The air split open like paper set to flame.
Kaelen felt it before he saw it the cold pressure, the sudden heaviness, as if the world itself braced for judgment. Even the system interface, flickering weakly after the seed's collapse, retreated behind an opaque veil.
Vos drew back instinctively, muttering under his breath. His gauntlet pulsed, not with readiness but warning.
"She's here."
Kaelen didn't need to ask who.
The clouds above parted in unnatural silence. A figure descended, slow and inevitable, black wings unfurling like the absence of light. Armor darker than void, trimmed in glints of nullsteel. No insignia, no face only a porcelain mask with three vertical slits where eyes should be.
And a single symbol burned across her chestplate:
A broken oathstone.
Kaelen's pulse thudded in his ears.
"Is that the Black Oath?" he asked.
Vos nodded. "Her name's Elarin. She doesn't talk. She doesn't negotiate. She just erases."
Kaelen's body still hadn't fully recovered. The system was partially offline, and his soul integrity strain was rising with each second. He barely had strength left to fight a wraith, let alone this.
Still, he stepped forward.
Elarin touched down in silence, her wings dissolving into ash. She moved with weightless precision, hand drifting toward the black blade strapped to her back.
Vos tensed beside Kaelen.
"Get out of here," Kaelen muttered.
"You think I'm leaving you with that thing?" Vos snapped. "I may be a bastard, but I'm not suicidal."
Elarin stepped once, and the world buckled.
Gravity surged for a heartbeat, then stabilized. The trees bowed. Mana ran backwards through the soil.
A faint voice crackled through Kaelen's interface.
[ System Proxy: Temporary Access Restored (27%) ]
[ Warning: Threat Level – Overlord Class ]
[ Combat synchronization restricted ]
[ Escape probability: 4% ]
The system's voice was hollow, like it was trying to shield itself.
Kaelen didn't move.
"Why send something like her?" he asked aloud. "Is the system so afraid of truth?"
Elarin's mask tilted slightly.
Then she moved.
A single blink and she was in front of him, blade halfway drawn.
Kaelen didn't think.
His spear came up, more instinct than will, and deflected the blade an inch to the side. The force of the impact knocked him ten paces back, skidding against the cave floor.
Vos fired a bolt from his wrist. The blast hit Elarin in the chest
And vanished.
No impact. No scorch. The energy simply ceased to exist.
"Her field," Vos cursed. "She cancels unbound constructs."
Kaelen coughed blood. His ribs ached. His limbs trembled.
But the vision from the seed fragment still burned in his mind.
He forced himself to his feet.
The system chimed again.
[ Emergency Override Protocol: Oathflare Access (Locked) ]
[ Unlock condition: Swear a binding vow under mortal risk ]
[ Suggested clause: Defiance against Core Enforcement ]
He stared at Elarin.
Her sword now pointed directly at his chest.
"Speak your vow," the system urged. "Or die."
Kaelen inhaled, blood pooling in his mouth.
He met her gaze mask or not, he felt her stare.
Then he spoke.
"I swear on what remains of Kaelen Ajayi, of Kaelen Vire, of everything you tried to break that I will not bow to this system. Not until I burn its lies to ash."
Silence.
Then
[ Vow Registered: Oath of Defiance ]
[ Clause Strength: High ]
[ Soul Surge Initiated ]
[ Unlocking Oathflare Core: 7%... 12%... 29%... ]
[ Warning: Oathflare usage risks permanent fracture ]
Pain ignited in his veins. Not fire... pressure. Like the weight of another life being squeezed through a smaller frame.
His eyes burned violet. The mark on his palm flared, and his spear elongated, reshaped by raw intention.
Elarin's blade struck again.
But this time, Kaelen moved faster.
Not enough to win. Just enough to not die.
The blades clashed, and the world flashed white.
They fought in silence.
Each blow from Elarin could shatter stone. Each dodge from Kaelen pushed him past the edge of his endurance.
But something was changing.
With every second the vow held, his system synced deeper. Old reflexes returned. Not from Kaelen Ajayi but from Vire.
He remembered.
Sparring against Darian under the watch of their master.
Practicing broken tempo to confuse enemy rhythm.
Ducking under a high swing, he turned and landed a strike not on Elarin, but on her shadow. The moment it cracked, she staggered slightly.
"She's layered," Vos shouted. "You have to break the shell before you can reach her."
Kaelen gritted his teeth. "Could've said that sooner."
"Wouldn't have mattered! She's learning you!"
Elarin's posture shifted.
She raised one hand.
The blade dissolved.
In its place, lines of light stitched themselves into a sigil over her palm. A null-vow an anti-oath designed to erase bound constructs from existence.
The system shrieked.
[ Null Vow Detected – Signature: Wipebound Protocol ]
[ Host's connection at risk ]
[ Defensive subroutine unavailable ]
[ Last resort: Consent to Symbiosis ]
Kaelen froze.
"Symbiosis?"
The system paused. Then whispered—
"It is the only way to survive."
"What does it mean?"
"Merge. Not with me. But with the mark inside you. The one left by the void."
Kaelen saw it again—the girl in the mask of bone and light. The Watcher.
She had warned him.
She had said the void left more than scars.
The null vow activated. Energy spiraled toward him.
Kaelen closed his eyes.
And said one word.
"Do it."
---
The world inverted.
Not shattered.
Not destroyed.
Rewritten.
Kaelen's body rose into the air, limbs limp. The violet glow around him deepened no longer just system light, but something older, colder, wrapped in whispers.
The Watcher's voice echoed in his mind.
"You've bound yourself to a deeper truth. But truth doesn't protect. It only reveals."
The system interface fractured.
[ Symbiosis Protocol Accepted ]
[ Host Status: Changed ]
[ Oathflare Ascension: Seeded ]
[ Class Update Pending... Classification: Unknown Entity ]
Kaelen opened his eyes.
They no longer glowed.
They consumed light
Elarin hesitated for the first time.
And Kaelen spoke.
"You want to erase me? Then try."