My Charity System made me too OP

They emerged on the Ascension Bridge.

It wasn't a solid structure.

It was a melodic path, floating above nothing—made of pulseplates, harmonized light, and fragments of time. The further they walked, the more the past and future bled into view around them like ghosts watching from the walls.

Each step echoed with a memory.

A Sovereign's collapse.

A Gatework crumbling.

A failed ascension.

A scream of joy from a newly written movement.

A child, laughing with their team, only to see them vanish.

Milim slowed as she watched a memory ripple beside them.

"I see… pieces of everyone. Not just Sovereigns."

Liliana touched a floating echo, and it sang back a lullaby her mother used to hum—one she'd long forgotten.

Leon clenched his fists. "The Tower is stripping away everything false. If we step forward, we do it as we truly are."

Midway across the Bridge, it began.

A gate of resonance pulsed open, and from it stepped a figure.

But not a creature.

It was Leon.

Another him.

Dressed in fractured armor, eyes dulled by exhaustion, scars across his chest like burning lines.

The reflection stared at him, unimpressed.

"You made it this far," it said coldly. "But you haven't paid the price."

Leon stepped forward, unsheathing Temporfang.

The reflection echoed the movement—its own Temporfang blazing with black rhythm.

"Every Sovereign must fight the rhythm they fear most."

"And mine is… you."

The two Leons moved in perfect synch at first—each mirroring the other, every step a measured beat.

Then came the divergence.

Leon struck first—with a perfected Shell Reverb: Tripart Echo, chaining three tempo strikes.

The reflection smiled, twisted, and responded with Shell Reverb: Broken Requiem—a move Leon hadn't even learned yet.

A pulse shattered his footing. Leon stumbled back.

"You… know more than me."

The reflection tilted its head.

"I am the version of you who finished everything alone. I didn't rely on anyone. I didn't pause to learn their rhythms."

"I succeeded."

"And I died."

The clash resumed.

But this time, Leon began weaving his team's rhythms into his style.

A deflection pattern like Naval.

A harmonic pulse like Liliana.

A sudden anchor-lock like Roselia.

And a raw, wild surge—Milim's fury.

He shouted as Temporfang blazed:

"You're not the real me. You're what I'd become if I abandoned everyone."

He spun, leapt, and slammed down Shell Pulse: Echo of Origin, cracking the platform beneath them.

The reflection faltered.

Then grinned—and knelt.

"Good."

It dissolved into particles.

[Leon's Resonant Identity – Confirmed.]

[Sovereign Pathway Solidified.]

[Trial of Sovereignty Initiated – All Participants Required.]

The rest of the team braced as the entire Ascension Bridge began to change.

The floating trail split into six branches, each extending toward a massive harmonic gate.

"The Tower's splitting us again," Roselia muttered. "This time... it wants more than understanding."

Roman's expression darkened. "It wants each of us to prove we're more than shadows of Leon."

Liliana turned to him. "We knew this would come."

Leon nodded. "Meet me at the Sovereign Hall. We finish this together."

They touched the platforms.

And vanished—each pulled into their Sovereign Trial.

Roselia landed hard—knees crashing against cold, metallic floor. Her breath hitched. The light of the Ascension Bridge vanished behind her, swallowed into a sealed door.

She was alone.

No music.

No pulse.

No Tower hum.

Just silence.

A suffocating, heavy silence.

The chamber was vast—circular, walls lined with ancient chains and broken shields, like some long-forgotten war memorial. At the far end stood a single pillar, and atop it, a sword embedded in stone.

Roselia rose slowly. The weight in her limbs wasn't physical.

It was memory.

It was blame.

"Roselia Fairwind," a voice echoed—hollow, cracked. "Why did you abandon them?"

She froze.

The chamber flickered.

Suddenly, she was back in Floor 267—The Broken Spire Trial.

Smoke.

Screams.

Blood.

She turned to see the two figures she'd tried hardest to forget—Darius, her old Captain, and Lyna, her sister in all but blood.

Both broken.

Both dying.

Again.

Darius coughed. "You chose the Ascension Gate. You left us behind."

Roselia's hands trembled.

"I didn't abandon you. I followed the path—"

"To save yourself," Lyna whispered. "You've always been the strongest. But what's the point of an anchor that lets go?"

Roselia dropped to her knees, gasping. The chamber twisted again. The floor opened—revealing a sea of failed anchors. Spirits like her. Warriors who once held teams together.

All drowned by guilt.

The Tower didn't want strength now.

It demanded truth.

She stood slowly.

"No," she said. "I didn't abandon you. I couldn't save you. That's different."

The ghosts hissed.

Darius drew his broken blade. "Then prove it. Anchor something now. Anchor yourself."

They rushed her—visions of failure given form. And Roselia didn't run.

She clenched her fists.

And remembered.

Leon, fighting without fear, because he trusted her.

Liliana, who whispered her doubts only when no one else was around.

Milim, wild and free, who always looked to her when things got too loud.

Roman, who never said it, but always stood behind her shoulder in battle.

She didn't carry them.

They carried each other.

She screamed.

And punched the ground.

The chains along the walls snapped taut.

The floor pulsed with golden light.

The sword on the pedestal shattered—and from it rose a new weapon. A heavy shield, curved with runic grooves and a central core glowing with a slow, beating heart.

[Anchor Core Reforged – Awakening Condition Met.]

[Anchor Sovereign Form: "Unbreakable Vow" Unlocked.]

Roselia caught the shield midair.

Golden lines burned across her body, etching runes into her skin.

Her armor solidified, forged from the weight of her past—and the choice to carry others without breaking herself.

The ghosts charged again—but she planted her shield, feet steady.

"I'm still here."

"I will always be here."

"Because I choose to stay."

She roared, and the shield released a wave of resonance—not an attack.

A promise.

The chamber shook.

The spirits shattered into light.

[Trial of Sovereignty – Anchor Path: Complete.]

[Roselia has ascended: Anchor Sovereign – Tier VIII (Stability Domain)]

As the path ahead reformed, Roselia walked forward.

Calm.

Silent.

Stronger than ever.

Meanwhile…

Far above, within a sealed echo-hall of Floor 305, Leon's heart pulsed once—and he smiled faintly.

"She did it," he murmured.