The world stank of ash.
Lucius stood at the edge of the massive crater, the wind howling around him like a chorus of the damned. Beside him, the girls stood in formation—battle-ready. Each one of them had changed.
Zara's axes now glowed with red inscriptions.Claire wore a blessed charm woven from her own hair.Velda was floating slightly off the ground, radiating unhinged energy.Lilith had her wings wrapped tight and her sword held looser than usual.
No one was joking anymore.
[Quest: "Omenfall – Part I"]Objective: Reach the center of the craterWarning: All corrupted beings inside are beyond salvationBonus Reward: ??? if you resist the "Call of the Forgotten"
The deeper they went, the more wrong the world felt.
Time didn't move correctly.Footsteps echoed in the wrong direction.Claire saw her own shadow crying.Velda saw her dead cat flicker across the path.
Lilith stopped cold.
"…That's me," she whispered.
Everyone turned.
Across the cracked crater floor stood a perfect mirror image of her younger self—before the corruption, before the betrayal, before the wings turned black.
Lucius stepped between them. "It's not real."
"It's cruel," Lilith whispered, eyes glossy. "But… I remember her."
The figure vanished.
They reached the center.
The shard pulsed with dark heat—floating six feet off the ground, chains made of sound and memory looping around it like a heartbeat.
Zara growled. "We fighting this thing or what?"
Velda squinted. "No… we're fighting that."
A figure stepped out from the shard's shadow.
A once-priest. Armor cracked. Hair wild. Eyes completely void.
His body pulsed with divine light that had gone completely wrong—sickly gold and flickering with whispers.
Lucius recognized him immediately.
Rivel Cain.
The first Chosen to try and kill Lucius in his original life. A fanatic. A zealot. Now… a husk.
[Boss Encounter: Corrupted Chosen – Rivel Cain, "The Hollow Herald"]Level: 95Passive Effect: All healing reversed. All hope devoured.
Rivel's mouth cracked into a wide, bloody smile.
"Lucius… you came back wrong."
Lucius drew his blade.
"You stayed broken."
The fight exploded.
Rivel teleported between shadows, unleashing divine sigils that howled like sirens. Lucius blocked two—got clipped by the third.
Claire rushed in, healing—
[System Warning: All healing converted to pain.]
She screamed, collapsing as the energy backfired.
"Claire!" Lilith shouted, grabbing her.
Zara and Rivel clashed midair, axe to holy blade, screaming in pure rage. Sparks lit up the sky.
Velda cast four spells at once. All failed.
Lucius stepped forward.
Slow. Controlled. Burning.
"I remember what you said before you killed me," he said.
"You called me hopeless."
Rivel laughed. "And you still are."
Lucius raised his hand.
[Soul Resonance: Tyrant Fragment – Awakening 1%]Skill Unlocked: Sin Pulse – Echo of the SelfEffect: Unleashes a burst of internal power based on buried emotion.
The blast wasn't light. It wasn't darkness.
It was Lucius—everything he'd repressed, buried, sacrificed.
Regret. Pain. Rage. The feeling of being unchosen.
It hit Rivel like a divine nuke and ripped the man in half.
Rivel's remains dissolved into ash, whispering:
"…thank you."
[Boss Defeated: Corrupted Chosen – Rivel Cain]Reward: Tyrant Fragment StabilizedBonus: +1 Permanent Bond Unlock AvailableWarning: You have attracted the attention of something much worse.
The crater began to shake.
Velda's voice trembled. "We have to leave. Now."
Lucius stared at the shard.
"I'm not done yet."