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Chapter 33: The Devil Walks Free
The tunnel yawned behind them, black and wet with dripping water. The air inside had been thick, suffocating, and heavy with the memory of chains and blood. But now the survivors stood at the mouth of the wound, where broken stone gave way to open night.Kael stepped out first.His boots pressed into the dirt, and for a moment he just stood there, staring at the sky. The stars looked dim and far away, scattered over a canvas of endless black. He inhaled deeply, drawing in the cold air of freedom, though it still smelled faintly of ash. The shard inside him pulsed with every breath, whispering. The world waits. Walk it. Bind it.The survivors followed in fits and starts, stumbling as if they had forgotten how to walk beneath the heavens. Some stopped as soon as their feet hit the dirt, staring upward as though the sight of stars were a miracle. A few collapsed, clutching the ground, pressing their foreheads against the earth. One of them whispered, “We are alive. We are alive.”None of
Chapter 32: Chains Unleashed
The chamber smelled of blood, burned stone, and fear. Every surface bore cracks from the battle, and the crimson chains binding the Horror glowed faintly, still humming with power. Kael stood at the center, chest rising and falling, his aura pulsing in sync with the monster’s slow, shuddering breaths.He had done it. The impossible.The Horror lay chained, pinned to the floor and wall by bonds carved from his will and the shard’s command. The runes etched into the ground glimmered faintly, like embers refusing to die.But silence never lasted long around power.The shard beat inside Kael’s chest like a second heart, each pulse whispering insistently. Test it. Stretch the chains. See if it kneels when you command it.He raised his hand. The crimson bindings tightened with a creak like iron bending under strain.The Horror twitched. Its tendrils writhed in jerking motions, as though remembering freedom, as though ready to lash out and tear everything apart. The recruits closest to it sc
Chapter 31: The Devil's Mark
The chamber stank of blood and smoke. Dust drifted down from the cracked ceiling in a slow, choking rain, settling on stone shattered by battle. The Bound Horror lay collapsed at the center, wrapped in burning crimson chains that hissed with each twitch of its vast, shapeless body. Every time it strained, Kael’s bindings groaned and tightened, glowing brighter, sinking deeper into nightmare flesh.Kael stood over it, chest heaving, blood running down his chin. His limbs shook with exhaustion, and every breath felt like fire in his lungs. Yet his crimson eyes blazed, and the shard embedded in his chest throbbed with a violent rhythm.The System whispered in his mind.[Bound Entity: The Horror.][State: Dormant.][Connection Established.][Warning: Maintaining control drains host vitality.][Symptoms may include: blood loss, organ strain, mental corruption.][Proceed at your own risk.]Kael spat blood onto the floor and smiled through the pain. “Risk? That word belongs to mortals.”The
Chapter 30: The Devil's Chains
The last chain shattered with a sound like thunder, silver sparks raining across the ancient chamber. The walls groaned as if the very stones feared what had been unleashed. From the pit at the center rose a shape of madness and shadow, its body too vast, too formless, to belong to any natural creature. The Bound Horror was no longer chained, no longer muzzled by divine seals.It screamed.The sound was a hundred screams layered together—men, women, children, warriors, priests—all crying out in terror at once. The stone floor split beneath the weight of its voice, cracks running outward like lightning. Black ichor boiled up from the pit, flooding across the chamber, stinking of rot and despair.The recruits broke first. One dropped his sword and clawed at his own ears until blood poured through his fingers. Another stumbled back, fell to his knees, and whispered prayers to gods that had already abandoned him. The third stared, wide-eyed, his lips moving soundlessly as if his mind had
Chapter 29: The Bound Horror
The chamber was alive.Every surface trembled as though the Rotten Sanctum itself felt dread. The pit boiled, black water splashing against the cracked stone as something vast pushed from beneath. The air was too thick to breathe, heavy with the taste of iron and rot. Even the walls seemed to quiver, runes flickering in sickly silver as if they too fought to contain what was about to rise.The boy stood at the edge, his bare toes dipping into the fetid water, eyes half-lidded as whispers slid from his mouth. “It waits. It listens. It hungers.”Kael stepped closer, ignoring the stench, ignoring the fear that weighed on the air like a funeral shroud. His aura burned hotter, crimson veins crawling across the cracked floor, pushing back the creeping dark. The shard beneath his cloak throbbed wildly, beating like a second heart.The thief stumbled backward, eyes wide. “What is this? What have you dragged us into?” His voice cracked, high and ragged. He pressed his back against the wall, tr
Chapter 28: Whispers in the Rot
The Rotten Sanctum was no place for the living.From the moment Kael stepped through the warped gate, the air itself seemed to change. It clung thick in his throat, damp and foul, laced with the stench of mildew and old blood. The walls sweated black moisture that streaked down like veins, and faint silver lines pulsed within the stone as if the entire place had been carved from the flesh of something alive.The ground sucked at their boots, slick with rot. The darkness was not empty here, it pressed close, watching, listening.The boy led the way, small and silent, his bare feet never faltering even when the stone broke into slick patches of slime. His head tilted from side to side, as though listening to a tune none of the others could hear. Soft whispers slid from his lips, threads of sound that seemed to coil into the air and linger like smoke.“…chains broken… roots bleeding… eyes opening…”Kael heard the whispers and smirked. A child, yet he speaks like prophecy. Either mad or m
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