The ruins whispered as they moved deeper into the city's corpse. The scent of the Vargulfs' blood still clung to Lucian's skin, thick and cloying, but beneath it something else. Something older .
It pulsed in the air like a slow, steady heartbeat.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Lucian's shadow-claws twitched in response, the ghostly aura around them flickering like a dying flame. Every step forward made the whispers in his skull louder, more insistent.
Kneel.
Claim.
Rule.
The vampire strode beside him, silent for once, his crimson eyes scanning the skeletal remains of skyscrapers clawing at the bruised sky. The usual smirk was gone, replaced by something sharper something almost like anticipation.
"You hear it too," Lucian said, his voice rough.
The vampire didn't look at him. "Every king hears the Crown's call. Most go mad before they reach it."
Lucian's jaw tightened. "And the ones who don't?"
The vampire finally met his gaze, his smile a razor's edge. "They become something even monsters fear."
A shiver crawled down Lucian's spine, but the hunger in his veins roared in answer. The system's words flickered behind his eyes:
[Bloodmoon Shift Progress – 45%]
[Warning: Proximity to Hollow Crown Nexus Detected]
[Proceed? Y/N]
He didn't hesitate.
Yes.
The ground trembled. The ruins ahead warped, the air thickening like syrup. Shadows bled from the cracks in the pavement, coiling around Lucian's legs, hissing against his skin.
Then silence.
A doorway stood before them, though no building remained around it. Just a fractured arch of black stone, its surface etched with runes that made Lucian's eyes *hurt* to look at. Beyond it, darkness yawned, endless and hungry.
The vampire exhaled, low and reverent. "The Gate of the Hollow King."
Lucian's claws ached. His blood *burned*. Every instinct screamed at him to turn back, to run—but deeper still, the beast in his chest purred.
This is where you belong.
The vampire stepped aside, gesturing toward the arch. "Your throne awaits, little king."
Lucian didn't move. "You're not coming."
"No," the vampire agreed, his grin widening. "This is a test. Only the worthy pass."
Lucian scoffed. "And if I fail?"
The vampire's eyes gleamed. "Then the Crown eats you alive."
The whispers in the dark grew louder, chanting, begging
Enter.
Enter.
Enter.
Lucian bared his fangs and stepped through.
The world split.
Pain.
Blinding, all-consuming, beautiful pain.
His body unraveled. His bones screamed. The shadows swallowed him whole, and for a moment an eternity he was nothing.
Then
Rebirth.
[Bloodmoon Shift Complete]
[New Form Unlocked: Hollow King's Shadow]
Lucian gasped as the darkness spat him back out, his body remade. His claws were gone, replaced by hands wreathed in living shadow. His veins pulsed black beneath his skin. The whispers were *inside* him now, singing in a language older than time.
And before him
A throne.
Not of gold or jewels, but of bone and fangs, jagged and terrible. It sat atop a dais of crushed skulls, their hollow eyes watching, waiting.
The air trembled.
A voice, deep as the abyss, echoed in his mind:
"Kneel, and rise a king."
Lucian laughed, the sound inhuman, wrong.
"I don't kneel," he snarled.
He lunged for the throne instead.
The moment his fingers brushed the armrests, the world exploded.
Visions tore through his mind—
A city drowning in blood.
A moon shattered into crimson shards.
A crown of shadows, placed upon his brow by skeletal hands.
And beneath it all, a single, searing truth:
This power was never meant to be taken.
It was meant to take you.
Lucian roared, tearing himself free. The throne shrieked, the bones rattling, the shadows recoiling like wounded beasts.
He stumbled back, his form flickering between man and monster. The system's alerts blared like sirens:
[WARNING: HOLLOW CROWN REJECTION]
[Penalty: Blood Corruption (Stage 1)]
[Effect: Permanent Shadowform Instability]
The vampire stood at the gate, his smirk long gone. His crimson eyes burned with something Lucian had never seen in them before.
Fear.
Lucian spat shadow onto the ground, his voice no longer entirely his own.
"Let's go."
The vampire didn't argue.
Behind them, the archway crumbled to dust.
But the whispers?