The Citadel's core vault trembled on the brink of cataclysm, the colossal orb's cracks radiating like veins of lightning across its veined surface, each fissure a whisper of impending unraveling—realms teetering on the edge of the void, threads of fate straining against the Echo Lords' unyielding grip. The parasitic bind's revelation hung in the air like a poisoned fog, the crimson thread snaking from Kael's pendant to the Bind-Lord's throne now visible to all: a grotesque lifeline, pulsing with siphoned essence, the knight's every breath a subtle feed to the stasis. The alliance's surge faltered, storm-threads scorching against the obsidian ward only to recoil, weakened by the echo's drain—Vespera's relic scorching bright but sputtering, Grom's hammer glancing off humming runes, Quill's ink dissolving mid-script.
Elara's Veil Sense screamed, the Spindle's purified azure clashing against the crimson taint: sever the bind, and Kael unravels—his pact's core collapsing into unbound exile, essence scattering like embers in a gale; press on, and the core implodes, the multiverse's heart winking out in a cascade that devours all threads, starting with the weakest exiles. The Bind-Lord's veiled face tilted, scanning amusement rippling through the chorus: "The knight's gift to us... allow it to bind you all. Or sever... and weaken the Weave forever."
Kael staggered forward, sword dragging sparks, his face a mask of ashen resolve—the weakness debuff compounding the horror, emerald eyes dimming as the parasite tugged. "Sever it, Elara," he urged through the straining bind, voice a fractured echo in her mind: visions of his cycles flashing—betrayals relived, the queen's death a snare he'd walked into willingly. "The pact was mine to bear... not yours to save."
Lirien's tails lashed at her ankles, the fox's whisper a sly undercurrent to the din: "The fox knows the price of oaths... but the star waits, Breaker. The relic's path—primordial mend, at the cost of exile blood. Pull it... or pull nothing."
Vespera gripped the Stormheart Relic tighter, its lightning-veined obsidian humming with the weight of banished legacies: the gold filament it unveiled threading deeper into the core—a sacrificial conduit to the primordial star, the Weave's birth-knot, capable of cauterizing the parasite without full severance. But the path demanded tribute: three exile threads, the weakest among them—frayed souls on the verge of unraveling, offered to anchor the mend. The warden's thunderhead eyes hardened, scanning her band: the young weaver from the surge, her form still flickering; a grizzled scout with storm-scars fading to gray; a silent binder whose weaves had long since thinned to whispers.
"We offer," Vespera declared, voice cracking like distant thunder, the relic flaring to select the threads: ethereal cords uncoiling from the chosen, their forms paling as the gold filament drank. The young weaver nodded, resolute: "For the free Weave... let it bind true." The scout clasped her shoulder, fading with a final grin; the binder simply bowed, essence flowing like rain into storm. The sacrifices ignited the path: the relic widening the core's fissures into a radiant tunnel, primordial light spilling forth—a star's fierce glow, the Weave's origin pulsing with untamed potential.
[Path Activated: Primordial Mend. Cost: Exile Threads x3 (Sacrificed). Effect: Bind Purification + Core Stabilize (Risk: Backlash 50%). Mana: 45/300.]
Elara seized the moment, Spindle thrusting into the gold conduit: her azure surge braiding with the relic's storm, threading toward the Bind-Lord's throne. The alliance rallied—Grom anchoring the weave with hammered vows, Quill scripting sacrificial runes to guide the flow, Mira's remaining cards scorching the ward's edges. Lirien leaped into the tunnel, tails forming a void-bridge: "The star burns hot, loves—cross swift!"
The bind-Lord lurched, its veiled form twisting as the primordial light lanced the parasite: the crimson thread screaming, recoiling from Kael's pendant like a live wire severed at the root. The knight convulsed, dropping to his knees—the pact's core exposing, cycles of betrayal flooding the vault in holographic torment: Thorne's smirks, queen's falls, realms cracking under his vow's weight. "No— the bind... it was mine!" Kael gasped, emerald essence hemorrhaging, the weakness debuff evolving into a cataclysmic backlash: his form flickering, threads of his exile-self overlapping in agonized multiplicity.
The severing rippled: the ward shattering in a hail of obsidian dust, the orb's cracks sealing with a resonant snap—the multiverse's bind holding, realms steadying beyond the veil. The Bind-Lord wailed, its throne crumbling as the primordial star's light consumed the parasite: shadows coiling inward, the Lord imploding into a vortex of scanning echoes that scattered into the Weave's winds.
But the backlash crested: Kael's pact unraveling in a shockwave that hurled the alliance back, the knight's form fracturing—emerald shards of his essence lancing outward, scorching the exiles' barriers and scorching Vespera's relic with feedback lightning. Thorne reemerged at the vault's shattered rim, rift-scarred and wild-eyed, the broken glitch-shard in his grip mutating: crimson fractals blooming into a corrupted glitch-army—dozens of warped enforcers, forms twisted with anomalous limbs, howling as they charged the reeling group.
"The bind breaks... but we remake!" Thorne roared, his pact-echo fueling the horde: void-lances warped into fractal claws, hounds multiplying in glitch-mirrors. The army swarmed, turning the vault into a war of bindings: corrupted surges clashing with the alliance's storm, Grom's hammer crushing a twisted helm only for it to reform in multiplicity; Quill's ink dissolving into chaotic swirls, Mira's cards igniting in prophetic fire that backfired on the exiles.
Vespera staggered, Stormheart cracking under the backlash: "The knight's fracture—it's feeding them! Hold the line—relic's light, converge!" Her exiles formed a ragged circle, lightning veils scorching the horde, but the sacrifices' echoes lingered—ghost-threads haunting the air, weakening their pulls. Lirien danced through the fray, voids devouring stray anomalies, but even the fox faltered: "The backlash bites, Breaker—your knight's oath unravels all!"
Elara dove to Kael's side, Spindle flaring to stem the hemorrhage: her needle stabbing his pendant, weaving a hasty mend—not full restoration, but a scaffold of azure to hold his threads. "Hold on— the star's mend... it's working!" The primordial light spilled wider, cauterizing the backlash: emerald shards retracting, Kael's form solidifying with a gasp, the pact's core scarred but intact—weakness lingering, but the corruption purged.
[Backlash Contained: Pact Stabilized (Temp). Debuff: Oath Scar (Lv. 2) – -15% Bind Efficiency (Permanent Until Full Mend). Mana: 25/300. Alliance Casualties: 2 Exiles (Glitch Overrun).]
The horde pressed, Thorne at their helm: scimitar raised, corrupted shard summoning a glitch-wall that hemmed the alliance against the core. "The Lords fall... but we rise!" he bellowed, fractals lancing toward Elara's Spindle.
Vespera countered with the relic's dying hum, thunder scorching a swath through the army: "To the star's heart—push through!" The group surged, battered but unbroken—Grom clearing a path with hammer-arcs, Quill's remnants scripting diversions, Mira scorching with scorched cards. Elara and Kael at the fore, the primordial tunnel beckoning: a vortex of star-fire, promising mend... or madness.
But as they plunged toward it, the core stirred anew: the remaining Lords' chorus swelling, "The bind endures... in the star's birth, we wait."
To be continued...
(End of Chapter 15. Next chapter hook: Plunging into the primordial star's heart, Elara confronts the Weave's origin—a sentient knot demanding a final sacrifice from her anomaly to fully purge the Lords' influence—but Thorne's glitch-army breaches the tunnel, forcing Kael to wield his scarred pact in a sacrificial stand, buying time at the cost of his exile's last cycle. Vespera's relic shatters, unleashing an exile storm that turns the tide but scatters the alliance across fractured realms. Reply to continue with Chapter 16!)