Chapter 56 — Bound by Oblivion

The Sovereign rose from the rubble, her eyes glowing like abyssal stars. The chains binding her arm trembled—not from weakness, but from resistance.

“Do you feel it, anomaly?” she whispered.
The ground beneath them split, black rivers of void leaking outward.
“Every link you conjure isn’t forged from metal… it’s forged from yourself.”

Kael staggered. For the first time, the chains coiled not at his command, but of their own hunger. His vision blurred. Memories cracked open—faces of allies, voices of the dead, even his own name dissolving at the edges.

The girl screamed. “Stop—! You’re killing yourself!”

Kael gritted his teeth, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
“If chains demand blood, then let it be mine. As long as they drag her down.”

The Sovereign laughed—a low, unending sound that shook the cathedral’s bones.
“Pathetic. You would erase your soul for nothing?”

Her body dissolved into liquid shadow, slipping through the chains. She reappeared behind him, her hand piercing straight through his chest.

The girl froze, horror choking her breath.

But Kael didn’t collapse. Instead, the chains erupted violently, wrapping her arm inside him, locking her in place. His crimson eyes burned brighter.

“I told you…” His voice cracked like a dying flame.
“…I decide.”

The Sovereign’s smirk faltered—for the first time, she tugged, and the chains did not yield. The air bent around them, belief itself warping as two impossibilities collided.

And then—silence.

The chains began to drag both of them into the abyss Kael had opened.