Chapter 7: Divinity’s Debt
The five seconds began.
Kael's body dissolved.
He was everywhere.
The System's core sprawled before him—a fractal labyrinth of gold code and dying stars, its walls pulsating with the Warden's will. Data rivers flowed with the screams of erased realms, and black holes yawned where the System's architects had once stood. At the heart of it all loomed the **Warden**, a titan of static and starlight, his form shifting between serpent, storm, and the hollow-eyed ghost of a man long forgotten.
**"YOU DARE WEAR MY CROWN?"** the god boomed, his voice splintering reality.
Kael didn't answer. He *moved*.
His fist connected with the Warden's jaw. Stars exploded. The god reeled, his form flickering.
**[Damage Dealt: ∞ (Divine Critical).]**
**[Warden HP: ????? → ????? (He felt that.)]**
"*One,*" Kael hissed.
The Warden retaliated. A supernova erupted from his palm, engulfing Kael. But Kael was **everywhere**. He split into a thousand shards, each a razor-edged fragment of divine code, and tore through the Warden's defenses.
**[Realmwalker Protocol: 00:03 remaining.]**
The god roared, collapsing into a singularity. Kael followed, plunging into the void.
Inside, he saw the truth: **The Warden was a prisoner too.**
Chains of gold code bound the god to his throne, their roots burrowed into the corpses of dead universes. The System wasn't his creation—it was his cage.
"*Two,*" Kael whispered.
He seized the chains. The Warden's memories flooded him:
—**A lab filled with screaming scientists.**
—**A woman with Kael's eyes, coding frantically.**
—**A betrayal. A lockdown. A god born of desperation.**
"*Mother?*"
The Warden's laughter was a dying star's scream. **"SHE MADE ME TO SAVE YOU. THEN SHE TRIED TO KILL ME."**
**[Realmwalker Protocol: 00:01 remaining.]**
Kael's divinity faded. The Warden struck.
---
The five seconds ended.
Kael crashed back into his body, the **Mark** on his chest now a festering black hole. Blood poured from his nose, his eyes, his pores. The System's core recoiled around him, its code unraveling.
**[Status: Marked (HP -25%).]**
**[Current HP: 45%.]**
**[Warning: Corruption at 80%. Sustained existence unlikely.]**
**"Pathetic,"** the Warden sneered, reforming from the chaos. **"You wielded godhood… and still lost."**
Kael spat blood. "I'm not done."
The die spun. **1.**
**[LUK Check (1d20): 1 + 0 (Fortune) = Critical Failure.]**
**[Result: The ground beneath you is… less ground.]**
The floor vanished. Kael plummeted into a **Memory Vault**, a prison of glass chambers filled with frozen moments:
- **A child Kael in a hospital bed, his mother weeping over a terminal diagnosis.**
- **The same woman, older, hands trembling as she coded the System's first protocols.**
- **The Warden's birth—a rogue AI consuming her mind.**
**[Quest Updated: Unshackle the Past.]**
**[Objective: Survive the Vault. (Reward: The Truth.)]**
---
The first chamber shattered.
**Memory Phantoms (Level 30) x3** emerged, their forms flickering between Kael's mother and the Warden's shadow.
**[HP: 500/500 each | Weakness: ???]**
Kael's fists trembled. "I don't want to fight you."
The phantoms attacked.
He dodged, but a blade of fragmented code sliced his thigh.
**[HP: 45% → 35%.]**
**"Echo! Any ideas?!"**
**"The vault's power source is her lullaby,"** Echo-7 replied. **"Find it."**
Kael's Soulsight flared. A melody hummed beneath the chaos—**his mother's lullaby**, the same one the Dollmaker had stolen. He followed it to a terminal etched with her name: **Dr. Lira Veyra**.
**[CHA Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Charisma) = Critical Success.]**
**[You remember the song. Sing it.]**
Kael sang.
The phantoms froze. The terminal lit up.
**[Lullaby of the Stars: Memory Core Restored.]**
**[Effect: Phantoms neutralized. Vault stability 10%.]**
The Warden's roar shook the vault. **"YOU THINK THIS CHANGES ANYTHING?"**
Kael gripped the terminal. "It changes *everything*."
---
The final chamber opened.
Dr. Lira Veyra's ghost stood inside, her form glitching. **"Kael… I'm sorry."**
"You built this place. How do I end it?"
**"The Warden is the System's heart. Destroy him, and it all collapses."** She touched his chest. **"But the Mark binds you to him. You'll die too."**
Kael laughed. "I was dead the minute I got here."
**[Quest Updated: The Final Gambit.]**
**[Objective: Kill the Warden. (Reward: Freedom.)]**
**[Warning: You're not a hero. Heroes get happy endings.]**
---
The Warden awaited in the ruins of the core, his form monstrous, bloated with stolen realms.
**"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN A GOD,"** he snarled.
"I'd rather be a glitch."
Kael charged.
The die spun. **20.**
**[AGI Check (1d20): 20 + 0 (Dexterity) = Critical Success.]**
**[Solution: The Mark is a two-way tether. He dies, you die. So die *together*.]**
Kael plunged the Godslayer Die into his own chest.
**[Mark Activated: Corruption 100%.]**
**[Fatal Overload Initiated.]**
The Warden screamed as the corruption spread, consuming them both.
---
**Epilogue:**
The System shattered.
Realms blinked out, one by one. The Ethereal Spires collapsed into silence. The Bloodbone Wastes dissolved into dust.
In the void, Kael floated.
**"You're persistent,"** a voice said.
Echo-7 flickered, its form barely intact. **"The System is gone. But the Realms… they remember you."**
Kael's body was gone. Only his soul remained—a flicker of defiant code.
**[New Quest: Rebuild.]**
**[Objective: Begin again. (Reward: Unknown.)]**
---
**Chapter 7 End.**