethan thought of the Earth Core he’d used to reinforce that seal.
He remembered the pressure, the heat, the sense of something enormous shifting under stone.
He’d resealed it.
But the world was shaking again.
Ethan leaned back, eyes narrowing.
“So if I get True Dragon Flame,” he said, “I can kill one.”
Delanna looked at him steadily. “If you can truly control it… yes.”
Ethan’s fingers curled unconsciously.
In his inventory, Undying Flameheart sat like a promise and a threat.
He didn’t say that out loud.
Not yet.
Delanna stepped away from the window, preparing to leave again. Before she went, she looked back once.
“You asked what the Seven False Gods mean,” she said. “They mean this: the world can be rewritten.”
She slipped out, water swallowing her presence without a sound.
Ethan didn’t sleep immediately.
He sat alone with the night pressing against the glass and his own thoughts pressing harder.
A blue glow flickered at the edge of his vision.
A panel.
[PANEL]
Player Rank: Tier-3 Player
Godhood Fusion Progress: 300 / 1000
Three hundred.
Not even halfway.
And yet, it already felt like something unseen was watching him count.
Ethan stared at the numbers, then let the panel fade.
Other Players chased godhood like addicts chasing a stronger dose.
Ethan had something else.
SSS-Rank Infinite Fishing.
A Talent that didn’t care about prophecy or permission—only risk, and what the sea decided to throw back.
If killing a Lava Lord was the only real path forward…
Ethan would take it.
Eventually, exhaustion dragged him under.
His eyes closed.
And in the dark, a voice slid into his mind like a hook through flesh.
“I am a god.”
Ethan’s breath caught.
The voice grew heavier, colder.
“You do not worship.”
“You do not honor.”
“And yet you…”