The battlefield hushed—like the world itself had paused to witness divinity.
Iden stood beneath the descending construct—the Throne of the Ninefold Legion, an intricate lattice of bone and celestial steel hovering mid-air, rotating with arcane gears and radiant glyphs. Nine banners whipped in the mana-torn wind behind him, each representing one of the ancient Undying Domains now bound under his command.
[Class: Bone Sovereign – Godforged Ascendant (Hybrid)]
• Passive: Dominus Invocation – All summoned units now act on instinctual synchronized priority, reducing command delay by 75%.• Passive: Sovereign's Memory Web – Your commands are stored in a lattice of cognitive formations. You may now issue 15-layered command sets in 0.4 seconds.
• Active (NEW): Throne of the Ninefold Legion—Summon your seat of power. Increases summon control radius by 600%, mana capacity by 300%, and instills Mythic-level morale in all subordinates. Each banner unlocks a strategic function.
Iden stepped onto the throne, which floated at shoulder height.
And the battlefield shifted.
Varnaxis—the Warden—shuddered as its second eye snapped wide. Its shell peeled apart like a cocoon, revealing something no longer mortal. Its limbs elongated. Its tendrils became whips of liquid void. Symbols—old as the first abyss—burned on its skin.
It spoke, for the first time.
Not with words, but with meaning:
"YOU ARE NOT CHOSEN. YOU WERE FORGED. UNTRUE. YOU DEFY THE SEQUENCE."
The Warden's corruption flared, infecting the sky. Black comets of liquid malice struck down from the clouds, hammering the western ridge.
But the Legion had already moved.
[Banner I Activated: Conquest Protocol – Edge of Will]
• All summoned warriors gain +70% movement speed, +30% damage, and uninterruptible charge.• All structures within 5 km emit anti-corruption sanctified pressure fields.
Hundreds of thousands of skeletons surged. But now—they surged together.
They weren't a swarm. They were a symphony.
Every unit moved with identical rhythm. Wall-breakers formed up behind shield carriers. Mages cast synchronized cleansing fire. Archers fired with machine-like efficiency, creating lines of light piercing into the Warden's chest.
Kael, watching from the east flank, didn't speak.
He just activated the Tyrant Siegewalkers and whispered, "Gods... he turned chaos into an army."
The Warden plunged its arms into the earth—and pulled forth corrupted copies of the Sanctum's fallen. Mirror skeletons rose, smeared in filth and malice. Twisted Tyrants. Inverted Purifiers.
[System Alert: Sanctum Echo Inversion Detected][Warning: Psychological Sync Risk – Minions recognizing former allies]
Rael's breathing stilled. "It's copying their souls. That's why it waited. That thing studied us."
But Iden's voice rang clear.
"Then it's time for Banner IV – Redemption."
[Banner IV Activated: Redemption – No Light Unseen]
• All corrupted enemies based on Sanctum soulprints now receive compounding damage per command cycle.• Skeletons with matching memory threads may auto-purge the fakes on contact.
The first clash came at the inner western bridge.
And the corrupted army cracked.
Original skeletons surged into their fallen replicas—not clashing, but overwhelming them. When they touched, light erupted. The Throne's mana lattice recognized the soulprint divergence and erased the impostors in bursts of mythic fire.
[Purge Effect Successful: 12,488 corrupted echoes eliminated]
Iden's mind split into fifteen segments—each now operating independent strategic threads.
One thread directed siege-fire to the Warden's underbelly.One tracked corruption spikes.Three coordinated the internal command paths of each tower line.Nine? They controlled the Ninefold Armies—each banner representing a unique offensive doctrine.
[Command Lag: 1.2 seconds → 0.2 seconds (Sovereign Effect + Ascendant Core)][Summoned Units Alive: 2,352,088][Throne Stability: 97.8%][Warden Vitality Estimate: 66%]
The Killbox was no longer holding the enemy.
It was consuming it.
Iden stood tall, and raised one hand. Banner VII lit up—
[Banner VII – Final Mandate]
• Launch Sovereign Execution Protocol: Reduces one designated enemy's defensive rating to 0 for 12 seconds.
He marked the Warden.
Turrets whirled. Skeletons charged. Energy from the entire Sanctum pulsed toward the center—
—and the Warden vanished.
A gate opened in the sky. Runes from the Dungeon Tower. Dimensional interference.
[System Alert: INTERFERENCE DETECTED][Source: UNSTABLE DUNGEON SEALING NODE – TOWER BRANCH SIGIL 19]
Nyra shouted from a comm node, "It's retreating into the Tower! It's not over!"
Iden's lips pressed thin.
Not victory.
An invitation.