The forest of Floor 3 grew thinner as Hayate walked, the twisted roots parting before him as though instructed by an unseen command. The sentinel's final words still echoed faintly in the air—
The abyss remembers its king.
Flare clung to his shoulder like a terrified barnacle, her flame dimmed to a nervous flicker.
"Hayate… I'm trying really hard not to scream right now… but WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FELL HERE!?"
Hayate didn't answer.
His footsteps were too calm.
Too controlled.
But inside, the Devouring Star quaked with something it had never shown before—
Recognition.
Not memory.
Recognition.
As if this place was familiar in a way that predated memory itself.
A faint blue pulse illuminated the fog.
The path opened, revealing a wide clearing dominated by a spiraling descent—an ancient stone staircase carved deep into the earth like a titan's spiraling jaw.
Floor 4's entrance.
A cold, rhythmic thrum rose from the depths.
thum… thum… thum…
Flare shuddered.
"That… doesn't sound like a dungeon. That sounds like… a heartbeat."
Hayate stopped at the edge of the stone staircase.
Two massive statues—armor-clad guardians similar to the sentinel—stood on either side of the entrance. Both were cracked, damaged, and kneeling.
Not destroyed.
Kneeling.
With their heads lowered toward Hayate's direction, as if awaiting a returning sovereign.
Flare trembled.
"I-I'm starting to think this isn't a dungeon… this is your… your…"
"Domain?" Hayate finished calmly.
Flare yelped.
"I WASN'T GOING TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD!"
Hayate placed one hand on the stair's railing—stone etched with runes older than kingdoms.
The moment his fingers touched it—
FWOOM—!!
A wave of ancient mana pulsed outward, blasting all fog into the air.
The statues trembled.
The ground hummed.
And a faint voice—distant, fractured, fading—whispered from below:
"…you have… returned…"
Flare's flame nearly went out.
"WHO KEEPS SAYING THAT!? WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK YOU WORK HERE!?"
Hayate descended the first step.
The dungeon shifted in response.
The spiral descent grew darker the deeper they went, runes flickering weakly as though struggling to cling to consciousness. Flare stayed close, whispering rapid-fire panic.
"H-Hayate… I know you're calm but—please don't tell me you used to be the boss monster… or the dungeon king… or—or—"
Hayate cut her off.
"No."
She sighed in relief.
"…but I may have been something worse."
Flare shrieked on the spot.
"WHAT IS WORSE THAN A DUNGEON KING!?"
Hayate remained silent.
But the dungeon answered for him.
A trembling light flickered below.
Not violent.
Not corrupted.
Not monstrous.
A soft, delicate glow—like a slumbering star.
The staircase ended at a vast chamber carved into the bedrock of the world. Blue crystals jutted from the walls, pulsing like veins of mana-rich blood.
And in the center—
A pedestal.
Upon it—
A throne.
Not grand.
Not towering.
Not ornate.
A simple obsidian seat carved with perfect symmetry, wrapped in faint chains of glowing runes.
Flare whispered, voice cracking:
"That's… a throne. But… who sits on it?"
Hayate stepped closer.
The throne pulsed once.
thum.
And a holographic echo—faint, shimmering, incomplete—manifested above it.
A silhouette.
A man.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed in flowing obsidian robes marked with the sigil of a devouring star.
He bore Hayate's face.
His voice shook the chamber:
"You have forgotten your dominion."
Flare's scream became a strangled squeak.
"THAT'S YOU—BUT NOT YOU—BUT DEFINITELY YOU—OH MY GODS—!!!"
Hayate stared at the echo with no fear, no shock—only a cold, analytical calm.
"I see."
The echo flickered, unstable—unable to fully manifest.
"You… fell.
You shattered.
You were reborn… incomplete."
Flare grabbed Hayate's cheek.
"HAYATE YOU WERE A WHOLE FINAL-BOSS GOD BEFORE THIS!?"
The echo continued.
"Your throne has waited.
Your abyss has waited.
Your power has waited."
Hayate asked quietly:
"What was I?"
The echo's voice softened—almost like pride hidden beneath centuries of dust.
"You were the Abyssal Sovereign.
King of the Devouring Star."
Flare fainted mid-air.
Hayate did not move.
He simply stared.
"For what purpose was I reborn?"
"To reclaim what was stolen.
To restore the devouring cycle. To return to the core…and awaken the true dungeon."
The chamber trembled.
Crystals cracked.
The echo's final words came out like a prophecy:
"Descend, Devouring Star. Your throne lies not on Floor 4. But far below—where the gods sealed your memory."
The echo vanished.
Silence.
Flare slowly regained consciousness, wobbling in the air.
"H…Hayate… you okay…? You just found out you used to be a cosmic dungeon king who the gods had to seal because you were too powerful…"
Hayate turned around.
His eyes glowed brighter than ever.
"We descend."
Flare squeaked.
"O-Of course we descend! Not like we have a choice! But—where!?"
Hayate looked at the floor—the stone beneath the throne.
A massive sigil shone faintly.
A hidden gate.
A sealed gate.
A royal gate.
He placed his hand over it.
Runes lit up.
The floor collapsed open.
A roaring abyss spiraled downward infinitely.
Hayate stepped forward.
"Floor 5."
Flare grabbed his hair.
"PLEASE HOLD ONTO SOMETHING—!!"
Hayate did not stop.
He dropped into the abyss.
As he fell, a whisper rose from the darkness below—
"Welcome home, Sovereign."
The descent to the forgotten core had begun.