The battlefield was broken.
Not in form, but in law.
Physics screamed. Mana tore itself apart trying to obey the competing wills of two apex existences: Iden, now fused with the Sovereign Archon – Nox of the Ninefold Crown, and the Primordial Boss — a shard of pre-system divinity unbound by time or code.
Thousands of Iden's summons were already reduced to smoldering ruins.
But that didn't matter.
He was no longer commanding an army.
He was the army.
[Active Fusion State: Sovereign Synchrony – 100%]
[System Notice: Your body has become the Core Node of the Ninefold Legion][You have gained the Authority: Domain of Absolute Coordination][All Commands Executed Simultaneously][Mental Lag: 0.000002 seconds]
Iden floated just above the scorched obsidian floor of the Dungeon Tower's final chamber, surrounded by thousands of synchronized spectral circuits—each a sub-core of the Legion's intelligence.
Below him, Nox, his new Familiar, had assumed its full form: a winged citadel of light and dark, encased in spiraling fractal geometry. Around its core floated the Nine Crowns—each resonating with an evolved class:
The Titan Helm for Tanks.
The Ashen Bow for Archers.
The Gilded Horn for Mages.
The Obsidian Claw for Scouts.
The Crimson Pike for Warriors.
The Emerald Eye for Casters.
The Boneforge Gauntlet for Workers.
The Azure Fang for Sentinels.
The Ebon Star for Commanders.
Iden extended both hands.
"Crown Cycle: Complete Formation."
Nine pulses of mana detonated across the field.
[Skill Activated: Crown Judgment – Phase I]
Each Crown unleashed a specialized mass-class ability at once.
Archers rained kinetic meteor-bolts that tracked temporal echoes.
Warriors surged in red-blur charges, cleaving through reality seams.
Tanks locked the boss into multiple gravitational prison zones.
Scouts and Sentinels layered silent-phase mines around the arena's fractured platforms.
Mages and Casters opened mana conduits that drained and rebounded spells at 4x normal return.
Even the Workers deployed: they weren't there to fight—but to remake the terrain mid-battle, shifting walls and anchoring the killbox in real time.
[Warden Directive: Deploy Kill Vortex][Stacked Abilities: 47 Active][Summon Count: 1,376,256 – All Synchronized][Overall Control Efficiency: 99.7%]
And still… the boss moved.
He walked through the fused barrage like it was mist. Each spell slowed in his presence. Not deflected — denied.
"You're strong," he said quietly, almost respectfully. "But you're still bound to a structure."
He raised his hand and reality fractured again.
Twelve copies of him blinked into place, each carrying a different distortion. One was time-warped. Another was made of inverted space. Another carried entropy like a blade.
[Warning: Multiphase Dimensional Clones Detected – Threat Level: Incapacitating]
Iden's response was instant.
He didn't panic. He adapted.
[Mythic Skill: Thronepath Override – Execute Split Legion]
[Your entire summon army has been divided into 12 adaptive divisions][Each division inherits strategic autonomy and class optimization][Sovereign Nox has mirrored your will across all segments]
From within Iden's crown, Nox's voice echoed—not a beastly roar, but a command frequency that harmonized with Iden's own thoughts.
"Twelve Kings for Twelve Shadows."
And suddenly—
Twelve new sub-command thrones bloomed into being, circling the boss's clones.
Each throne flared with one of the Nine Crowns.
The battle fractured into twelve micro-wars, each adapted in real-time by a sub-army, while Iden floated in the center—his control never wavering.
Kael watched through the viewing crystal from the Tower's outer rim.
"Is he even human anymore?" he whispered.
Rael's eyes shimmered with awe. "He's becoming the System's answer to the Abyss."
Nyra… said nothing. But the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
Every blow from the boss was met with a counter—not by brute strength, but by overwhelming adaptation.
Time loops? Countered by recursive summons.Entropy blades? Diverted through mana reflection channels.Inverted space? Collapsed using Worker-class refractile hammers.
It was no longer a battle of stats.
It was a battle of command supremacy.
And Iden…
Was winning.
With all 12 clones surrounded and restrained, the boss's true form pulsed violently, no longer amused.
"So. The throne has chosen well…"
He raised both hands as the Dungeon Tower's core began to disintegrate into black snow.
[Warning: Dungeon Core Overload Imminent][Boss Preparing Primordial Self-Sacrifice Protocol][All Parties Will Be Pulled into Nullspace in 30 seconds]
Iden's system chimed.
[You are eligible for Domain Fusion Override][Would you like to consume this environment and claim the Core Fragment of Origin?]
The throne beneath him began transforming.
He clenched his fists.
"Accept."