When kings rise, crowns shatter. And sometimes, it takes the city's monsters to swing the hammer.
Location: Old Cathedral District, Nocturne City — Midnight
The skies above Nocturne City were not skies anymore.
They were fractures. Golden ruptures carved through the night, jagged and bleeding light like veins of a dying god. Thunder rumbled, but it was the wrong kind of thunder — mechanical, echoing like a broken music box stuck on the same cursed note.
At the epicenter stood the Old Cathedral.
Once a house of worship. Now a temple of nightmares.
Its gothic spires pierced the corrupted sky. Stained-glass windows warped and breathed, leaking molten patterns that twisted midair. Every holy symbol, every mural, mutated before their eyes, as if the building itself had turned traitor.
And above it all, like a nightmare king from a forgotten myth, he waited.
The Rupture King.
Asher's boots scraped against cracked pavement as he and his chaotic army halted before the cathedral's courtyard.
The silence was suffocating. Even the city seemed to hold its breath.
Succubi flames, once wild and unruly, flickered with an unfamiliar nervousness. Their riders glanced at each other, gripping their hoverbikes tighter.
Noir's hacked drones buzzed, their usual crisp precision corrupted by the air — static rippling across their sleek shells.
Rosa's witches, proud and defiant, huddled closer. Some whispered protective chants, their spectral beasts growling lowly, unsettled by the golden power gnawing at reality itself.
Asher's voice cut through the tension, raw and sharp:
"No speeches. No plans. Just break the damn crown."
Lady Mirth, licking her blade with a manic grin, chuckled darkly.
"Finally, you say something I like."
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First Bosses — The King's Generals Appear
A slow, rhythmic thrum echoed from the cathedral steps.
Then, they emerged.
Three elite figures, like nightmares sculpted into flesh:
The Choir Maiden — She floated inches above the ground, her once-beautiful choir robes now ragged and stitched with veins of gold. Her mouth was sewn shut, but golden light poured from her eyes and lips like liquid fire.
The Ruptured Knight — A towering figure, half-human, half-living armor. His flesh oozed molten gold, and in his gauntleted grip, he dragged a molten greatsword that hissed with every breath it took.
The Golden Jester — Twisted and deformed, he danced with jagged glee, his laughter splicing through dimensions. Each step he took caused the very fabric of reality to skip, frames lagging like a corrupted video feed.
Behind them, a legion of cultists roared in unison, golden veins cracking open the concrete as their chants grew deafening.
The Ruptured Knight raised his sword, molten eyes locking onto the invaders.
"NOCTURNE… WILL BE CROWNED!"
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Battle Begins — The Siege of the Cathedral
Asher's hand twitched once.
And chaos detonated.
Noir's drones dive-bombed first, shrieking through the air like banshees before exploding in dazzling fireworks of digital shrapnel.
Succubi squads surged forward, their flames shifting into long, deadly whips and curved blades that tore through the cultists with demonic precision.
Rosa's witches raised their staffs high, summoning a massive phantom serpent — translucent and ghostly — that coiled and lunged, swallowing half the cathedral stairs in one bone-rattling sweep.
The Exorcist Twins' grim hymn filled the air, each note laced with forgotten curses. Cultist weapons shimmered, glitched, and shattered mid-swing, turning their own gold energy against them.
And Asher?
Asher ran.
He didn't wait, didn't hesitate. He blitzed through the battlefield, a storm of fists, blades, and shotgun blasts, punching a hole straight through the chaos.
Every cultist that got in his way?
A bullet to the gut. A blade through the ribs. A boot to the face.
No mercy. No pause.
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The Ruptured Knight
Steel groaned. Gold sizzled.
The Ruptured Knight dropped from the steps, his molten greatsword crashing down like a judgment from hell.
Asher dove to the side, barely avoiding the searing blade as it gouged a trench into the ground.
Teeth gritted, breath ragged, Asher taunted:
"Too slow, gold-boy."
The knight let out an inhuman roar, molten cracks racing up his armor as he swung again — faster, harder.
But Asher's cursed eye flared, his vision sharpening. Every move, every twitch of the knight's muscles was laid bare.
Dodge. Roll.
Shotgun blast — buckshot tearing into exposed ribs, molten sparks flying.
Blade strike — carving through cracked armor.
And then the final blow.
With a guttural yell, Asher headbutted the knight's masked face, golden energy detonating between them.
The knight staggered.
Cracks spread.
And then… he fell, armor and flesh disintegrating into gold dust, the greatsword clattering to the ground.
A succubus accidentally flirted mid-swing with a cultist, who blushed furiously and then combusted out of sheer confusion.
Noir, laughing maniacally, hacked into the Golden Jester's glitch-trick, freezing him mid-air like a bugged-out video game sprite, leaving him dangling and furious.
Rosa's witches, deadpan, summoned their now-signature giant ghostly hand — this time delivering a world-class slap to the Choir Maiden, sending her spinning like a cursed ballerina.
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Asher Reaches the Cathedral Doors
Bloodied. Bruised. Breathing like a cornered animal.
But still standing.
Asher reached the massive cathedral doors, golden veins crawling up the wood like hungry vines.
He stared up, his cursed eye burning brighter than ever.
"King's waiting," he muttered, voice low and lethal. "Let's go break his crown."
Lady Mirth appeared at his side, blood smeared across her cheeks, blade humming.
She smirked, licking a crimson streak from her lips.
"About time. I brought fireworks."
With a bone-chilling groan, the cathedral doors creaked open — a tidal wave of golden light surging out, blinding and oppressive.
And there, in the heart of the cathedral, stood the Rupture King.
Crowned in molten glory.
His eyes locked onto Asher — and behind him, deeper in the shadows… something ancient and monstrous stirred.
[End of Chapter 68]
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Preview of Next Chapter (69) — "The Golden Throne"
Asher and his allies breach the cathedral's heart, confronting the Rupture King and the true scale of the rupture spreading through Nocturne. Revelations, betrayals, and a battle that will decide the city's fate.