The Iron Gate lived up to its name. It was a massive slab of black steel and enchanted granite, three hundred feet high, wedged perfectly into the only pass through the Dragon-Back Mountains. High above, the barrels of Mana Cannons glinted in the moonlight, manned by the Empire's elite 4th Legion.
[Location: The Iron Gate - Imperial Stronghold]
[Detection: 5,000 Enemy Units | 12 Heavy Mana Cannons]
[Tactical Difficulty: Impossible (Frontal)]
"They expect a siege," Arlan whispered, his voice vibrating with the power of the Essence of the Forest. He stood on a ridge overlooking the fortress, his green-gold eyes glowing with an eerie light. "They expect us to die under their cannons."
"And aren't we?" Sebastian asked, his voice trembling. "Arlan, those shields can stop a dragon's breath. We have two hundred rebels and a wolf. We can't even get within a mile of that gate."
Arlan looked at the ground beneath his feet. "We aren't going through the gate, Sebastian. We are going through the foundation."
[Skill Activated: The Overgrowth]
[Mana Consumption: 800 MP]
[Condition: Sovereignty of the Void active]
Arlan slammed his hands onto the cold mountain rock. Instead of the sound of impact, there was a sound of growth. Massive, black vines—infused with the decaying power of the Abyssal Forest—began to erupt from the stone itself. These weren't normal plants; they were biological drills, reinforced by Arlan's mana.
The vines didn't attack the soldiers. They burrowed deep into the mountain's cracks, finding the weak points in the granite.
"What is he doing?" a sentry on the Iron Gate yelled, pointing down at the base of the mountain.
"Fire the cannons!" the Garrison Commander roared.
BOOM!
A beam of pure golden light erupted from the topmost cannon, striking the ridge where Arlan stood. Dust and rock exploded into the air. The rebels screamed, thinking their leader was vaporized. But as the smoke cleared, Arlan was still there, standing inside a dome of swirling shadows.
[Skill Activated: Abyssal Blink (Counter-Move)]
[Passive: Gaia's Shadow - Damage absorbed by the forest's roots.]
"My turn," Arlan said.
He twisted his hands, and the giant vines beneath the fortress suddenly surged. They didn't just grow; they expanded. The Iron Gate, the "unbreakable" pride of the Empire, began to groan. The sound of shearing metal and cracking stone echoed like a dying god.
[Fortress Structural Integrity: 85%... 60%... 40%...]
"The mountain is moving!" the Imperial soldiers screamed.
The vines had found the fortress's mana reservoirs. They began to siphon the power meant for the shields and cannons, feeding it directly back to Arlan.
[Siphon Active: 2,000 MP recovered]
[Strength Stat temporarily boosted by 50%]
With a final, earth-shaking roar, Arlan pulled his hands upward. A massive section of the mountain wall—along with the Iron Gate's foundation—collapsed. The "Impenetrable" fortress tilted on its side, the great cannons falling into the abyss below.
[Objective Updated: Iron Gate Foundation - Destroyed]
[Enemies in Disarray: 4,000 Units Panic-Stricken]
Arlan drew his Eclipse Blade, which was now wreathed in green-and-black lightning. "The gate is open," he told his men. "Leave no one alive to tell the Emperor how his mountain fell."
He leaped from the ridge, a dark comet falling into the heart of the panicked legion.
The Iron Gate was no longer a fortress; it was a jagged graveyard of twisted steel and broken stone. Arlan moved through the dust like a phantom, the green-black lightning of his Eclipse Blade illuminating the hazy air with every swing.
[Multi-Kill Bonus: +5,000 Exp]
[Current Kill Count: 421 Soldiers]
[Warning: Mana Satiation reaching limit. Suggest venting excess power.]
"Arlan! Look at this!" Seraphina shouted, pointing toward a collapsed section of the lower dungeons that had been exposed by the mountain's shift.
Buried beneath the wreckage of the primary mana-capacitor was a cell made of Void-Iron—a material designed to suppress the powers of even the strongest heroes. Inside, chained to the wall with glowing runes, was a woman with silver hair and eyes that held the coldness of a winter storm.
[System Analysis: High-Value Target Detected!]
[Name: Lyra the Frost-Walker (Level 35 Ice Mage)]
[Status: Malnourished / Mana Blocked]
[History: Former 'Saint of the Empire' betrayed by Valerius for knowing the truth about the System Core.]
Arlan stepped over the rubble, his eyes narrowing. "A Saint? In a hole like this?"
Lyra looked up, her voice a raspy whisper. "You... you have the Abyssal Core. So, the Emperor finally failed to kill his own 'sin'."
"He fails at many things," Arlan replied. He raised his blade and brought it down on the Void-Iron chains. With his Shield Breaker passive and the boosted strength from siphoning the fortress, the "unbreakable" chains snapped like dry twigs.
[Quest Update: The Traitor's Redemption]
[Objective: Recruit Lyra to the Black Rose.]
[Reward: New Party Member | Access to 'Frost-Void' Fusion Spells.]
Lyra collapsed into Arlan's arms, her skin freezing to the touch. "The Iron Gate was just a distraction," she coughed, blood staining her lips. "Valerius... he isn't just a King anymore. He is using the souls of the commoners to become a System God. You have to reach the Capital before the ritual is complete."
Arlan felt a surge of cold fury. This confirmed his darkest suspicions. His father wasn't just power-hungry; he was trying to overwrite the reality of the world itself.
"Seraphina, get her to the healers," Arlan commanded. "And tell the men to scavenge every bit of Mana-Steel from this ruin. We aren't just a rebellion anymore."
He walked to the edge of the ruined foundation and looked out toward the horizon. The path to the Capital was finally clear, but the enemy ahead was no longer human.
[System Notification: Sovereign Level 25 Reached!]
[New Feature Unlocked: Territory Management - Iron Gate now under your control.]
[Daily Resource Gain: +500 Mana Crystals / +1,000 Gold]
"The King wants to be a God," Arlan whispered, his hand tightening on his sword. "Then I will become the God-Slayer."
The dust of the collapsed Iron Gate began to settle, but the silence that followed was even more terrifying than the crash. Arlan stood amidst the ruin, his silhouette framed by the jagged remains of the mountain. He didn't look like a victor; he looked like a force of nature that had just finished its meal.
[System Notification: Sovereign Authority Detected!]
[Passive Skill 'Command of the Fallen' is reacting to the battlefield...]
"Arlan, we have a problem," Sebastian said, limping toward him. "We have over three thousand Imperial survivors. We don't have enough rope to bind them, and we don't have enough food to feed them. If we leave them, they'll regroup and hit our rear."
Arlan turned his gaze toward the thousands of kneeling soldiers, their faces pale with terror. He didn't see people; he saw a wasted resource.
"They don't need food where I'm sending them," Arlan said, his voice cold and resonant.
He stepped forward, plunging the Eclipse Blade into the blood-soaked soil. A wave of violet-black mana rippled outward, touching the shadows of every living and dead soldier in the crater.
[Skill Activated: Shadow Extraction (Level 1)]
[Condition: Target must be in a state of 'Absolute Despair' or 'Deceased'.]
"Your lives belonged to an Emperor who abandoned you," Arlan's voice boomed, amplified by the System. "Now, your shadows belong to me. Rise!"
In a horrific yet magnificent display, the shadows of the living soldiers began to detach from the ground. They stood up as tall, dark silhouettes with glowing violet eyes, mimicking the armor and weapons of their former selves. The living soldiers fell unconscious as their "soul-shadows" were harvested.
[Shadow Army Statistics:]
[Shadow Infantry: 2,500 Units]
[Shadow Knights: 500 Units]
[Mana Upkeep: 10 MP per minute (Sustained by Iron Gate's Siphoned Core)]
"By the Gods..." Seraphina whispered, clutching her chest. "You've turned them into an army of ghosts."
"An army that never sleeps, never eats, and never betrays," Arlan replied. He pulled his blade from the ground. "Sebastian, take the living prisoners and lock them in the lower mines. They will work the mana-veins to fuel my army."
Arlan looked at the System screen. His 568 views were just numbers to the world, but to him, they felt like the eyes of the gods watching his ascent. He knew the next move would be the most dangerous.
[New Main Quest: The March of the Silent]
[Objective: Reach the Capital Gates in 7 Days.]
[Hidden Reward: Unlock 'God-Slayer' Rank-1 Form.]
"The Iron Gate has fallen," Arlan declared, his Shadow Army saluting in a terrifying, synchronized clatter of phantom steel. "Next, we tear the gold from the palace walls."