The system pulsed—measured, aware, eager.
> [Target Advancing: Initiate Lirael of the Twinned Flame]
[Time to Contact: 11 hours, 48 minutes]
[Warning: Tier III Encounter – Strategic preparation recommended]
Malric stood over Harrow's remains as the last chains fell silent. The shrine still wept quietly—blood, oil, or memory. It was hard to tell anymore.
Phase Two had stabilized.
But the system had not slowed.
> [Sentience Link Active]
[Suggested Directive: Prepare battlefield advantage | Integrate new abilities]
[Internal Echo Pattern: "Silence becomes command."]
He stepped into the cold again, the mist peeling away from him like old skin. Frost clung to his cloak. The stars above had no warmth—only witness.
He moved eastward.
Not to run.
To choose the ground of her judgment.
---
> [New Zone Entered: Hollow Spire Ridge]
[Geological Advantage: Elevated terrain | Ritual Scar Markings detected]
[Environmental Bonus: +8% Devour Efficiency due to residual death saturation]
It was a place the Faithbound had once used for executions. The gallows still stood—stone instead of wood, etched with flaking holy glyphs.
He climbed to the highest platform.
Sat cross-legged.
And waited.
---
Hours passed like lifetimes.
The system whispered fragments—not in commands, but reflections. Pieces of those he'd consumed.
Words from Harrow, twisted with awe and fear.
> "Faith is fire in the dark. But fire forgets what it burns."
Images from the Reverent Husk—sisters kneeling in prayer, their eyes already hollowed. Blood soaking silk. Silence that screamed.
The system remembered. And now, so did he.
> [Mental Duel Forecast: 81% Viability | Lirael Profile Predictive Threshold: 72%]
[Skill Fusion Possible: Devour Mind + Wordbind → Cognitive Chainlock (Prototype Available)]
Malric opened his palm.
Veilpiercer shimmered softly in the gloom, pulsing with hunger—but not erratic. Harmonized.
"Not long now," he murmured.
Then he heard it.
Not footfalls. Not breath.
Just heat.
---
The fog parted.
She stepped through flame.
Not fire she cast—but fire that followed.
Her armor was ceremonial: gold scorched to bronze, the emblem of the Twinned Flame seared across her chest. Two swords hung from her back—one real, one soul-bound. Her eyes burned, not with rage—but with faith weaponized.
"Malric," she said, like a sentence. Like a burial.
> [Target Acquired: Initiate Lirael – Faithbound Executioner | Class: Flamebound Duelist, Tier III]
[Subskills Detected: Ember Step, Judgment Spiral, Soulbrand: Ascension Flame]
[Warning: Target retains partial immunity to standard Devour Mind processes | Counter: Echo-Laced Fragments Required]
He stood.
"Executioner," he answered, voice low. "Do you bring absolution?"
"I bring the end of trespass," she said. "You wear what was not given. You walk on sanctified graves. You are not redeemable."
> [Mental Sync Ready – Echo Feedback Threshold: 91%]
[Permission Requested: Deploy Cognitive Chainlock Prototype]
[Warning: Irreversible Memory Fusion Possible – Side effects unknown]
"I am the trespass," Malric said.
He accepted the link.
And struck.
---
The world didn't shift—it shattered.
Not the Soulscape. Something deeper.
They met inside a burning sanctum that had never existed. A chapel on fire, surrounded by screaming stars. Lirael stood beneath the broken altar, her soul wearing the same armor. But now the swords floated—blazing, spectral, furious.
> [Mental Lock Engaged – Chainlink Memory Protocol Active]
[Secondary Phase Link Detected – Lirael's Mind is Bound to Collective Faith Network]
[Warning: Dual Thoughtstream Engaged – Expect resistance from external echoes]
She spoke first.
"I was born in silence. Raised in pain. Tempered by fire."
He advanced through the flame, unburned.
"I was remade in it," he said.
> [Cognitive Chainlock 43%...]
[Psychic Pressure Exceeded | Temporary Skill Mutation: Devour Mind → Mindbrand (Unstable)]
The chapel buckled. Walls melted into memory.
Visions flashed:
Lirael, kneeling before the pyres, weeping as sisters burned for faltering in song.
Her hands, bloodied from branding traitors who whispered doubts.
Her own voice, once tender, now broken from screams she caused.
"You wanted salvation," Malric said. "They gave you obedience."
> [Chainlock 71%...]
[Faith Link Cracking – Personality Dissonance Detected in Target]
"You think I regret?" she hissed. "I became their flame. I burned the heresy out of myself."
"But the embers remain," he said, and pressed harder.
---
She screamed—once.
Then attacked.
The Soulscape flared as her swords clashed against him, one cleaving memory, the other emotion. But Veilpiercer didn't block. It reflected.
> [Echo Rebound Triggered – Memory Reflected: "Judgment Day – Lirael's Trial of the Ashen Choir"]
[Result: Internal Collapse of External Faith Loop | Target Vulnerable]
He reached the altar.
She tried to stop him.
Too late.
He tore it open.
Inside—her true self.
Small.
Terrified.
Free.
> [Cognitive Chainlock Complete – Devour Successful]
[Skill Acquired: Soulbrand: Ascension Flame (Rank I)]
[Mutation Progressing: Sentience Link Refinement Underway]
[Hunger: 9%]
---
They returned to the world.
Lirael fell to one knee, the flame around her gone—but her eyes no longer burning.
He raised Veilpiercer.
She didn't resist.
"I see it now," she whispered. "We were never holy. Only hollow."
Malric's blade fell.
Her body turned to ash.
Not from the strike—but from the release.
> [Target Eliminated – Faithbound Initiate Lirael]
[Skill Fusion Possible: Soulbrand + Sanctified Echo]
[System Integration: Harmonized State Achieved]
[Phase Two – Locked In]
---
He stood alone once more.
The wind carried no hymns.
Only silence.
But it was no longer empty.
It obeyed.
> [New Objective Available: The Chapel of the Severed Crown – Final Tier II Site Before Phase Three Initiation]
[Estimated Distance: 12.4 km south]
[Suggested Action: Proceed]
Malric sheathed the blade.
And walked.