[Critical Alert: Corruption Leak Expanding.]
That's how the System equivalent of a heart attack feels.
Every warning light I had was flashing red.
Kael stood on the scorched stones of his courtyard, watching the hero's army retreat like ants fleeing boiling water. His blade dripped gold and blood. His breathing was calm—too calm.
"So," he murmured, "the Light's chosen has fallen back."
[Correction: Temporarily retreated. Status: Alive.]
"Alive?" Kael's tone shifted. "Unacceptable."
I resisted the urge to yell. We literally almost died five minutes ago!
[New Objective: Contain Corruption before Host explodes like a demonic piñata.]
Kael sheathed his sword with an audible shhhk. The sound echoed through the ruined keep. "Then tell me, System, how does one… contain this?"
I hesitated. Technically, the only stable solution was isolation inside a spiritual conduit.
Unfortunately, there was only one in existence: Lira Valeheart, Archmage of the Northern Sanctum.
Kael had killed her in the original timeline.
[Long answer: We need a conduit. Short answer: Don't die.]
He chuckled. "You amuse me, voice."
Great. I'm comic relief and a glorified firewall.
The next few hours were spent stabilizing the keep.
Undead servants repaired the walls. Infernal engineers—small gremlin-like creatures—scurried across battlements, reforging defenses.
I accessed every file I could find. Kael Draven wasn't just a tyrant. He'd been a scholar, a warrior, and a strategist so dangerous that the gods themselves tagged him as a "containment threat."
In other words, my host was the final exam of every fantasy story ever written.
[Host psyche stabilized at 59%. Progress: Acceptable.]
"You sound almost proud, voice."
[You haven't stabbed anyone for five minutes. I call that progress.]
He smirked. "Careful, System. You'll make me sentimental."
And then, out of nowhere—
[New Signal Detected.]
A ripple of divine energy shimmered on the edge of my perception.
Someone was watching us.
[Recommendation: Hide your aura. Immediately.]
"From who?"
Before I could answer, a whisper echoed across the ruins.
"Kael Draven… so you live."
A woman stood beyond the smoke—robes of white trimmed in gold, staff glowing like dawn.
Lira Valeheart.
Of course.
Of course she'd show up now.
[Corruption leak: stabilized target = Lira Valeheart.]
Oh no.