The assault began with light—blinding, system-born.
Elias had twisted the world's rules. Stats changed mid-battle. Abilities looped or reversed. Riftborn merged with memories, and one of them looked like Kai's mother, long thought dead.
> [System Manipulation Detected – Divine Override Level: Elias Varin, Title: Architect in Ascent]
The Vanguard fought desperately. Nyx sacrificed her Echo Blade to collapse one shard-realm. Mina was pulled into a riftstorm and vanished.
Kai reached the base of the throne—barely standing.
Then Elias descended.
Clad in obsidian and woven starlight, he smiled.
"You've reached the end of the script," he said. "I wrote it myself."