Chapter 71 – Abyssal Broadcast: The King Speaks

The skies above the Resistance trembled—not from storm nor spell—but from a voice.

A deep, chilling resonance that bypassed ears and echoed straight into the soul.

“All across what remains of this world… hear me.”

The world stood still. Birds stopped mid-flight. Flames halted their flicker. Even the corrupted winds of the Abyss held their breath.

In the Resistance command chamber, Ren froze.

A swirling portal of obsidian light opened midair, and from it emerged a projection—an image of a throne carved from bone and shadow. Sitting upon it:

Nyx.

He was cloaked in regal darkness, a crown of fractured stars resting above hollow eyes that burned with contempt.

“The False Monarch has awakened.”

“You crawl back from oblivion, wielding broken power and hollow ideals. You think this world has a place for your Resistance?”

His voice turned cruel.

“I reshaped reality itself. Seven years, and you accomplished nothing. You are not a threat. You are an echo.”

Kael growled, smashing his fist into the wall. “Arrogant bastard.”

But Ren raised a hand. “Wait.”

Nyx continued, staring directly through the projection, as if looking straight into Ren’s soul.

“Come, Ren. March toward your reckoning. Open the Second Gate, if you dare.”

“But know this—what awaits you isn’t salvation. It is truth. The kind that breaks.”

And then, in a whisper laced with infinite cruelty:

“The real Monarch never needed a system.”

The projection flickered and vanished, leaving behind silence and a suffocating sense of dread.

Ren’s fist clenched.

“He’s baiting us.”

“But you’re going, aren’t you?” Liora asked softly.

Ren didn’t answer immediately. He stared at the horizon, where a faint tear in the sky shimmered—a sign of the Second Gate’s awakening.

“Yeah,” he finally said. “I’m going.”

[New System Objective: Confront Nyx at the Second Abyssal Gate.]
[Warning: Power discrepancy critical.]

Kael sighed. “Of course it is.”