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Chapter 9 - Chapter 9 – Crownless Flame

The ground beneath the Fyr Domain had never known tremors of this magnitude. Not from tectonic stress… but from ancient hatred stirring.

 

A remnant of a forgotten age — a Myros-class entity, once felled by a Crownless Flame — had risen again. And it had questions. Grudges. Vengeance wrapped in molten steel.

 

Ryu, however, only had one response.

 

"I'm not a fan of being hunted down for the sins of someone I might've been. So let's settle this — in the now."

 

Luto stepped beside him, expression dark, boots cracking the obsidian crust.

 

"This isn't like before. That thing… it doesn't play. Its class means it once tore divine structures apart."

 

Ryu's gaze stayed forward. "Then it can join the list of things that'll learn my name the hard way."

 

The Entity Speaks of Fire and Fear

 

The ancient being stood tall, armor fractured, leaking embers and echoes of torment. Chains wrapped its forearms — once used to drag gods into the core of their own stars. Its voice thundered not just with malice, but prophecy.

 

"I remember your kind. The Starborn Rejection. Crownless Flame… your lineage was never meant to survive the Fracture."

 

The words stirred the sky itself.

 

Luto's eyes twitched. "The Fracture… the divine-mortal divide. That predates every written account."

 

Ryu shrugged off the legend. "I wasn't there for that. And I don't owe you closure. But if you need something to help you move on…"

 

He clenched his fists.

 

"Try me."

 

Combat Unleashed – Two Brothers, One Will

 

The entity lunged — a supernova in motion, dragging heat and hatred in its wake. Its fist shattered the speed barrier, aimed straight for Ryu's skull.

 

But Ryu blurred — pivoting mid-air, kicking off a vaporized stone and twisting his hand into a glowing sigil.

 

"Bind: Ember Veil."

 

The punch landed—only to halt, mid-motion, redirected upward by a cosmic tether of crimson-gold fire that bent reality around his palm.

 

"So the boy has remembered the Flame's Will…"

 

"Just a piece," Ryu grinned. "But it's spicy enough."

 

The Myros-class beast roared and summoned lava-forged blades, each inscribed with the names of fallen gods. They hissed through the air — but Luto appeared in a flash, Nulvyr raised, his upgraded blade cracking two of them apart in mid-swing.

 

"Ryu! Left—NOW!"

 

Ryu ducked. Luto swept through with a horizontal slash, embedding kinetic echoes into the creature's side. The entity barely flinched but staggered — just enough.

 

"We fight together," Luto said, sliding next to his brother. "Don't get cocky."

 

"Too late. I'm always cocky."

 

Luto rolled his eyes.

 

Through a private comm crystal, A voice crackled in:

 

"You don't have time. That thing is a sealed echo. If it reconnects to the Myros network, it can broadcast your presence to others."

 

"Then we silence it here," Luto growled. "Fast."

History Revealed – Crownless Flame

 

The creature's white-hot gaze found Ryu again.

 

"You bear the scent… the rhythm of the one who rejected ascension. Who tore the mantle from the heavens and spat on divine fate."

 

It lifted a burning hand — a sigil of chains forming behind it.

 

"You are the Crownless Flame… the soul that once could not be named."

 

Ryu stood silent. The fire around him didn't burn — it bowed.

 

"Then let me show you what it means to burn without chains."

 

The battlefield trembled.

 

 

Final Exchange – Twin Execution

 

 

The Myros remnant charged again, its entire body becoming flame-encased velocity.

 

Luto moved first, summoning a prism of stardust geometry, locking the entity mid-motion for 1.4 seconds — all he could manage.

 

"NOW!"

 

Ryu blurred skyward, flames spiraling around his fists like solar serpents. The moment slowed — his body eclipsed by a halo of crimson-gold.

 

"SEALING FORM — CRIMSON NOVA!"

 

He dove like a meteor. The impact cracked the caldera.

 

The shockwave silenced the Fyr Domain.

 

When the light faded, the entity knelt in smoldering ruin. Fading.

 

"You… truly are his rebirth…"

 

"Whose?"

 

"The one… who wore no crown… but whose soul even the gods feared…"

 

Its body became ash — whispering into the air.

 

Aftermath – The Guardian's Recognition

Ryu stood in the scorched wind, panting, hair blowing wildly behind him.

 

Luto stepped beside him, mask lifted again.

 

"That wasn't just a beast."

 

"No," Ryu muttered. "That was a message. From whatever I used to be…"

 

Luto didn't respond.

 

From behind, the obsidian guardian approached, now with respect in his stride.

 

"You faced one of the old terrors. You did not flee. You did not falter."

 

He knelt.

 

"The Sovereign awaits you… in the palace beyond the Furnace Steps."

 

The Palace of Flamebound Stone

Ryu and Luto followed the guardian's directions, ascending a jagged stone path across roaring magma falls and whispering glyphs embedded into the cliffside. The horizon shimmered with solar flares and the scent of scorched memory.

 

At the peak stood the Palace of Scorching Vow.

 

A monolith carved from fire-kissed obsidian, with towers spiraling into the clouds like volcanic spears. Flame poured from braziers too ancient to name. The doors themselves were alive — runed with shifting flame-script that pulsed to the beat of Ryu's heart.

 

The brothers stood before it.

 

Side by side.

 

Luto sheathed Nulvyr.

 

"You sure you're ready for whatever's inside?"

 

Ryu nodded.

 

"I wasn't ready for a lot of things. But I'm still standing."

 

Together, they stepped forward.

 

The doors opened.

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