The heavens broke.
A crack spread across the sky above the Forgotten Forge, stretching from one end of the sanctuary to the other.
Darkness poured through it.
Not ordinary darkness.
This darkness had weight.
It had presence.
It had hunger.
Renzo stared upward as an endless black ocean flowed through the fractured sky.
The forge trembled.
Golden flames flickered violently.
Even the restored furnaces dimmed beneath the overwhelming pressure.
Kensei-Ryu's voice was unusually quiet.
"…That isn't Corvus."
Renzo looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
The sword god did not answer immediately.
Instead, he continued staring at the darkness above.
Finally, he spoke.
"That…"
"…is what Corvus came from."
Corvus stood beneath the broken sky, its humanoid form beginning to dissolve.
The black armor cracked.
Its body unraveled into streams of darkness.
The crimson eye at the center of its chest expanded.
Larger.
And larger.
Until it became a massive sphere of crimson light.
The Devourer laughed.
The sound echoed across the forge.
"You finally forced me to remember."
The darkness continued descending.
The sea beyond reality was entering the sanctuary.
Hephaestion slowly stepped forward.
The ancient being looked toward the sky with a grave expression.
"The Outer Sea."
Renzo frowned.
"The Outer Sea?"
Vulcanos answered.
"It is the place beyond worlds."
"The place where concepts are born."
"And where corrupted concepts devour one another."
Renzo looked upward again.
The darkness was not empty.
Shapes moved within it.
Massive.
Indistinct.
Endless.
Some resembled serpents made of stars.
Others resembled giant eyes.
Some had no recognizable form at all.
Every one of them radiated unimaginable pressure.
A system warning appeared.
Reality Stability: Failing
The Forgotten Forge has been connected to the Outer Sea.
Corvus' laughter grew louder.
"Do you understand now?"
"I was never a god."
"I was merely a fragment."
The crimson sphere pulsed.
Darkness gathered around it.
A gigantic silhouette slowly emerged.
Renzo's eyes widened.
The figure was colossal.
Larger than mountains.
Its body was made entirely of living oblivion.
Countless crimson eyes opened across its form.
Each eye contained a different world.
A different civilization.
A different sky.
All of them dead.
A new system window appeared.
True Entity Detected
Name: Corvus, Herald of the Outer Sea
Classification: Outer Existence
Threat Level: World Extinction
The title alone made Renzo's blood run cold.
World Extinction.
This was no longer a dungeon boss.
No longer a corrupted guardian.
This was an existence capable of destroying worlds.
Corvus looked down upon the forge.
"The Sovereigns feared us."
"The Pantheons fell to us."
"The Systems were created to delay us."
Renzo's eyes narrowed.
"The Systems?"
Corvus smiled.
"Yes."
"Do you truly believe your precious System was created to empower humanity?"
Silence.
The Devourer continued.
"It was created as a prison."
Vulcanos' expression darkened.
Corvus laughed.
"Every level."
"Every rank."
"Every class."
"Every limit."
"All of it exists to keep mortals beneath divinity."
Renzo froze.
The world cap.
Level 100.
The ranking system.
Everything.
Corvus' voice echoed throughout the sanctuary.
"A mortal who reaches Level 100 is not ascending."
"They are being sealed."
The words struck Renzo like a hammer.
He remembered the top players.
The guilds.
The obsession with reaching Level 100.
Corvus looked directly at him.
"But you…"
"…broke the prison."
Golden flames surged around Renzo.
Forge Monarch.
Hidden S-Rank passives.
Divine Class.
Everything had existed outside the System.
Vulcanos spoke quietly.
"I intended for it to happen."
Renzo looked toward the forge god.
"You knew?"
Vulcanos nodded.
"The System was never enough."
"It could only produce soldiers."
"I needed a successor."
"One who could create."
"One who could transcend."
Corvus roared.
The darkness expanded violently.
"THEN HE MUST DIE!"
A gigantic hand descended from the Outer Sea.
The hand was larger than the entire Forgotten Forge.
Reality shattered beneath it.
Hephaestion raised both hands.
Golden stars filled the sanctuary.
The Heart of the Forge expanded.
Ancient barriers erupted across the forge.
BOOOOOOM!
The giant hand struck.
The barriers cracked.
The sanctuary shook violently.
Hephaestion staggered.
Golden light flickered across the ancient being's body.
Renzo clenched his fists.
Even the Heart of the Forge was struggling.
Corvus laughed.
"You cannot stop the Outer Sea."
"Not anymore."
More cracks spread across the sky.
The ocean beyond reality continued entering the world.
The Forgotten Forge was becoming a gateway.
Kensei-Ryu looked toward Renzo.
"Your sword can cut an authority."
"But not that."
Renzo looked upward.
The giant hand remained pressed against the barrier.
Darkness spread across it.
Hephaestion's light weakened further.
Vulcanos suddenly stepped beside Renzo.
Golden flames surrounded the forge god.
"Renzo."
"This battle cannot be won."
Renzo stared at him.
"What?"
"The Herald is only a fragment."
"The true Corvus exists beyond reality."
Silence.
Vulcanos continued.
"The only way to stop this…"
"…is to seal the gateway."
Renzo looked toward the Final Anvil.
Toward the Heart of the Forge.
Toward the sanctuary that had been restored through sacrifice.
"If we seal it…"
"The Forgotten Forge will disappear."
Ignis slowly looked around the sanctuary.
The furnaces.
The anvils.
The molten rivers.
The home he had protected for thousands of years.
The guardian closed his eyes.
Then nodded.
"The Forge exists to protect creation."
"Not itself."
Hephaestion looked toward Renzo.
"Forge Monarch."
"The final choice belongs to you."
A new system window appeared.
Emergency Divine Quest
The Last Forge
Objective:
Seal the gateway to the Outer Sea.
Failure:
The gateway will fully open.
Reward:
Unknown.
The barrier cracked again.
A second giant hand began emerging from the darkness.
The Outer Sea was coming.
And Renzo had only moments left to decide the fate of the Forgotten Forge.