Fifth Floor Boss: "The Eviscerator"
Domain: The Final Guardian of Kaiser's Shard
Alias: The Heart-Devourer
Type: Flesh-Bone Hybrid Construct (Kaiser's Final Test)
Origin: Born from the crystallized rage and blood of Kaiser's shard — a living manifestation of the shard's destructive instinct.
Lore
This being was once a fragment of Kaiser's wrath — his pure instinct to destroy weakness. When the tower was created, this rage took form on its own and mutated over countless cycles, fusing with remnants of defeated projections.
Now, it exists as a living test:
"To reach the shard, one must conquer not the tower… but the beast within themselves."
Appearance
When Shojiro steps into the fifth floor, he's greeted not by an open arena — but by a colossal heart pulsing in the center of the chamber's ceiling. Its every beat echoes through the floor, shaking the walls like a drum of war. Then the floor beneath him begins to split open, and Erekrath crawls out.
The Erekrath stands on all fours like a beast forged from violence itself. Its sinews are wrapped in a patchwork of bone plates, grown unevenly as if molded by countless failed evolutions.
Forehead: A thick ridge of jagged ivory, splitting into a crown-like crest.
Shoulders & Lats: Armored in fractured plates, constantly grinding as it moves — sparks fly where bone meets bone.
Forearms: Reinforced, the claws elongating into obsidian-like blades that can shear through Vythra barriers.
Spine: Fully exposed, a long ridge of vertebrae tipped with sharp points that jut out like knives.
Tail: Thick and muscular, ending in a spiked bone stinger that drips a molten red ichor.
Mouth: A lipless grin stretching unnaturally wide, lined with hundreds of small, uneven teeth. When it breathes, the air hums — a vibration that disrupts Shojiro's concentration.
Torso: At its center lies a heart-shaped core, pulsing rhythmically — glowing crimson, identical to Shojiro's life point. It's both beautiful and horrifying, protected by shifting layers of ribs that close and open like jaws.
Eyes: None. Instead, it "sees" through Vythra resonance, sensing any fluctuation of energy around it.
Behavior & Intelligence
Erekrath is no mindless beast.
It moves with the discipline of a hunter, not a berserker.
It circles its prey, analyzing their movement, their breath, their fear.
Unlike the skeletons or slimes, it understands the rules — and even bends them. It never attacks the same way twice. Sometimes it feints weakness to bait aggression. Other times, it goes completely still to lure Shojiro into motion.
It uses Vythra.
Thin veins of crimson energy run through its claws and along its tail, forming tendrils that can extend like whips.
It can compress Vythra in its mouth and unleash it in short-range shockwaves that send flesh and bone flying.
Its life point—that glowing heart in its chest—is its greatest strength and its only weakness.
But unlike the lesser beings Shojiro has faced, Erekrath can relocate it. The heart shifts positions within its torso every few minutes, sliding behind bone plates or deeper into the creature's ribcage, making it nearly impossible to hit directly.
Environment
The fifth floor itself reacts to Erekrath.
The walls pulse with red light. Pools of thick blood drip from the ceiling.
Every time Shojiro's Vythra output spikes, the floor ripples like liquid, threatening to destabilize him.
This level has two rules — "Don't Die."
Mechanics of the Rule:
No Healing from Yggdrasil: Unlike every previous floor, the tower blocks Yggdrasil's intervention. Every cut, fracture, and strike now carries full consequences.
Immediate Fatal Feedback: Any fatal blow — even a near-fatal one — causes extreme pain, shock, and disorientation, leaving Shojiro teetering between consciousness and unconsciousness.
Psychological Horror: The tower amplifies fear. Every injury Shojiro sustains is mirrored in his vision, making it look far worse than reality. Limbs tear in slow motion. Blood flows faster, more copiously. Bones visibly shatter.
Life Point Visibility: Shojiro sees his life as a crimson orb inside him. Each hit drains it faster than any previous floor, and he can feel its pulse slowing, making him panic with each second.
Another rule of the Floor: "Never hesitate."
(Breaking it means your own heartbeat turns against you — your Vythra locks, your body seizes, and your heart momentarily stops.)
Abilities
Crimson Pounce: Erekrath leaps forward with terrifying speed, claws and tail striking in unison.
Vythra Screech: Emits a pulse of distorted energy that disrupts Shojiro's Vythra flow temporarily.
Tail Lance: Fires the tip of its tail like a spear, regrowing it moments later.
Bone Shield: Creates a hardened plate of bone around its chest when its life point is exposed.
Vythra Drain: If it strikes Shojiro's life point, it absorbs part of his energy to regenerate.
Instinctive Counter: Reacts automatically to fear-based or hesitant movements, punishing hesitation brutally.
Adaptive Learning: It studies Shojiro's attack patterns and modifies its movements to counter his rhythm.
Vythra Manipulation: It has a minor life point located within the heart core, letting it release crimson bursts to deflect or parry Shojiro's attacks.
Pulse Mimicry: It can sync its heartbeat with Shojiro's — if Shojiro hesitates, even for a second, the creature's pulse overwhelms his, causing him to seize momentarily (triggering the floor's rule).
Bone Regeneration: Damaged plates grow back almost instantly, though imperfectly, leaving grotesque new ridges.
Tail Impaler: The tail can stretch unnaturally far, acting like a whip that pierces and drains Vythra energy.
It can speak, but not in words.
It communicates through distorted thought — growls that resonate in Shojiro's skull like whispers.
"You are… not ready. You are flesh, not will."
"Strength is not in your muscle… it is in your suffering."
The Erekrath is not mindless. It's sentient. A predator that hunts intent. It tests the resolve of those who reach the end of the tower. This creature is Kaiser's shard given body, a reflection of what happens when raw strength loses purpose — endless hunger and endless rage.