In the vast piween Soulnaught and Inkia, where even the hardiest trees dared not pnt their roots, a stubborn kind of grass stood its ground.

  M arrived with a grudging yawn, casting a pallid light over the desote ndscape. The wind, as if menting its own fate, whispered through the wiry bdes of grass, carrying with it the st of dust and despair.

  The sky above seemed to mock the barreh below, its expanse a vas of dull grey hues with the occasional zy swirl of clouds. The sun, halfheartedly attempting to rise, cast weak, watery rays across the pin, as if begrudgingly aowledging its duty.

  Birds, wise enough to avoid such desotion, flew high above, their mog chirps adding a touch of cruel irony to the desote se. But not long, they, too, would leave.

  Because—

  “What… is happening here…?!”

  Finn was surprised when he received a letter from Emperor Burn himself, summoning him to the middle of the barren pin. It was shog enough that the Emperor instructed him t his family and all signifit individuals with him after revealing Inkia's pns, but now…

  On the expansive pin y a massive magic circle intricately crafted by her than Man Le Fay—and in its ter, Emperor Burn was suspended mid-air. Hundreds of a letters crawled up his body, burrowing themselves into his flesh and bone.

  "Lord Wilderwood?" a young voice greeted him.

  He turned and saw the young king of Edensor, smiling at him.

  "Your Majesty..." Finn bowed, as did his wife and two small children.

  "His Majesty will greet you shortly," Yvain said. The boy noticed the discreet carriage they had brought along and their closest servant, realizing that no one else was nearby. Finn had indeed arrived with his most important panions.

  He believed in Burn's letter.

  “I’m sorry to say, but what is going on here…?” Finn was quite a strong Force user. He knew magic well enough, but this… was absurd.

  “His Majesty is dug an experiment. Would you like to watch along?” Yvain offered.

  “Uh, s-sure?” Finn blinked, nodding at the boy.

  San had finally cracked the code on body entment magic. Sure, there were some pesky side effects like instah upon failure or a tig time bomb leading to death, but hey, progress is progress, right?

  The basic idea behind enting items retty straightforward: make something magical, and it bees disposable.

  Ent a sword with prote, it'll shield you from harm until it iably shatters like, well, a shield. Want an iructible item? Easy peasy—just keep that magical energy flowing, whether from the wearer or the enter.

  These rules applied across the entment board. Attack buffs had an expiration date, healing spells crumbled after a set amount of patches, and even stat boosts like energy, stamina, and speed had a shelf life shorter than a potion at a thirsty wizard's vention.

  Except, of course, if you used some fancy materials capable of flexing uhe magical strain.

  Take the human body, for instance. Yes, there were better materials out there, but for venience's sake, let's stick with the fleshy vessel we all lug around every day.

  Sure, it's weak and fragile, but the body of a Force user could theoretically be sturdy enough to handle being turned into a walking, talking ented artifact. Who knew?

  Slowly, the giant magic circle shrank and shrank. It almost looked like the energy within it was absorbed into Burn. And just as everything disappeared, pletely united within his being, his eyes slowly opened.

  “Less pain. And sturdier,” Burn ented.

  Man smiled, “It's worth my sleepless nights. Except when you bother me.”

  “e on, you e too,” he teased.

  “Alright, phase,” Man diverted the versation and refocused. "O Divine, bestow your healing touch upon my beloved son of man—wipe away his hurts and woes as my chosen one…"

  Burn kneeled in front of her

  "By the power vested in me, I dub thee my Padin, my first holy knight."

  Man didn’t disie herself into pure light this time, unlike in the previous loop. It might have been necessary, but Burn told her that she shouldn’t risk anything on her part.

  However, a massive of light still materialized in the sky.

  “I still don’t uand how I bee a padin without making a vow to God…” Burn muttered.

  “It’s because I vouched for you. And... well,” Man shrugged, “Because you took my virginity.”

  The resurre spell didn’t require her to be a virgin, after all. More than a resurre spell... It was a Saint’s wedding ceremony, which gave him the rights to bee a Padin.

  Burhere were things Man didn’t tell him, but this gave him another sense of whipsh. When did she start to love him? Was it her who loved him first? Was he that dense?

  “We’re ready,” Man said.

  "We're ready over here too!" Dirk Marshall said, carrying the White Dwarf with him.

  Yvain stood with Finn and his family. Beside him was Gahad, ready with a big ented shield. Yvain turo Finn and his people, saying, "Please stand behind us."

  "We're ready!"

  "Excuse me, what are we doing again?" Finn nervously asked. "What kind of experiment is this?"

  "8% output!"

  BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAST!!!

  It was a surprise for most of the people there those couple of days back. Gahad short-circuited for two days after Burn told him the pn. Yvain was extremely excited, and Dirk...

  He was shocked when Burn told him to bst him with the White Dwarf with maximum output on nd again.

  "Well, you don't move, and we're not fighting, so theoretically, I manage 5, maybe 6%."

  After rec from the shock, Dirk said that.

  "If I absorb most of it, you push it to 8% without destroying the world?"

  And that was what Burn asked him after.

  It was a gamble. In the previous loop, Burn was able to absorb most of the 6% energy output of the White Dwarf. He almost succeeded in transf his body to create a sturdy, malleable shell for his soul, but a rea occurred, destroying the world as it colpsed into itself.

  Ihermere itself, there were two tained White Dwarfs: the one in his possession and the one he was fighting.

  Between the goddess who tried to hug him to their deaths together and a bck hole that was created in the process, Burn gained more enlighte.

  Well, a fragment.

  As 8% of the heat of a dying sun enveloped him, he opened himself to absorb that energy. It might sound impossible to absorb everything, but there were around 36 trillion cells in his body. If eae absorbed approximately 0.00000000000022222222%, then it should be possible, right?

  It felt like being fed by inprehensible heat. Each letter of entment glowed and worked to its limits, trying to band stabilize the pressure of unbelievable power.

  First was his nervous system. From his brain to the tip of his toes and fihen boo his blood vessels, to his inner ans, flesh, and skin.

  Like he anded, ead every cell of his body absorbed the exact amount of power o transform his mortality into something more useful.

  To create a body that could withstand more than mana. More than force. More than his own soul.

  [Hymbrim, sothar lumerys rynniru'shaaleth, verin'dorah araynthir aeslyhor shyrinales, verli s'anaaes nia'serith verin'dorah aelysyn…]

  [Aldryrn viistar nora myth nindyr rynnae, hestarii lun'dor syrallyh velessa'lyn nia, luminexa'ryn]

  Right on cue, Man’s song apanied his transformation.

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  .

  ------------------------------------------------

  Of course it'll be the first thing Burn will do. Getting stronger.