The sky bled emerald lightning.
Storms of mana ravaged the continents. Titans fell in silence. Gods wept into broken voids.
At the center of a collapsing realm stood a lone figure — cloaked in obsidian chains, shackled beneath a monolith of silver roots that extended into fractured skies and dead suns.
He didn't resist.
He only watched… and whispered.
"Another cycle ends."
"Seal me again, if you must."
A thousand voices roared across time.
"You are a mistake we buried, not a being we freed."
The figure smiled, unblinking, as his body crumbled into black fire.
"Then bury me where only defiance walks."
The roots closed.
The world ended.
The seal shattered.
The gate didn't open — it evaporated, as though time refused to hold it in place.
From the void beyond, a single figure stepped forward.
Not monstrous. Not twisted. Simply…
Human.
Tall. Pale. Silver eyes without reflection. Cloaked in layered cloths of forgotten origin. His presence did not emit power — it devoured the perception of it.
Kael stepped back involuntarily.
Nyra's grip tightened on her shadowblades.
Even the system hesitated.
[Entity Analysis: Failed][Title: ???][Core Type: Null-Pantheon – Incompatible with Reality][Status: Primordial Fragment][Warning: This entity does not belong to your timeline.]
Rael's breath caught. "It's him…"
Iden's voice was low. "You recognize him?"
"No. But he recognizes us. He's been watching since the Riftfall. Since the first Abyssal tear."
The figure finally spoke — not in words, but in direct pulses to their minds.
"Your system is stolen.""Your throne is temporary.""But your defiance… interests me."
He lifted his hand.
"Come, child of structure. Show me if your evolution was worth the delay."
Iden stepped forward.
His aura exploded outward, forming the full battlefield construct of the Throne of the Ninefold Legion, now pulsing with the power of 2.7 million elite summons.
Spectral banners rose from the floor.Flanking formations locked into place.Magic lenses deployed across all cardinal directions.
[Command Structure: Deployed][Tactical Engagement Matrix: Synced – 97.1%][Summon Feed: Combat-Ready][Mana Core Integration: Complete]
Kael and Nyra pulled back as ordered. This was no ordinary boss. This was a system-breaker.
Iden's eyes blazed as he raised the Celestial Familiar Scroll.
[Familiar Scroll (Mythic) – Activated][Bond Initiating…]
The scroll burned away midair — transforming into a radiant sphere that dove into Iden's chest.
Behind him, the Legion's banners ignited.
[Familiar Summon Forming: Bound to Class Architecture][Name: ???][Type: Sentient War Catalyst][Rarity: Celestial/Mythic Hybrid][Synchronization: 12%... 25%... 49%...]
The boss tilted his head — the first emotion since his appearance.
Curiosity.
"So that's the route they chose. Fascinating. Let us see the result."
Iden snapped his fingers.
A million units surged forward. The killbox was active, but this time — the target moved faster than light.
The boss blurred — vanished — reappeared mid-air, his foot crashing through hundreds of summoned mages in a single, divine arc of destruction.
Iden didn't panic.
He issued a silent command — and the battlefield reshaped.
Turrets reconfigured into phase-lock towers. Anti-dimensional glyphs flared.
Then—
[Synchronization: 97%... 100%][Your Familiar Has Fully Awakened]
From the light emerged something massive.
Not beast. Not dragon.
But a throne-shaped living construct with wings of folded space, adorned with nine floating crowns—each representing an evolved class of Iden's army.
[Familiar Acquired: Sovereign Archon – Nox of the Ninefold Crown]
"Let's test your eternity," Iden said coldly, stepping onto the floating war-throne as it linked to his command grid.
The boss smiled for the first time.
"Yes… This will be worth remembering."
They collided.
And the world fractured again.