The sky was a wound—bleeding violet fire and black mist.The gate roared like a heartbeat of the abyss, pulsing waves of corruption that bent the air and cracked the mountainside.
And in answer, the world itself began to awaken.
Kael raised his hand. The black flames surrounding him coiled upward like sentient serpents, forming rings of sigils in the sky. The ancient magic—Eidolon Summoning: Mythic Rank Invocation—activated with a deep, thrumming resonance that silenced even the abyssal army for a moment.
The earth trembled. The wind howled. Mana poured toward him in rivers of color—scarlet, azure, jade, gold, and obsidian—each one twisting into an elemental vortex around the summoner who now stood unmasked before gods and monsters alike.
"Rise," Kael commanded. His voice echoed like the toll of a thousand bells."Answer the call of the one who forged your fate."
The first flame ignited crimson.
Pyraflame, the Flame Sovereign Drake—wreathed in living inferno—descended from the heavens. Her scales gleamed like molten gold, her wings leaving streaks of fire in the clouds. She landed behind Kael with a thunderous roar, her blazing eyes filled with divine wrath.
From the eastern river surge, water swelled into a towering spiral—taking the form of Aquara, the Tidecaller Spirit. Her body shimmered with liquid sapphire, her presence calming and regal, yet her eyes burned with vengeance.
Then came light itself.
A brilliance split the horizon as Luminara, Seraph's Dawn, descended like a comet of radiance. Six wings of ethereal fire spread wide, bathing the battlefield in gold. Her song alone banished the shadows from the nearby walls.
The shadows retaliated—forming claws, blades, and chains—until they merged into one shape: Umbra, the Shadow Stalker. A hooded silhouette with shifting form, its body made from the very darkness of the abyss itself—but loyal only to Kael.
The ground cracked open, roots and stone twisting upward as Terraxis, Earthshaper Colossus emerged, each footstep reshaping the terrain into defensive bastions.
Above, the wind screamed, spiraling into a storm. A colossal eagle-dragon hybrid descended in a hurricane's eye—Zephyros, the Skybreaker Tempest, wings like stormfronts, voice like rolling thunder.
Lightning joined the chaos. A titanic creature cloaked in thunderclouds slammed down beside Pyraflame—Voltaris, the Thunderlord Behemoth. Every spark that left its mane struck down an abyssal soldier before the battle had even begun.
Then came frost.From the mountain peaks, snow began to fall. The temperature plummeted. A massive, white-scaled serpent with crystalline horns coiled around the eastern battlements—Glaciora, the Frostborn. Her breath turned the air itself to frozen glass.
And then—among the gathered titans—two smaller armies formed.
Graknar, the Goblin Chieftain, stood at the head of his green-skinned legion, their weapons newly forged with Kael's sigils. Behind them, the kobold and beastmen clans howled in unison, their unity forged under the banner of the dungeon lord they now called Warden of the Abyss.
The earth shook once more.A shadow rose—massive, lumbering, ancient.
The Titan Lizard emerged, scales like carved obsidian, magma glowing beneath each plate. Upon its head sat a small masked girl, her hands folded, eyes glowing faintly through the slits of her mask—a perfect miniature reflection of Kael himself. He had taught her how to appear outside the dungeon safely, her very presence a symbol of his dominion over life and death.
And finally—the merged form of the twin dragons, blazing silver and red, descended in spiraling flame. They landed beside the titan lizard, their aura alone pushing back the abyssal miasma.
Then, from a tear in reality itself, came the sound of rattling chains.
A monstrous shape of bone and steel tore its way into existence—the Necro-Construct: Abyssal Colossus. A skeletal giant born from the remains of fallen abyssal bosses, its spine lined with glowing runes of undeath. Around its feet rose Kael's resurrected champions: the undead kings and beasts of prior wars, standing once more in silent obedience.
The ground cracked beneath the gathered might of an army that should not exist—a force both divine and profane, born from every element and the will of a single man.
Kael's cloak fluttered in the violent wind. He reached up—and for the first time in public view—removed his mask.
A gasp swept through the capital.
He was young. Too young.Eyes glowing with black fire, yet calm—terrifyingly calm. His expression carried both death and mercy.
The nobles watching from the towers froze in awe. The Backbone stared in speechless disbelief. Veloria clutched her staff, her lips trembling."That… that's not a man," she whispered. "That's a calamity wearing human skin."
Countess Elayne's eyes glistened with something between fear and fascination.Cyras grinned despite the hopelessness. "So that's the face behind the mask…"Duke Harrond folded his arms, muttering, "Now it makes sense. No ordinary man could make me draw blood."
Far below, deep within the secure bunker—Sara stood before the magic monitor that projected the battlefield above. Her flames flickered with emotion as Kael's face appeared.
Her heart skipped.She whispered, "Idiot… you finally showed them."
The princesses beside her—wide-eyed—could not speak. Their supposed ally, the enigmatic masked merchant, was not some rogue noble or mage. He was something far greater.
Aboveground, Kael lifted his hand once more, the elemental pantheon behind him aligning in perfect formation. His voice rang out like a divine decree:
"From the depths of shadow and the peak of flame, rise, my army. The abyss came to my door—Now let it learn what true darkness fears."
And as the gate pulsed once more—vomiting more abyss-born into the world—Kael's summons roared as one.
The ground split.The sky burned.The Battle of the Abyssal Gate had begun.
The battlefield above raged like the wrath of gods—light and shadow clashing, the air trembling under Kael's army's roar.But deep below, in the dim glow of the underground command bunker, silence gripped the room.
The princesses, the five backbone commanders, and Sara stood frozen before the vast arcane monitor projecting the scene from above.Kael's face—no longer veiled—flickered across the screen, illuminated by black flame and the radiance of his mythic summons.
He had revealed himself to the world.And now, Sara's secret could no longer remain buried.
Her trembling hands lowered her hood. The flickering mana-lights caught the edges of her mask—until she unlatched it, letting it fall to the floor with a soft metallic clink.
Veloria turned first. "Sara… what are you doing?"
Sara's eyes were red from years of restrained guilt. "He showed them his face," she said softly. "Then… I no longer have the right to hide mine."
The princesses exchanged a confused glance, but something in Sara's voice—the pain, the tremor—froze them in place.
She looked up at the image of Kael on the screen.The man commanding an army of gods was not a stranger to her. He was someone she had once known—someone she had once failed.
Taking a deep breath, she turned to the others. "You all know him as Kael, the Warden of Sanctum, the Summoner of the Abyss. But before any of you ever heard that name—before the abyss even had a master—he was Kael Draxen, a dungeon explorer from the old frontier. My partner. My friend."
The room went deathly still.
Count Harrond frowned. "Impossible. The name Draxen—wasn't he declared missing a decade ago?"
Sara nodded. "Missing, yes… but not dead. At least, not then."
Her gaze drifted downward as memories clawed back to life—vivid, bitter, and cold.
"We were part of a seven-man exploration team," Sara began, her voice breaking. "Sent into the newly discovered Abyssal Dungeon, the deepest anomaly ever recorded. Our captain was none other than Prince Eryndor of Asterion… and Kael was his second."
She looked at the two princesses—Eryndor's sisters—who were now pale as parchment.
"At first, the prince treated Kael like a comrade. They grew up together—trained together. Alongside Arlen, his closest friend, they were inseparable. But… Kael's growth was unnatural. He adapted to dungeons faster than any of us. Every trap, every boss—he learned its pattern instantly. By the fifth floor, everyone knew who was the true pillar of that expedition."
Her fingers clenched tightly around her robe. "And that was when envy began to root."
The lights in the bunker flickered as Sara's voice hardened."When we reached the final floor, the core guardian—an Abyssal Monarch—awakened prematurely. The prince panicked. Arlen, his 'brother in arms,' suggested using Kael as bait. They called it strategy."
She looked at the screen again, eyes burning. "But it wasn't. It was betrayal."
The others listened in stunned silence.
"Kael fought alone against the Monarch for five minutes straight. I remember his voice through the comms—still calm, still composed, even as the floor cracked beneath him. He shouted for us to run while he held it off."Her voice dropped, trembling."And when the floor began to collapse, when he stood at the edge of that endless pit, do you know what the prince said?"
Sara's throat tightened. Her tears finally broke free.
"'You've done enough, Kael. Die with honor.'"
The princesses gasped. Harrond's hand slammed against the table. Veloria covered her mouth in horror.
Sara continued, her voice a whisper that shook. "Kael tried to hold on to the edge, but the ground gave way. I ran to help him—but Eryndor's subordinates grabbed me. When I tried to fight free, they struck me down. I remember Arlen's voice telling them to keep me silent."
She closed her eyes. "And when I woke up… I was chained in a slave caravan."
The room froze.
The princess of Asterion, heir to their royal bloodline, stared at her in disbelief. "Prince Eryndor sold you?"
Sara nodded, her lips trembling. "To silence me. To erase the truth. They told everyone that Kael fell heroically, sacrificing himself for the team."
Her voice hardened like iron. "But he didn't die. He fell into the Abyss—and survived."
The screen above flickered again—Kael's black flames devouring the incoming abyss-born, his expression cold and unreadable.
Sara pointed at him. "That man up there—he lived two years in that hell. No food. No sunlight. No human voice. Only monsters, hunger, and the abyss whispering to him to break."
Her tone lowered into reverence. "And instead of breaking, he conquered it. He learned its laws. Bent its will. Tamed the abyssal beasts that had devoured countless heroes before him."
She looked toward the nobles, her eyes blazing. "Do you understand now why his power terrifies the world? Why the abyss answers to him?"
Sara exhaled slowly, the weight of ten years collapsing from her shoulders."When he emerged from the depths… ten years had passed outside. Time moves differently there. The boy they betrayed had become the very master of what they feared most."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
The youngest princess, tears glistening, whispered, "And you… you joined him?"
Sara nodded. "When he returned, he found me. Saved me from the chains they left me in. I owed him everything. But more than that—I swore never to hide the truth again."
Her mask lay shattered on the ground beside her.She turned to the image of Kael one last time and whispered,"You carried that burden alone for too long, didn't you… Kael?"
Above, the storm raged as Kael's army met the abyss-born horde in a clash that shook the heavens.Below, the truth had finally been unmasked.
The Warden of Sanctum—the man who commanded the abyss—was not born of darkness.
He was forged in it.