Chapter 3: The Warborn Throne, and the Seraph Who Descends
> [SYSTEM NOTICE: AETHER-XAL'THAR CORRUPTION LEVEL: 7%]
[ALERT: WORLD-LAW VIOLATION IN ZONE 018-B: CELESTIAL-DOMINION]
[RESPONSE INITIATED: PROJECT GODSLAYER – PHASE I DEPLOYMENT]
The throne room bled silence.
Black stone pulsed beneath my claws, corrupted mana seething in every crack. Torches hissed with ghostflame, casting flickers across ancient walls carved with demonic scripture. A council of warlords knelt before me — each monstrous, each deadly. Yet none dared raise their head.
Not since I'd ripped out the last one's spine for questioning my will.
I leaned forward, taloned fingers clasped before me.
"Report."
Dread-General Uthrak, his four tusks slick with gore, bowed low. "Halrion has fallen. The Divine Shield was shattered by your spell. The citizens are… compliant."
"You mean dead."
"Yes, my King."
Good.
A shattered world had no room for mercy.
> [WORLD SHIFT PROGRESS: 17%]
[TERRITORY CAPTURED: CELESTIAL-DOMINION — SECTOR I]
[SYSTEM MESSAGE TO ALL ACTIVE PLAYERS: "ZONE SAFE STATUSES REVOKED. ADAPT OR PERISH."]
I rose from the throne. The air trembled.
Even the ancient runes on the walls recoiled from me — a being no longer bound by the rules they had carved into this universe.
"I want the God-Forges next," I said. "The weapons buried in the Suncore Vault — recover them. Melt their altars. Twist their prayers."
Uthrak's eyes glowed with reverence. "As you command."
He vanished into black smoke, taking half the war-council with him.
The others remained behind.
"Speak," I said to the cloaked one among them — the only being who hadn't bowed.
Its voice was like bone scraping metal. "A herald comes."
I turned.
The citadel shook.
A pillar of light split the sky above us.
And from it descended a woman wrapped in divine flame.
Seraphiel.
The Arch-Spear of the Celestials.
The last living sword of the Throne of Light.
> [WARNING: ENEMY CLASS – ARCHANGEL SERAPHIEL (SSS+)]
[LEVEL: UNKNOWN | SYSTEM BLESSINGS ACTIVE]
[IMMUNITIES: All Curse, Mind, Corruption Effects]
[STATUS: GODSLAYER INITIATED]
My claws curled.
The hall trembled as she landed before my throne, wings unfurled, white flames burning away the shadows around her.
"Your sins call to Heaven," she said, voice calm, cold, absolute.
"My sins built this kingdom."
"I should have ended you in your first life."
"You tried. Your gods erased me instead."
Seraphiel raised a single hand. Her blade manifested — ten feet of radiant crystal, humming with every soul she'd ever slain.
"I'm not here to argue."
"Neither am I."
> [DUEL INITIATED: AETHER-XAL'THAR vs. SERAPHIEL]
[ARENA: UNRESTRICTED. SYSTEM MODIFIERS NULLIFIED.]
She struck.
The world fractured.
I blocked with both arms, and still I slid back across the obsidian floor, claws gouging deep furrows. My chest smoked where her light had seared through my skin.
She was faster. Stronger. Unbound by the limits that once caged her.
Good.
Because so was I.
> [SKILL ACTIVATED: SYSTEM CORRUPTION - STRAND OVERRIDE]
[EFFECT: ABSORB 2% OF ENEMY'S LAST CASTED ABILITY]
I roared, shadows coiling around my limbs, and surged forward.
I countered her second strike with an arc of corrupted lightning — stolen divine magic, now twisted black. She deflected, wings folding into a shield, but not fast enough.
The bolt grazed her, and her blood hit the floor.
Golden. Blazing. Righteous.
"Still mortal enough to bleed," I growled.
Her expression didn't change.
"If I must die," she said, "so will you."
---
The battle shattered the citadel's peak.
Demons scattered from the throne tower as the sky split open. Fire and light waged war across the clouds. Stars blinked out. Mountains cracked.
Neither of us held back.
I summoned storms of voidfire. She answered with celestial spears that pierced realms.
I warped time for half a second — just enough to phase past her guard and rake my claws down her side.
She stabbed her blade into her own chest — activating a divine counter that erased half the tower beneath us.
> [BATTLE DAMAGE: 71% STRUCTURE LOSS – BLACK CITADEL]
[NEW TITLE EARNED: THRONEBREAKER]
I was laughing now.
I hadn't laughed since the day they betrayed me.
---
Blood ran down my face.
My horns were cracked. My wings half-torn. My breath a rasp of flame and fury.
She knelt too — sword buried in the earth, left wing gone, one eye sealed shut by blood.
We were equals.
And the world was unprepared for either of us.
> [ALERT: CORRUPTION LEVEL REACHED 10%]
[SYSTEM INTEGRITY BREACH IMMINENT]
[CREATING BRANCH REALITY: "WORLD SEED – DARK ASCENT"]
So the System was panicking.
I smiled wider.
I raised one clawed hand — and called upon a forbidden command.
> [ADMIN OVERRIDE: INITIATE LOCAL REALITY REWRITE]
[TARGET: CELESTIAL-SANCTION FIELD – DISABLE ALL DIVINE CLASS ABILITIES FOR 60 SECONDS]
Seraphiel's eyes widened.
Her blade flickered.
Her wings snapped shut.
"What… did you do?"
"I rewrote the sky," I said. "Now fall."
---
The next blow knocked her through three walls.
When she crawled out, her armor gone, her skin burned, her eyes… were mortal again.
She coughed blood. Her hands trembled.
But still she rose.
"I won't… let this world… fall to you."
"It already has."
She didn't answer.
Instead, she activated her final command.
> [PROJECT GODSLAYER: LAST TRUMP CARD ENGAGED]
[RELEASING STASIS LOCK: SUBJECT ZERO – THE FALLEN KING]
The air turned silent.
Time stopped for a heartbeat.
Then I felt it.
Another presence.
Older than gods. Stronger than the system.
Familiar.
From my first life.
"No…" I whispered.
> [WARNING: SUBJECT ZERO HAS ENTERED REALITY – IDENTITY: UNKNOWN]
[POWER LEVEL: BEYOND CALCULATION]
[CORRUPTION LOCK INITIATED]
A rift opened in the sky.
And from it… stepped a man clad in shattered white armor. His sword burned with pure time. His gaze? Empty.
Not blind.
Empty.
As though life itself had abandoned him.
Seraphiel collapsed.
"I held him… in stasis for this day. He was your predecessor. The one before you."
I stared at the figure.
"…The First Hero."
He didn't speak.
He just walked toward me.
And with every step, the world screamed.
---
End of Chapter 3