Traces of The Sovereign Sin

Chapter 5: Dance of Death in the Underground Labyrinth

The air in the labyrinth grew thick, no longer smelling of cold stone, but of iron and a pungent, acidic rot that seemed to melt the shadows. Kael’s footsteps sounded heavier now, each strike of his boots against the floor resonating with a pulse of dark purple light. Beside him, Lyra’s shadow-clone moved with ethereal grace, a flickering silhouette of violet mist, while Isabella strode with her silver dragon-pride held like an invisible banner.

"Is the air getting thicker, or is my newfound Pride just making the world feel small?" Kael asked, his eyes darting through the gloom, the Obsidian Blade humming in his grip.

[Warning: Atmospheric toxicity levels rising. Corrupted Qi detected at 400 parts per million. You are within 100 meters of the Guardian.]

"It’s not your pride, boy," Lyra’s shadow whispered, her voice a translucent echo. "It’s the breath of the Behemoth. He’s been eating the failed souls of this Abyss for centuries. He’s turned the ambient Qi into a swamp."

"It’s disgusting," Isabella muttered, holding a glowing silver palm to her nose. "Dragon-kin usually breathe the fires of stars or the mist of high peaks. Breathing this feels like swallowing mud."

"Adapt or choke, Princess," Kael remarked without looking back. "We’re about to have a conversation with a creature that doesn’t care about your high peaks."

The corridor suddenly opened into a vast, vaulted chamber. The floor was not made of stone, but of a thick, pulsating carpet of black moss that squelched underfoot. In the center, a mountain of distorted flesh and bone slumbered. It had twelve limbs, each ending in jagged ivory claws, and its skin was a mosaic of hundreds of faces frozen in a perpetual scream.

"A Corrupted Behemoth," Isabella whispered, her golden eyes widening. "Rank 4... and it looks like it’s fused with the souls of the people the Pure Cloud Sect executed."

"The faces... I recognize some of them," Kael said, his grip tightening on his hilt. "That one on the shoulder. He was an Elder from a branch sect. He disappeared five years ago."

"They don't just kill their enemies, Kael," Lyra said, her violet shadow flickering as she felt the Behemoth's aura. "They use them as batteries to seal the Abyss. This thing isn't just a guardian. It's a garbage disposal for the Alliance’s sins."

[Objective Identified: Corrupted Behemoth. Rank 4 (Initial Stage).]

[Health: 50,000/50,000]

[Energy: Necrotic Void Essence.]

"50,000 health?" Kael let out a sharp, jagged laugh. "I have 1,200. This is going to be a long dance."

"It’s waking up," Isabella shouted, her silver horns glowing intensely. "Form up!"

The Behemoth let out a sound that wasn't a roar, but a synchronized scream from a thousand throats. The soundwaves hit them like a physical hammer, threatening to liquefy their insides.

"Isabella, left side! Divert its attention with your silver flames!" Kael commanded, his voice booming with the authority of the Sovereign Core.

"I don't take orders—"

"DO IT! Or we all die in a pile of faces!"

Isabella growled, but she leaped, her body a streak of mercury. "Silver Wing—Dragon’s Breath!"

She exhaled a torrent of holy silver fire that scorched the Behemoth's flank. The faces on its side shrieked as they burned, and the massive creature swung four of its arms toward her in a flurry of ivory strikes.

"Good! Lyra, now!"

"Applying the silk," Lyra murmured. Her shadow-clone vanished, reappearing as a dozen violet threads wrapping around Kael’s Obsidian Blade.

[Buff Active: Lust-Blood Siphon. Every successful strike restores 5% of Host’s HP.]

"Now it’s my turn," Kael hissed.

He didn't run; he used a Wrath-Dash, appearing beneath the Behemoth’s belly in a burst of purple sparks. He swung the blade upward in a wide arc.

"WRATH CLAW!"

A three-meter claw of purple energy carved a deep canyon into the creature’s chest. Black ichor sprayed, sizzling as it hit the ground.

[Hit! 1,200 damage. Vitality restored: 60 HP.]

"Only 1,200? That barely tickled it!" Isabella cried out, dodging a massive fist that shattered the floor beneath her.

"It’s a mountain, Isabella! We don't cut it down; we erode it!" Kael pivoted, his eyes glowing. "System! Is there a weak point in the collective consciousness?"

[Scanning... Logic core detected in the central torso, behind the mask of a former High Priest. Suggestion: Coordinate Pride and Wrath into a single focused piercing strike.]

"You heard the machine!" Kael yelled, parrying a claw with a screech of metal on ivory. "Isabella! Give me your pride! I need the focus of a dragon!"

"I've never shared my core with a Sinner before!" she screamed back, her silver hair whipping in the wind of the battle.

"Then learn today! Press your soul into the link! Lyra, bind us!"

"Gladly," Lyra’s shadow giggled. She reached out with violet tentacles of light, physically lashing Kael and Isabella together in a spiritual bridge.

"This... it’s overwhelming!" Isabella gasped. "His anger... it feels like it’s going to drown me!"

"Balance it, Princess!" Kael grunted, holding back a stomp that threatened to crush his spine. "Structure his anger with your Dragon-Pride! Make it a spear!"

Suddenly, the air in the chamber shifted. The messy, raging purple aura of Kael and the rigid, freezing silver of Isabella began to spin around each other. It looked like a dance—the fluid, sensual violet of Lust weaving the two together.

[Technique Synchronized: Dance of the Falling Stars (Sin Variant).]

"Watch the feet!" Kael laughed, the mania of the Sovereign core taking hold.

He moved in a blur. Every time he stepped, he occupied the blind spot Isabella created. Every time Isabella fired a silver bolt, it was preceded by a purple shroud of Lust from Lyra that obscured the Behemoth’s vision.

"Strike!" Isabella yelled, her hand reaching toward Kael’s back.

She poured her Pride Essence into his sword. The Obsidian Blade grew, turning from a short-sword into a four-meter-long great-claymore made of translucent, silver-streaked purple glass.

"TAKE. IT. ALL!"

Kael leaped into the air, the gravity of the room seemingly obeying him now. He plummeted toward the Behemoth’s central chest.

"SOVEREIGN’S PENANCE!"

The sword pierced the center face—the High Priest. The moment of impact created a shockwave that sent the silver flames of Isabella spiraling through the creature's entire mass.

[CRITICAL HIT! 15,000 damage.]

[Behemoth Stunned. Defense reduced by 50%.]

"It’s working!" Isabella panted, her face flushed with the shared energy. "But it’s trying to regenerate! Look at the souls, they're knitting the flesh back together!"

"Then we stop its hunger with my own," Kael said, landing on the floor with a heavy thud. He held the hilt of his sword against the ground. "Lyra, give me the Deep Lust. I want to drink."

"Are you sure, Sovereign? To drink that much filth... it will hurt."

"I’ve lived in filth for seven years. Give me the drain!"

[Unlocking Sub-Skill: [Gluttonous Drain of the Sin-Eater]. Warning: This will induce a 'Lust-Fever' after the battle.]

"Whatever! Just do it!"

Kael’s eyes turned entirely violet. His sword transformed again, not into a blade, but into a series of hollow thorns. He drove them into the black moss floor, which was connected to the Behemoth’s circulatory system.

"MY TURN TO EAT!"

A torrent of dark, gray energy surged up through the hilt into Kael’s arms. The Behemoth’s twelve arms began to wither. Its voices turned from screams to desperate gasps.

"Ah... ARGH! It’s... too cold! The souls... they're screaming in my head!" Kael’s nose began to bleed.

"Kael, hold on!" Isabella rushed to him, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind. "Use my pride as a filter! Don't let the voices in!"

"Isabella... your energy... it’s so clean..."

"Focus, you idiot! We're killing it! Just five percent left!"

The Behemoth began to dissolve into a black slurry, its Rank 4 core beginning to glow at the center of the mess—a dark, crystalline heart the size of a human head.

"Final... blow!"

Kael reached out his free hand and crushed the energy heart with his bare fist.

The resulting explosion of Qi threw everyone to the walls of the chamber.

[Behemoth Slain.]

[XP: 25,000 rewarded.]

[Sin Points: 5,000 rewarded.]

[Loot: Necrotic Void Shard, Dragon-Scale Ivory.]

[Rank UP! Rank 3 (Peak) achieved: Master of the Abyss Labyrinth.]

Kael slumped against the cold stone, the obsidian sword vanishing into smoke. The silence that followed was deafening after the screams of a thousand souls.

"Is... is everyone alive?" Kael gasped, his eyes slowly returning to their normal shade.

Isabella was slumped next to him, her silver dress torn, one horn glowing weakly. "If I wasn't... a dragon... I think I would have died from the spiritual indigestion."

"And the Empress?" Kael asked, looking for the shadow.

Lyra’s clone appeared, leaning over him with a worried look. "The Sovereign Core is stable, but as I predicted... the fever is coming. You drained a Rank 4 creature, Kael. You have enough energy to break through to Rank 4 yourself, but your body needs to process the Sin first."

"Where’s the exit?" Kael stood up, leaning on the wall for support.

"Ten meters ahead," Isabella said, pointing at a crack in the far wall where a sliver of real moonlight filtered through. "The Labyrinth ends here."

Kael walked toward the crack, each step feeling like he was walking on clouds. He reached the opening and looked out. They were at the base of the cliffs, just outside the border of the Pure Cloud Sect’s territory. The forest was lush, the night air fresh and filled with the scent of pine.

"Home," Kael whispered, though the word felt like ash in his mouth.

"Not home," Isabella corrected him, her golden eyes reflecting the moon. "A graveyard for the people who thought they could bury you."

"Wait," Lyra’s shadow pointed toward a pile of debris near the exit. "Kael, look."

There, discarded among the rocks, was a silk emblem of the Pure Cloud Sect. It belonged to Chen—the disciple who had pushed him.

"He was here?"