Chapter 215 — The Traps, the Milkshake, and the Dimensional Genocide
Harlan sighed lightly.
— "Alright. Let's continue.
— With the chaos you caused, my traps must have captured quite a few of the Broken."
Nyss, still drinking her milkshake, nodded.
— "No need to thank me.
— I do it for the team."
Harlan placed his hand on the hilt of his dimensional blade strapped to his back and studied the space ahead.
— "Let's see…"
Before them, the Frame Lock still vibrated. Dozens of Broken were trapped inside, prisoners of impossible spatial loops, their bodies distorted, compressed, stretched across multiple layers of reality.
— "Look," Harlan said calmly.
— "The Frame Lock has captured many of them."
Nyss tilted her head.
— "And what do you plan to do with them?"
Harlan didn't answer immediately.
He simply extended his hand… and slowly tightened the Frame Lock.
Space contracted.
The screams were muffled.
The dimensional prison folded in on itself, shrinking from a complex network into a tiny cube…
Then into a compact sphere, like paper crushed to the extreme.
Harlan blew on it, visibly unimpressed.
The sphere vanished, erased.
Nyss blinked.
— "…Wow.
— Well, clearly, without me it wouldn't have worked."
— "Probably," Harlan replied without conviction.
A sudden explosion echoed in the distance.
**BOOOOM.**
Harlan looked up.
— "Ah.
— That was the phase-shift mine."
Nyss smiled.
— "Interesting.
— And what exactly does it do?"
Harlan answered as he walked.
— "It forces whatever it touches to exist in two incompatible dimensions at once.
— The body tries to stabilize…
— And reality says no."
Nyss stayed silent for a moment.
— "…So it's basically a philosophical explosion."
— "Exactly."
Harlan snapped his fingers.
The other active traps — dimensional fallback traps, spatial compression fields — contracted abruptly before evaporating into space dust.
Nyss sighed.
— "Honestly, I prefer when we fight directly.
— You set traps everywhere, it's frustrating."
Harlan frowned.
— "What do you mean, I set traps everywhere?
— Speak properly about my masterpieces.
— You, with your unfair way of fighting…"
— "Unfair?
— No, efficient," Nyss corrected.
— "Hmm."
Harlan resumed walking.
— "Alright. Let's continue.
— Wasting time like this won't benefit us."
— "Fine, fine."
They advanced toward the Palace of the Broken.
A group of Broken appeared before them.
Harlan half-drew his dimensional blade.
One single movement.
**SCHRRRKT.**
The Broken were sliced cleanly in two, without even realizing what had happened.
Nyss clapped slowly.
— "Not bad."
— "The bare minimum," Harlan replied.
Nyss shrugged.
— "In that case, since you're here…
— I don't need to fight."
— "Lazy."
— "If you say so."
Without warning, Harlan trapped another group of Broken inside a sealed dimensional space.
Inside, they died… again and again… in an infinite loop.
Nyss watched, arms crossed.
— "They're already called the Broken…
— And you want to break them even more."
Harlan conjured a massive dimensional cube above another group… and crushed them brutally.
He turned to Nyss.
— "Instead of commenting, you could be useful."
— "Thanks, but no.
— You're here anyway.
— You're strong. And skilled."
Harlan looked away slightly, a bit embarrassed.
— "…Shut up."
He snapped his fingers.
The previously crushed dimension reformed, expanded, unfolded… then imprisoned another group of Broken.
Harlan placed his hand on his blade.
— "The Ravager of Realities."
He slashed.
The dimension was cut into a thousand fragments, everything inside with it.
Then Harlan vanished.
Reappeared behind another group.
They were sliced apart before they even realized he was there.
He dashed again, appeared behind a final group, opened a rift beneath their feet.
The void swallowed them.
Silence.
Nyss, still beside him, calmly sipping.
— "…Doesn't look like you're joking around."
— "As you can see."
Harlan sheathed his sword.
— "Let's head to the Broken Palace now.
— I've already destroyed all the Broken in this zone.
— And I hope you're not going to tell me again that you don't plan to fight."
Nyss smiled.
— "I'll decide depending on my mood."
Harlan sighed.
— "I should have known."
They resumed their march toward the palace, leaving behind a kingdom even more… broken.
Chapter 216 The Broken Palace
Nyss and Harlan continued moving toward the Broken Palace.
The closer they came, the heavier the pressure of reality became.
The air vibrated faintly, as if space itself was creaking under the weight of the place.
Then they arrived.
Before them stood the Grand Broken Palace.
A gigantic structure, split apart in every direction, built from blocks of reality badly stitched together. Some towers seemed to float, others sank into the ground as if hesitating between existing or collapsing.
And before the entrance…
Two guardians.
Colossal guards, made of unstable matter, their bodies streaked with glowing fissures. They were so tall that Nyss didn't even reach the height of their faces.
Nyss slowly lifted her head.
— "…Wow. They're really huge."
Harlan observed calmly.
— "You're not wrong. Looks like they ate the whole palace for breakfast."
Nyss crossed her arms.
— "Alright. I'll take the one on the left, you take the one on the right."
Harlan nodded.
— "Works for me."
Nyss gathered shadows around her, shaping them into a black, fluid blade.
— "Okay."
Harlan looked at her.
— "So? You actually plan to fight this time?"
Nyss smiled.
— "Why not."
Two shadowy wings burst from her back, dark and elegant.
— "Admire."
Harlan blinked.
— "…Alright."
Nyss vanished instantly, erasing her presence as if she had never existed.
Harlan sighed.
— "And she dares say I only set traps… when she fights in the most unfair way possible."
He calmly placed his hand on the hilt of his dimensional blade.
The Ravager of Realities.
With a single gesture, he sliced space.
The right guardian was cut cleanly in two, silent, like a badly edited image.
Meanwhile, Nyss reappeared standing on the shoulder of the left guardian.
The colossus slowly turned its head toward her.
Nyss gave a little wave.
— "Hi."
She immediately took flight, her black wings beating the air, then delivered a monstrous kick that sent the guardian flying straight into his companion…
…who had just been sliced in two.
The hurled guardian rose again, roaring, glaring at Nyss with raw rage.
He struck.
Nyss dodged at absurd speed, spun around his gigantic arm, slid along it, then simply placed her hand on it.
The arm… vanished.
— "AAAAAAHHHH!!!"
A shrill cry tore through the air, shaking the entire Broken Kingdom.
Nyss smiled.
— "Too slow."
In an instant, she cut the guardian into a rain of dimensional dust, then landed calmly in front of Harlan.
Her wings faded away.
— "So? What did you think?"
Harlan nodded.
— "Not bad."
He paused.
— "But… where did the left guardian's arm go?"
Nyss shrugged.
— "I made it disappear. Pretty neat, right?"
Harlan looked away.
— "…I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
Nyss eyed him curiously.
— "By the way. Why did you just cut the right guardian in two? Why not into a thousand pieces?"
Harlan answered calmly.
— "The result is the same. He's dead."
Nyss thought for a second.
— "…True."
She nodded, satisfied.
— "Alright. Let's go in."
Together they crossed the gates of the Broken Palace, while behind them the remains of the guardians slowly dissolved into the instability of the kingdom.
And somewhere, deep within the palace…
something had just realized that two Rank S had arrived.
Chapter 217 – "The King Who Did His Duty Too Well"
The inside of the Broken Palace was… silent.
Not normal silence.
A misaligned silence.
Some echoes arrived before the footsteps.
Others after.
And sometimes, a sound repeated… for no reason.
Nyss frowned.
— "…Okay. Even I find this creepy."
Harlan studied the walls.
They weren't cracked by blows.
They were stitched, restitched, and stitched again… as if someone had desperately tried to keep reality in place.
— "This palace wasn't destroyed," he said calmly. "It was… repaired too many times."
They advanced.
On the walls appeared broken frescoes.
A luminous kingdom.
Intact towers.
Mages tracing perfect geometric lines in the air.
Then, further on…
A massive fissure in the sky.
Panicked silhouettes.
A man wearing a crown, standing alone before the collapse.
Nyss stopped.
— "…Harlan. Tell me you saw that too."
— "Yeah. And I don't like what it implies."
They finally reached the throne room.
Or rather… what was left of it.
The room existed in several states at once:
intact on the left,
collapsed on the right,
frozen in a past instant at the center.
And on the throne…
He was there.
A man seated, unmoving.
His body seemed stable… then blurred… then cracked.
A crown floated above his head, broken into fragments slowly orbiting him.
When he opened his eyes, several voices spoke at once.
— "…Hunters. Again. You've made it this far."
Nyss didn't joke.
For once.
— "You're the king, huh."
The man inclined his head slightly.
— "I was. Kaelion Astrae. King of a kingdom that no longer exists."
Harlan felt something tighten around his traps.
Not an attack.
An interference.
— "You're the one keeping this kingdom standing," he said. "Your existence is the anchor."
Kaelion smiled sadly.
— "Correct. If I let go… everything disappears."
He stood.
The throne cracked behind him.
— "Astrae was a kingdom of repairers. We stitched wounded dimensions. Until the day we tried to repair… the irreparable."
Images appeared around them.
A sky tearing apart.
A cosmic fracture.
Mages screaming.
— "I used the heart of my kingdom to patch the breach. I saved other worlds."
He looked at his hands, trembling slightly.
— "But I condemned my own."
Nyss clenched her fists.
— "And the Broken… they're your people."
— "Yes. Trapped between layers of reality. Neither alive. Nor dead."
Silence.
Then Kaelion lifted his head.
— "You are strong. I felt it the moment you entered. Tell me…"
He fixed his gaze on Harlan.
— "Can you destroy a kingdom without making those bound to it suffer?"
Harlan didn't answer immediately.
Nyss exhaled.
— "…You really took everything on yourself. You never thought about you, did you."
Kaelion closed his eyes.
— "A king does not choose what is right for him. Only what is necessary."
The palace trembled faintly.
— "So? Have you come to kill me? Or to let me continue suffering to hold up a world already dead?"
Nyss looked at Harlan.
Then smiled softly.
— "Seriously… even the bosses here are depressing."
Harlan calmly placed his hand on the hilt of his dimensional sword.
— "We'll talk first. Then we'll decide."
Kaelion opened his eyes, surprised.
— "…You are different."
Nyss shrugged.
— "Rank S, baby. We never do anything simply."
The Broken Kingdom vibrated.
As if holding its breath.
Chapter 218 — When a Kingdom Dies Without a Cry
The Broken Palace trembled one last time.
Not violently.
Not like an explosion.
More like a breath held too long… then finally released.
Kaelion stood at the center of the collapsed throne room.
His body seemed cracked from within, as if reality itself was slowly trying to detach from him.
He was no longer truly a king.
But he was not yet a monster either.
Nyss looked around.
The walls showed ghostly images: — laughter, — markets, — children running between pillars still whole.
Then everything blurred.
— "…So that's it," she murmured. "This kingdom still stands only because he refuses to fall."
Harlan didn't answer right away.
He fixed his gaze on Kaelion.
— "You knew from the start we wouldn't save you," he said at last.
Kaelion nodded slowly.
— "Save what? Ruins? Echoes?"
He gave a tired smile.
— "I just wanted to know if… someone would be strong enough to end all this properly."
Silence.
Nyss crossed her arms.
— "You're annoying. You could've just said 'kill me with dignity.'"
Kaelion let out a faint laugh.
— "I was afraid you'd refuse."
Harlan placed his hand on the hilt of his dimensional blade.
— "If I cut the link now… the kingdom will fade gently. No explosion. No anomaly."
Kaelion closed his eyes.
— "That's all I ask."
Nyss turned her gaze slightly away.
— "And the Broken?"
— "They'll go with me," Kaelion replied. "They're not truly alive anymore anyway. Just… stuck."
She drew a deep breath.
— "Alright. Then don't pretend to be afraid at the last second."
Kaelion reopened his eyes and looked at Harlan.
— "Do it, hunter."
Harlan drew his blade.
It did not shine. It made no sound.
It cut the bond, not the flesh.
— "Dimensional Severance: Silent End."
One single movement.
No blood.
No scream.
Just an invisible line that passed through Kaelion… and the palace.
The entire kingdom froze for half a second.
Then—
The fissures in the sky closed gently.
The buildings began to dissolve like dust carried by the wind.
The Broken stopped moving, their silhouettes blurred… then vanished, at peace.
Kaelion fell to his knees.
He was smiling.
— "Thank you… for not treating me like a monster."
His body slowly dissipated, like a light being carefully extinguished.
Silence.
Long.
Nyss looked around.
— "…It's over."
Harlan sheathed his sword.
— "Yes."
They remained still a few moments longer, in the middle of a palace that almost no longer existed.
Then Nyss broke the moment.
— "Well. We agree that was depressing."
Harlan sighed.
— "You couldn't help yourself."
— "No. Otherwise I'd cry."
A portal opened behind them, leading out of the Broken Kingdom.
Before stepping through, Nyss cast one last glance back.
There was nothing left.
No ruins.
No screams.
No curse.
Just… emptiness.
— "Rest in peace, annoying king," she murmured.
They crossed the portal.
And the Broken Kingdom faded away.
Without sound.
Without hatred.
Without leaving a scar.