Chapter 13: Revenant's Wrath
The air on Floor 17 was different. Heavy. Charged with a cold malice that sank into the bones. Riven stepped out of the obsidian archway, his eyes scanning the ruined cathedral before him. The ceiling was half-collapsed, and ghostlight shimmered in the cracks of the broken floor. Pew-like structures lined the path to an altar bathed in an eerie, violet glow.
He sensed it instantly. A presence. Ancient. Watching.
"This one won't be easy," Riven muttered, his voice a low rasp.
His army of shadows stood ready behind him—forty-two strong, led by the Hobgoblin Captain Gorr and the twin Wraith Stalkers, Nyx and Veil. He didn't need to command them yet. The moment of violence hadn't come.
As he approached the altar, the glow pulsed, and from it rose a towering figure clad in rusted black armor, its cape tattered and swirling with smoke. Its eyes flared with ghostly blue light beneath a horned helm.
The Shadow Revenant.
"Another would-be conqueror," it growled, voice echoing across the cathedral like steel dragged against stone. "You wear the mark of the Monarch. Yet you are but a flicker."
Riven smiled. "Then let me show you how bright a flicker can burn."
The Revenant charged, and the battle began.
Gorr and the front-line shadows clashed with the Revenant in a thunderous impact, but it was immediately clear that this was no ordinary boss. The Revenant moved with lethal grace, its greatsword whistling through the air and cleaving three shadows in a single sweep.
Riven ducked left, barking out rapid commands. "Nyx! Veil! Flank and harass! Gorr, feint and retreat. Don't go for a head-on engagement!"
The Wraith Stalkers flickered into existence behind the Revenant, blades flashing. It spun, parried one and sliced through the other, severing Nyx's arm. A burst of shadow dispersed the body before it could be fully destroyed.
"He's learning with every strike," Riven realized, gritting his teeth.
He needed to shift the tempo. He summoned his strongest five shadows, merging their essence with his own through the new technique he had theorized over the last few levels: Partial Shadow Integration.
His body shimmered with tendrils of black mist. His arms lengthened, his eyes turned violet, and his speed tripled. He blinked forward in a single pulse, appearing beside the Revenant mid-swing.
They clashed.
The Revenant grunted, staggered slightly. Riven's borrowed strength let him hold ground, but not without cost. The enemy's sword scraped along his ribs, burning him with necrotic energy. Blood hit the floor.
"You mimic the Monarch well," the Revenant hissed. "But mimicry is not mastery."
"I'm not mimicking," Riven growled. "I'm evolving."
Using Shadow Step, he zipped behind the Revenant, directing Veil to stab its exposed leg joint. The Wraith's dagger sank in, just enough for Riven to plunge his own blade into the Revenant's side.
It roared and released a pulse of pure death magic, blowing back every shadow and sending Riven flying into a cracked pillar.
He rose, coughing blood, but laughing.
"Now we're getting somewhere."
The battle dragged on for over twenty minutes, every exchange brutal and punishing. Riven burned through mana like water. Half his army had been destroyed, and Veil lay crumpled.
But the Revenant was weakening. Slower. Wounds piling.
Riven threw his last gambit.
He lunged forward and used Shadow Bind, anchoring the Revenant's foot for half a second. Just enough.
Gorr, bloodied but alive, hurled his axe into the Revenant's back.
The blow broke the cursed plate.
Riven followed up with a final empowered strike, driving his shadow-infused blade through the Revenant's chest. Violet fire erupted from the wound. The creature let out a soul-piercing scream before collapsing, its body unraveling into black mist.
Silence.
Then, a pulse.
The altar cracked, revealing a small, obsidian obelisk hidden beneath. It floated up, drifting toward Riven like it had waited centuries for him. As it touched his hand, searing heat etched a black sigil into his palm.
A new path opened behind the altar, its staircase descending into darkness.
Riven grinned through the blood.
"Another secret. Another step forward."
He turned to his remaining shadows. "Rest. Regroup. We're going deeper."
End of Chapter 13