Wind froze.
Clouds stopped moving.
Even the crackling lightning paused mid-air—
held in place by the pressure radiating from Seryn.
The First Blade of the Eleven stepped forward, each movement cutting the sky like a surgical incision.
His presence alone warped the air, turning it sharp enough to slice skin.
Kael felt the pressure crash into him—
a weight that threatened to fold him into the stone beneath his feet.
His bones shook.
His shadow—his imprint—thrashed on the ground behind him, reacting instinctively to the presence of its murderer.
Riven gripped her blade so hard her knuckles went white.
"Kael.
Don't move.
Don't speak.
Don't even breathe too loudly."
Seryn's obsidian eyes shifted to her.
"You speak like someone who has seen Monarchs fall.
Good.
You understand your place."
Wind sliced toward Riven with a single thought.
A feather-thin arc of death.
Kael didn't think.
He moved—
hand raised, shards condensing from instinct and panic.
They formed a curved barrier—
imperfect
unstable
but THERE.
The slicing wind struck the shards—
and cracked them.
But it DIDN'T break through.
Riven gasped.
"What—
Kael—?"
Seryn paused mid-step.
His eyes narrowed with genuine interest.
"A child blocked one of my Cuts?"
Kael forced himself upright, though his ribs burned.
His voice came out rough but steady.
"If you want me…
you fight me."
Riven grabbed his arm instantly, furious.
"Are you insane?!"
Seryn placed a finger on one of the blades in his halo.
It vibrated—
a hum that made the air bleed.
"To fight you?"
His voice was soft.
"No.
I kill you."
He flicked the blade.
The world inverted.
The sky bent into a spiral.
Kael felt the attack before it existed—
pure killing intent
pure precision
a line of death
a cut through EVERYTHING
Riven screamed—
"KAEL!"
Kael lifted his hand.
Shards surged—
more than he'd ever summoned.
Fifty.
Sixty.
Hundreds flickered into existence for a split second.
The blade hit.
The shockwave blew apart half the platform.
Stone exploded into dust.
The air tore open.
Kael was thrown backward—
slamming into a pillar of solid lightning.
His lungs emptied.
Blood filled his mouth.
Riven was blown clear off the platform—
only saved by grabbing a railing made of condensed wind.
Mr. Han lay motionless.
Kael forced himself up.
Seryn floated toward him, steps touching nothing.
"Good.
Very good."
His gaze sharpened.
"You didn't block that attack.
Your imprint did."
Kael's fractured shadow now stood behind him—
legs
arms
a torso
a half-formed crown crackling with Shard Dominion.
Seryn smiled.
"Beautiful."
Kael coughed blood.
"You… knew him."
Seryn's face didn't change—
but the storm darkened.
"Yes.
I knew the Fractured King."
A blade spun around him, faster, hungrier.
"I killed him."
Kael's breath caught.
Seryn continued walking forward, calm as a falling feather.
"He broke the Labyrinth. He threatened everything.
He refused order.
Refused obedience.
Refused to kneel."
Kael clenched his fists.
"And you killed him for it."
"Yes," Seryn said simply.
"And I will kill you for the same reason."
The blades began to orbit faster.
Riven screamed from across the platform, voice cracking with terror.
"KAEL, YOU CANNOT FIGHT HIM! RUN!"
Seryn turned his head slightly.
"I dislike interruptions."
He raised his hand toward Riven—
a blade rippled in the air.
Kael moved before he realized what he was doing.
His Dominion erupted.
A pulse of blue crack-light blasted outward.
Seryn froze.
A line of fracture appeared across one of his floating blades—
minor
tiny
but real.
Seryn looked at the cracked blade in absolute silence.
Then slowly turned back to Kael.
"…How?"
Kael's heartbeat thundered.
But he stepped forward anyway.
"I won't let you harm them."
Seryn stared at him with an expression Kael could not read.
Shock?
Curiosity?
Recognition?
Then Seryn whispered:
"Show me."
The sky detonated.
A storm descended with him.
Seryn vanished.
Kael felt the world bend—
Seryn was behind him.
Kael spun and fired a shard.
Seryn stepped aside effortlessly.
Cuts rained in every direction—
slicing towers, platforms, entire chunks of sky-floor.
Kael dodged
barely
his imprint intercepting the worst attacks.
Riven screamed helplessly, unable to reach him.
Mr. Han crawled behind a broken pillar for safety.
Seryn appeared in front of Kael again.
"You fight like him," Seryn whispered.
"But weaker."
He tilted his head.
"And more human."
He raised his blade—
aiming to end it.
Kael lifted both hands, pouring everything into his Dominion.
Shard-light roared around him—
forming a sphere of fracturing energy.
A miniature Shardstorm.
Incomplete.
But desperate.
The two powers collided.
The impact cracked the entire spire.
Lightning shattered.
Wind screamed.
Platforms broke apart and fell into the endless sky.
Kael was blasted backward—
blood spraying from his mouth—
his shard barrier tearing into ribbons.
He hit the ground hard.
His vision swam.
He tasted iron and glass.
Seryn lowered his blade, voice calm.
"You are not ready.
But you will be."
He extended his hand.
A single glowing feather drifted down—
black and sharp as obsidian.
It landed beside Kael.
"A marker," Seryn said.
"A promise."
His obsidian eyes glowed.
"When you reach Floor One Hundred…"
His voice deepened.
"…I will kill you properly."
Lightning swallowed him.
The storm folded inward.
And Seryn vanished.
Kael lay bleeding on the broken platform, vision flickering.
His imprint flickered too—
shaking
twitching
trying to stabilize.
Riven crawled to his side, grabbing him.
"Kael! Kael stay awake—listen to me—stay awake!"
Mr. Han staggered over, breathing hard.
"Boy… stay with us… stay… stay…"
Kael forced his eyes open.
Barely.
He whispered:
"I'm… alive…"
Riven nodded furiously.
"You shouldn't be."
Kael gave a weak smile.
"Get used to it."
Riven stared at him, eyes wide.
"You just survived Veyra…
and now the First Blade of the Eleven."
Kael didn't respond.
He couldn't.
He drifted.
Fallen into unconsciousness.
But before he blacked out fully,
he heard the Echo's voice—
cold
satisfied
hungry
Good.
You have awakened their fear.
And Kael fell into the dark.