Chapter 97: The Sovereign's Judgment and the Crumbling Abyss
The darkness that erupted from the chasm was not merely the absence of light; it was a physical weight, a primordial soup of shadows that seemed to swallow the very screams of the Academy Inquisitors. On the crumbling bridge, the atmosphere grew so heavy that Malphas, the lead Inquisitor, felt his knees buckle. The golden radiance of his staff flickered like a dying candle in a hurricane.
"This... this is impossible!" Malphas bellowed, his voice trembling with a mixture of zealotry and primal fear. "No mortal, no matter how corrupted, should be able to command the Void with such absolute authority!"
Von (Volt) stood at the center of the swirling dark vortex, his crimson eyes glowing with a terrifying, calm intensity. The Void Reaper in his hand was no longer just a sword; it had become an extension of the abyss itself, trailing wisps of black flame that consumed the air around it. Every breath Von took seemed to draw the mana out of the environment, leaving the Inquisitors weakened and gasping.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Skill 'Sovereign's Wrath' Fully Channelled. Enemy Mana Reserves: Depleting at 15% per second. Status: Execution Mode.]
Aki, huddled behind a jagged rock with Rena and Sai, peeked out with one eye. "I've seen some scary things in my line of work—angry kings, mountain trolls, even my mother-in-law on a Monday—but this? This is on a whole different level of 'we're all going to die.'"
Sai slammed his shield into the ground as a stray bolt of solar energy hissed past them. "Shut up and keep your head down, Aki! Von is literally rewriting the laws of magic on this bridge. If we get caught in that feedback loop, not even a healing potion will save us."
Rena watched the scene with a pale face, her hands gripped so tightly that her knuckles were white. She saw the way the shadows obeyed Von—not as a tool, but as a loyal army returning to its king. "He's not just fighting them," she whispered. "He's judging them."
On the bridge, the two remaining secondary Inquisitors tried to launch a final, desperate attack. They combined their staves, creating a massive spear of solidified solar light aimed directly at Von's heart. "Die, monster!" they screamed in unison.
Von didn't move. He didn't even raise his sword to parry. As the spear of light neared him, he simply reached out with his left hand and caught it. The divine energy hissed and crackled against his palm, but instead of burning him, the light began to turn grey, then black, as Von's abyss-tainted mana infected the spell.
"Your 'Light' is brittle," Von said, his voice echoing from every corner of the cavern at once. "It requires faith to exist. My darkness... it only requires the truth."
With a sudden squeeze, Von shattered the solar spear into a thousand harmless sparks. Before the mages could react, he vanished in a blur of shadow. A split second later, the two Inquisitors stood frozen. A thin, violet line appeared across their throats, and they collapsed into the chasm without a sound.
Malphas was the only one left. He fell back, his staff clattering against the stone. "Who... what are you?"
Von walked toward him, each step causing the bridge to groan and crack further. He stood over the fallen Inquisitor, the shadow of his wings—spectral and tattered—looming over the man. "I am the nightmare the Academy tried to forget. I am the silence that follows the storm."
Von raised the Void Reaper. Just as he was about to strike, the crystal in Aki's pocket let out a piercing, high-pitched hum. The entire cavern began to shake violently. The bridge, already weakened by the intense magical pressure, started to disintegrate from the center.
"Von! The bridge is going down!" Sai roared, grabbing Aki and Rena and sprinting toward the far end of the chasm.
Von glanced back at his comrades, then down at Malphas. With a cold flick of his wrist, he sent a wave of gravity that pinned Malphas to the crumbling stone. "Live long enough to tell your masters... the King has returned."
Von turned and leaped across the widening gap just as the central section of the bridge collapsed into the void, taking Malphas and his screams with it.
As they reached the solid ground of the Inner Sanctum, the System provided a final update for the battle:
[BATTLE COMPLETE: 4 Inquisitors Defeated. Experience Gained: +15,000. Level Up: 38 -> 42. Synchronization with 'Heart of the Mountain': 15%.]
Aki slumped against the wall, breathing heavily. "Okay... next time, can we just take the stairs?"
Von didn't answer. He looked at the massive, sealed door of the Inner Sanctum ahead of them. The mark on his hand was burning, and he knew that what lay behind this door would change everything.