Chapter 1: A God Is Chained Inside My F-Rank Ruin

Chapter 1: Everyone Awakened a God—He Got a Grave

The lightning above Crownspire Awakening Square had yet to fade.

Rowan stood on the far side of the awakening platform, fresh golden lightning marks coiling around his arm.

[A-Rank: Thunder-Spear Apostle]

Several guild representatives had already crowded around him. One offered a resource list. Another had a contract ready. Cheers rose in wave after wave, and the air reeked of ozone.

Cassian watched for a moment before realizing his nails were digging into his palm.

Envy.

There was no point pretending otherwise.

If he were standing where Rowan was, he would only wish the crowd were bigger.

"Cassian Vale."

The registrar called his name.

Cassian unclenched his hand, walked onto the platform, and pressed his palm against the awakening stone.

A pale gray light flickered inside its icy surface.

Too faint.

His heart sank before the result even appeared.

[F-Rank]

[Patronless Grave Lord]

[Initial Territory: Abandoned Dawn Mausoleum]

The registrar scrolled through the attached information.

"No protector god. No starting troops. Divine creatures have been sighted near the territory at the edge of the Ashen March. Seeking protection is advised."

At the next table, a recruiter picked up the candidate placard bearing Cassian’s name, turned it over, and placed it facedown.

Tap.

It wasn’t loud.

Cassian still stared at the placard for a moment too long.

"Your deed," the registrar prompted.

"...Thank you."

His answer came half a beat late.

The gray deed felt almost weightless, yet he nearly fumbled it. His thumb scraped the edge before he managed to roll it up.

F-rank.

A grave with no god and no troops.

Only minutes ago, he had thought C-rank would be acceptable.

"Cassian."

Rowan approached through the crowd.

He clearly wasn’t used to the lightning marks yet. A small hole had been burned into his sleeve, and he slapped at it twice before giving up.

"I can offer you a place among my vassals."

Rowan looked up.

"Food, weapons, construction materials. Once the territory passage stabilizes, I’ll send people to clear out the divine creatures nearby."

Cassian opened his mouth.

The word yes nearly made it out.

The overturned candidate placard still sat at the edge of his vision. Behind Rowan, the wind rattled the resource lists in the guild representatives’ hands.

Following an A-rank Lord would at least keep him alive through the first night.

"What are the terms?"

"Three years. Forty percent of all resources. I command your troops during wartime. I also get priority rights over any divine relics found in your territory."

Cassian tightened his grip on the deed.

The first few terms hurt, but they could buy his life.

The last one stopped him.

"You want relic rights from an empty F-rank tomb?"

Rowan paused.

"If I’m taking the risk, I need a return."

He wasn’t wrong.

Cassian looked down at the rolled deed. Its hollow center was pitch-black. There was no telling what lay at the other end.

He really wanted to say yes.

"Let me see the territory first."

Even to his own ears, he didn’t sound very confident.

Rowan frowned. "You might not make it back."

"I know."

Cassian swallowed.

"But I haven’t opened the box yet. I can’t sell it for the price of an empty one."

Silence held for a moment.

He had prepared more to say, but suddenly none of it felt necessary.

"If I can’t handle it, I’ll come back."

Rowan studied him for several seconds, then stepped aside.

"Come back early."

No mockery. No blessing, either.

Cassian’s back stayed tense all the way to the teleportation zone.

He didn’t dare look back at the placard.

Teleportation light descended.

The square vanished, and cold air slipped straight down his collar.

Cassian landed in a sloping underground passage. A thin shard of stone cracked beneath his boot.

[Abandoned Dawn Mausoleum]

[Rank: F]

[Protector God: None / Starting Troops: None]

That was all.

He reached back and touched the teleportation pattern. Its gray lines lit for an instant, then faded.

Cassian pressed it again.

Still nothing.

"Great."

His voice traveled through the empty tomb and came back sounding faintly stupid.

If he had said yes back there...

The thought surfaced. He immediately clenched his jaw.

Regret wasn’t shameful. It was simply useless right now.

Cracks covered both walls. Broken bricks and fragments of black armor littered the floor. Far ahead, pale golden light seeped through the gap beneath a half-collapsed stone door.

Cassian picked up a loose iron bar and walked deeper.

The door opened into a circular temple.

Part of the dome had collapsed. Dim light fell across the black-gold divine seat at its center. Thick Eclipse Chains emerged from the walls and floor, binding a woman to the seat.

She wore shattered divine armor, and ash-gold hair spilled over her shoulders. Dark cracks marked the skin beneath the restraints at her wrists and ankles, but her back remained straight.

Cassian slowed.

He noticed the chains first.

Each was as thick as his arm, pressed deep into the stone floor. The outermost chains connected to the temple walls. Faint light crawled through their damaged runes, as if something were being forcibly drawn out of her.

Only then did he see her face clearly.

Beautiful enough to distract him.

Dangerous enough to tighten the back of his neck.

The woman’s eyes opened.

Ash-gold pupils settled on Cassian, and the air inside the temple seemed to gain weight.

"Another blank Lord."

Her voice was slightly hoarse.

"You don’t even carry divine grace."

Cassian tightened his grip on the iron bar. The question he had prepared vanished from his mind.

It took him two breaths to find another.

"Is this your tomb?"

The woman looked him over.

"It will be yours soon enough."

Something near the chains caught Cassian’s attention. A suit of broken armor knelt beside them, its breastplate caved in and its helmet filled with ash. Its left arm had rusted around an old control ring.

The chain behind that ring led toward the divine seat.

If the mechanism still worked, perhaps it could loosen one of her restraints.

At the very least, it would prove this place held more than stone.

Cassian moved two steps closer.

"Don’t touch—"

The woman raised her voice for the first time.

Too late.

Cassian had already pulled the control ring down.

Click.

The kneeling armor turned its helmet toward him.

Dust spilled from its joints. A mote of dark golden fire ignited inside the empty helm.

[Chain Warden Fragment]

"Damn it."

Cassian barely had time to raise the iron bar.

A chain blade snapped from the Fragment’s right arm.

The iron bar flew from his hands.

Cassian threw himself sideways. His knee smashed into the stone floor, sending pain through his skull. He slowed for a fraction of a second, and a second blade cut through his left sleeve and opened the flesh beneath.

Blood welled instantly.

He rolled behind a stone pillar, breathing hard.

Idiot.

The lightning marks on Rowan’s arm flashed through his mind.

Was it too late to go back?

Cassian looked toward the exit.

The Chain Warden Fragment stood directly between him and the passage. It had no face, but its chain blade dragged across the floor as it slowly turned toward him.

The teleportation pattern behind it remained dark.

Too late.

The Fragment lifted its right shoulder.

"Duck!"

Cassian froze for half a beat, then dropped.

The chain blade passed through the space above his head and shattered the edge of the pillar. Stone fragments rained across his back.

"When it raises its right shoulder," the woman said quickly, "the lock ring on its left side loosens."

"Which one?"

"To your left!"

Cassian saw it.

A cracked lock ring hung at the Fragment’s left hip. Each time its right arm drew back, the opening widened slightly.

The iron bar lay three steps away.

He lunged for it as the Fragment turned.

Its right shoulder rose.

Cassian drove the bar toward the ring.

Too early.

The opening hadn’t widened enough. Iron struck armor, and the impact numbed his palm. The chain blade was already coming. He leaned back, and its tip sliced through the air in front of his chin.

That was close.

He stumbled two steps and felt loose rubble under his heel.

The Fragment advanced. It wasn’t fast, but its chains blocked the exit completely.

Cassian kicked a stone toward its right side.

The stone clanged against its armor.

The Fragment raised its shoulder and swung.

This time, Cassian waited until the blade left its arm.

He charged.

The iron bar punched through the open lock ring, and its other end wedged into a crack in the floor.

The Fragment kept turning.

Its own chain snapped taut and wrenched its upper body sideways.

A mass of dark golden fire appeared beneath the helmet.

Cassian didn’t stop.

He snatched up a broken brick with a jagged point and slammed into it with his full weight.

Thud.

The point pierced the flame.

The Chain Warden Fragment convulsed, its chain blade thrashing across the floor. Pain tore through Cassian’s wounded arm. He gritted his teeth and forced the broken brick another inch deeper.

The dark golden flame went out.

The armor collapsed into a heap.

Cassian stayed hunched over the brick, panting, before slowly letting go.

It didn’t move again.

He sat down and watched blood run from his wrist.

It hadn’t been a clean victory.

But it was his.

Threads of dark golden light rose from the ruined armor. Instead of fading, they drifted toward the Eclipse Chains.

At the same moment, hunger surged from somewhere deep inside Cassian.

His throat went dry.

His teeth ached with the urge to bite.

For one absurd moment, he wanted to bite down on the light itself.

[Deceased Divine Target Detected]

[Divine Devourer Awakening]

[Devour?]

Cassian watched the Eclipse Chains draw the dark golden light away.

That thing had nearly taken his head off.

He refused to walk away without the spoils.

"Devour."

"Stop!"

The shout came from the divine seat.

The dark golden light reversed course and plunged into Cassian’s chest.

It felt like swallowing a piece of red-hot iron.

He doubled over, one hand braced against the floor as his stomach churned. Broken images forced their way into his mind—fallen war banners, shattered spears, a blade descending from the right. None had a beginning or an end.

[Divine Devourer Awakened]

[Devoured: Chain Warden Fragment]

[Divine Essence +1]

[Acquired: War Instinct I]

One.

Cassian stared at the number, his breath coming hot.

The Fragment had been so damaged it was almost falling apart.

And even it had been worth one point of Divine Essence.

Clang!

Every Eclipse Chain in the temple snapped taut at once.

The woman leaned forward on the divine seat, the restraints cutting deeper into her wrists. She didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes stayed locked on Cassian’s chest, and her breath stopped for a beat.

Her earlier shout had lost all of its cold composure.

"You took its divinity..."

She stopped and drew another breath.

"Who gave you that authority?"

Cassian wiped saliva from the corner of his mouth. His throat still burned.

"I don’t know."

Her gaze sharpened. "You devoured it, and you don’t know?"

"I only just found out."

It sounded stupid.

It was also true.

They stared at each other for several seconds.

"Veyra," she said.

Cassian didn’t understand.

"My name."

Her voice had steadied again, though the chains were still trembling.

"Now tell me what you are."

Something slammed into the temple door.

The broken stone shuddered.

Cassian stood too quickly. His injured knee buckled, nearly dropping him back to the floor.

A second impact followed immediately.

Two dark red points appeared beyond the gap. A hot, sweet, bloody scent entered the hall, and the hunger in Cassian’s chest raised its head again—several times stronger than before.

A piece of stone broke loose from the lintel.

Chaotic battlefield images flashed through Cassian’s mind.

Before he could think, his body shifted one step to the left.

The stone crashed down where he had been standing, brushing past his shoulder.

He froze.

That hadn’t been luck.

War Instinct I was still crude. All it had given him was half a beat.

Half a beat was enough.

The upper half of the door exploded inward.

A black hound nearly two meters long forced its way through the gap. Dark red muscle lay exposed beneath plates of blood crystal. Its front paw cracked the floor, and white smoke rose wherever its saliva fell.

[Godblood Hound]

[Devourable Divine Target]

Cassian’s left arm was still bleeding. Pain throbbed through his knee.

The creature could still tear his throat out with one bite.

But he had already devoured once.

A broken Fragment had been worth one point of Divine Essence.

What was an entire living hound worth?

The Godblood Hound lowered its body.

Cassian spotted the old control lever connected to the Chain Gate at the right side of the hall. He also saw the line of the hound’s charge in the tightening muscles across its shoulders.

The fear was still there.

His greed had already moved half a step ahead of it.

He gripped the control lever.

He wanted this hound.