Chapter 42 — The Counter Toll

The Sovereign’s chains lashed out, tearing through buildings like paper. Kael dove aside, black fire trailing in his wake. Each strike of the god’s will shook his bones, every clash threatening to split him apart.

He swung again, his blade sparking against the unyielding links, but the Sovereign’s voice drowned out his resistance.
“You are defiance without purpose. You will kneel, or you will vanish.”

Kael spat blood onto the broken stones, his vision blurring.
“Then vanish with me.”

He raised his weapon—just as the twelfth toll resounded again.

But this time, it wasn’t the Sovereign’s bell.

A deeper, older resonance echoed across the sky. The sound wasn’t metallic—it was like the cracking of glaciers, the rumble of mountains shifting after millennia of silence. The heavens themselves seemed to hesitate.

The Sovereign froze. Its chains quivered. For the first time, its form faltered, its countless voices dropping into a hushed tone.
“…Impossible. That toll was buried.”

Kael’s eyes widened. Even in his exhaustion, he felt the shift. A pressure equally vast—but different. Not divine judgment. Something raw, primal, forgotten.

The silver-eyed girl gasped, stumbling backward. “No… not that… not now!”

Kael tightened his grip, forcing himself to stand straighter despite the pain tearing through him. His blade pulsed with unstable fire, drawn toward the alien resonance in the air.

He glared at the Sovereign.
“Looks like your story isn’t the only one left in this world.”

The Sovereign’s gaze darkened, the air collapsing under its fury.
“If the counter toll awakens… then you are more than an anomaly. You are a threat to the scripture itself.”

The chains rose once more. Kael braced. Above them both, the sky trembled as if two authors fought for the same page.