The throne of shadows pulsed like a living heart. Its fire did not burn in light, but in an endless, devouring black that sucked warmth from the sanctum. Kael sat upon it, his back straight, his eyes glowing, the weight of the system humming through his bones.Around him, the cult knelt, their bone masks pressed to the stone floor. Their chanting rose and fell like waves breaking against a shore. But Kael’s thoughts were not lost in their worship. He was measuring. Calculating.The system’s message still echoed in his mind.[New Ability: Legion Command Interface Unlocked.][The Host may now bind followers into Shadow Units. Units gain resonance when fighting together.][Warning: Overextension without sufficient Void energy will lead to collapse.]Kael raised a hand. The chants ceased. The stag masked leader, ever vigilant, lifted his head.“You sit the throne, Crownless King. Your will is the Choir’s law. What command do you give us?”Kael studied them. Dozens of masked faces, warrior

Ray had known betrayal before.He had tasted it in the sneers of relatives who had abandoned him, in the cold indifference of comrades who had left him to die, and in the mocking laughter of enemies who thought him weak. But none of those betrayals prepared him for this one.The one person he had trusted to guard his back when the Void System was still raw and unstable was now the one pointing a blade at his throat.Kael.The scarred swordsman who had fought beside him since the Slums, who had shared fire roasted scraps of rat when starvation clawed at their guts, now stood with eyes glowing an unnatural crimson. The edge of Kael’s jagged longsword dripped with Ray’s own blood he had been too shocked to react fast enough when the strike came.“Why…?” Ray’s voice was hoarse, ragged from the scream he had bitten back.Kael smiled not the old crooked grin of a loyal friend, but a predator’s smirk. “Because you’ve become more than a man, Ray. And those who become more… must be broken. T

The chamber was nothing like the others Ray had passed through. There were no jagged walls, no rotting pillars, no echoes of war that clung to the stone like lingering smoke. Here, the darkness wasn’t merely the absence of light. It was alive. It moved. A low vibration hummed through the air, as though the void itself had grown a throat and was waiting to speak. Ray’s boots crunched against the floor though what he stepped on wasn’t stone but something more organic, pliant, almost like flesh. With each step, the ground shifted slightly beneath his weight, pulsing as if it had a heartbeat. He hated it instantly. “You have come far, little vessel.” The voice did not sound from ahead, nor behind, nor above. It blossomed inside Ray’s skull, a cold whisper pressing against his eardrums from within. His body froze on instinct, his claws flexing as the instinctual growl of his wolf stirred beneath his ribs. The Void surged at the sound. His shadow writhed at his feet like oil pour

The battlefield still smoked with the scent of blood and ash. Kai stood amidst the ruins, his chest heaving, his body slick with the grime of war. Around him the cries of the wounded mingled with the groans of the dying, a chorus of agony that refused to be silenced even by the flames consuming the dead. He had won, or so it seemed, yet the taste of victory sat bitter on his tongue, laced with something darker. His claws trembled as they retracted back into his hands, his eyes flickering with the fading crimson glow of the beast within. He could feel the hollow ache in his bones, the cost of what he had unleashed, and though his enemies lay slain at his feet, he knew the true battle had only begun.Elara’s voice broke through the smoke. “Kai.” She stumbled toward him, her arm torn and her hair matted with blood. Her gaze flicked from his face to the carnage around them, and for the first time he saw fear in her eyes not of their enemies, but of him. “What did you do?”The question sli

Night settled over the wastelands like a shroud of black silk, the moon a cold, silver coin floating above the scars of battle. The ashes of the Crimson Fang Clan still lingered, drifting on the wind, carrying whispers of death to every village for miles. To the common folk, those whispers were prayers. To kings and lords, they were warnings. To Kael, they were fuel.He stood at the edge of a cliff, staring at the horizon where fire still glowed faintly from the ruins of his enemies. His cloak whipped in the wind, his violet eyes reflecting the light of the dying flames. Behind him, Seris and two surviving allies Darius, the wolf blooded warrior, and Liora, the flame witch kept their distance. Not out of mistrust. Out of instinct. Kael’s aura filled the air like a predator’s growl that never faded.Seris’s voice finally broke the silence. “They’ll come for you, Kael. You know that, don’t you?”Kael didn’t turn. His fingers traced the hilt of his blade, the black steel humming faintly