Location: Deep Beneath the Imperial Palace – The World Tree Chamber
The air in the chamber screeched.
The Soul Warden, hovering in the center of the room like a monolith of judgment, opened the vents of its helmet again. The Soul-Rot Breath began to charge, a swirling vortex of black bile and green fire building up in its throat.
Aris stood twenty meters away, clutching his melted left arm. His Abyssal Sovereign Body was trying to knit the flesh back together, but the Soul Corrosion debuff was halting the regeneration.
"HP at 60%," Aris muttered, his eyes darting between the charging Boss and the twelve spectral Jurors drifting toward him with raised axes. "Mana at 40%. I have one shot at this."
He held the vial of Concentrated Grey Wither in his good hand. It looked insignificant—a tiny glass tube against a god of death.
"Nox!" Aris shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of energy. "Can you move?"
Against the far wall, buried under rubble, the Eclipse Hound twitched. Nox whined, shaking debris from his smoke-mane. His HP was critical, but his loyalty was absolute. He let out a low, gurgling growl.
"Good," Aris grinned, though it looked more like a snarl. "On my mark... target the helmet."
The Gambit: The Meat Shield
The Warden leaned forward.
"ERADICATE."
The black bile stream fired. It was a tsunami of acid, wide enough to engulf the entire platform.
Aris didn't run away. He ran forward.
He sprinted directly toward the floating Jurors.
"Sorry, boys," Aris whispered. "I need to borrow your bodies."
He activated Reverse Refinement: Magnetic Pull.
Instead of absorbing the Jurors, he yanked three of them in front of him. The spectral executioners, confused by the sudden gravity shift, stumbled into Aris's path just as the breath weapon hit.
HISSSS.
The Soul-Rot Breath hit the Jurors. Even ghosts couldn't survive it. They screamed silently as their spiritual forms boiled away, acting as a temporary ablative shield.
Aris crouched behind the dissolving spirits, the acid spraying inches over his head.
[System Notification: Meat Shield Effective.]
[Time Window: 2 Seconds.]
"NOW!"
Aris exploded from behind the dying ghosts.
The Wings of the Moderator (stolen from the Agent) flared on his back—not with white light, but with corrupted violet energy.
[Skill: Abyssal Flash.]
He crossed the distance in a single frame of animation.
The Warden was still in the "cooldown animation" of its breath attack. Its helmet vents were wide open, venting heat.
Nox struck first.
The hound teleported from the shadows of the ceiling, dropping straight onto the Warden's helmet. He bit down on the green rune, blinding the Boss.
The Warden roared, thrashing its head. "GET OFF!"
That was the opening.
Aris leaped up, using the Warden's knee as a step. He flew level with the helmet.
"Open wide," Aris snarled.
He jammed the glass vial of Grey Wither directly into the open ventilation grille of the helmet.
CRUNCH.
He smashed the glass with his fist, driving the concentrated liquid virus deep into the armor's internal spirit-matrix.
The Infection: System Crash
Aris backflipped away, landing in a slide as the Warden grabbed Nox and threw him into a pillar.
"Did it work?" Aris watched, breathing hard.
For a second, nothing happened. The Warden stood frozen.
Then, a sound like a skipping record echoed from the armor.
GRR... RRR... RRR...
The glowing red aura around the Warden flickered. The green rune on its helmet turned a sickly, static grey.
[Target Infected: The Grey Wither (System-Grade Variant).]
[Effect: Viral Code Injection.]
[Logic Error: Target 'Soul Warden' operates on 'Karma'. Virus 'Grey Wither' corrupts 'Flow'.]
[Result: Spiritual Arrhythmia.]
"AAAAGHHH!"
The Warden dropped its flail. It grabbed its own head, staggering like a drunkard.
The "Grey Wither" wasn't attacking its biology; it was attacking its connection to the server. The virus was rewriting the flow of Qi inside the armor, turning the Warden's immense power against itself.
Rust began to spread across the pristine tombstone armor. The red mist in the room evaporated, replaced by the smell of ozone and burning circuitry.
[Boss Phase 2: Failed.]
[Stats Reduced by 60%.]
[Defense: 0.]
"He's lagging," Aris smirked, standing up straight. "His ping just hit 9000."
The Severance
The Warden fell to one knee, crashing onto the stone floor. It tried to stand, but its movements were jerky and uncoordinated.
"YOU... CHEATER..." the Warden rasped, its voice distorted by static.
"It's not cheating," Aris said, walking past the struggling boss toward the World Tree. "It's optimization."
Aris reached the Key to the Underworld, still embedded in the trunk of the World Tree. The Key was vibrating violently, trying to maintain the connection that fed the Warden its power.
"Let's shut this down."
Aris grabbed the Key with both hands.
[Action: Root-Admin Override.]
[Command: Invert Flow.]
He didn't pull the key out. He turned it counter-clockwise.
Instead of pushing energy into the Underworld to open the gate, the World Tree suddenly reversed its suction. It began to pull.
The swirling grey vortex of the gate destabilized.
"NO!" The Warden screamed, reaching out a rusting hand. "THE CONNECTION!"
A massive vacuum force erupted from the Key. It wasn't sucking air; it was sucking the Underworld Qi out of the room.
The Warden, being an entity of the Underworld, was caught in the slipstream.
Essence began to stream off the Warden's body like smoke in a wind tunnel. The massive armor started to disintegrate, pulled toward the World Tree to be converted into raw fuel.
The Execution
"Finish it," Aris commanded himself.
He turned his back on the Tree and faced the dissolving Warden.
The Boss was vulnerable. Its armor was rusted, its aura stripped, its connection severed. It was no longer a Level 62 Elite. It was just a pile of XP waiting to be claimed.
Aris raised his right hand.
[Ultimate Skill: The Black Sun.]
The singularity appeared in his palm. But this time, Aris didn't throw it. He crushed it.
He fused the Black Sun into his own fist. His hand turned into a void-black claw of condensed gravity.
[Art: Abyssal Fist - Event Horizon.]
Aris walked up to the kneeling Warden.
The Warden looked up, its grey eye flickering with fear. "Mercy..."
"I don't have that update installed," Aris whispered.
He punched.
The impact didn't make a sound. It simply deleted the space occupied by the Warden's chest.
The armor imploded. The spirit inside was sucked into Aris's fist, shredded, refined, and absorbed in a microsecond.
There was no explosion. Just a soft pop as the Warden ceased to exist.
[Battle Complete.]
[Boss Defeated: The Soul Warden.]
[XP Gained: Critical Amount.]
The Aftermath: Looting the Dead
The silence returned to the chamber. The "Grey Wither" virus dissipated, its job done.
Aris stood over the empty armor, his chest heaving. The Soul Corrosion on his arm began to fade as the source of the curse was destroyed.
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Current Level: 57 (Nascent Soul - Late Stage)]
Aris knelt down amidst the pile of rusted armor. A single object remained intact—a glowing, green orb that pulsed with a heavy, rhythmic beat.
[Loot Drop: The Soul Core (Rank: Divine).]
[Description: The heart of a Gatekeeper. Contains the authority to command 'Low-Tier' Underworld entities.]
[Usage:]
* Consume: Gain massive XP.
* Craft: Create the 'Armor of the Warden'.
* Install: Socket into the World Tree to automate the Underworld Gate.
Aris picked up the Core. He looked at the World Tree.
"I don't need armor," Aris decided. "I need an army."
He walked back to the Tree. He placed the Soul Core directly over the keyhole where the Key to the Underworld sat.
CLICK.
The Core fused with the Tree.
The grey rift—which had been destabilizing—suddenly snapped into a perfect, stable rectangle. The "evil" feeling vanished, replaced by a cold, efficient hum.
[System Notification: Underworld Gate Stabilized.]
[New Feature Unlocked: The Dungeon Manager.]
[You can now summon 'Undead Laborers' and 'Spectral Guards' using AP.]
Aris smiled. He sat down on a root of the World Tree, exhausted but victorious.
Nox limped over, shrinking back down to the size of a large dog. He licked Aris's hand.
"Good boy," Aris scratched the beast's ears. "We did it."
He looked into the stable grey portal. He could see a landscape of ash and bone cities on the other side.
"The Empires are conquered," Aris listed off his achievements. "The Sects are destroyed. The Emperor is a puppet. And now, I own the afterlife."
He closed his violet eyes, letting the Abyssal Qi wash over him.
"Now... I think it's time to deal with the only thing left that threatens me."
He pulled up his status screen and looked at the flashing red notification that had been blinking in the corner of his vision since he ate the Angel.
[Warning: The Heavenly Dao has filed a 'Critical Bug Report'.]
[Response Incoming: The Four Great Beasts are awakening.]
Aris laughed softly in the dark chamber.
"Let them wake up," he whispered. "I need new mounts."
[Abyssal Nexus: End of Chapter Status]
Host: Aris Thorne
Level: 57 (Nascent Soul - Late Stage)
Class: Forbidden Alchemist (Rank 4 - Void Architect)
[Loot Acquired]
* The Soul Core (Installed as Server Driver).
* Authority: Underworld Gatekeeper (Tier 1).
[World Status]
* The Underworld: Accessed & Stabilized.
* The Mortal Realm: Unaware that their afterlife is now under new management.
* The Next Threat: The Four Divine Beasts (The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise).