With the dissipated bodies of the final guardians fading into the pulsating darkness, Cid and Jinwoo turned their attention to the center of the vast chamber. There was no longer any immediate opposition, only the immense, overwhelming presence emanating from the heart of this place. It was the very source of the power that had corrupted this world, the consciousness behind the symbiote tide, the Black King.
The dark matter floor seemed to grow denser, more twisted as they moved toward the center. The air, if it could be called that, turned frigid—not with physical cold, but with the sense of nothingness, the very absence of existence that Knull embodied. Every step was a struggle against the pure negation of being.
The resonance in Jinwoo spiked to levels he could barely bear. It wasn't just a hum now, but a storm of primordial echoes inside his mind. He felt the vastness of the Void, the antiquity of an entity that existed before the stars, and the strange connection his own shadow power had to this source. It was terrifying, but also... a distorted form of familiarity that churned his soul. Their shadows stirred beneath his skin, not with fear, but with a kind of grim recognition.
Cid walked with a calmness that contrasted sharply with the atmosphere. To him, this was the "Cult's Inner Sanctum," the "Final Boss Command Post." The environment was an "Omega-Plus level environmental defense system" designed to disorient and intimidate.
Cid thought: Arriving at the primary point of contact. The primary target is in sight. The intensity of the psychic field is at its highest here. The designated Shadow Asset seems to be feeling the impact most intensely. I must maintain my Operational Integrity and assess the primary target's structural weakness.
Finally, they reached the epicenter. It wasn't a throne made of gold or jewels, but one carved from the very stuff of the living symbiote, a colossal, twisting structure rising from the pulsing ground. Fragments of the massive, broken chains they'd seen earlier were woven into the design, a reminder of a past, failed imprisonment. Everything about this place screamed power, antiquity, and the absence of light.
And sitting on this throne of darkness, was Knull.
It was colossal. Even seated, its figure towered several meters, an immense mass of black symbiote that seemed to absorb the little light in its surroundings. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, with broad, muscular shoulders, a powerful torso, and legs that fused with the throne. Its head was crowned with long, twisted horns that curved backward. Most striking were its eyes: two slits of pure red glow that burned with ancient intelligence and endless malice. Broken wings or appendages emerged from its back, extending like cloaks of living darkness.
Knull didn't seem to be doing anything. He just sat there, the embodiment of the Void in physical form, radiating a silent but absolute power. He seemed... weakened, as the System had said, or perhaps simply asleep in its vastness, but even in that state, the mere sight of him was enough to instill cosmic terror.
Cid and Jinwoo stopped at a respectful (or prudent) distance, their weapons ready. Knull's presence overwhelmed them, reminding them how small they truly were in the face of an entity of this scale.
Then Knull's red eyes opened fully, fixing them. He didn't move his body, but they felt his attention, a focus that was like being pierced by the spear of the void itself. And he spoke. His voice didn't come from a throat; it was a vibration in the very fabric of reality, a whisper of nonexistence that resonated directly into their souls.
"Intruders..." The voice was deep, drawn-out, filled with an antiquity that made the multiverse seem newborn. "...Creation... Always disturbing... The Void..."
His red eyes fixed on Cid, a look that to anyone more mundane would have meant instant annihilation.
"...A trifle... Dressed in stolen shadow... Believing...?"
Cid remained motionless beneath Shadow's mask, his composure perfect. Knull's stare, his assessment, was simply the expected response from the "final boss."
Cid thought: The final boss has acknowledged our presence. His 'Initial Dialogue Protocol' is activated. His analysis of my 'camouflage' as a Level 7 Agent is... incorrect in its interpretation, but correct in that it perceives something 'foreign'. I must maintain my 'covert identity'.
Knull's gaze shifted to Jinwoo. His concentration grew more intense, the resonance in Jinwoo becoming almost unbearable.
"...And you... The shadow... tainted with life... A perverted echo of my greatness..." Knull's voice grew more laced with disdain. "...Usurper... Do you think the Void... can be tamed? Your power... is mine by right..."
Jinwoo stood his ground, resisting the crushing influence. Knull's voice tried to claim his power, to sap his will. But Jinwoo had fought too hard, sacrificed too much, to give in now. His connection to his shadows was one of will, not forced inheritance.
"My power... is mine," Jinwoo replied, his voice defiant despite the pressure.
Knull tilted his head slightly in what might have been a sneer.
"Fools..." His red eyes burned with growing intensity. The symbiote mass in his body stirred, the throne pulsed. The air grew sharp with the power he was beginning to unleash. "Your audacity... Will be... cleansed..."
The tense calm was broken. Knull, the Black King, shifted in his throne, the mere intention of rising sending shockwaves of Void energy through the chamber. The final confrontation had begun.
Cid and Jinwoo prepared themselves. They had arrived at the Black King's Sanctuary, they had seen the Architect of Darkness. Now, it was time for the containment mission.
.
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