Chapter 62 – Monarch vs. Sentinel: A Test of Resolve

The ground cracked under their feet.

Ren stood tall—cloak rippling, aura roaring like a storm—facing Oris, the man who had once trained him… and abandoned him at the gates of death.

“You knew,” Ren growled, voice cold. “You knew Nyx would win that battle. You left me to die.”

Oris said nothing at first, his face shadowed beneath his hood. Then, slowly, he removed it.

His face was older, scarred, and hollow. “I had to. If I hadn’t… you would never have awakened the Sovereign within.”

Ren’s fist clenched. Void energy danced across his knuckles. “You gambled with my life.”

“I gambled on the world’s survival,” Oris countered. “But I didn’t come to justify myself. I came to see if the one I bet everything on… is truly ready.”

He drew his blade.

Not the old saber Ren remembered—but a burning, living weapon of fire and golden circuit-lines. A Sentinel-class Relic.

“Strike me down, Ren. If you can.”

Ren’s eyes flared with silver and abyssal flame.

“Gladly.”

They clashed.

The first strike shattered the ground, sending shockwaves across the ruins. Ren moved like lightning—unpredictable, devastating. But Oris countered with masterful precision, his every movement measured.

Clang!
BOOM!

Steel screamed as blade met blade.

Magic tore across the battlefield—fire vs void. Legacy vs vengeance.

“You’ve changed,” Oris said mid-duel, sweat dripping from his brow. “But you’re still hesitating. You want answers. But what if they’re not the ones you want?”

Ren didn’t respond. His blade split into six phantom echoes—like wings of darkness—and rained down.

Oris was forced back, barely defending.

Ren pressed forward, fury fueling his strikes.

“I don’t need answers!” Ren roared. “I need REVENGE!”

Suddenly—Oris vanished in a burst of flame and reappeared behind him.

“Then you’re still weak.”

The blow connected—a powerful slash across Ren’s back. He staggered, but didn’t fall.

[Abyss Sovereign Passive: Pain → Power]

A second pulse of energy exploded from Ren.

His eyes turned pitch black with glowing irises.

The Void Sovereign had fully awakened.

Ren caught Oris’s blade with his bare hand—crushing it.

“Weak? I was. Not anymore.”

He raised his hand. A glowing symbol—half crown, half eclipse—formed behind him.

[Skill Unlocked: Monarch’s Edict – Worldbend]

The sky turned dark.

Oris stared, stunned. “Impossible…”

Ren launched his final strike—one that bent the very fabric of the battlefield.

“You want to test me, old man? Then be crushed by the throne you abandoned!”

Light, shadow, and time shattered—

And everything went white.

Next: Chapter 63 – The Hidden Memory: Oris’s Fall and the Secret War