Ten Lucky Draws: I Became OP

Chapter 301: Between Dawn And Death (2)

The sky above them was a pale, icy blue, streaked with slow‑moving clouds that glowed faintly like frozen embers.

The air was crisp, sharp enough to sting the lungs of even Transcendents, though Ash and Eidora breathed it effortlessly.

This was one of the reasons Eidora had waited for Ash to reach the Ascendant rank before returning home.

The Heavens could not simply be entered at will.

They were not “higher realms” in the simple sense — each Heaven operated under its own rules, and the higher one ascended, the looser and more volatile the rules of existence became.

To step into the 50th Heaven, one needed to be at least a Fifth‑Dimensional Being.

Around them, endless tundras stretched in every direction — vast white plains broken only by jagged mountains of silver‑blue ice.

These mountains rose like the ribs of ancient titans, their peaks catching the light and scattering it in prismatic shards across the land.

And much like the Ice Age of mortal Earth, the beasts that inhabited this realm were colossal creatures draped in thick, ancient fur.

Eidora stepped forward, her breath forming a faint halo of frost.

“This,” she said softly, “is the realm of my home.”

Ash felt the weight of the realm settle around him.

In that moment, both the incarnation and Ash himself felt like ants in a world far older and far larger than anything they had known.

From that moment, their time together continued as usual.

Eidora guided him through her personal domain — an empty paradise with only a single, modest home at its center.

But soon it set in….

The reality was what it was… Ash was an ant in a realm of monsters. So, for many years, he dedicated himself to sharpening every aspect of his prowess.

The 50th Heaven demanded nothing less after all.

And with that… he continued to spread his love and pleasure. After sleeping with his first Ascendant he learned something new about his abilities.

He gained their self‑created power for that rank… and that alone marked the first true step beyond normality.

It was also important to note that Eidora was the exception. From her, he hadn’t gained anything — not because she withheld it, but because she was simply too strong.

He could not take anything that exceeded his own rank.

So, for the rest of that cycle he was… spreading not just his love and pleasure but gaining immense strength in return.

It was also at this time Eidora who never left his side… even during sex.

They’d learned of the situation regarding her rival.

She, too, was a Trans‑Conceptual existence — which was for Ash another reminder of how vast and diverse the concepts truly were.

She was the embodiment of Thanatophilla… the Concept of death intertwined with obsessive love.

In the time it had taken Eidora to return to the 50th Heaven, Thanatophilla had risen to power. Not the absolute ruler, but a force strong enough to confront any threat within the realm.

And the movements of Ash and Eidora — their travels, their presence, their influence — inevitably drew her notice.

To Thanatophilla, Ash’s presence was the same as it had been for Eidora…. the missing piece to her solitude.

But she was different from Eidora in more ways than one. She was not a naturally born Transcendent Concept, but the child of two — the Concepts of Death and Obsessiveness.

[A/N: I will provide the actual concept terms once Ash gets them] 🙂

Which meant she had inherited everything from birth.

Her relationship with Eidora was actually less rivalry and more a fractured sisterhood — two beings separated by diverging paths.

Thanatophilla did not spread love. She manipulated it, fed on it.

Just as Eidora attracted desire through beauty, Thanatophilla inspired obsessive devotion in those weaker than her — devotion she could twist with ease, even without leaving her palace or revealing her face.

But when she saw Ash… she saw love itself. Something she wanted to claim, to consume, to obsess over.

Thus began the tide of Dawn and Death.

She placed a curse upon Ash the moment she noticed them, though it did not take effect until three Cycles later.

In the Ninth Cycle of Ash and Eidora’s time together, the curse finally stirred. Ash began to experience dark dreams — visions of a shadowed palace, a throne of bone and frost, and Thanatophilla herself.

In those dreams, he became the fourth person in existence to ever see her face.

—-

The dreams continued for ten full cycles… and Ash never once hid them from Eidora.

He told her the moment the first one struck him. The power of both women far exceeded his own, and as the current Ash watched the visions unfold — no, experienced them — he could see the writing on the wall.

“Don’t tell me I was some damn Adonis‑type guy,” he muttered more than once, half‑joking, half‑resigned, as the dreams grew clearer.

When Eidora learned of the visions, she was furious — not at Ash, but at the situation itself.

She knew Ash’s nature better than anyone.

She knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the pull of Thanatophilla’s influence.

It wasn’t just weakness…. but it was simply who he was — the embodiment of Love, drawn toward any force that resonated with it.

Even if he was stronger, he would take Thanatophilla’s love and obsession… though he would just have more control.

But Eidora also knew Thanatophilla was not the sharing type.

Nor the reasonable type.

And the curse that had been set three cycles earlier… there was nothing Eidora could do to undo it.

Her power was no higher than Thanatophilla’s.

In truth, they were evenly matched.

The only difference was that Eidora had no backing, no lineage, no ancient support. Thanatophilla, on the other hand, was the daughter of two Concepts and had inherited their influence.

And with that… Eidora could only watch as the dreams deepened while she slowed the curse as much as she could.

Yet this situation became something far more significant than either of them expected.

It was the second catalyst pushing Ash beyond normality once again — and also the moment he received his first vision of his origin.