The Sinner's Banquet

The Lowest Dungeon

A heavy iron collar snapped around my neck, pinning my head flat against the freezing stone wall.

The two mages kicked my legs out from under me, forcing me to my knees. They attached heavy chains to my ankles and my left wrist, pulling them tight until I could barely move an inch. The glowing golden net that had burned my skin finally dissolved, leaving behind deep, painful marks across my chest and shoulders.

"Do not bother struggling," the older mage said, adjusting his white robes as he stepped back toward the thick iron door. "These walls are lined with sun-stone dust. Any dark magic you try to use will be crushed instantly. Enjoy your last night, demon."

The heavy door slammed shut, and the sound of three metal locks turning echoed through the quiet cell.

The only light came from a tiny magic crystal set high into the ceiling, casting a weak white glow over the damp room. I slumped against the wall, my breathing heavy and shallow. My right shoulder throbbed where Malakai’s light barrier had cracked the bone. The purple shadow hand was completely gone now, forced back inside my core by the holy energy of the net.

[Alert: Void Pathways are 40% blocked by Holy Energy.]

[Life Force: 52%. Recovery speed is reduced by sun-stone interference.]

"We are in a tight spot, kid," Kaelen’s voice said inside my head. He sounded tired, his usual rough tone lacking its edge. "Malakai knows exactly what you are now. If they put you on that altar tomorrow morning, they will use the sun-spire to drain your entire core. It won't just kill you. It will erase your spirit completely so you can never return."

I pressed the back of my head against the cold stone, closing my eyes. The image of Lily standing next to Malakai kept flashing in my mind. She had held that property deed so tightly. She had looked at me as if I were just a piece of trash blocking her path to the top.

"I gave up everything for her," I thought, a wave of deep bitterness rising in my throat. "I spent four years working in the iron mines just to buy her medicine when she was sick. I skipped meals so she could eat. And she handed me to the man who murdered our parents."

"She is a true citizen of the upper city," Kaelen remarked. "They do not value love or family down here. They only value status. She realized you were a risk to her new life, so she cut you away. If you want to survive, you need to stop thinking like a protective older brother. You have to become a predator."

"How?" I asked out loud, my voice cracking in the empty cell. "My paths are blocked. I cannot even summon my shadow hand to cut these chains."

"Look at your system screen," Kaelen told me. "When you devoured those ghouls and Julian’s guards, you did not just gain levels. You stored their raw energy inside your stomach. The sun-stone dust blocks your external magic, but it cannot touch what is already inside your core. We need to force a breakthrough."

I opened my eyes and pulled up the purple status screen.

[PLAYER STATUS]

Name: Ethan

Level: 17

Stored Essence: 450 Units

Available Choice: Spend 400 Units to force-clear Void Pathways? (Warning: This process will cause extreme physical stress.)

"Do it," I thought, clenching my left fist. "I do not care about the pain."

[Selection Confirmed.]

[Beginning Core Purge...]

A sudden wave of intense heat exploded from the center of my stomach. It did not feel like the clean, external fire of Malakai's magic. It felt like liquid iron rushing backward through my veins. The dark energy slammed into the golden holy blockages inside my chest, trying to tear them apart by force.

I bit my lip so hard that blood ran down my chin. I refused to make a sound. I did not want the guards outside to know what I was doing. My muscles tightened, and the broken bones in my shoulder groaned under the immense pressure of the expanding mana.

[Void Pathways: 70% Cleared...]

[Void Pathways: 95% Cleared...]

[Purge Complete. Holy Energy eliminated.]

The heat vanished as quickly as it had arrived, leaving my skin drenched in sweat. But the numbness in my right wrist was gone. A sudden rush of dark energy surged through my body, stronger and colder than before.

The purple shadow hand materialized instantly around my right wrist, its dark fingers glowing with a bright light. I reached up with the shadow hand, grabbing the thick iron collar around my neck. I squeezed with all my strength. The heavy metal bent and cracked like dry wood under my fingers, snapping completely in half.

I quickly cut through the chains on my ankles and left wrist, stepping away from the stone wall. I was free from the bindings, but I was still locked inside the deepest part of the High Priest's palace.

Suddenly, the sound of light footsteps came from the corridor outside.

I immediately dropped back to my knees, holding the broken collar against my neck and pulling the loose chains over my arms to make it look like I was still trapped. I kept my head down, hiding my face in the shadows.

The heavy iron door creaked open.

A single figure stepped into the cell, holding a small silver lantern. It was not Malakai, and it was not one of the white-robed mages.

It was Lily. She carried a small leather satchel by her side, and her dark eyes swept over the damp room before locking onto my slumped form. She closed the door behind her, leaving it unlocked.

"I knew you would clear the blockages," Lily said, her voice completely calm as she walked closer. "Your core was always different from mine, Ethan. You are too stubborn to die quietly."

I did not move. I kept my face down, my shadow hand hidden beneath my leg, ready to strike.

"Why are you here?" I asked, my voice flat and dangerous. "Did you come to watch them drain me?"

Lily stood just three feet away, looking down at me. "I came to give you a choice. Malakai plans to make me his official apprentice tomorrow after your execution. But I know he will eventually try to kill me too once he uses up my magic. I want you to escape tonight, Ethan. I want you to go to the outer factions and grow stronger. That way, when you finally come back to destroy Malakai, you will clear my path to the throne."

I raised my head slowly, staring into her cold, calculating face. She was using me again, turning my survival into another one of her political schemes.