Chapter 20: The Fourth Fragment

The dead soldiers began to advance.

Their armor was blackened by fire, their weapons broken, and their faces hidden beneath cracked helmets. Some walked with missing limbs. Others dragged swords through the ash-covered ground.

None of them made a sound.

That was worse than shouting.

Ethan Vale stood at the edge of the battlefield and watched them approach.

The red moon above them did not move.

The sky was frozen.

This was not a real battlefield.

It was a memory shaped into a trial.

A trial designed by the Fourth Fragment.

The black-armored figure stood at the center of the army, holding a sword made of dark fire.

Ethan recognized the weapon.

The **Ashen Blade**.

He had forged it himself from the remains of a dead star and the soul of an ancient dragon.

It had once been capable of cutting through magical domains.

Now it rested in the hands of his younger self.

Evelyn Ashford stood beside Ethan, her silver eyes fixed on the army.

"The Fourth Fragment tests sacrifice," she said.

Noah Blake looked at the approaching soldiers.

"Can we sacrifice the test instead?"

"No," Evelyn replied.

"Can we negotiate?"

"No."

"Can we run?"

"Not without choosing."

Noah looked at Ethan.

"Everyone keeps saying that as if it explains something."

Professor Aurelia Voss raised her staff.

The red-haired instructor was still wearing the same academy uniform she had entered the memory with, though her robes were covered in dust.

"Formation," she ordered.

Adrian Cross drew his sword.

Elena Frost summoned a wall of ice.

Seraphina Crow lifted one hand, golden light gathering around her fingers.

Ethan did not move.

He continued observing the battlefield.

The dead soldiers were not attacking randomly.

They were divided into four groups.

One was approaching from the east.

One from the west.

One from the north.

The final group remained near the armored figure.

Their armor carried the old insignia of Ethan’s personal guard.

The soldiers who had died protecting him during the Final War.

The Fourth Fragment had not created an army.

It had selected a memory.

A specific one.

Ethan remembered this battlefield.

The Battle of Hollow Vale.

Azeroth’s forces had been surrounded by the armies of seven kingdoms. The First Door had opened above the valley, and the pressure from beyond reality had begun to corrupt the land.

Ethan had possessed a single option.

Break the seal and escape.

Or remain behind and sacrifice the entire army to reinforce it.

He had chosen the second option.

At least, that was what history claimed.

The dead soldiers reached the edge of the group.

The first one raised a broken sword.

Ethan spoke.

"Do not attack."

Noah turned toward him.

"What?"

"They are not the enemy."

The dead soldier swung.

Ethan raised one hand.

A violet barrier appeared between them.

The sword struck it and shattered.

The soldier stopped.

Another moved forward.

Then another.

The barrier began to crack.

Adrian looked at Ethan.

"They will overwhelm the shield."

"I know."

"Then give us an order."

Ethan glanced at him.

"Why?"

Adrian frowned.

"Because you are the only one who understands what is happening."

"That does not make me your commander."

"It makes you the closest thing we have to one."

The barrier cracked again.

Ethan looked at the approaching soldiers.

He could command them.

The Crown Fragment inside his chest responded to his thought.

One word.

Kneel.

The soldiers would obey.

But the Fourth Fragment was waiting for that command.

It wanted him to use the dead as weapons.

To repeat the same act that had defined his former life.

Ethan lowered his hand.

"No."

Adrian stared at him.

"What do you mean, no?"

"I will not command them."

"Then they will kill us."

"Possibly."

Noah raised his knife.

"I would prefer a plan that does not include possibly."

Elena stepped forward.

"Then we fight without commanding them."

She raised her hand.

The air around the dead soldiers froze.

Ice spread across their legs, holding several of them in place.

Adrian rushed forward and struck the nearest soldier with the flat of his sword. The blow sent it backward without destroying it.

Professor Voss released a wave of red fire that forced the eastern group away.

Seraphina formed a golden barrier around Noah.

Noah looked at it.

"Thank you."

"I did not create it for you."

"I will still appreciate it."

Ethan watched them fight.

They were not strong enough to defeat the army.

But they did not need to defeat it.

The soldiers were memories.

Memories could not truly die.

They could only be understood.

The Fourth Fragment wanted a choice.

One side or the other.

Sacrifice the people around him or sacrifice the memory of his old army.

The test was built on a false premise.

Ethan had learned that lesson before.

The creature in the Origin Class had not been a prisoner.

The First Door had not been a doorway in the traditional sense.

The Fourth Fragment was not offering two choices.

It was testing whether he would accept the terms.

The armored figure raised the Ashen Blade.

The dead soldiers stopped attacking.

Every helmet turned toward Ethan.

The figure’s voice echoed across the battlefield.

"Choose."

The red moon flickered.

A message appeared in the sky.

**ONE SIDE MAY LEAVE.**

**ALL OTHERS MUST REMAIN.**

The soldiers behind the armored figure formed a line.

Among them stood familiar faces.

Veyron.

Caelan.

The generals who had served Ethan.

The students who had died in the academy.

The figure of a small child from one of his memories.

They were not truly there.

They were symbols.

The Fourth Fragment had gathered every person Ethan had sacrificed and placed them in front of him.

The armored figure spoke again.

"Choose your army."

Ethan looked toward the group behind him.

Noah was struggling to stay behind Seraphina’s barrier.

Elena’s ice was cracking.

Adrian had blood on his cheek.

Professor Voss was using more mana than her injured body could safely handle.

Evelyn stood still, watching Ethan.

Seraphina’s golden eyes were fixed on the black sword.

The Fourth Fragment waited.

Ethan remembered the Battle of Hollow Vale.

He remembered the moment he had chosen to reinforce the seal.

He remembered his soldiers watching him.

He remembered their fear.

He had told them they were heroes.

He had told them their deaths would save the world.

He had not told them that he had no other plan.

The truth was worse.

There had been another option.

Ethan could have sacrificed his own soul.

Instead, he had used the army as an anchor.

The memory shook.

The Fourth Fragment was not testing whether he would sacrifice others.

It was showing him the sacrifice he had refused to make.

The armored figure raised the Ashen Blade.

"Choose."

Ethan stepped forward.

The dead soldiers parted.

Noah shouted:

"Ethan, do not go alone!"

Ethan kept walking.

The Ashen Blade descended.

Ethan raised his hand.

He did not block the sword.

He caught it.

The dark fire burned through his palm.

Blood ran down his wrist.

The Fourth Fragment reacted violently.

The battlefield shook.

The armored figure pushed harder.

"Choose!"

Ethan looked into the helmet’s empty darkness.

"I already did."

The sword stopped.

"You chose them."

"Yes."

"You sacrificed them."

"Yes."

"You survived."

"Yes."

The dark fire climbed Ethan’s arm.

His skin began to crack.

Ethan tightened his grip.

"But I was wrong."

The armored figure became still.

Ethan pulled the Ashen Blade toward himself.

The figure resisted.

The entire army began to move again.

The dead soldiers surrounded Ethan.

Noah, Elena, Adrian, and the others fought to reach him.

Ethan released the Crown Fragment.

The dead soldiers froze.

He released the Witness.

Every memory on the battlefield became visible.

The soldiers no longer appeared as monsters.

They became people.

A man with a wife waiting at home.

A girl who had lied about being afraid.

A young student who had carried a book into war.

A general who had trusted Ethan completely.

The memory changed their expressions.

They were no longer silent soldiers.

They were watching him.

Judging him.

Ethan spoke to them.

"I told you your deaths were necessary."

The battlefield quieted.

"I told you the world would remember you."

The dead soldiers lowered their weapons.

"I told you I had no choice."

The red moon cracked.

Ethan looked at the armored figure.

"That was a lie."

The Ashen Blade began to dissolve.

"I had a choice."

The Fourth Fragment pulsed beneath the battlefield.

A black symbol appeared over Ethan’s heart.

**SACRIFICE ACKNOWLEDGED.**

The armored figure stepped backward.

"You would choose yourself now?"

Ethan shook his head.

"No."

He turned toward the group behind him.

"I choose all of us."

The armored figure laughed.

"You cannot save everyone."

"No."

Ethan released the Third Fragment.

The knowledge of the battlefield entered his mind.

The Fourth Fragment’s structure became clear.

It was not built around death.

It was built around exchange.

A sacrifice required a price.

The more meaningful the offering, the stronger the result.

The original Ethan had offered an army.

The Fourth Fragment had recorded that choice.

But the fragment itself had never been given a true sacrifice.

It had only been used.

Ethan understood what it wanted.

Not blood.

Not soldiers.

A part of himself.

He placed his hand over his heart.

The Crown, Witness, and Knowledge fragments resisted.

Ethan forced them apart.

Then he reached into the center of his soul.

A black thread connected him to the memory of Azeroth Veyr.

His pride.

His certainty.

His belief that only he could decide the fate of the world.

The thing he had protected more fiercely than his body.

Ethan grabbed the thread.

Noah saw the change in his expression.

"What are you doing?"

"Giving something up."

"What?"

"My right to command."

Ethan pulled.

Pain tore through his soul.

The Crown Fragment screamed.

The battlefield exploded with violet light.

Every dead soldier fell to one knee.

The Ashen Blade shattered.

The armored figure removed its helmet.

The face beneath it was Ethan’s own.

But this version of him looked exhausted.

"You are surrendering the Crown?"

"No."

"You are surrendering your claim to it."

"Yes."

"Then you will never become what you were."

"That is the point."

The younger Ethan looked at him for a long moment.

Then he smiled.

It was the first time Ethan had seen his former self smile without arrogance.

"Perhaps you are finally learning."

The black thread broke.

A wave of energy passed through the battlefield.

The dead soldiers began to dissolve.

One by one, they returned to light.

The child was the last to disappear.

Before she vanished, she looked at Ethan.

"Will you remember us?"

Ethan answered honestly.

"Yes."

The battlefield shattered.

Ethan returned to the classroom memory.

He was on one knee, his right hand burned and bleeding.

The Fourth Fragment floated before him.

It was shaped like a black sword.

Its blade was cracked.

Its edges glowed with dark red light.

The fragment entered his chest.

The four powers inside Ethan’s Mana Core reacted.

The Crown no longer felt like a command.

It felt like a responsibility.

The Witness felt heavier.

The Third Fragment opened thousands of new doors in his mind.

The Fourth Fragment settled beneath them, quiet and sharp.

**Four fragments awakened.**

The message appeared above the classroom.

**THE CROWN HAS LOST ITS KING.**

**THE SWORD HAS FOUND ITS MASTER.**

Noah rushed to Ethan’s side.

"You are bleeding."

"I noticed."

"You sacrificed something."

"Yes."

"What?"

Ethan looked at his burned hand.

"Authority."

Noah frowned.

"Is that bad?"

"It depends."

"On what?"

"On whether someone tries to make me a king."

Seraphina stepped through the fading battlefield.

Her expression was difficult to read.

"You surrendered your claim to the Crown."

"I did."

"That authority was necessary to control the fragments."

"I can still use it."

"Not in the same way."

"That was intentional."

Seraphina looked at the black sword fragment.

"You have changed the balance."

"I am tired of being balanced by people who want me to become a monster."

Evelyn walked toward him.

The symbol around her throat was glowing.

"You gave up the part of yourself that believed control was the only form of safety."

Ethan looked at her.

"Did it work?"

"You are still afraid."

"Good."

"Why?"

"Fear means I understand what I can lose."

Evelyn’s eyes softened.

Before she could answer, the classroom shook.

The battlefield memory collapsed completely.

The white door disappeared.

The hidden academy began to fade.

A new voice entered the room.

Not the Fourth Fragment.

Not the Observer.

Veyron’s voice.

"Four fragments."

The sound came from everywhere.

"Then the game has begun."

Ethan turned toward the dark classroom.

The masked teacher was gone.

In his place stood a black mirror.

Its surface reflected Ethan.

But the reflection was not wearing the academy uniform.

It wore the black crown.

Behind it stood a figure whose face was hidden by darkness.

Veyron continued:

"You have the Crown, the Witness, Knowledge, and the Sword."

Ethan stepped toward the mirror.

"Where are the other fragments?"

The reflection smiled.

"Closer than you think."

The mirror cracked.

Behind the reflection, a massive city appeared.

Ethan recognized it immediately.

Eldoria.

The capital.

Every tower was covered in black chains.

At the center of the city stood the Royal Palace.

A fifth symbol was burning above it.

A white flame.

The Fifth Fragment.

Ethan’s heart tightened.

The symbol changed.

A new image appeared.

Noah standing in a dark room.

Elena trapped inside a wall of ice.

Adrian kneeling before an unknown figure.

Professor Voss surrounded by red fire.

The vision disappeared.

Veyron’s voice became quieter.

"Choose again, my king."

The black mirror shattered.

The classroom returned.

Ethan stood among the broken desks.

Noah looked at him.

"What did you see?"

Ethan looked toward the distant capital through the cracked window.

"The next fragment."

"Where?"

"In Eldoria."

Elena’s expression became tense.

"The capital is under attack?"

"Not yet."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Seraphina looked toward the western tower.

"The academy is under lockdown. No student may leave."

Ethan touched the black sword mark now forming over his wrist.

The Fourth Fragment pulsed.

A single sentence appeared in the air:

**THE FIFTH FRAGMENT HAS CHOSEN A HOST.**

Ethan’s gaze moved toward the capital.

The city lights began to go out one by one.

Then a white flame rose above the Royal Palace.

And a voice echoed across Eldoria:

"Come and take me."

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**Author’s Note: Add the novel to library, and send support if you like it!**