(Lawless Arc: Part XVIII — The Place Reality Forgot)
There are deaths.
And then there are erasures.
What happened to the Voidborn…
was neither.
It was punishment.
---
The Price of Disrespect
Before Kael stepped into the region reality had abandoned,
before the Third Seal could be reached,
something stirred behind him—
a trembling shadow, his shadow, the one that once called itself his assistant.
The Voidborn.
A being birthed from Kael's forgotten past,
shaped by the echo of his former name,
bound to serve him in every timeline.
But the Voidborn had sinned.
Not with betrayal.
Not with violence.
But with irreverence.
He had spoken lightly. He had joked. He had treated Kael's awakening like a spectacle instead of scripture.
And in a cosmos where names shape laws
and respect is the currency of survival,
that was unforgivable.
The Echo noticed it first.
They turned, eyes narrowing.
"Assistant of the Void…
step forward."
The Voidborn hesitated, trembling.
"My… my lord? Did I—"
"You forgot your place," the Architect said coldly,
voice sharp as cutting geometry.
Kael did not turn.
He spoke only one word:
"Enough."
That single syllable dragged the Voidborn to his knees.
His form rippled,
cracks splintering through his body like fractures in dying glass.
"My King— I meant no disrespect— I… I only—"
"You spoke lightly," Kael said, voice devoid of mercy,
a tone older than the Throne,
older than Sovereigns.
"You treated my path as entertainment."
The Voidborn shook in terror.
"I–I was trying to help—"
"You broke the vow we made," Kael said.
"You swore to stand at my side, not above my story."
The Crown pulsed once above him.
A verdict.
"Kael…" the Architect whispered.
"There is still time to spare him."
Kael's eyes darkened.
"No. This is the consequence."
He raised his hand.
The void itself bowed, light dimming, silence kneeling.
The Voidborn wailed.
"My King, please—! I serve only you—! I never meant—!"
Kael closed his fist.
And the Voidborn didn't simply die.
He unraveled.
One thread at a time, his existence unspooled into dust made of forgotten timelines, his memories evaporated, his form dissolving into particles that screamed as they vanished.
He reached out with a shaking, fading hand.
"My… lord… please… do not forget me…"
Kael answered without turning:
"You will be replaced."
The last fragment of the Voidborn crumbled into silent ash— and the void swallowed it with reverence.
A sacrifice offered.
A reminder delivered.
---
The Echo Speaks the Hard Truth
The Echo stepped beside Kael quietly.
"That was harsh, even for you."
Kael's voice was empty.
"He needed to understand."
The Architect tilted their head.
"And what about you?"
Kael finally turned,
his eyes now heavy with a power the Remnant itself feared.
"I understand."
"Understand what?" the Architect asked.
Kael stepped forward, toward the edge of a world that even memory abandoned.
"That I cannot afford weakness."
"The Third Seal will not bow to someone who tolerates it."
"The name waking within me will not obey someone who accepts disrespect."
"And the place we are going…"
his voice lowered to a chilling whisper,
"…will devour anyone who jokes."
The Architect exhaled slowly.
"Then there is no assistant left to accompany you."
Kael answered simply:
"No."
"My assistant died."
"He paid his price."
"And when the Third Seal breaks…"
He turned to the darkness ahead, where even light dared not remember itself.
"…I will choose a new one."
The Echo stiffened.
The Architect bowed their head.
And the void whispered in awe.
Kael stepped forward.
---
Into the Place Reality Forgot
The Remnant split open.
A corridor of unmade space unfolded, woven from rejected timelines
and memories even gods were forbidden to keep.
Beyond it lay:
The Place Reality Forgot.
A realm so forbidden
that even its existence was illegal.
Kael inhaled once.
"Let's finish this."
He walked through the breach.
And behind him, where the Voidborn once stood,
only a faint line of cosmic dust remained—
a permanent reminder:
Disrespect carries a price.
And Kael collects.