The throne room was in ruins.
Marble pillars lay in fractured heaps, the golden mosaic that once depicted a glorious age now shattered beneath the clash of titans. Cracks ran like veins across the obsidian floor, and the oppressive aura of the Forgotten King hung like a storm cloud above the battlefield.
Neil Runders stood at the center, blood streaming from a cut on his cheek, the shimmering void of [Nexus Authority] swirling faintly behind him like an abyss threatening to swallow existence itself. His lungs burned, his heart thundered—but his gaze was sharp, alive with a fire that defied inevitability.
Opposite him, the Forgotten King rose from the crater Sophia had driven him into moments ago. His armor was fractured, his crown bent, yet his presence only grew darker, heavier. Black flames licked his form, and his voice was a deep, echoing snarl that made the air tremble.
> Forgotten King: "You dare scratch me? Mortals… you do not understand eternity. You do not understand ME!"
Behind Neil, Sophia Beth staggered to her feet, her white dress now torn and stained crimson, her hands gripping her glowing blade—Auriel's Judgment—with divine light leaking from its cracks. Her golden eyes shimmered, trembling not with fear, but fury.
Beside her, Joan Jace, the Fallen Goddess, hovered slightly above the ground, raven-black wings stretching wide, feathers smoldering like embers. Her once-serene expression was warped by the raw wrath of a deity scorned.
"Neil," Sophia whispered hoarsely, her voice trembling but unbroken, "he's not weakening fast enough."
Neil clenched his fists, a thin trail of crimson dripping from his knuckles. "I know… that's why we end this now."
---
[SYSTEM ALERT!]
> [Warning! Nexus Core Stability: 27%]
[Protocol Suggestion: Ascend to Stage 3 – Reality Override Mode]
[Risk: Catastrophic body collapse. Probability of survival – 4.7%]
Neil exhaled slowly, then smirked. "Four point seven, huh? Guess I like those odds."
---
The Forgotten King moved.
No warning. No sound. Only obliteration.
The throne room convulsed as a black spear erupted from his palm, tearing through space and slamming toward Neil like the wrath of creation. The air bent around it, and time seemed to freeze for a breathless instant.
Neil stepped forward, his hand raised.
"[Nexus Command: Authority Override.]"
The spear shattered like glass against an unseen force. Fragments dissolved into motes of light as the world itself bent around Neil. Space folded inward, reality kneeling to his command.
Sophia's eyes widened. "Neil… your Nexus… it's—"
"—Just getting started," he muttered.
---
The Battle Unleashed
The Forgotten King laughed, a sound that cracked the walls. "Authority against Authority? Very well. Witness the power that erased your gods!"
Black flames ignited across his form, twisting into a colossal blade forged from void and despair. His steps shook the entire continent. One swing—and the air screamed as reality split like paper, a tear opening to nothingness.
Neil blurred forward, Nexus energy spiraling like a cosmic maelstrom around his limbs. He didn't dodge the strike—he caught it. Bare hands against a blade meant to kill gods.
The throne room collapsed around them, mountains cracking in the distance as the clash sent shockwaves tearing across Aethyros.
Neil's arms bled freely, his bones fracturing under the pressure—but his grin only widened. "Is that all?"
---
Sophia shot upward, wings of light unfurling from her back as her system ignited fully.
---
[System Update: Sophia Beth – Ascension Achieved!]
> [New Title Unlocked: Archangel of Absolute Radiance]
[Skill Gained: Solar Dominion – Command over stellar flames.]
[Authority Fragment Assimilated: Dawnlight.]
---
She slammed her hands together, divine glyphs spiraling across her skin as a sun ignited inside the throne room. Heat washed over everything, molten rivers carving through marble as Sophia summoned a miniature star, hurling it toward the Forgotten King with a scream:
"SOLAR DOMINION—JUDGMENT FLARE!"
The star collided with the King mid-strike, detonating in a sunburst that swallowed the battlefield in searing white.
---
Joan moved like a phantom in the inferno, her wings shielding her as shadows curled like serpents at her feet.
---
[System Surge: Fallen Celestial Protocol Active]
> [Domain Expansion: Abyssal Heaven]
[Skill: Twilight Requiem – Reality erosion begins.]
---
"Neil," she whispered into the chaos, her voice a sultry hymn laced with killing intent, "let's break him together."
Neil nodded once, stepping through the flames as his eyes turned black void and starlight.
---
[NEXUS STAGE 3: REALITY OVERRIDE ENGAGED]
> [Timeflow Control: Activated]
[Dimensional Law Access: Partial]
[Warning: Core Synchronization Failure Imminent.]
---
The world froze.
For everyone except Neil.
Even the flames halted mid-dance, the Forgotten King's smirk frozen in contempt as Neil strode forward, hands trembling under the weight of power that wasn't meant to exist.
"Override reality," he whispered. "And break his damn crown."
With a flick of his fingers, time resumed—but not for the King.
The blade shattered, space folded inward, and for the first time since eternity, the Forgotten King stumbled.
---
"NOW!" Neil roared.
Sophia's starfire collapsed into a blade of pure stellar annihilation. Joan's wings curled inward, condensing darkness into a spear of oblivion.
Neil's Nexus pulsed, his veins glowing like constellations.
"TRINITY STRIKE!"
The three forces converged on the Forgotten King in a single, universe-shaking blow.
Light. Darkness. Nexus.
Everything vanished in an instant of absolute silence.
---
When sound returned, the throne room was gone.
The continent was fractured.
And at the center, the Forgotten King knelt—armor shattered, essence leaking like ink into the void. His laugh was broken, gurgling, but still defiant.
"You… really think… this ends me?"
Neil collapsed to one knee, coughing blood. Sophia's wings flickered like dying embers, Joan's feathers falling in smoldering arcs.
But Neil still smiled.
"Yeah," he whispered, lifting his hand as Nexus devoured the last vestiges of light, "I think it does."
One final command:
"[Nexus Absolute: Erasure.]"
The Forgotten King screamed—a sound that split dimensions—then dissolved into nothing.
---
[SYSTEM NOTICE!]
> [Catastrophic Synchronization Failure Detected.]
[Warning: Host Vitality at 3%. Death Imminent.]
Neil's body crumpled. Sophia reached for him with trembling fingers. Joan's lips moved in a prayer to a god she once was.
Darkness swallowed Neil's vision.
And then, in the void of his dying mind, a voice spoke.
> "…My child. You've done well. But this is only the beginning."
The tone was neither male nor female. It was divine. Absolute. Ancient.
Neil tried to speak, but the void swallowed his words.
> "…Rise, bearer of the Nexus. For the Fallen Goddess shall soon awaken."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…
---