Abyssal Crown – Throne Room (Continued)
Adexander clashed with the Forgotten Guard again, their weapons shrieking through warped air. Each strike from the Guard shattered reality for a heartbeat—each counter from Adexander bent it back into place with blood-soaked will.
> [System Notice: Temporal Distortion Detected]
> [Warning: Environment Hostile to All Chrono-Stable Entities]
Kaien weaved through crumbling debris, eyes narrowed. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous."
Raik drove both gauntlets into the ground, channeling force to stabilize the shifting floor. "We either win now, or we get erased!"
Velessia descended from above, angelic glyphs rotating around her like burning halos. "Cover me—I'm invoking the Seal of Seven Wings!"
"Buy her ten seconds!" Adexander roared.
The Guard moved again—swinging the Endblade with ruinous weight. Its strikes had no grace, only inevitability.
But Adexander was faster now. Bloodforge energy surged around him, siphoning essence from the warped palace itself.
> [Fangblade—Predatory Phase: Consuming Local Memory Residue]
> [Blood Adaptation Achieved: Abyssal Reaver Form (Stage I)]
His armor pulsed with a darker hue—veins of crimson light racing through obsidian plates. A second heartbeat echoed beneath his chest.
The scythe became faster. Hungrier.
> Clang!
> Screech!
Adexander deflected a sweeping arc from the Guard's blade, rolled under the next strike, and sliced a burning glyph into its knee.
It didn't bleed.
It bled memory.
Scenes flickered—of a thousand battles fought in Adexander's name. Of knights who once knelt, now long forgotten. Of glory twisted by time.
The Guard roared. Its free hand lashed out, grabbing Adexander by the face and slamming him into the wall.
> [Damage Taken: 31% Integrity Loss]
Kaien blinked behind the Guard and plunged twin daggers into its exposed back.
Nothing.
> "It's bound to memory!" Kaien shouted. "Regular hits are useless!"
Raik jumped, fists coated in kinetic energy, and drove a punch into the back of the Guard's neck. The armor cracked—but the Guard didn't flinch.
> "It only reacts to him!" Raik realized.
Velessia's wings flared.
> "Seal ready!"
She whispered ancient words—then screamed them, her body wrapped in divine fire.
> [Divine Seal: Sevenfold Banishment — Activated]
Golden light tore through the void, binding the Guard in chains of searing judgment. It staggered, sword lowered for a moment.
Adexander emerged from the rubble.
Eyes glowing like twin eclipses.
> [Bloodforge Sync: 52%]
> [System Trait Unlocked — Memory Devourer]
He spun the scythe.
Once.
Twice.
> "You were loyal."
> "You forgot who I became."
He vanished—then reappeared behind the Guard.
> SLASH
A single clean cut.
Not through armor.
Not through flesh.
Through time.
The Guard's movements halted.
Its body collapsed—slowly, as if gravity had to remember how to work. Then the armor shattered into shards of dark light.
Only its sword remained… and one line etched into the floor:
> "My king."
> [Boss Defeated: The Forgotten Guard]
> [Reward Gained: Fragment of the Abyssal Crown]
> [Bloodforge Core Synchronization: 60%]
The crown above the throne cracked.
Then called.
Adexander stepped forward.
Velessia, exhausted, looked up. "Are you… going to take it?"
He stared at it.
Then turned his back.
> "I came to kill a memory."
> "Not wear it again."
But the Realm disagreed.
> [System Notice: Throne Acknowledgment Incomplete]
> [Abyssal Core Seeking Heir]
> [Warning: Unclaimed Throne Will Attract Void Entities in 48 hours]
Kaien groaned. "Why can't we ever just leave after a win?"
Adexander said nothing.
He stared at the broken throne.
And the darkness beneath it that wasn't empty.