The sky above Vel'Tharos fractured again, torn apart by the meeting of two weapons not meant to coexist. Nullfang—a blade born of erased truths—and Solenne's scythe, Bonechant, a relic forged from the spine of a fallen Dominion God.
The impact flung him back through a mausoleum wall of fused skulls. Bones cracked, dust exploded outward, and the haunting choir of this realm rose in a surge of hollow screams.
He hit the ground in a crouch, blood dripping from his lip.
❖ Status Report:
– Vitality: 78%
– External Damage: Moderate
– Armor Integrity: Stable
– Nullfang Sync: 94%
Solenne stepped through the hole in the mausoleum, the tattered bone silk of her armor flowing like smoke.
"I warned them," she said, her voice soft—too soft for someone wielding death. "I told them you'd come back. Not as a savior. But as a storm."
He rose slowly, gripping Nullfang. "You were supposed to protect what I left behind."
Her bandaged eyes turned toward him. "I did. Until it started whispering."
He paused.
"The Throne?"
She nodded. "The shard you left behind didn't stay quiet. It grew. It wanted out. Wanted you. I thought it was grief… then I realized it was alive." She pointed the scythe at him. "You came back for it."
"And?"
"You can't have it."
Her voice cracked like thunder. Dozens of Bone Concordat sentries dropped from the clouds, encircling him in a spiraling web of chainbone formations. Their rib-cages unfolded like iron maidens, pulsing with stored resonance from the realm's forgotten dead.
❖ Combat Scenario:
– Enemies Detected: 47
– Commander Class: 1
– Recommended Protocol: Relic Merge or Authority Surge
He didn't move.
Not yet.
He was watching Solenne.
Trying to see if any part of the old her remained.
"Sol," he said, voice quiet now. "Do you remember what we said? On the Ebon Steps before the final siege?"
She froze.
Just for a second.
Then: "Don't."
"We said—if either of us fell—we'd remember. We'd protect each other's soul echoes until the realms reset. I kept that oath."
"You died!" she snapped. "You shattered the Throne! You left me in a world screaming with the agony of your collapse! You abandoned everything."
He stepped forward. "Then why did you wait all this time to kill me?"
Silence.
The scythe trembled in her hand.
Because part of her didn't want to.
Because that oath still clung to the cracks of her soul.
But the moment passed.
The scythe steadied.
And the Bone Concordat moved in.
He activated [Soundless Dominion].
The battlefield shut off.
No noise. No chants. No psychic resonance.
Everything dropped into a vacuum of silence—perfect and terrifying.
He dashed forward, cutting through the first two sentries before their ribs finished opening. Nullfang hummed with paradox energy, each strike deleting not just bodies—but the very memory of their formation. The constructs weren't just killed. They were forgotten.
The next wave surged.
A bone hydra lunged from the mausoleum ruins, jaws dripping with necrotic code. He spun beneath it and released [Resonant Collapse]. Vibrations burst from his boots, shattering the marble and detonating the hydra from the inside out.
Still—Solenne didn't move.
She just watched.
Until the last sentry fell.
Then she vanished.
He blinked.
❖ Proximity Warning:
– Rear Guard Flank
– Authority-Type: Spectral Rift
Too late.
The scythe sliced across his back—jagged, not through flesh, but memory.
❖ Memory Core Breach Detected
– Skill Temporarily Disabled: [Null Anchor]
– Fragment Stolen: 1.2%
He staggered forward, Nullfang absorbing the brunt of the next attack—but he felt it.
A piece of his memory was gone.
She could cut not his body, but his past.
He turned, fury in his gaze.
"Using my own oath against me?"
Solenne looked at him. Her bandaged eyes glimmered beneath the folds. "You should never have come back."
She activated her Domain.
The sky bled bone.
❖ Domain Unlocked: [Grave Oath Shattered]
– Type: Environmental Override
– Effect: Memory Attenuation & Soul Erosion
– Threat Level: 9.4
– Duration: Until One Is Forgotten
Inside her domain, the laws of history faltered.
The statues around them began weeping blood.
Gravestones morphed into mirrors.
Each showed him—at different points in his forgotten life.
A boy kneeling beside a dying world.
A general marching through a shattered palace.
A king screaming into an empty throne room.
Each one begged him to remember.
And Solenne stood at the center, holding a fragment of the throne shard—the one he'd left behind. It pulsed with unstable cosmic hunger.
"I guard this not because I want to," she said, voice low and cracked. "But because I must. The moment you take this back, the multiverse begins to shatter again."
"That already started the second I woke up," he said, stepping forward.
The throne fragment responded to him.
It pulsed faster.
❖ Soul Link Detected:
– Throne Shard Resonance: 83%
– Reclamation Possible
– Warning: Emotional Catalyst Required
He knew what he had to say.
And it would hurt.
"Solenne," he said, lowering his weapon. "You don't have to protect it anymore."
She flinched.
"The king you once swore to follow is dead. And the one you see now? He's not him. Not exactly. I'm something worse. Something free."
He extended his hand.
"I don't want the throne."
"I don't believe you," she whispered.
"I want to destroy it."
She stared at him.
Then looked at the fragment in her hand.
It pulsed again—violently.
She screamed.
The shard ignited in her palm, burning white-hot, fracturing her Domain.
Her scythe dropped.
He caught her before she fell.
❖ Throne Shard Recovered
– Memory Fragment Restored: [Grave Oath: Final Battle]
– New Skill Unlocked: [Oathbreaker's March]
– Authority Surge Pending…
She gasped, blood trailing from her lips. "Why didn't you kill me?"
"Because the oath wasn't a lie."
She reached up, touched his face, and smiled weakly. "Then finish it."
Her body shimmered.
Began to fade.
❖ Soul Departure Initiated
– Echo Imprint Preserved
And then—she was gone.
The realm shuddered.
The throne fragment—now whole—slid into the Crucible.
The interface flickered.
❖ Thronebreaker Memory Core Restored: 9.1%
– Domain Access: Level 2
– Current Realms Recovered: 3/100+
– Next Detected Shard Location: [Zeroth Spiral, Edge of Thought]
He turned to look at the field of corpses around him.
He didn't feel victorious.
Only heavier.
Then, the Crucible pulsed again.
Urgently.
❖ Incoming Message – Inter-Realm Echo
– Source: [Inquisition, Court of Glass]
– Priority: Absolute
– Opening Transmission…
A figure appeared in the air, cloaked in light and runes.
"To the one who calls himself Thronebreaker:
You have violated 3 Core Laws of Multiversal Balance.
You are hereby declared [Existential Rogue].
You will be hunted. Judged. Purged.
Run if you wish. Hide if you can.
But know this—
The Court is coming."
The projection shattered.
And behind it, the stars began to blink out.
One by one.
As if something was eating them.