My Charity System made me too OP
Chapter 364 - 364: Spiral Crown

Roselia entered a glowing cyan dome, standing in a hall of suspended harp-strings that resonated as she walked.

At the end stood a woman with a silver mask and a long, curved blade—the Swordsinger of Caer Harn, a master of sound and blade harmony.

Each swing of her weapon created symphonic shockwaves—a style Roselia recognized as the ancestor to her own school.

This was her origin.

And her test.

The first clash was blinding. Each note-strike sent waves of force. Roselia parried with graceful timing, adjusting not by sight—but by sound. Her ears led her defense, her blade trailed in harmony.

Halfway through, the Swordsinger began singing. Roselia's body slowed under the spell—her blade heavy. Her thoughts clouded.

But then she hummed back.

A simple song.

Her song.

And the moment her voice harmonized with her blade, the counterwave struck.

Her blade shimmered white-blue—and cut through the final note, ending the illusion.

[Echo Phantom Defeated – Melody Fracture Technique Learned]

Roman entered a dark lab flooded with sparks and half-completed constructs. A mechanized version of himself stood at the end—surrounded by floating relics and AI support units.

This Echo Phantom used magical engineering to simulate multiple timelines—fighting with preprogrammed strategies, fake-out routines, and calculated traps.

Roman's strength wasn't just skill—it was improvisation.

As they fought, Roman broke down patterns, predicted lines, and sabotaged the false version's rhythm with carefully placed mana disruptors.

When his phantom fired a pulse meant to lock his stabilizer core, Roman absorbed it, reversed its flow, and blasted the entire chamber with a counter-algorithm that overloaded every rune in the space.

[Echo Phantom Defeated – Synaptic Override Module Blueprint Gained]

Liliana faced a forgotten sky-priest who used wind clones and layered illusions—her fight was mental, and she overcame it by tracking emotion, not sight.

Naval battled a gravity spear-wielder whose every throw could bend a battlefield. He ended the fight by trapping the Phantom inside a collapsing gravity well he created with timed orbs.

Milim? She just smiled and said, "I punched it through four walls. That count?"

With all five Echo Phantoms defeated, the crystals around the Crown Spiral began to orbit faster.

A new path unfolded—a spiral stairway of floating glass, climbing into a mirrored dome in the sky.

[Crown Spiral Chamber Unlocked – Aetherion Echo Heart Available]

Leon stepped forward, Echofang pulsing in rhythm with the stairs themselves.

Roselia nodded. "Whatever's up there—it's beyond anything this floor has shown so far."

Leon's eyes narrowed. "Then we ascend."

The floating glass staircase spiraled ever upward, each step shimmering with ghostlight. The higher they climbed, the thinner the air became—not physically, but spiritually. Memories whispered here. The voices of long-fallen Ascenders bled through the walls.

And then… silence.

They reached the top.

A colossal dome of floating mirrors and fragmented mana-cores spread before them. Light refracted in impossible patterns, and at the very center of the chamber, suspended above a glass-laced altar, hovered a radiant artifact:

THE ECHO HEART

A pulsating core of prismatic crystal, it beat like a heart—emitting gentle pulses of pure temporal rhythm. The air shifted with every thrum.

[Echo Heart Detected – Legendary Relic Class]

Grants Echo Memory Imprint: store, replay, and evolve personal combat sequences.

Warning: First activation will trigger Combat Assimilation – all present must endure.

Leon approached, Echofang lightly humming in synchrony.

Roman stepped beside him. "This isn't a normal relic. It's alive. It's watching."

Roselia added, "Or listening. Maybe both."

As Leon placed his palm on the Echo Heart—

The chamber fractured.

Time folded.

They were now inside a simulation, a cross-temporal arena built from shards of each person's greatest battle. Enemies formed from recorded echoes of their pasts—failures, near-deaths, wrong moves, haunted regrets.

Leon stood face to face with a version of himself mid-Obsidian Trial—back when he only had 30% Reverb mastery, full of doubt and rage.

Roselia saw her first teacher fall again, replayed in a loop.

Milim's echo? Herself… but broken, mind-corrupted and in full rage mode.

Each ally was forced into a personal trial, alone within a bubble of space and time. Their echoes were faster, colder, more refined. Every mistake in the past was now used against them.

His phantom fought brutally, mechanically. No hesitation. Every Shell Reverb trigger was perfect. Every motion echoed three layers deep. It used Reverb Titan strength with Echofang precision.

And still, Leon smiled.

Because it lacked what he had now.

Karmic Loop.

Instinct.

Purpose.

He allowed himself to take two hits. He adjusted his pulse. He remembered his evolution—and then activated Echo of Origin + Absolute Return in tandem with Titan Shellbone.

Leon's blade sang.

He struck the phantom—and instead of just bouncing the echo—

He looped it through time.

One strike became five.

Five became seven—each echo triggered as if from a different moment in the fight.

His future strikes became real.

The final blow hit from behind, from a strike he hadn't even thrown yet.

The phantom shattered into gold fractals.

[Echo Signature Overcome – Crown Echo Sequence Registered]

[Leon has unlocked: Temporal Loop Reverb Form – Tier IX Transition Key Acquired]

Each of the others emerged in a flash of light—scarred, winded, but victorious.

Roselia had composed her own sword-song, severing her phantom's final note.

Naval had crushed the timing of his gravity distortions, folding time into imploding pockets.

Roman upgraded his stabilizers mid-combat to counter his own overclocks.

Milim simply grabbed her phantom self by the neck and yelled, "You're not me!" before detonating with raw force.

Liliana… walked out silently, her eyes fierce, her aura now edged with cold wind magic.

The heart dimmed, its purpose fulfilled.

It broke apart into six crystalline fragments—one for each of them.

Each fragment would now allow them to record and recall perfected techniques during combat.

Leon absorbed his into Echofang, which immediately restructured—forming a new handle-layer, able to resonate with echoes past and future.

As the tower shimmered and began restructuring, a gateway opened—an angled light bridge forming toward a new island in the sky. The team had conquered Aetherion Shardreach.

From a distance, the storm-winds calmed. The floating citadel bowed into its resting orbit.

Roselia looked toward Leon. "You're not just climbing anymore, are you?"

Leon nodded. "No. I'm tuning the tower itself."

Milim cracked her knuckles. "Where to next?"

Leon turned to the sky, where golden letters shimmered into existence:

[Next Major Site: Thunderborne Arena – Eastern Skylands, Floor 302]

A combat domain where storm gladiators battle for honor, forges, and crown stones.

Entry allowed only to those who have bested an Echo Phantom.

Leon smiled.

"Then we enter as champions."