Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame - Chapter 16: Something Was Wrong

[Warning: Mature Content 18+, Harem, No NTR!]He was only ten years old when his world turned to ash. Hidden behind a door, shivering with helplessness and fear, the boy peered through the keyhole and watched his parents die. He never knew who killed them. He never even saw the faces of those who took everything from him.The terror was too much for a ten-year old boy. His mind shattered, erasing that night from his memory. And then everything was blank, darkness in front of his eyes as he lost consciousness.When his eyes opened again, a man stood before him, a stranger with a gentle smile and eyes filled with something strange… pity? Or something else?“What happened here boy?”“Happened where?”“You don’t remember, do you?”“Remember what…? Where is father? My Mother?”“I guess this is for the best.”“Good boy. Your father was my dearest friend… and now, you are my responsibility. From now on, you will be my son.”“You have no one left, boy… but I can make sure no one ever takes anything from you again.” The man said gently.And then that man forged him into something inhuman. A weapon honed to perfection, a shadow lurking in the underworld. The mere whisper of his name - Draugr, A ghost that never truly dies, sent grown men into cold sweats, their legs trembling beneath them.The boy soon outgrew his master and carved his own legend in blood. But all this while he never stopped searching—for the ones who killed his parents, for the truth, for revenge.And finally, after fifteen years of silence, he was close. The last clue he needed was just within his grasp.It was so close, yet just an inch out of his grasp. He was ambushed, a trap he never saw coming.Wounded, bleeding out, fighting for his life against an army of men and women eyeing to claim his life, he should have died. But fate had something else stored for him.Barely holding onto life, he stumbled into a girl—fragile-looking, yet completely unafraid of the monster before her. She didn’t run. She didn’t scream. Instead, she smiled.She saved him. Took him to a hospital. And as he lay unconscious, she made her plans.But when he woke up… He had lost everything, He remembered nothing.Not just the truth of his parents' murder. Not just the years of searching. Not just the enemies and allies he'd made along the way. Not even his own name.Twenty-five years of his life—wiped clean.Now, in a world that fears his very name, with ghosts of a past he can no longer remember hunting him in the shadows—he must decide: Is he still the Draugr they all fear? Or is he just a man searching for the pieces of himself?And who is the girl who stole his fate and bound it to hers?

“The simplification of the extreme mountain breathing method… the simplification is successful… the extreme mountain breathing method → ​​breathing!”

Chen Fei took a deep breath.

“Extreme mountain breathing method +1 experience.”

“…”

- Description from novelbuddy

There are two women with the same name in the entertainment industry, one is Qu Xizhi and the other is Gu Xizhi, because they debuted at about the same age, they are often compared.

There are rumors in the rivers and lakes that the relationship between the two is extremely bad…

- Description from novelbuddy

I have given up power that can make the strongest of men tremble. I bore scars very few can imagine; loved women, very few had the gall to talk; and tread paths with chaosfiends.

“And I'm still standing.”

- - -

Gale was summoned into a mysterious world of magic and monsters for no particular reason. Thrown into squabbles of beings vastly higher than him, Gale strived to make a place for himself in the vain dream of immortality and a better world.

That was six years ago.

Beaten and battered from years of brutal war, Gale finally had enough and resolved to start over a new peaceful life in a totally unremarkable town with his trustworthy companion, Vale. Give up the weapon of slaughter and take up a hoe? That seemed like a fine deal to him.

Unfortunately, the valley wasn't as unremarkable as he thought it to be. Dictatorial governing bodies, suspicious practitioners, an exceedingly unwelcoming guest, and a secret that would change the entire world, all impeded his peaceful life. Gale will need all his mental stability to keep his temper in check, lest he brutalises his way out of trouble. Again.