There is a strange stillness in surviving.
A silence that feels too heavy—like the world is holding its breath.
For four days, I didn't move.
I lay on the cracked stone floor of the Hollow Deep, half-buried in the ashes of the Hollow King. My body refused to obey me. My wounds were too deep, my magic burned out, and every breath scraped like glass through my throat.
I had killed it.
The Hollow King was dead.
But so was something in me.
Nyx had stayed by my side. His fur was matted with ash and blood, and he'd hardly left me. Only to hunt.
Each time he returned, he dropped something beside me—monster core stones, still pulsing faintly with power. I felt their heat even in my haze. They whispered promises of strength, of recovery.
I didn't know how many I consumed in those four days. I wasn't even conscious for most of them. But I felt the slow flicker of life return to my limbs. Like kindling feeding a dying flame.
[System Log: Passive Core Absorption – HP Recovery Increased]
[HP: 21%]
Still not enough.
I tried to sit up on the fifth day. My muscles screamed, every joint locked and burning, but I forced my way upright.
Nyx was awake before I finished moving. He growled—relieved, annoyed.
"Took your sweet time," he said, pacing over and nudging me with his snout.
My throat was too dry to respond. I fumbled through my satchel and pulled out a small black vial. Inside swirled something thick and crimson—glowing faintly. Seven of them had been sealed away in an ancient ruin chamber deeper in the Hollow King's lair.
Health Elixirs. Rare. Powerful. Priceless.
Each one could restore everything—HP, MP, even physical stats. I didn't want to waste one. But I knew the next steps would be worse than what I'd already faced.
I uncorked the vial and drank.
It was like swallowing liquid fire.
[Item Used: Health Elixir]
[HP: Fully Restored]
[MP: Fully Restored]
[Agility Boosted 100% – 1 Hour Duration]
Power slammed into me like a flood. I gasped as my senses ignited. Every nerve woke up at once. The world snapped into focus with terrifying clarity.
My claws extended with a flick. My breath steadied. My blood stopped trembling.
I stood.
"You ready?" I asked, voice hoarse.
Nyx growled approval.
Because this wasn't over.
Not by a long shot.
The Hollow King was just the beginning.
The taste of the elixir still lingered in my mouth—a bitter, metallic fire that coiled down my throat and bloomed in my chest like a second heart. It wasn't just power. It was resurrection.
For the first time in days, I felt whole.
No more aching joints. No more sluggish limbs. No more staring at the ceiling wondering if I would ever rise again.
I rolled my shoulders. My bones cracked like dry wood, and the tension I'd carried since that brutal clash with the Hollow King bled from my muscles. I was back. Not at my peak—but close enough.
Nyx stretched beside me, shadows curling like smoke around his sleek obsidian fur. He'd grown again. There was more weight to his steps, a colder gleam in his eyes. He'd been absorbing the cores while I slept, feeding off the residual essence of fallen beasts.
He wasn't just a companion now.
He was evolving. Adapting. Like me.
"I counted thirty-nine kills," he said, voice deep and quiet. "While you played dead."
I smirked. "Tireless little mutt, aren't you?"
"Faithless little mistress," he growled. "You passed out with your ribcage half-exposed. I didn't think you'd wake up."
I didn't respond to that. Not because I was offended—but because I wasn't sure I had woken up. Everything still felt unreal. The Hollow Deep was quiet—too quiet.
The kind of silence that meant something terrible was waiting to break it.
I stepped out of the ruins of the Hollow King's lair, the air thick with the burnt stench of corrupted flesh and lingering shadow energy. The corridors that once pulsed with sickly violet light were dim now, the ambient energy dulled—as if the realm itself were mourning its slain guardian.
[System Alert: Area Cleared – Hollow King's Dominion Neutralized]
[System Alert: New Threats Detected – Hollow Deep Rebalancing...]
I paused. That wasn't good.
"Something's shifting," I muttered, eyes narrowing. "Killing the King didn't end this place. It woke it up."
Nyx sniffed the air. His ears flattened. "The echo density has doubled. Triple, maybe. New spawn. Higher tier."
Of course it had.
The Hollow Deep was alive, in its own sick, twisted way. Killing the apex predator just made space for worse monsters to crawl up the food chain.
I needed to get out. But escape wasn't an option—not yet.
According to the system map, the only exit now led through the Thirteenth Layer—a forbidden zone. A living abyss so dangerous even other Demon King heirs avoided it.
But it was my only path.
And I wasn't going to crawl through it.
I was going to burn my way through.
We made our way forward—me walking tall, Nyx slipping between the shadows, silent and watchful. The path was darker here. The further we moved from the Hollow King's chamber, the more warped the environment became.
Walls that breathed.
Ceilings that dripped ichor.
Floors that pulsed like veins underfoot.
I didn't ask questions anymore. The Hollow Deep didn't care for logic.
I reached a broken spire—once a watchtower, now a ruin overgrown with twitching black moss. My senses spiked. Something was watching us.
They came crawling from the shadows like nightmares made flesh.
[Threat Detected: Mire Howlers – Elite Variant – Quantity: 12]
Eyeless. Twisted. Mouths that split sideways with jagged teeth and bodies built for speed and carnage.
They moved in sync. One moment there was nothing—then the air tore with their screeches as they charged.
I raised my hand and let Blackfire surge through my veins. The power from the elixir was still coursing through me—amplifying every motion, every instinct.
Time slowed.
I stepped forward. Let the first leap. And tore its torso in half with a burning claw slash mid-air.
The second tried to flank. Nyx intercepted, his shadow-body stretching and snapping with beastly precision, tearing the creature's head from its shoulders.
But the pack didn't hesitate. These weren't mindless.
They were coordinated.
Three at my back. Two to my left. One overhead.
I didn't think. I moved.
Vaulted off the wall. Spun mid-air. Blackfire lanced from my fingertips in a sweeping arc, igniting the corridor and burning three to ash. I landed, rolled beneath a claw swipe, slashed upward with a burst of demonic energy—crack, the jaw snapped loose from one beast and melted as it howled.
A claw cut into my side. Shallow, but fast. I hissed and retaliated with a blast of force that split the hallway wall.
Blood sprayed.
[HP: 91%]
"Stay behind me, Nyx," I ordered, panting.
"Not a chance."
He dove past me, turning into a living shadow spike and impaling the last two creatures in one violent rush.
Silence.
Ash rained. My breath was smoke. The scent of blood and scorched corruption filled the tunnel.
[Enemies Defeated – Core Stones Acquired x12]
[System: Combat Skill Proficiency Increased – Blackfire Mastery Lv. 3]
I stood there for a moment, heart hammering, letting the power settle again.
Nyx walked back, blood dripping from his muzzle. "You're going to need another elixir if we keep going at this pace."
I glanced at the six remaining vials.
"No," I said. "Not yet. We'll ration them. Just in case the Thirteenth is worse than we think."
We gathered the cores. Nyx crunched one between his fangs like candy. I absorbed the rest through my palm—feeling the warmth, the strength, the pain that came with stolen life.
Then we walked again.
Toward the gate.
Toward the abyss.
There was no door.
No archway.
No grand entrance into the Thirteenth Layer.
Just a tear in the world itself.
The walls of the Hollow Deep split open into a gaping wound—a chasm of pure darkness, writhing with red tendrils of corruption that pulsed like veins. The air here wasn't just cold—it was hungry. Every breath I took scraped my lungs like knives, and even Nyx kept low to the ground, fur bristling, tail stiff.
"You feel that?" I asked, voice barely audible.
"I feel everything," Nyx growled. "Something in there remembers you."
That sent a chill through my spine. I didn't answer. Instead, I stepped forward.
[System Alert: You are entering a Forbidden Zone – Thirteenth Layer of the Hollow Deep]
[Warning: All Safe Zones disabled. Difficulty Level: Abyssal]
[New Quest: Claim the Abyssal Fragment]
Objective: Reach the Abyssal Core and defeat its Guardian. Reward: ???]
"Figures," I muttered, stepping into the dark.
The moment my foot crossed the threshold, the world changed.
Colors bled from reality. The stone beneath my boots twisted into something wrong—like bone that had melted and reformed a thousand times. The gravity shifted slightly, making each step feel like a stumble uphill, even on level ground. Time didn't flow properly here. The deeper I went, the more the light of my blackfire flickered unnaturally—stretching in the wrong direction, curving like a shadow that refused to obey.
"Nyx," I said, halting. "What's our flank?"
"Gone," he said simply. "The path behind us just…closed."
Of course it had.
The Thirteenth wasn't a place. It was a trap. And I had just stepped into its jaws.
We moved deeper, wordless now. The silence pressed against my ears like water. I could hear my own heartbeat echoing. Every footstep rang like a drumbeat in a tomb.
Then we saw them.
They weren't just echoes anymore.
They were... reflections.
At first, I thought it was us—our silhouettes, mimicking our movement ahead. But then I noticed the details.
Their shadows didn't match.
Their eyes glowed red.
And their weapons... were mine.
[Threat Detected: Echo Doppels – Abyssal Variant – Quantity: 2 (Sylvia-class), 1 (Nyx-class)]
"No time to think," I muttered. "We kill them fast. Burn everything."
Nyx didn't wait.
He launched at the shadow copy of himself with an explosion of dark flame, the two beasts colliding in midair with a roar that shook the cavern walls.
My doppelgänger sprinted toward me.
Same movements. Same smirk. Same burning aura. Except twisted. Her flames were crimson, unstable—her laugh a haunting echo of mine.
I met her head-on, claws and blackfire colliding in a flash of power that split the ground beneath us.
The battle was chaos.
She mirrored my every move, but lacked control. She burned brighter but faster—each attack wild and destructive.
I ducked under a spinning slash, drove my claws into her gut, only for her to vanish in a blur of mist and reappear behind me.
[HP: 68%]
A searing claw raked down my back. Pain flared. I stumbled forward, then spun and launched a pulse of Blackfire that tore half her face apart. She shrieked—inhuman and enraged.
Nyx's battle wasn't going better. His shadow roared and swelled, absorbing the surrounding darkness, growing larger and more monstrous.
"Can't keep this up," I muttered, blood dripping from my chin. "Screw it."
I reached for my belt and yanked out another vial.
Second elixir. No choice.
[Item Used: Health Elixir]
[HP: Fully Restored | MP: Fully Restored | Agility Boost 100% - 1 Hour]
The boost hit me like lightning. The cavern snapped into focus—every ripple of shadow, every tremor of movement, everything.
I didn't fight her.
I outpaced her.
Blitzed behind her, slashed across her spine. As she turned to counter, I ignited my entire arm with blackfire and punched through her chest.
She exploded in a spiral of burning shadows.
I didn't even stop to celebrate.
Spun. Charged toward Nyx—who had been pinned under his doppelgänger. I slammed my burning fist into the back of its skull, and Nyx broke free, tearing into its throat with a vicious snarl.
We stood in the aftermath, breathing hard. Our enemies were gone. The shadows burned away.
But the path forward wasn't done testing us.
A pulse of energy surged through the cavern. The walls shimmered. The stone ahead cracked and crumbled—revealing an ancient obsidian door embedded in living rock, sealed with demonic glyphs.
It opened.
Slow. Groaning. Like the world didn't want us to pass.
Beyond it lay a chamber that radiated pure Authority.
And in the center…
A throne of bone and shadow.
And atop it, a slumbering beast with wings folded like a broken cage.
[Boss Detected: Abyssal Core Guardian – Class: Unknown – Status: Dormant]
I looked to Nyx. "No turning back."
He bared his fangs. "Let's end this."
The chamber felt like the inside of a tomb that had never seen light.
Silent.
Still.
Heavy with forgotten divinity.
The Abyssal Core Guardian didn't stir as we entered. Its body was vast—a draconic mass of ash-black scale and rotted bone, curled like a corpse atop its throne. Its wings, massive and ruined, were folded behind its back like twisted monuments. Chains of raw Authority wrapped its limbs and neck, embedded deep into the flesh—as if something stronger had once sealed it here.
But even asleep, it radiated pressure. My knees nearly buckled the moment I stepped within thirty feet.
[System Alert: Core Guardian Presence Detected – All escape routes locked]
[Quest Objective: Defeat the Abyssal Core Guardian and Claim the Abyssal Fragment]
I breathed deep and drew my blackfire into my limbs.
Then it opened its eyes.
No pupils. Just endless white light, shining through sockets that should have held decay.
A low rumble echoed through the chamber as the beast uncoiled. The chains shattered like paper. Its maw cracked open with a hiss that warped the air around it.
"RUN—" Nyx started.
But it moved first.
A blast of abyssal flame roared from its mouth, splitting the floor and sending a wave of scorching death toward us. I threw my hand up, summoned a wall of blackfire—and was immediately blown back into a pillar.
[HP: 64%]
I hit the ground coughing blood, vision swimming.
Nyx blurred across the battlefield, leaping at its throat. The Guardian swung its tail mid-lunge and swatted him from the air like a fly. He crashed into the wall with a sickening crunch.
"NYX!"
He didn't move.
No time to think.
I stood.
My blood boiled. Bones cracked. The pressure crushed down on me like a mountain—but I moved anyway. Flame ignited at my feet as I charged.
The Guardian came to meet me—massive claws descending. I slid under one, leapt, and drove a lance of blackfire straight into its chest.
It barely flinched.
Instead, it grabbed me mid-air and slammed me into the ground, cracking the stone beneath me.
[HP: 31%]
Pain exploded through every nerve. My vision dimmed.
The world tilted.
But I saw the Guardian raising its claws again for the killing blow.
I forced my arm up. My hand was trembling. Fingers bleeding.
One last vial sat in my pouch.
I drank it.
[Item Used: Health Elixir]
[HP/MP Restored | Agility Boost 100% | Demonic Overdrive Triggered]
The pain vanished.
Everything slowed down.
I didn't see the beast anymore. I saw lines. Weak points. Pulse points. Cracks in the flow of its Authority.
I launched upward, blackfire blazing like a comet. My body moved faster than thought—claws dragging across its face, ripping away scale and shadow. The beast roared, stumbling back.
I didn't let it recover.
I slammed into its gut, detonated a shockwave of dark energy, then vaulted off its knee and plunged both hands into its skull—blackfire erupting like a spear through its brain.
It screamed, flailing, shaking the very chamber—but I held on, screaming back, flame devouring both of us.
Then—
Silence.
The beast shuddered once.
Then crumbled.
Into ash.
[Boss Defeated – Abyssal Core Guardian Fallen]
[System Alert: Abyssal Fragment Acquired – Legacy Progression Unlocked]
[You have gained: Authority of the Abyss Lv. 1 – Incomplete]
I collapsed to my knees. Everything hurt. The elixir had kept me alive—but the exhaustion went deeper than the body.
My skin was scorched. My armor hung in tatters. But I was still breathing.
Barely.
I dragged myself toward the shattered throne, where the Abyssal Fragment floated above a pedestal of obsidian. It pulsed with dark violet energy—older than anything I'd ever seen.
I reached out.
My hand trembled as I touched it.
The moment I did—visions flooded my mind. A woman. Towering. Horned. Laughing amidst flame and ruin. The First Daughter...?
Then—
Nothing.
The fragment embedded itself in my chest, just below the heart. A burning cold unlike anything before.
[System Log: Legacy Seed – Phase One Complete]
Behind me, Nyx stirred, limping to his feet.
"You alive?" I croaked.
"Barely," he muttered. "You always pick the fun routes."
I laughed. Weak, bitter, but real.
Above us, the cavern ceiling had cracked open during the fight. The first rays of sunlight in days poured in—bleeding across the ruin like salvation.
The Hollow Deep… was over.
We had survived.
Barely.
But that was enough.
For now.