Chapter 45 — The Toll of Blood

Kael’s body was at its limit. Each breath rattled like broken glass in his lungs, and blood poured freely from wounds that refused to close. His broken blade shook in his hand, its edge dulled from clashing against the Sovereign’s endless chains.

The god’s voice thundered across the ruins.
“You are a crack in the order of existence. And cracks… must be sealed.”

A storm of chains descended. Kael braced, but his arms gave out. The strike tore across his chest, hurling him into the rubble. He gasped, choking on copper, his vision tunneling into darkness.

Somewhere distant, he heard the girl scream his name.

He tried to move. His body refused. His hand twitched toward the blade at his side, but his fingers couldn’t even curl around the hilt. His story—the second erasure—was moments away.

Then the toll rang.

Not the Sovereign’s. Not distant.
From within.

Kael’s blood ignited. Black fire surged through his veins, forming strange glowing sigils across his skin. Each beat of his heart reverberated with the toll, shaking the earth itself.

The Sovereign froze, its countless eyes widening in fury.
“No… not you. The counter toll cannot belong to you!”

The girl staggered forward, her silver eyes trembling with horror and awe. She whispered, almost to herself:
“…The toll chose him.”

Kael rose. Slowly. Brokenly. His chest heaved, but with every toll, strength clawed back into his limbs. He lifted the ruined sword. The shattered edge pulsed, reshaping itself in his grip as if the fire of his blood was rewriting the steel.

His grin was sharp, defiant, soaked in blood.
“You said I don’t exist? Then I’ll carve myself into this world until it can’t forget me.”

The counter toll boomed again, louder than thunder, drowning even the Sovereign’s roar.

And for the first time… the god hesitated.