Chapter 42: The Depth Below the Crown – Where Names Are Buried
Location: The Abyssal Crown – Sub-Realm "The Vein of Forgotten Kings"
The battlefield above had gone silent.
Where once stood the shattered Guardian of Memory, now only flickering fragments of light remained, drifting upward like lost souls.
But beneath the crumbled nexus…
A crack widened.
Not a crack in stone
A crack in time.
> [System Notice: Hidden Path Discovered.]
[Entering: Sub-Realm – The Vein of Forgotten Kings]
[Caution: Memory Depth exceeds standard cognition. Only those with anchored identity may proceed.]
Adexander stood at the edge, cloak whipping in the voidwind that bled from the depths below.
He said nothing. He simply stepped forward.
Kaien raised an eyebrow, walking beside him. "No pause, huh?"
Raik followed, rotating his shoulder with a grunt. "We've already shattered crowns. Might as well dig up the roots."
Velessia hesitated for only a second—then joined them.
She whispered, "Let's find what was buried... and why."
They descended.
Not through a tunnel, not a stair—
But through memory itself.
They walked across suspended fragments of past lives.
Floating halls. Shattered cities. Bleeding echoes of kings kneeling before thrones now erased.
Each step was a choice.
Each heartbeat, a test.
> [You remember a war you didn't live.]
[You recall a betrayal you didn't commit.]
[You feel the rage of a child abandoned at the gates of power.
Suddenly
SCREEEEEEEEECH.
A sound tore through the air like glass breaking against bone.
From the bleeding mist, they emerged.
The Nameless Host.
Twisted, human-like forms—wearing the faces of Adexander's forgotten enemies.
Each one a distorted memory, sharpened by hate.
They moved in silence.
Kaien tensed. "Those are—"
Raik: "Don't say it."
Velessia's eyes narrowed. "They're us. If we had failed."
Adexander drew his blade.
He didn't blink. Didn't breathe.
He walked through them.
The first enemy lunged. He didn't parry—he disintegrated it with a swing of his Fangblade, which pulsed now with Crownfire—a black flame born from memory itself.
The others followed.
Kaien danced between blows, his strikes a blur.
Raik brawled with thunder in his fists.
Velessia whispered in a dead language, her spells turning nightmares to dust.
But the enemies weren't endless.
They were echoes.
And Adexander?
He didn't echo.
He roared.
> "Your names were forgotten. But I remember what I made of you."
When it was done…
Silence returned.
Adexander stood in front of a great door.
It pulsed with crimson veins, the sigil of a throne carved into its center.
A whisper came from the other side.
A woman's voice.
Soft. Broken.
"Adexander… why did you leave me?"
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
Kaien caught the reaction.
"Someone you know?"
"…Someone I buried."
> [Memory Seal Detected: Origin Lock Approaching.]
The door began to open.
Blinding light.
A figure began to emerge—
Her silhouette familiar.
And from somewhere deep in Adexander's soul, a name fought to rise.
But the system interrupted—
> [Warning: Core Memory Unstable.]
Then…
Darkness.
And laughter.
A new presence had arrived.
Not a ghost.
Not a Guardian.
But a Kingkiller.
> To be continued…