Chapter 39 – The Abyss Awakens

A low tremor shook the battlefield. The air thickened, as if reality itself resented what was happening.

Harbinger’s form warped, twisted, and cracked apart, revealing something far worse than before. The jagged armor of the Abyssal Warden was gone, replaced by something that flowed like liquid shadow yet held the presence of an indomitable titan.

It wasn’t just evolving.

It was breaking free.

“Ren.” Sylas’s voice was sharp. “That’s no longer the Harbinger we knew. It’s something else now.”

Veyron muttered a curse. “It’s tapping into the true Abyss.”

Ren rolled his shoulders, feeling the weight of the moment press against him—but he refused to bend.

“Good,” he muttered, his smirk growing sharper. “That means I don’t have to hold back anymore.”

Abyssal mist whipped around him, reacting to his presence. The void energy within him surged like a caged beast finally tasting freedom.

Harbinger—**no, the entity that had once been Harbinger—**turned its gaze on Ren. Its eyes burned like twin stars, its voice carrying an unsettling duality.

“Do you hear it, Monarch?”

Ren’s fingers twitched. “…Hear what?”

“The Abyss calls for you.”

Before Ren could react, the world broke.

A sudden, indescribable force rippled through existence, warping everything in an instant.

The battlefield was gone.

Ren was somewhere else.

A vast emptiness stretched before him. It was neither light nor dark—it simply was.

A voice echoed through the void.

“You stand at the threshold.”

Ren turned, and there—looming above him—was a colossal figure shrouded in shifting shadows.

Its form was undefined, its presence suffocating.

Yet, it felt familiar.

Ren clenched his fists. “Who the hell are you?”

The figure’s voice was a whisper, a roar, a thousand voices at once.

“You already know.”

And then—the void shattered.

Ren’s eyes snapped open just in time to see Harbinger’s claw descending toward his skull.

Instinct took over.

He moved—but too slow.

The impact sent him crashing through the ruined battlefield, tearing through stone and debris like paper.

A trail of blood splattered across the ground.

Sylas’s eyes widened. “REN—!”

Ren groaned, staggering to his feet. His body screamed in protest, but his mind was racing.

What was that? That voice?

He exhaled sharply, his grip tightening. No time to question it now.

He lifted his gaze, meeting Harbinger’s burning eyes once more.

The battle wasn’t over. It was just getting started.