Four days remained.
Four days until the 14th-day extinction countdown reached zero.
And the world—what remained of it—braced for whatever came next.
But Iden didn't wait.
The moment the Throneworld Crownfield Bastion stabilized, he summoned the map again—this time under full synchronization with the absorbed Core Fragment.
It didn't just show coordinates.
It sang.
A pulse in the deep.
An echo through twisted time.
And beneath the black waves of what used to be a continent, the whisper came:
"The Second Fragment sleeps in the heart of the drowned throne."
[System Notice: Fragment Coordinates Acquired]
Location: Abyssal Trench – Former Continental Riftline – Depth: ~12,400mDomain Marker: Fragment of the Tyrant Crown (Obscured – Locked in Sealed Sovereign Vault)Hostile Environment Flags:– Reality distortion: Active– Gravity inversion: Unstable– Memory echo resonance: Moderate– Entity Type: Primordial Residual Class
Kael leaned over the data node, studying the visual representation of the trench.
"That's not terrain. That's folded space.""Looks like the trench collapses in on itself every few hours. And… it's surrounded by Class V anomaly storms."
Nyra's voice was low. "We'll need a dedicated anchor team. High-tier magic. Full environment shielding. And… don't send basic summons."
"I'm not," Iden replied. "This isn't a conquest."
His eyes locked on the location—an expanding hole in the world's memory.
"It's a retrieval mission."
Mission Type: Fragment RecoveryPrimary Objective: Extract the Tyrant Crown core before it falls into enemy hands.Team Composition:
Iden (Primary Sovereign Accessor)
Nyra (Stealth Anchor / Abyssal Resonance Clearance)
Kael (Advanced Heavy Support / Field Necro-sync)
Rael (Pulse Sanctum Support / Biostability field maintenance)
New Familiar (Detection Specialist / Sovereign Pulse Attunement)
But the moment they finalized the plan, a new threat detection protocol triggered within the Throneworld's upper lattice.
[Warning: External Interference Detected]Abyssal Arc-Current rising from Sub-layered Reality Below the Trench.]New Entity Classification: Unknown Tier – 'The Drowned Claimant'Intent: Fracture Sovereign Link to Second Fragment
A thing stirred.
Once a king.Once alive.Once the chosen heir to the gods' failed dominion.
Now, it was forgotten.But not gone.
And when Iden reached for the fragment, it reached back.
"We're going," Iden said, sealing the gear manifest. "This isn't optional."
Arlen handed him a prototype shard-breaker rifle, embedded with a new warhead mechanism. "Try not to use this unless we have to. It'll burn your familiar out for 12 hours if you channel through it."
Nyra flicked a strand of hair from her face, already in half-shadowform. "So we go to hell, steal from a corpse king, and swim back through a reality rip?"
Kael grinned. "Perfect Tuesday."
And as the Throneworld's launch gate locked onto the trench's folded entry point, all systems came alive.
Because the next fragment wasn't buried.
It was guarded.
By something that remembered before the System.