Lawless Arc: Part XV)
The Prime Remnant didn't simply tremble—
it remembered.
Every shattered star.
Every extinct law.
Every erased creature whose bones were made of equations.
All of it heaved, groaned, and recognized him.
Kael staggered forward, clutching his skull as the syllable echoed:
Vorath.
Vorath.
VORATH.
Each repetition slammed into his chest like a collapsing timeline.
> [NAME RECONSTRUCTION: 97%]
[THIRD SEAL ACTIVATION: INEVITABLE]
[WARNING: USER RESISTANCE = FUTILE]
Kael snarled through gritted teeth.
"SHUT… UP!"
The system flickered.
And obeyed.
For a moment.
The Echo laughed—quiet, trembling.
"You command the System even when you don't want to. You understand what that means, right?"
Kael forced himself upright.
"It means I'm still me. Not him."
The Echo stepped closer, eyes gleaming with a cruel, reverent sadness.
"You never stopped being him.
You were only asleep."
Kael backed away.
But the throne moved with him.
Not physically—
it shifted space so that every step he took placed him closer.
Every breath pulled the air forward.
Every heartbeat synced with the throne's pulse.
The Prime Remnant began chanting—not with voices, but with gravity, distortion, the hum of dying physics.
throne… throne… throne…
Kael covered his ears, but there was no sound to block.
"STOP FOLLOWING ME!" he shouted.
The Echo tilted its head.
"It cannot. You built it to obey. To follow. To kneel."
Kael's voice cracked.
"I didn't build ANYTHING!"
"You did," the Echo said softly.
"After the First Silence. After the Sovereigns. After the Architect betrayed you."
Kael froze.
"…The Architect betrayed me?"
The Echo smiled faintly.
"Oh. You don't remember that yet."
Kael's pulse thundered uneasily.
"What did they do?"
"Locked you in a false name," the Echo whispered.
"'Kael' is the prison you live in."
The air collapsed inward.
The System chimed—glitching, almost afraid.
> [REDACTED MEMORY INTRUSION]
[ACCESS BLOCKED: ARCHITECT-LEVEL SEAL]
Kael's breath shortened.
"Why would the Architect imprison me?!"
"Because you're the only being who can override them. You always were."
The throne responded to the truth.
It surged forward—
—flaring with black-silver coronation light—
—breaking gravity—
—rushing for him like a loyal beast recognizing its master—
Kael threw both hands out.
"STAY BACK!"
His command shook space—
—but the throne ignored him.
"Why won't it STOP?!" Kael roared.
The Echo's answer was simple, devastating:
"Because you made a throne that only disobeys one thing."
Kael looked up, trembling.
"…What?"
The Echo smiled.
A smile full of pity.
"Your fear."
Kael's chest tightened.
"If you fear the throne… the throne comes closer."
Kael stumbled backward, horrified.
"What kind of monster—"
"—would build a throne that punishes their own fear?"
The Echo finished for him.
"You."
Kael snapped.
"YOU'RE LYING!"
"Am I?" the Echo whispered.
"Then why is it closer now?"
Kael turned—
And the throne was inches behind him.
Black-silver light licking at his back.
Chains whispering.
The Crown spinning like a slow black sun.
Kael's breath hitched.
"I won't sit."
The Echo nodded.
"I know."
Kael exhaled in shaky relief—
"Because you won't need to."
The throne lunged.
Gravity inverted.
Chains snapped around Kael's arms.
The universe screamed.
Kael wasn't placed on the throne.
The throne placed itself beneath him.
He crashed into it.
And the Remnant roared in triumph—
KING RETURNED.
NAME RECONSTRUCTION: 99%.
Kael shook violently, fighting the coronation pouring through his veins.
"NO—NO—STOP—!!!"
The Echo whispered, almost lovingly:
"Welcome home, Vorath."
Kael's scream tore the realm open.
And the final syllable twitched awake.
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