Episode 61: The Ruins of the First Monarch

The abyss swallowed them whole.

The moment Kuro, Elira, Reina, and Akira stepped into the new descent, everything changed. The air thickened, every breath tasting like ash and rust. The black mist clung to their skin, slick and heavy, making even simple movements feel burdensome. Their footsteps echoed in an unusual way. Each echo split and multiplied; some sounded too fast, others too slow, as if the chamber itself twisted time.

The Ruins of the First Monarch had begun.

[System Alert: Zone – Final Seal Territory]

[Warning: Spatial Distortion Maximum]

[Warning: Identity Corruption Active]

Kuro exhaled slowly, emberlight flickering in his eyes. He had felt pressure before, but this was different. The shadows here didn't resist him—they recognized him. They welcomed him.

And that was what made it dangerous.

Beside him, Elira shivered. Frostfire wavered faintly around her hands, sputtering like dying embers instead of becoming a steady flame. "…Something's… pulling."

Her voice trembled, as if she were speaking from underwater. Her violet eyes flicked, and for a moment, Kuro saw not Elira, but many versions of her—child, queen, corpse—all overlapping before vanishing.

Reina cursed, tightening her grip on her daggers. "This place… it's clawing at my head." She pressed a hand to her temple, her crimson eyes flashing. "Tch. Damn it. It's trying to tell me I'm not me."

Akira's katana hissed free of its sheath. His calm voice cut through the air like steel. "Hold your ground. The Seal wants us scattered. That's how it breaks us."

Kuro clenched his fist, forcing emberlight through his veins. His shadow stretched unnaturally, writhing like living flame. "Stay close. Whatever this place shows you—it isn't real unless you let it be."

---

The path opened into ruins that defied logic. Black towers leaned inward, some upside down, some sideways, all pulsing faintly with runes written in languages that predated memory. Bridges led into nothingness. Doors opened into empty skies. Every structure bled shadows like veins leaking ink.

And in the center of it all stood the throne.

A colossal obsidian chair, shattered yet whole, embedded in the abyss itself. Crown-like spires jutted behind it. Its surface pulsed faintly, as if breathing.

[System Alert: Core of the Seal – Obsidian Throne Detected]

[Warning: Approaching the Throne without Identity Anchor is fatal]

Kuro's gaze fixated on it, his chest tightening. His shadow stirred in recognition, pulling him toward it like a magnet. For a heartbeat, he could have sworn he saw someone sitting there—a silhouette with emberlight eyes just like his own.

Then it vanished.

"…The First Monarch," he muttered.

Elira gasped, her violet eyes narrowing. "…Your predecessor."

Reina scoffed, but her dagger hand trembled. "Or your executioner."

---

They didn't have long to think.

The ruins shifted. From the broken towers, shapes spilled out—wraiths, countless and formless, but different from before. They weren't faceless shadows. They wore forms stolen from memory.

Elira gasped. Her mother's cold violet eyes stared back at her.

Reina froze, a specter of her disgraced knight-commander grinning mockingly.

Akira tightened his grip on his blade as a warped figure with his younger brother's face stepped forward.

And Kuro… Kuro saw himself.

Not as he was, but as he could be. Crowned in black, eyes burning with merciless fire, a throng of shadows kneeling before him in eternal chains.

"…So this is it," Kuro murmured, emberblade flaring to life in his grip. "The Seal doesn't just test strength. It tests who we are."

The wraiths screamed in unison and charged.

---

The battle was chaotic.

Akira moved first, katana flashing in arcs of silver, each strike clean and deliberate, cutting down the echo of his brother only for it to reform. His jaw clenched, calm mask cracking at the edges.

"Damn you," he hissed.

Reina darted through the shadows, daggers slicing like lightning. She met her commander's mocking grin with steel, slashing fiercely. "You think you broke me back then?!" Her voice shook. "I'm not that knight anymore!"

Elira's frostfire roared, slamming into the visage of her mother. The specter's lips curved in disdain, whispering: Unworthy. Unfit.

Her frostfire faltered. She staggered. "No—I…"

"ELIRA!" Kuro's voice cut through, grounding her. He leapt, emberblade cleaving through her phantom. His fire collided with her frost, sparks cascading between them. "Don't listen! You decide who you are!"

Elira's violet eyes widened. For a heartbeat, her mother's voice faded. Then frostfire flared bright, blasting the wraith apart.

---

But the hardest one was Kuro's own.

The crowned phantom stepped forward, wielding an emberblade identical to his own. Its voice matched his—deeper, colder.

"You will rule. You will conquer. You will devour everything, or you will be devoured. That is the path of the Monarch."

Kuro's chest clenched, emberlight surging violently. His knees buckled for a moment.

The phantom raised its blade. "Shed the chains of weakness. Let go of them. Elira. Reina. Akira. They're anchors weighing you down. You could be infinite."

Kuro's hands trembled. He saw himself—alone, eternal, untouchable. For a moment… he wanted it.

Reina's voice cut through. "Kuro!" She slashed through three wraiths, blood on her lips, and her crimson eyes blazed. "Don't you dare start looking like him! You're not a god. You're a stubborn idiot who doesn't know when to quit. And that's why we follow you."

Elira's frostfire surrounded him again. Her violet eyes locked on his. "…And that's why I trust you. Not because you're the Monarch. Because you're you."

Their voices pulled him back.

Kuro's emberlight flared, shadow and flame spiraling together. He met the phantom's eyes, his voice low. "No. I'm not your future. I make my own."

He struck.

Their blades clashed, fire against fire, emberlight exploding across the ruins. The impact shattered the throne's surface, cracks spreading through it. The phantom snarled—then split apart into embers, dissolving into Kuro's shadow.

[System Alert: Identity Corruption Repelled]

[Anchor Stability – 82%]

Kuro exhaled, shoulders slumping. "…Not today."

---

The wraiths scattered. The ruins grew still.

But the throne pulsed again, louder. From its cracks, a voice deeper than the abyss itself rumbled.

"…Impressive. You defied the shadow of what you could be. But the First Monarch does not yield so easily. Come deeper. Face me, successor. And prove if you are worthy."

The throne split apart, revealing a stairway plunging into a lightless void.

The Final Seal awaited.

---

They regrouped at the edge of the stairway. Akira's blade dripped with phantom ash. Reina wiped blood from her lip, smirking despite the tremor in her hands. Elira leaned lightly against Kuro, frostfire flickering steady once more.

Kuro looked at them all, emberlight steady. "…This is it. No more echoes. No more whispers. Just the First Monarch."

Reina chuckled hoarsely. "Finally. Someone worth stabbing."

Elira's hand tightened on Kuro's. "…We face him together."

Akira gave a quiet nod. "Together."

Kuro's shadow stretched before them, swallowing the first step. His emberblade flared bright.

"Then let's end this."

And with that, they descended.

---

[ To Be Continued...]

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