Episode 60: The Calm Before the Last Descent

The cavern still shook from the aftermath of the Third Seal's destruction. Crimson water had drained away, leaving broken spires and shattered bone-thrones that faintly glimmered with remnants of bloodlight. Every breath felt heavy, as if the chamber still struggled to accept its ruin.

Kuro stood in the center, the emberblade stabbed into the cracked stone floor, his chest heaving with labored breaths. In his palm pulsed the fragment of the Seal—black-crimson crystal humming with muted power. It was more than a trophy. It was a wound. A wound carved into both him and the world.

[System Update: Third Seal Broken]

[Monarch Authority – 48% Awakened]

[Skill Acquired: Shadow Genesis]

The notification faded, but its weight stayed. His veins still burned with the memory of Shadow Genesis. He recalled commanding shadows from Earth and Noveria—soldiers, beasts, machines—engraved in his mind. A power too vast. Too heavy.

"Kuro…"

Her voice was the only anchor pulling him back.

Elira staggered forward, frostfire dimmed to faint glimmers around her. Her violet eyes shimmered, not with despair this time but with fragile relief. She gently placed her hand on his, curling her frost-tipped fingers around his charred knuckles that held the crystal.

"You came back."

Kuro's lips curved into the faintest smile. He turned his hand, fingers tightening around hers. "…I told you, didn't I? I don't leave my people behind. Especially not you."

Elira's breath caught, her violet lashes trembling. For one raw second, she almost leaned closer, almost closed the gap between them—but then…

"Tch. Enough flirting."

Reina's voice cut through the air, sharp as her daggers. She leaned casually against a broken spire, smirk tugging at her lips, but her eyes simmered with something hotter—jealousy she wouldn't admit.

"You look like you crawled out of your own grave, Monarch. And you're still making promises like some knight in shining armor." Her tone was mocking, but her dagger twirled restlessly between her fingers.

Kuro shot her a sidelong glance, too tired to match her fire with banter. "…Better a knight than a ghost."

Reina scoffed, flicking her dagger into its sheath. "Just don't forget who pulled you from drowning in whispers." She turned away, but not before her crimson eyes flicked briefly to his hand still clasped with Elira's.

Akira, standing slightly apart, exhaled slowly as he sheathed his katana. His calm gaze swept over them all. "…The Seal is broken. But something tells me this isn't victory yet."

The cavern responded with a deep groan.

From the cracked altar, whispers seeped—not chaotic this time, but patient. Cold. Almost amused.

"…Three Seals fall. One remains. At the heart of Noveria, the first Monarch waits. Come, successor. Come and claim your throne… or be unmade."

The ground shook. The altar split apart, and from its remains unfolded a path of black stone leading deeper into the abyss.

The Final Seal awaited.

But before any of them moved, the cavern shifted once more. The mist that had once been crimson faded into pale silver, filling the air with a weightless calm.

For the first time in what felt like years, silence wasn't suffocating—it was soft. The oppressive aura of the Seal had vanished, leaving behind something fragile. Something almost human.

Elira slumped to her knees, her frostfire finally extinguished. "…It's over. For now."

Reina dropped onto a chunk of broken spire, running a hand through her dark hair. "I could use about fifty hours of sleep. And maybe some actual food that isn't shadow-breath and blood-water."

Kuro sank to the ground as well, resting his back against the altar's remains. The fragment in his hand pulsed faintly before dissolving into his shadow, vanishing as if it had always belonged to him. His emberblade flickered out, leaving him with nothing but exhaustion and the presence of his companions.

Akira remained standing, his eyes on the new path yawning open. "…We'll move when we're ready. But for now… rest."

They set camp in the ruins.

Frostfire embers gave them warmth. Reina hunted strange crystal-lizards that skittered between the broken spires, roasting their meat on her daggers' flames. Akira stood as a sentinel, silent as always, though Kuro noticed how his eyes often flicked to him—as if measuring whether he could still stand.

And Elira… Elira stayed beside him.

She sat close, close enough that the brush of her shoulder against his sent sparks of frost and ember through his veins. Her voice was quiet, softer than the crackle of the fire.

"Kuro… when you disappeared into the Seal, I thought—" Her voice broke. She bit her lip, violet eyes lowering. "…I thought I'd lose you."

Kuro looked at her, his expression unguarded. He didn't know how to reply at first. He'd faced armies, monsters, even gods, but this—her trembling vulnerability—struck deeper than any blade.

He reached, gently tilting her chin until her eyes met his. "…Elira. You won't lose me. Not to the Seals. Not to the whispers. Not to anything."

Her breath hitched, violet eyes shimmering like liquid flame. For one heartbeat, the world narrowed to just them—the firelight painting her face, the faint frost clinging to her lashes, the fragile space between them.

And then—

"Oi." Reina's voice cut through the moment like a dagger.

She leaned against a spire, smirking but her crimson eyes were sharp. "If you're gonna kiss her, Monarch, at least have the decency to do it where we don't have to watch."

Elira jerked back, frost blooming across her cheeks in embarrassment. "Reina!"

Reina shrugged, lips curling higher. "What? I'm just saying what Akira's too polite to."

Akira, expressionless, sipped from a flask Reina had tossed him earlier. "…I'm not polite. Just disinterested."

"Liar," Reina muttered, before her eyes cut back to Kuro. This time, her smirk faltered, just for an instant. "Don't forget, Monarch. She's not the only one willing to drag you out of the abyss."

And for once, her voice wasn't sharp. It was raw.

Kuro blinked, caught between Elira's trembling silence and Reina's burning challenge. His chest tightened—not from the Seal's power, but from something far heavier.

Hours bled into uneasy rest.

Kuro dozed against the altar, shadows curling around him like a cloak. He dreamt—not of Earth, not of Noveria, but of something in between. A throne of obsidian. A crown of shadows. And a figure waiting in the distance, its eyes like his own.

When he woke, Elira was asleep against his shoulder, her breath soft against his neck. Reina lay stretched across a spire, daggers resting loosely in her hands, one crimson eye cracked open even in sleep. Akira stood exactly where he had before, blade in hand, calm and unmovable.

For the first time since the descent began, Kuro allowed himself a single deep breath. Peace. Fragile. Temporary. But real.

The next day, they stood at the mouth of the new path.

The mist there was different. Not crimson. Not silver. Black. Pure black, dripping like ink, swallowing even the faintest light.

Akira's voice was steady, but heavy. "The Final Seal."

Elira shivered, frostfire flickering faintly around her. "…It feels… wrong. Like something's waiting for us."

Reina grinned, spinning her daggers. "Good. I was starting to get bored." But her voice, beneath the bravado, was tense.

Kuro stepped forward, emberblade forming in his hand once more. The shadow-fragment of the Third Seal pulsed faintly in his chest. He felt its weight, its promise, its demand.

"…The last descent." His emberlight eyes burned brighter. "No matter what waits in there, we finish it. Together."

Elira's hand brushed his. Reina's smirk softened into something fiercer. Akira gave a single nod.

And together, they stepped into the abyss.

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[To Be Continued...]

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