Light tore through Kael's mind like a blade.
Not pain.
Not exactly.
More like… too much truth forced into a mind too small to contain it.
He staggered back, clutching his head as the shard's power bled into him.
Images burned behind his eyes.
Battles.
Worlds collapsing.
Monarchs kneeling in broken skies.
The Fractured King wasn't showing memories.
He was forcing understanding.
The Vault roared in response.
Its walls cracked, runes flaring violently.
Shelves shook, spilling shards across the ground.
A distant chorus of whispers—dead Monarchs—echoed through the hall like wailing ghosts.
Riven grabbed Kael by the shoulders and shook him hard.
"Kael! Stay conscious!"
Kael opened his eyes.
Blue light flooded out of them, bright enough to illuminate the vast chamber.
Mr. Han stumbled back.
His voice trembled.
"Boy… your eyes…"
Kael didn't answer.
He couldn't.
The world around him felt thin.
Fragile.
Every crack in the Vault's walls appeared to him like a living line.
Every fracture, every weakness, every faultline—he could see them.
The first lesson of Marrowstorm wasn't a technique.
It was sight.
The ability to perceive the world's bones.
The Echo's voice whispered directly behind him.
"Good. You see. But do not collapse. Not yet."
Kael forced himself to breathe, grounding his mind.
Slowly the blinding light faded from his eyes…
but the cracks remained visible.
Like a second layer of reality he could now sense.
Riven let go of him, stepping back cautiously.
"Kael… what did you take?"
Kael exhaled shakily.
"A technique. Or the beginning of one."
Before she could respond, the Vault reacted.
A thunderous BOOM shook the chamber.
Rifts opened in the floor, glowing blue and violent.
Shards floated up from them like panicked insects.
Riven cursed.
"It's waking the Wardens."
Kael blinked.
"The what?"
"They guard the Vault from anyone who tries to steal Monarch techniques."
Riven drew her blade.
"Run."
But it was too late.
Something crawled out of the nearest rift—
a massive figure shaped from fractures and broken stone.
It dragged chains behind it, each link carved with runes of imprisonment.
Its head was a mask of cracked obsidian.
Its body looked stitched from broken floors.
And its voice was a grinding noise that shredded the air.
A Warden.
The Vault had summoned it to erase Kael.
Text appeared in Kael's mind, carved into thought itself:
Warden of the Sovereigns
Tier: B
Purpose: Consume the minds of unauthorized Monarchs
Kael stepped back.
"That's… too strong."
Riven glared at him.
"No kidding. Wardens exist to kill Monarchs. Even living ones."
She pointed at Kael's chest.
"If you hadn't awakened the Echo's aura, it wouldn't even see you."
Mr. Han whispered desperately,
"We need to flee—"
"No."
Kael spoke louder than he intended.
Even he felt surprised by the steadiness of his voice.
Riven stared at him.
"You can't fight that thing."
Kael shook his head slowly.
"Not with strength."
He raised his hand.
The Vault's cracks pulsed.
Marrowstorm's first lesson burned through his mind.
Sight.
Understanding.
Every fracture in the Warden's body was visible to him—
thin lines of weakness
faults
seams
imperfections
Riven saw none of it.
To her, the Warden's body was smooth, unbreakable stone.
But to Kael?
It was already shattering.
Kael stepped forward.
Riven grabbed his arm immediately.
"Kael, you are NOT—"
He gently pushed her hand away.
"I can do this."
Riven's voice cracked.
"You'll die."
Kael didn't look back.
He took another step forward.
His shadow fractured behind him, mirroring the cracks in the Warden.
The Echo whispered,
"Show the Vault why it let you in."
The Warden roared—
a tidal wave of killing intent—
shaking the entire structure.
Kael closed his eyes and breathed.
Slow.
Measured.
He lifted a single finger.
Pointed at the Warden's chest.
And whispered,
"Break."
The Vault went silent.
Even Riven went still.
A hairline fracture formed across the Warden's chest.
A thin, glowing blue line.
The Warden froze—
as if shocked something dared crack its form.
Kael stepped forward again.
"Marrowstorm, first principle."
The fracture spread.
Crack
Crack
Crack
Dozens of lines shot across the Warden's stone body like lightning.
Riven stared, whispering,
"That shouldn't be possible…"
Mr. Han whispered a prayer under his breath.
The Echo smiled silently.
Kael opened his eyes.
They glowed faint, steady blue.
"Everything breaks."
The Warden exploded.
Shards of stone blasted outward like a burst of fractured glass.
Riven shielded Mr. Han.
The Vault roared in agony at the death of one of its guardians.
Kael breathed out slowly.
His legs wobbled.
Blood dripped from his nose.
It took everything in him not to collapse.
But he was alive.
The Warden was gone.
Riven rushed to him, grabbing his arm.
"Kael… how…?"
Kael wiped the blood from his lip.
"I didn't fight its strength."
He nodded toward the remaining cracks in the air.
"I attacked its bones."
Riven stared at him in open disbelief.
"That's… that's pure Monarch-level technique comprehension."
She swallowed hard.
"Kael, do you understand what you just did?"
Kael shook his head weakly.
"Not fully."
The Echo stepped behind him, its shadow towering.
Its whisper scraped through the air like a knife.
"He took his first step."
A second Warden rose from a rift behind them.
Bigger.
Faster.
Angrier.
Dozens more cracks began forming across the Vault.
The ground shook violently.
Riven grabbed Kael and Mr. Han, yelling,
"We need to run before the Vault BIRTHS an entire army!"
Kael looked at the growing rifts.
At the awakening of dozens of Wardens.
At the Vault's fury.
Then nodded.
"Let's go."
They sprinted deeper into the Vault—
toward the central chamber
where the Fractured King's legacy waited.
Behind them, Wardens roared as one.
And the Vault of Sovereigns began to wake fully.