The light had long vanished.
There was no sky, only endless black as the rift opened beneath them like a wound in the world. The team didn't fall down so much as they were ejected.
Their bodies hit the ground hard, tumbling over molten gravel and crumbling ash. The earth here was jagged, seething with cracks of lava and rivers of ember veins, lighting the air with a hellish glow. Gravity felt distorted—heavier than it should've been. The atmosphere clung to them, thick and suffocating, reeking of iron and something ancient.
Above them was no sky—only a vast dark dome, shimmering faintly like a curtain of black glass. Floating rocks drifted in slow, ominous patterns through the heat-soaked air. The main landform, jagged and wide like a sacrificial altar, rose from a sea of lava.
On one far edge, a pedestal stood in silence, its stone body split through the center by a massive obsidian fragment, lodged like a sword through a throat—waiting.
Jaemin staggered to his knees, coughing as molten air scorched his lungs. The world shimmered around him, like everything was aflame—even time.
Minjae had already activated Guardian's Domain, a faint golden shield that shimmered like a protective bubble around them, but it flickered—strained. Even that was barely enough to help them stand. Their Cores were unstable. Coreflow trembled like water near a flame.
The silence stretched until Jinhwan broke it.
"We're here, Tier One."
It sank into all of them like a hook to the heart.
This wasn't a mission anymore.
This was entertainment for the Abyss.
Then—A voice. A whisper. Yet heard like a scream across the realm.
"...Humans?"
Soft. Primal.
They turned.
Something floated midair—not above, but behind. Upside down. Limbs hidden beneath flowing robes of smoke and burning ash.Barely visible. And yet… impossibly present.
Unholy.
The air bent around it. Color dulled. Sound faded.Their knees gave out instantly—not from force, but something deeper. Like their souls had been struck.
Jaemin didn't even understand what he was looking at—only that it should not exist.
Hana, trembling, whispered.
"Don't tell me…"
Jinhwan didn't answer at first. He looked up, jaw clenched, as the upside-down figure slowly turned upright midair—two burning eyes now visible through the drifting veil of his robe. Blue flame pupils. Lava-white sclera.
"That."
Jinhwan said grimly.
"Is the ruler of this realm."
The air itself seemed to exhale in dread as Jinhwan spoke the title.
"The Supreme Power of this Abbyssal Rift—Vul'Zareth, the Incandescent Sovereign of Abyssal Flames."
He descended.
Not with violence or flare, but with a calm, regal grace—levitating inches above the molten earth, his dark robe unfurling in the heat like smoke trailing behind a forgotten altar. There was no heat from him—only a pressure, as if his mere presence stilled time.
He looked more like a fallen god than a monster—unmoving, yet impossible to ignore.A being of ash and memory. A defiled sovereign, untouched by time, surrounded by a silence so thick it crushed thought.
His face was partially hidden beneath a hood of volcanic silk, but those two eyes shone like stars in a dying sun—lava-white sclera, pupils burning blue fire.
"Made it this far..."
He hovered closer, robes brushing the air like mist.
"The Maiden didn't seem able to shatter your wills so easily."
His head tilted slightly—not with curiosity, but with the faintest trace of… approval.
"You deserve some acknowledgment, then."
He raised his hand—not to attack, but to gesture gently, as if lifting a curtain of formality.
"Stand… and speak."
Just a command from a being who had never been disobeyed.
The Coreborn stirred beneath his presence, trembling—not in fear, but in awe. Even Minjae's shield flickered again.
The heat didn't lessen—but the pressure that held them on their knees eased, like a shackle temporarily loosened.
Jinhwan was the first to rise. He stood, breath slow, arms tense, aura dim but present. His eyes narrowed at the towering figure above the lava.
"Why is this Rift so distorted? How can one Rift carry three tiers stacked on top of each other?"
Vul'Zareth remained still.
A faint glow pulsed beneath his robes, like a sun breathing behind cloth.
"The Abyss…" he said slowly,"…is capable of anything."
The way he said it—anything—was not boastful.It was simply truth. An immutable law. A reminder of where they were.
Silence returned—but it didn't last long.
A tear of shadow appeared behind Vul'Zareth, warping the molten air. From it emerged a figure—less elegant, more brutal in shape. Horned, jagged, carved from obsidian flesh, and armored in infernal black steel. A silhouette of dominance.
Its presence reeked of blood and oil, eyes glowing like furnace coals. The team tensed instinctively—Hana raised herself . Nauen stepped beside Minjae, shielding Jaemin with her stance.
"Your Highness."
The new figure rumbled, voice like grinding tombstones but filled with obedience.
Vul'Zareth didn't turn to look. His gaze remained on the mortals.
"Underlord."
"I await your command."
Vul'Zareth's eyes dimmed—almost in boredom.
"Kill each of them."
His voice was calm. Unfeeling.
"Use something new for each one."
He drifted back slightly, as if stepping aside for a show.
"They should be… entertaining."
The Underlord lowered his head, stepping forward. Each movement sent small quakes through the scorched terrain. Blades of unnatural shape materialized across his back—like artifacts from fallen worlds.
And then—he raised one hand.
He held a blade with the tip of it scorching
The Underlord's blade pulsed with scalding heat, the tip searing a line in the air as the platforms spread wide—each team member isolated, defenseless.
Then, without warning, Vul'zareth smiled.
It wasn't warmth. It was something darker. Enjoyment at the edge of cruelty.
He lifted both arms slowly, like a conductor welcoming the final movement of a symphony.
"Too few," he murmured, as black tendrils of abyssal fire bled from his palms.
"Let the curtain rise."
The black flames twisted midair—twirling, spiraling—then crashed down like black lightning into the scorched arena.
The earth cracked.
From the charred ruins, they began to emerge.
One by one.
Jisoo. Rin. Juri. The lost Velocity Cores. The fallen Bastions. Even the torn Precision Coreborn—faces they had mourned just hours ago.
But these weren't shambling corpses or puppets.They moved with clarity. With purpose.
They looked… alive.
And worse—they remembered.
Jisoo twirled her blade once, flames dancing around her feet. She glanced briefly at Jinhwan before stepping into formation, as if the deaths had never happened.
"No time for a reunion, huh?"
She muttered, cracking her neck.
Jinhwan's eyes flicked across the reformed squad. His chest rose slowly. He clenched his fists.
A small grin cracked the tension on his face.
"Then let's give him hell."
He turned toward the looming Underlord, his aura snapping to life—deep crimson flickering around his frame.
"Form up!" he roared. "All units—bring that bastard of a knight down!"
The dead surged forward—alive again, even if just for now.
Jaemin stood frozen.
He wasn't on a platform anymore—it had merged with the central field, perhaps intentionally. But even so, he didn't move. He couldn't.
Everyone else did.
The Bastions were already weaving Aetheral glyphs into the air, barriers overlapping. But it was the Velocity and Precision Cores who became blurs of color and fury.
They flew, launching themselves toward the Underlord with terrifying speed, embers dancing around them like dying stars. Juri led the charge, her blade splitting flames. Rin was just behind her, eyes locked on the knight's exposed flank.
They looked unstoppable.
Then, everything cracked.
The Underlord moved.
He didn't leap—he vanished. One instant he stood grounded, the next he was above them, a burning god eclipsing the abyssal sky.
And then—a single slash.
A wide arc of molten flame carved through the air, tracing a line of death through the battlefield.
The sound was delayed. The explosion wasn't.
The shockwave sent Jaemin tumbling to the ground. He barely shielded his face when it happened—all but two of the charging Coreborn were hit.
They didn't fall. They detonated.
In bursts of blazing light, the Velocity and Precision cores were vaporized, their auras snuffed out mid-roar. One after another, nothing left but heat and ashes.
Only Juri and Rin remained standing, barely—Juri limping, arm charred; Rin with a tear down her sideguard, teeth gritted in fury.
But the rest—Gone. Again.
And yet—
No one fled.
The others roared—not in panic, but rage. Defiance. Bastions slammed their shields to the ground. Jinhwan called out something Jaemin couldn't hear, his crimson aura now a pillar blazing into the sky.
They surged forward.
A storm of human will. Not just cores. But people, full of fire and grief.
Their auras burned so brightly, even the Abyss blinked.
The knight didn't speak. It didn't need to.
Jisoo moved first, flux-streaks trailing behind her like lightning veins. Her blade aimed true—center mass. Behind her, the two Bastions roared, their Bastion Blades gleaming crimson-hot, swinging down like guillotines.
Steel collided with steel.
The impact shattered the ground beneath, but the knight didn't even flinch. Its body absorbed the clash like it was stone, not flesh. With a barely visible twist, it stepped into the motion—
CRACK!!!
Both Bastions were flung like dolls, their bodies tumbling through the ash-choked air. They hadn't even hit the ground before the knight was on them. A blur of smoke and embers, its greatsword sliced through armor and spine, carving each of them into halves mid-flight.
There was no time to react.
Jisoo spun around, eyes wide—but the knight was already there.
It grabbed her arm.
She screamed, barely audible before the knight leapt with her, ascending like a missile. With a monstrous whip of its arm, it hurled her down, and her body plunged into the lava below.
FWIPPP
SPLASH.
A flash of light. Then steam. She didn't resurface.
Rin and Juri were next.
Both lunged, their final charge a desperate, beautiful blur of light and aura. Juri's daggers caught flame. Rin's spear crackled with Volt Override. They reached the knight in tandem—
And died just as quickly.
SLASHHH!!!
SLASHHH!!!!!
Juri's stomach tore open first, intestines spilling like a rope. Rin's throat followed—one clean sweep, and her head lolled forward as fire licked at her insides.
They dropped, dead before they hit the ground, burning.
A tremor echoed—the knight punched the earth. A ripple of force burst outward, launching Minjae and Nauen into the sky like they weighed nothing.
Before they could even scream—
The knight leapt up after them.And it spun.
A whirling death wheel of armor and lava steel. Its greatsword carved through both bodies midair, ripping them apart into ribbons, chunks of blood and viscera raining down like ash.
When the dust settled—
Only Hana and Jinhwan stood.
Their bodies were trembling. Aura flickering. Faces bloodied. The world around them—red, scorched, broken. And the knight, still untouched, turned its helm toward them slowly.
Jinhwan whispered.
"...This can't be real."
But it was. And now, only two coreborns remained.
BOOM.
The knight's boots struck the stone with a deafening weight as he landed—towering and unphased. His greatsword dragged across the cracked ground, searing a molten line with every step.
Jinhwan stepped forward.
His face was cut. Bruised. His Bastion Blade quivered in his grip. But his eyes—
They were calm.
A Coreborn's gaze. One forged through decades of blood and steel.
CLANG!
The knight lunged first. Its sword came down like a divine judgment—an arc of incineration.
SHK-KRAAAANG!
Jinhwan parried, feet skidding across molten earth. Sparks howled into the air. His arms trembled at the sheer force—but he held.
The knight swung again.
WHOOSH!
SHTANG!!
Another block—Jinhwan sidestepped, pivoted, and retaliated with a horizontal cleave.
KRRK! The edge caught the knight's shoulder—a shallow slice, but the first mark.
The knight reeled back, its sword spinning midair before slamming downward once more.
BOOOM!
The ground beneath Jinhwan shattered, fire pluming up—but he was already gone.
"HHRAAH!!"
He appeared above the knight, bringing his blade down with both hands—
SHLAK!!
Another hit. Right across the helm.
The knight staggered.
The air shivered with energy.
Jinhwan didn't relent. His Bastion Core surged with everything it had left, red aura blazing around him like a war god. The blade in his hand was no longer a weapon. It was will.
Steel met steel. Again. And again.
CLANG!
SHHK!
KRAANG!
Blow for blow, they danced amidst a world crumbling to fire. Sparks rained like stars. Each movement was brutal, precise, disciplined—no wasted steps. No hesitation. This was swordsmanship—pure and final.
The knight brought its sword in a flaming arc—
"Not this time!"
Jinhwan sidestepped, twisted under, and stabbed forward—burying the Bastion Blade in the knight's abdomen.
SSSSSHHHHH!
The knight howled. Its body erupted with black flame. But Jinhwan wasn't done.
He yanked his blade free, aura now overflowing—crimson red
"Dynamic—"
The ground buckled.
"FULL FLAME!"
He thrust his palm forward.
FWOOSHHHH!!
A torrent of concentrated Corefire surged from his body—a ball of pure, condensed Bastion wrath, spiraling inwards like a cyclone of flame and gravity.
It slammed into the knight with a roar like a collapsing sun.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!
The impact shattered the arena, molten rock spraying in every direction. The knight screamed, metal warping and melting, body engulfed in the roaring inferno.
It crumbled, piece by piece, the light from its eyes flickering as it was swallowed in flame.
When the smoke cleared—
Only Jinhwan stood.
He fell to one knee, breathing hard.The flames crackled around him.And the knight—
Was no more.
Jinhwan was lifted off the ground by an unseen, crushing force.
"Congratulations on your victory, Champion..." Vul'zareth's voice echoed like molten thunder. "I could make good use of you..."
Before Jinhwan could react, the greatsword of the Dying Sun flashed—In a blink, his body was cleaved apart.
One limb here, another there, his severed hands hurled into the scorching lava.His torso twisted, gutted and broken—yet somehow, he still screamed.Agonized roars tore from him, blood sizzling as it dripped on molten rock.
Then, Vul'zareth raised his blade again—this time, piercing Jinhwan's skull.Silence.
The Bastion was no more.
Hana's eyes widened in terror as molten chains erupted from the abyssal floor.They snaked and writhed, wrapping tightly around her wrists and ankles, pulling her limbs apart with cruel strength.Her scream cut through the arena—a piercing, desperate cry.
"RUNNNN, JAAAAEEEEMINNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
she howled, voice breaking, filled with raw fear and pain.
But Jaemin was frozen.Inside, something shattered.Every death, every scream twisted his heart like knives—his mind locked away, lost to a darkness deeper than the abyss itself.
A sharp blow struck his stomach.He doubled over, breath stolen.
And then—
Hana's severed head was thrown into his hands.Her eyes stared wide open, flickering with the last remnants of life, a twitch of disbelief frozen on her lips.
Jaemin was utterly alone.
Jaemin struggled to his feet, gasping for breath, his body trembling with pain and sheer will. The abyssal Lord stood before him, eyes glowing like molten lava, silent yet heavy with dread. Without warning, Vul'zareth lunged, swinging the greatsword with terrifying speed.
Jaemin barely dodged, weaving through the deadly arcs, heart pounding, lungs burning. But the Lord's power was absolute. From the abyssal shadows, he conjured a blazing arrow—blazing blue fire flickering against the blackness—and fired it directly at Jaemin's face.
The arrow struck his left eye with a sickening crunch.The glass shattered.Pain exploded.
Jaemin collapsed, screaming, clutching his face as blood poured down his cheek. In that agonizing moment, his mind flashed to his sister and mother. Who would care for them now? Who would protect them from this cruel world?
Before he could answer, invisible hands gripped him and slammed him against the rocky ground again and again. Blood flowed freely from his bleeding head as his vision blurred.
The Lord's blade came down with ruthless precision, severing Jaemin's legs like brittle twigs.Rotting burns seared his remaining flesh, and he howled—a sound torn from the depths of death itself.
Helpless, broken, Jaemin was lifted and dragged toward the towering pedestal that loomed nearby.
With one merciless slam, his mangled body was pinned—halved cleanly by the jagged, piercing rock fragment.
The fragment vanished in an instant, leaving only silence.
His lifeless eyes stared blankly into the bubbling lava below.The darkness closed in.
Everything faded to black.