Season 1 – THE CURSED SUMMON
Episode 6: Divine Execution
The angel descended like judgment given flesh.
Wings forged of golden flame beat against the black air, hurling rubble and ash through the crypt. The Herald of Eidros hovered above the ruined throne room, expressionless, as its burning lance reformed in its hand.
Its eyes met Ren's.
"You should not exist."
Below, the Warlord shoved Ren aside and raised his arm—only to have it torn clean off by a second lance of light. Black ichor burst from the wound. The Warlord didn't scream.
He laughed.
"That tickled."
The Herald shifted its gaze. "Corrupted shell. Do not interfere."
Ren stood slowly, rage boiling beneath his skin. The world around him had broken so many times—and now even the gods themselves wanted to erase him.
No.
Not this time.
He raised his hand, fingers trembling.
"Divine Learner… activate."
The system pulsed in his vision.
> [Skill: Divine Learner]
Target: [Herald of Eidros]
Result: Target is classified as 'Celestial Authority'. Skill extraction denied.
Note: Tier exceeds current soul threshold.
Ren's heart sank.
He was still too weak.
The Warlord pulled himself upright, blood soaking the floor, and tossed Ren his broken blade.
"You want strength?" the Warlord said through clenched teeth. "Then take mine."
Ren caught it—and his body convulsed.
The sword screamed.
Chains of memory coiled around his arms. Pain flooded every vein. His past lives, locked in the weapon, clawed through his skull like beasts.
He saw himself die 37 different ways.
Burned. Hanged. Betrayed. Torn in half. Stabbed by Lyra. Executed by Akio.
And through it all…
The system laughed.
---
Lyra leapt toward the Herald, daggers coated in black venom. The divine being didn't even turn.
A simple gesture—and her body froze mid-air, locked in time.
"Resistance is void," it said.
It raised its lance—
—and hurled it toward her chest.
Ren moved before he thought.
The sword screamed again.
His body blurred.
And for the first time—
he deflected a divine strike.
Sparks exploded as metal clashed with raw holy light. Ren was flung back, ribs shattering, but he landed on his feet.
The Herald tilted its head.
"Your timeline is… diverging."
Then, with emotionless calm, it raised both hands—and light engulfed the room.
---
Ren stood amid fire and ruin, body broken, lungs full of ash. The Warlord had fallen to one knee. Lyra lay unconscious beneath fallen debris. The Herald floated above them like a sun that had forgotten how to die.
Ren coughed blood.
He could barely stand.
But something stirred inside him.
Not fury.
Not revenge.
Clarity.
If this angel could kill gods, if the system could bend reality, then he needed more than strength.
He needed to outthink them.
"System," Ren whispered, "show me my skill fusion options."
> [FUSION TREE – Divine Learner]
19 low-tier passive skills stored.
One more required to initiate fusion.
Warning: Fusion may alter soul architecture permanently.
Ren stared at the list.
Then he looked at the Warlord's blade.
"…You said I could take your strength."
The Warlord grinned, blood dripping from his lips.
"Then take it all."
Ren stabbed the blade through his own stomach.
---
The pain was biblical.
But the system pulsed.
> [Skill Obtained: Cursed Memory of War – Tier A]
[Fusion Threshold Reached. Initiating Merge…]
Warning: Skill tree is mutating…
Result: [Divine Skill Created – RECURSION CORE]
Description: Grants the user the ability to record one moment of self-state every 10 minutes. If killed, the user will revert to the most recent recorded state, body and soul intact. Skill bypasses standard death.
Limitation: Three uses per cycle.
Ren dropped to one knee, gasping, as golden circuits raced across his skin.
The Herald paused mid-strike.
"Divine skill… unauthorized."
Ren looked up.
And smiled through bloodied teeth.
"Yeah? Eat a goddamn recursion."
The Herald stabbed down.
Ren's body exploded.
He died.
---
And came back.
One second before the strike.
Body whole. Mind clear.
He moved instantly—grabbing Lyra, ducking behind the broken throne, then flinging a rusted pillar at the angel. It bought him two seconds.
That was enough.
Ren carved a symbol into the stone with his blood.
The Warlord's memories guided his hand.
The sigil of the First Curse.
The air shimmered.
The Herald flinched.
Ren activated it.
The sigil burned black.
Chains of ancient sin erupted from the floor—not to bind the Herald… but to bind the system itself.
> [System Instability Detected]
[Command Authority Disrupted]
[Local Enforcement Disabled for 4 seconds]
Four seconds.
Ren sprinted.
He leapt from the shattered altar.
The Herald turned too slow.
Ren slashed its chest with the Warlord's cursed blade—
—and divine blood spilled for the first time in centuries.
The Herald screamed. Not from pain.
But from confusion.
"This isn't… in the script."
Ren stood over it, panting.
"No script anymore."
He raised the blade again.
But the Herald's body vanished in a burst of light.
Escaped.
Ren fell to his knees.
---
Silence.
Only the broken breathing of survivors.
Lyra stirred beneath rubble. The Warlord crawled toward his throne, missing an arm, his flesh unraveling.
"You did it," the Warlord rasped. "You broke the rule."
Ren turned, blinking tears from his eyes. "What rule?"
The Warlord collapsed.
"The one that says gods always win."
---
But far above, in the floating halls of Eidros' divine sanctum, the Council of Echoes whispered.
"The Learner has diverged."
"The recursion is active."
"The cycle risks collapse."
"Send the next Chosen."
In a distant village far from the capital…
A boy opened his eyes.
And Akio smiled.