Samuel's POV
The storm had passed, but its weight lingered in the silence that followed.
My boots crunched against blackened gravel as I walked away from the crumbling ruins of Graveforge Citadel. The air still stank of scorched void-essence and dusted bone. The sky had returned to its bruised twilight hue—but it was... quieter now. As if the realm itself had exhaled.
Khareth-Zul, the Abyssal Crown, was no more.
I flexed my right hand—the Gauntlet of Demon had reformed around my broken fingers, molten cracks running along its surface, glowing with renewed intensity. The pain was dull now, washed over by the high of survival and the hum of new power coiling in my veins.
[System Notification]
> Title Unlocked: Kingbreaker
New Skill Acquired: Entropy Rejection (Legendary)
Effect: All forms of time decay, memory corruption, and void poisoning are nullified. Grants passive resistance to Primordial Energy.
I blinked.
"Primordial energy, huh? That's a new tier."
I paused by a jagged cliff overlooking what remained of the battlefield. My own reflection shimmered in the obsidian glass below—silver hair tousled by winds, eyes now glowing with violet flame. I barely recognized the man I had become.
Level 550.
Title: The Dark Knight.
Kingbreaker.
I sat on a fallen slab of stone, arms resting on my knees.
For a moment... it was just me and silence.
"…System," I finally said, voice hoarse. "You mentioned the Forgotten Pantheon. How many are left?"
The reply came without delay.
> [Remaining Forgotten Entities: 1]
Final Forgotten God: Mytherion, the Echo That Devours
Location: Vein of Worlds – The Shattered Nexus
Access: Locked until Abyssal Core is purified.
I narrowed my eyes. "Purified?"
> Initiate Core Purification Ritual?
Warning: This will temporarily suspend your abilities. You will be vulnerable for five minutes.
Reward: Gateway to the Nexus will open.
I chuckled bitterly. "Figures. Nothing ever comes free."
I looked to the sky again. Somewhere out there, Owen was likely pushing through his own trials. Henry too. And Roselle... whatever her motives, I knew I'd face her again before the end.
And Samuel Gebb?
The original?
His memories were fully mine now. His heartbreak, his downfall, his pathetic last breath in a world that mocked him.
But I was not that Samuel anymore.
I was the echo that rose from his ashes.
I stood slowly and stepped toward a nearby altar—a twisted monolith pulsing with dark light. The Abyssal Core hovered in my palm like a black heart, twitching faintly.
"Let's do it."
I slammed the core onto the altar.
Immediately, light exploded.
---
[System Notification]
> Ritual Initiated: Abyssal Core Purification
Time Remaining: 5:00
Pain returned like an old friend. My veins lit up, burning with entropy. My knees hit the ground as ghostly tendrils of void bled from the Core, trying to pull me into the altar.
"Not this time," I hissed.
I gritted my teeth, every muscle screaming. My memories fractured momentarily—visions of past timelines, of a dying Abigail, of betrayal, of Bardot's twisted smirk, of a young man crying alone in a foreign city.
But those were echoes.
I was no longer bound to their weight.
"Not... this time!"
At 0:04, the light surged—and silence returned.
The Core now floated before me, purified—pale silver with threads of indigo running through it like veins.
---
[System Notification]
> Abyssal Core Purified
New Realm Unlocked: Vein of Worlds – Shattered Nexus
Portal will open in 60 seconds
Final Forgotten Entity Detected: Mytherion, the Echo That Devours
Recommended Power Level: ???
I exhaled slowly.
Final one.
"System," I said, standing tall, "gear me for war."
> Affirmative. Enhancing all current weapons to Mythic Tier. Synchronizing the Dark Knight's Crown with Crownbearer's Dominion. Final synchronization complete.
Around me, dark armor reformed. Sleek. Violent. Regal. Purple and black flames shimmered across the steel. My new crown rested weightlessly above my brow—a twisted circlet forged from despair, victory, and raw purpose.
I stepped toward the rising portal—a swirling tear of mirrored light and pulsing entropy.
"I'm ready."
And with that, I walked into the unknown—where Mytherion awaited.
The last of the Forgotten.
And the final echo before silence.
________________________________________
Roselle's POV
The throne of darkness beneath me pulsed with cold, ancient energy — carved from obsidian and forged in the hollow space between dying stars. I rested my chin on my fingers, legs crossed, the silence around me broken only by the low crackle of cursed embers drifting across the floor like dying memories.
Kaisel approached cautiously. As always, he knew better than to speak without invitation.
But this time, he didn't wait.
"Queen Roselle," he said, bowing low, "there has been a disturbance across the veils. The weave of fate is fraying again..."
I opened my crimson eyes slowly. "Be specific."
He hesitated. Then finally said it.
"Samuel Gebb. He has claimed an entire realm. He calls it Ebonreach."
I felt it then — like a silent, invisible quake deep in my bones. The name echoed with a strange familiarity. Ebonreach… fitting. Beautiful. Violent. His flavor.
My breath left me slowly, and my long midnight-black hair began to shift of its own accord, curling like smoke, the strands no longer obeying gravity. Power flickered around me — enough to make Kaisel flinch despite himself.
I chuckled softly.
"So, the fool finally took a throne," I murmured. "And here I thought he'd just wander forever, chasing gods and ghosts."
Kaisel looked confused, but pressed on. "He's... different now. The System crowned him with a forbidden class. He's at level 550. The realms are watching. Even the old gods in slumber are stirring—"
I waved him off with a bored flick of my fingers.
"Let him make his noise. The louder the howl, the faster the pack follows."
He shifted uncomfortably. "Forgive me, my Queen, but I must ask—wasn't he your... enemy in the second life? You killed him. Yourself."
My lips curled into a slow, sultry smirk. "Mmm. I did. Then I kissed him while his body was still warm. Like I wanted."
He blinked at that. "Why?"
I stood then, the shadow of my crown stretching wide across the stone floor, eclipsing even the throne behind me.
"Because," I said, voice low and rich, "it was thrilling."
I stepped forward, each movement causing the air to twist and the walls to ripple with the strain of suppressed power. Kaisel looked away—he could barely meet my gaze when I was like this. When the full Goddess of Darkness stirred.
"He was too good," I whispered. "Too brave. Too pure. I wanted to ruin that... and I did. But only once."
Kaisel swallowed. "But in this life, he worked with you. He even—" He hesitated. "—shared your bed."
I tilted my head at him, amused. "A lot, yes."
His eyes widened. "Then why did you let him go? Why not chain him to your throne?"
My smile faded just slightly, becoming something colder. "Because this time... I wanted to see what choice he'd make when he shattered the rules. When he broke the system like I did."
I turned toward the great obsidian window of the throne room. Beyond it, the realm of Vanthelia stretched into the void — stars spiraling in impossible patterns, chasms of ink and chaos weaving through kingdoms lost to time.
"He's not the boy who begged for mercy in his first life," I whispered. "Nor the betrayed man from the second. He's something else now. A... force. A king without chains."
Kaisel spoke again, more softly this time. "Do you still want him, my Queen?"
I was quiet for a moment.
Then I smiled — not cruelly, not seductively.
But genuinely.
"I want to see if he comes for me."
And deep within my chest, under layers of darkness, danger, and forgotten time…
…my heart beat once, just a little faster.