The chamber was tearing itself apart.
Cracks webbed through the floor like veins, bleeding black light. The ceiling sagged with groans of stone, ready to collapse. Every breath was a storm of dust and crystal splinters.
At the center of it all, the Crownless Warden rose again. Weaker. Cloak ragged. Crown shattered down to three orbiting knives. But its sideways eye still glared, bleeding fury, locked on Asta.
"HEIR," it growled. The sound rattled his bones. "STOLEN SHADE."
The Black Knight's shadow pressed closer against Asta's back, silent but bracing. The hound at his heel snarled, hackles of black flame raised. The bound corpses lined the crack like sandbags against a flood, trembling with strain.
And beside him, shaky, bloodied, but upright—Lysandra straightened her ruined armor. Her pale gray eyes glittered cold as steel, unafraid despite the collapse.
"You bound a Warden's fragment," she said hoarsely, never looking at him, eyes fixed on the monster. "You're either insane… or luck's bastard child."
"Little of both," Asta muttered, flexing his gauntlet. His shoulder screamed where the shadow-plate had split his flesh, but the pain only sharpened his focus.
The Warden extended a shredded hand. Its cloak writhed like intestines spilled across the floor. The knives sang, orbiting faster.
[Warning: Rift Overload 95%]
[Objective: Eliminate Anchor or Collapse with Zone.]
"Guess that's the choice," Asta said. He lowered his stance. "I'm not collapsing."
The sideways eye pulsed. Black chains burst from the crack, whipping across the chamber. Asta ducked; one snapped past his cheek, slicing stone clean through. Another snagged a corpse-thrall and wrenched it screaming into the Rift.
"Hold!" Asta barked, shoving his will into the leash. The others tightened their shadows, jamming themselves harder into the fissure.
The Warden's knives shot out. Three streaks of black steel carved the air. The hound leapt, intercepting one with jaws wide, teeth crunching as shadow met shadow. The second scraped Asta's greave, sparking. The third hissed straight for his throat...
And stopped midair, inches from his jugular.
A pale hand gripped it.
Asta blinked. Lysandra stood at his side, fingers clenched around the knife, blood running down her wrist. Her eyes burned, not pale now but lit from within like stormlight.
"Not today," she rasped, and her other hand flared with light. Not soft, not holy—it was jagged, like crystal shattered under sun. She crushed the knife. It broke into shards of black glass.
The Warden's cloak recoiled, furious.
"You're not just some prisoner," Asta muttered, staring.
She shot him a sideways glance, lips twitching. "And you're not just Hollow."
The System pulsed:
[External Vessel Detected: Lysandra - Link Active]
[Shared Skill Access: Shardlight (Rank: E)]
[Temporary Boost: Shadow/Light Resonance]
Asta's shadow quivered. His gauntlet glowed faintly where her blood smeared it, lines of dark and pale light crossing. The Black Knight's eyes flared.
The Warden roared, chains whipping in a frenzy. The ceiling split. Stone began to rain.
"Move!" Lysandra barked, shoving him. They dodged opposite ways as chains shredded the floor where they had stood.
Asta rolled, slammed his gauntlet into the ground. "RISE!"
Shadows geysered upward, latching onto the chains. For a heartbeat, the Warden's movements stuttered, its control fractured.
"Now!" Asta shouted.
Lysandra leapt, her cracked armor clanging. She raised her hand; light crystallized into a jagged spear. She hurled it, straight into the Warden's sideways eye.
The eye shrieked, fissures spidering through its surface. The Warden staggered, cloak thrashing.
[Anchor Integrity: Critical.]
[Bind Attempt Possible.]
Asta lunged, gauntlet raised, voice raw: "RISE!"
The shadows of the broken corpses surged, the hound howled, the Knight braced. The Warden buckled—half dragged into the crack, half refusing. Its knives shattered one by one.
Then the System chimed:
[Warning: Vessel at Threshold.]
[Binding Crownless Fragment risks Shadow Collapse.]
[Proceed? Y/N]
Asta froze for a heartbeat, chest heaving. If he pushed now, he might collapse with it. If he didn't, the Warden might rise again.
Beside him, Lysandra's hand closed on his arm. Her voice, low, steady, inches from his ear:
"Do it. I'll hold you."
The shadows howled. The Rift screamed.
Asta's lips pulled into a bloody grin. "Fine."
He drove his gauntlet into the Warden's chest, bellowing the word that had become his truth:
"RISE!"
The Warden shrieked, crown exploding, cloak dissolving into smoke. Its sideways eye split, cracked, then imploded into the crack itself. The chamber shook like a drum.
[Crownless Warden — Shadow Fragment Bound.]
[Commandment Two Complete: Slay Chosen.]
[Reward Pending.]
Black fire spiraled into Asta's shadow, searing veins of cold into his skin. He collapsed to one knee, clutching his chest, teeth grinding.
The Rift's light sputtered. The fissure sealed, corpse-thralls crushed into ash as the crack closed on them. The dungeon groaned one last time… then went still.
Silence.
Dust swirled through the ruin.
Asta coughed blood, shaking. Lysandra knelt beside him, one arm braced around his shoulders. She was trembling, too, but her eyes were still clear.
"You're insane," she whispered. "And maybe… maybe you really are an Heir."
The System pulsed, final line burning across his vision:
[Commandment Three Unlocked.]
[Devour to Grow.]
Asta laughed, ragged and sharp, eyes glinting. "Good. I was starving."