While Castian and Ava left Eldrinspire from the south gate, Hope entered the city from the west.

His steps were heavy, weighed down by a burden of uncertainty and a deep, gnawing feeling he couldn’t quite shake off.

The city before him—once familiar, once a symbol of everything he had known—now seemed distant and foreign. Eldrinspire’s stone walls loomed ahead, and though the streets were busy, the energy felt... wrong.

As he approached the city gates, a sensation gnawed at his chest, something he couldn’t place. His pulse quickened, but his mind raced, trying to grasp the reason for the sudden dread that weighed him down.

The sounds of laughter and conversation from the marketplace only heightened his unease. People seemed to carry on as they always had, living their daily lives, unaware of the storm that brewed inside him. Unaware of the storm he could feel coming.

He passed through the gates, his steps almost mechanical, as if he were drawn forward by some invisible force. He didn’t know what to expect, but something in the air felt different.

Hope's eyes narrowed as he made his way deeper into the city. It felt as though the streets themselves were mocking him.

Everything was too quiet, too peaceful, despite the heavy emotions churning inside him. His thoughts were a whirlwind.

What had he missed in the weeks since he left? What had happened while he was gone? Was something changing in Eldrinspire? Or was it just him, so burdened by the weight of his journey?

As he walked, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. It wasn’t until he turned a corner, and the Fallen mansion came into view, that the full weight of that dread crashed into him.

The once-proud estate that had loomed on the edge of Eldrinspire, towering above the surrounding streets, was now reduced to a charred ruin. Smoke still lingered in the air, a bitter reminder of the destruction that had been wrought.

The sight stopped him in his tracks, and the blood drained from his face. His heart clenched, and he felt the world around him shatter.

The mansion was gone.

Hope’s legs trembled beneath him, and the briefest moment of disbelief froze him.

He took a step forward, then another, each one slower than the last. He felt like he was moving through mud, his body heavy with disbelief, his mind not fully grasping the reality before him.

The smell of burning timber and the sharp tang of iron filled the air, and with every breath, the haze of shock deepened. Hope’s hands clenched into fists at his sides as he stood at the threshold of what had once been his family’s home.

The mansion was reduced to nothing but wreckage, charred beams and broken stones. There was no sign of life, no movement. His family was nowhere to be seen. And the realization hit him like a punch to the gut.

His father… his brother Jace… his sister Ava… Where were they?

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Hope’s pulse quickened as he ventured deeper into the ruin.

The ground beneath his feet was uneven, and bloodstains still marred the stone path, streaked and smeared, remnants of a brutal conflict that had taken place here.

His gaze scanned the remains—broken columns, scorched furniture, and the lifeless bodies of guards and servants who had once protected the family.

A low, hollow sound escaped from Hope’s throat. His eyes scanned the courtyard, searching for any trace of the people he loved.

His heart clenched again, harder this time, as whispers from the few curious people on the outskirts of the wreckage began to reach his ears.

“Did you hear?” A woman’s voice trembled, filled with horror. “No survivors. They say not even the servants made it out. Everyone’s dead…”

“Gone…” A man’s voice, darker with disbelief, cut in. “The Fallen family... every last one of them. They couldn’t have survived that. It was a massacre.”

Hope’s mind went blank for a moment, his body swaying as the breath in his lungs hitched.

No survivors? How could that be? This couldn’t be happening.

He had to be wrong.

His family couldn’t be… gone.

But the cold, undeniable reality gripped his heart. His family, the only ones who had ever truly cared for him, were gone.

There was nothing left.

A deep, burning rage began to bubble up from within him. It started small, just a flicker at first, but then it grew.

His anger, his grief, all the confusion—everything—merged into a swirling storm that consumed him. And then, just as quickly, it began to surge out of control.

His Qi, which had been calm, awakened with a force that shocked him.

Hope’s body trembled. The ground beneath him began to crack and shift, as if the earth itself was reacting to the power that surged within him.

His hands clenched tighter, the pain of his loss turning into something else—something destructive.

His emotions, once a flood of uncertainty and sorrow, now manifested in the purest, most violent form.

The Intent of Destruction, the most basic form of destruction but destruction nonetheless.

Purple light flickered around him, swirling in the air like an ethereal storm. His Qi circulated wildly within him, overwhelming his body and pushing him forward into new territory. His body shuddered under the intensity. His power surged, and with it, his cultivation leaped.

Hope’s breath came in harsh gasps.

His Qi felt like a river, racing through his veins with terrifying speed, tearing through his channels. His heart pounded, and with every heartbeat, his power grew. His mind barely had time to comprehend it. His body felt like it was on fire—burning with a pain and a sensation of something so much greater than he had ever experienced. And then, as the purple light flared, it happened.

The Qi swirling in his body reached its boiling point. Hope’s cultivation broke through, cracking into the late Body Transformation Realm. His physical strength surged, his body’s resilience increased tenfold, and his senses sharpened to an almost inhuman level.

He could feel every grain of dust in the air, every crack in the ground beneath his feet.

He felt like the very world seemed to bend to his will as his power surged unchecked.

Without thinking, Hope’s hand extended toward the remains of the Fallen mansion. His Qi flared outward, an uncontrollable wave of destruction.

The broken stones, the ashes, the bloodstains—all of it began to disintegrate under his will. The ground shook violently as if the earth itself could no longer bear the weight of his emotions. The remnants of his past, his family’s legacy, crumbled into nothingness.

But even as the mansion vanished, Hope felt nothing but a hollow emptiness. The destruction didn’t bring satisfaction, didn’t bring closure. It only made the pain burn deeper.

Standing amidst the dust and ruin, Hope felt the weight of the world on his shoulders.

His breath was ragged, and his hands still trembled, but the fire that burned in his chest wouldn’t be extinguished.

He had destroyed everything, but in the process, he had lost a part of himself.

The city continued to hum with life, unaware of the storm that had just passed through.

Hope didn’t care.

There was nothing left for him here.

His footsteps were heavy as he turned away from the ruins, his mind locked on a singular goal. He would find those responsible for this massacre and he would make them pay.

And no one—no one—would stand in his way.