Chapter 24 - Threads of the Abyss

The dungeon reeked of blood, sweat, and something far worse—something unnatural. The kind of scent that slithered up your spine and coiled around your lungs, thick with the weight of something old, something wrong.

The prisoner's laughter still echoed in my head.

"The first batch… was us."

Zhao Yue exhaled sharply beside me, her grip tightening around her sword. Even injured, even exhausted, she stood ready to strike at the first sign of danger. She wasn't just enduring—she was waiting. Watching.

She was like me.

The kind of person who had already decided: if we were going down, we weren't going alone.

The man in the cell—if he could even still be called that—tilted his head, his hollow gaze locked onto mine. His body trembled, barely clinging to its human shape. His arms, once flesh and bone, were now something else, something shifting. Like reality itself was rejecting him.

The corruption had already set in.

And yet—

He still thought. He still spoke.

That was a problem.

It meant whatever the Outer Gods were doing… they weren't just mindless beasts. They understood. They weren't just consuming.

They were changing people.

And some of them survived the process.

I clenched my fists. "How long?"

The prisoner chuckled darkly. "Does it matter?"

"It does to me."

His cracked lips twitched into a grin. "Seven days. Some last longer. Most don't." His voice dropped to a whisper. "You won't."

Zhao Yue shifted beside me, her muscles tensing.

I ignored the taunt. Focused on the truth.

Seven days.

That meant if the rulers were taking new victims every night, then this fort was on borrowed time. Even if the Outer Gods hadn't fully claimed it yet, they were spreading.

And the people here—

They weren't just waiting to be slaughtered.

They were sinking into it.

Somewhere in the city, new sacrifices were being dragged into this abyss. More people were changing. The corruption was still rising.

And the rulers weren't stopping.

They were accelerating.

Because they knew they didn't have much time left.

They were just buying themselves a few more days.

I took a slow breath. "Where's the shrine?"

The prisoner's eyes darkened. For the first time, something like fear flickered across his twisted features.

"I won't tell you."

I stepped forward. Shusui gleamed in the dim light, the blade drinking in the shadows like a bottomless abyss.

I saw his body twitch—instinct screaming at him to retreat.

But there was nowhere to run.

"Then you're already dead," I said softly.

The room felt smaller.

Tighter.

The air pressed down, thick and suffocating.

It wasn't just me staring at him.

It was the abyss behind me.

His breathing hitched. His half-mutated hands clenched against the stone. His mouth opened—then closed.

And then he laughed.

A ragged, broken sound.

"You think you can stop it?" His voice cracked. "You think you can kill them?"

I didn't blink. "Yes."

His laughter died in his throat.

For a long moment, he just stared.

Then, finally, he spoke.

"The shrine is in the palace," he whispered. "But it's not a shrine."

My grip tightened. "What is it?"

His head tilted. "It's a gate."

A gate.

Zhao Yue inhaled sharply. "You mean—"

"The Outer Gods don't just take," I muttered. "They enter."

The prisoner grinned. "Now you're starting to understand."

Shit.

This wasn't just a city crumbling under corruption.

The rulers weren't worshipping the Outer Gods. They weren't just sending people to be sacrificed.

They were letting something in.

And the longer we waited, the worse it would get.

I exhaled, forcing my mind to focus. "How do we destroy it?"

The prisoner's grin widened—then twisted into something almost pitying.

"You don't."

I stared at him. "That's not an answer."

His expression darkened. "It's the answer." His voice dropped lower. "Do you know how we learned about them? How we made the first deal?"

I didn't speak.

Because I already knew the answer.

They hadn't found the Outer Gods.

The Outer Gods had found them.

The prisoner chuckled softly. "They don't give power. They offer it. A whisper in the dark. A deal when you have nothing left. A gift, wrapped in blood."

He lifted his trembling hands.

"And the moment you accept… it's already too late."

My stomach twisted.

Zhao Yue's voice was cold. "Then we'll burn it all down."

The prisoner laughed. "Then you'll burn with it."

I stepped back. "We'll see."

I turned away, shoving open the rusted cell door. The darkness of the dungeon stretched ahead, deep and suffocating.

We had our answer.

The city wasn't just corrupt.

It was doomed.

And if we didn't move now, we would be too.

The night swallowed us whole as we left the dungeon behind.

The fort's streets were emptier than before, the silence thicker.

But I could feel them.

The watchers in the shadows. The ones who had already changed.

The city's heartbeat was slowing.

I could see it in the way the lanterns flickered. The way the walls seemed darker than before.

The corruption wasn't just growing.

It was breathing.

Zhao Yue moved beside me, her posture tense.

"You really think we can kill them?" she murmured.

I didn't answer immediately.

Because I knew the truth.

The Outer Gods weren't something we could just cut down like mindless beasts.

But that didn't matter.

Because I wasn't planning to fight them.

I was planning to win.

Even if I had to carve my way through the abyss itself.

Finally, I glanced at her. "They bleed, don't they?"

She exhaled a quiet laugh.

And then we walked forward—toward the palace, toward the abyss, toward the battle that would decide everything.

Because if this city was already lost—

Then I would make damn sure I took its rulers down with it.

No matter the cost.