Chapter 70: The Throne That Waits
Sai didn't look back.
The whispering voices of the Remnants **followed them** through the abandoned streets, their words lingering in the air like echoes of something ancient and **half-forgotten.** He kept his pace steady, his mind focused, but his fingers twitched against the hilt of his daggers.
Because he could still **feel them.**
They weren't attacking.
They weren't stopping him.
They were simply **watching.**
Waiting.
Lena walked beside him, her chakrams spinning idly in her hands, tension coiled in her muscles. "I don't like this."
Kael grunted from behind them. "You don't like anything."
Lena shot him a glare. "That's because everything in this damn place is either cursed, trying to kill us, or both."
Sai smirked slightly but didn't respond.
Because she wasn't wrong.
Ezren, walking slightly ahead, kept his golden abyssal gaze locked on the structures around them. The city stretched in all directions, its impossible architecture twisting toward the sky. Some buildings had no doors, no windows—just smooth abyssal stone shaped into forms that **shouldn't exist.** Others had staircases leading into nothing, or archways that **opened into pure darkness.**
The deeper they walked, the heavier the **air became.**
Not just the weight of the Abyss pressing against them.
But the weight of **something else.**
Something waiting at the end of the road.
Sai exhaled slowly. "How far?"
Ezren didn't glance back. "Not far."
No one asked how he knew.
They could **all feel it.**
Something **was calling them forward.**
And none of them could turn away.
---
### **The City of Echoes**
The streets were **empty, but not dead.**
Sai felt it in the way the air hummed, the way the stone beneath his feet pulsed faintly with abyssal energy.
This place wasn't abandoned.
It was **waiting.**
Lena stopped suddenly, her body going stiff. "Did you hear that?"
Sai paused. "Hear what?"
Kael shifted, resting a hand on his sword. "I don't hear anything."
And **that** was the problem.
The whispers were gone.
The presence of the Remnants had vanished.
The city was completely—**unnaturally—silent.**
Ezren's fingers twitched toward his dagger. His abyssal eyes narrowed. "We're here."
Sai exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Where, exactly?"
Ezren turned slightly, his gaze locking onto the **structure ahead.**
Sai followed his line of sight.
And his breath **caught.**
At the end of the road stood a **colossal abyssal palace.**
Its walls stretched **impossibly high,** carved from black stone that pulsed faintly with an inner glow. The architecture was **wrong**—curved spires, shifting patterns, doorways that looked more like wounds in reality than entrances.
And at the very top—**a throne.**
It was massive, built into the palace itself, its form barely visible through the layers of swirling mist. Sai couldn't see the full details from this distance, but he **knew** what it was.
The **Abyssal Throne.**
The same one he had seen in his visions. The same one that had tried to pull him in before.
And now—**it was waiting for him.**
Lena exhaled sharply. "Nope. Nope, nope, nope. We are not going in there."
Kael raised a brow. "I thought you wanted answers."
"I do. I just don't want to get eaten by a goddamn throne while getting them."
Sai smirked slightly. "Then stay here."
Lena scowled. "Yeah, that's not happening."
Ezren turned toward Sai. "It's time."
Sai nodded. He could feel it too.
The **final step.**
The moment he walked into that palace, there would be no going back.
He glanced at Valeria.
She stood still, staring at the throne with an unreadable expression.
Sai frowned. "You're awfully quiet."
Valeria's golden eyes flickered toward him. "This is not my place to speak."
Sai studied her carefully. "But you knew this was here, didn't you?"
A pause.
Then—**a nod.**
Sai exhaled. "Of course you did."
No more words.
No more hesitation.
He stepped forward.
And the palace **welcomed him.**
---
### **The Throne's Call**
The moment Sai crossed the threshold, the world **shifted.**
The palace **came alive.**
The abyssal mist surged, swirling like a living storm. The air **hummed**, a low vibration settling deep into his bones. The walls pulsed faintly, as if the structure itself was **breathing.**
Lena muttered something under her breath. "I hate this."
Kael cracked his knuckles. "Starting to like it."
Ezren's expression remained neutral, but Sai could tell—**he felt it too.**
This place was **not just a palace.**
It was **a memory.**
Sai's fingers twitched. His system flickered.
**[Warning: Abyssal Throne Proximity Detected.]**
**[Irreversible Event Approaching.]**
Sai exhaled slowly. "No turning back now."
They walked deeper into the halls, their footsteps echoing against the black stone. The further they moved, the more the **visions** began.
Flickers of the past.
Figures moving through the palace—**not humans, but something close.** Hunters clad in abyssal armor, warriors kneeling before the throne.
And at the center of it all—
A **king.**
Not the Betrayer.
Not Sai.
But someone else.
Sai clenched his jaw. **The First Abyssal King.**
The one who had ruled before the Abyss fell.
And for the first time, Sai wondered—**had he been the first to refuse the throne?**
Or just the **latest?**
---
### **The Final Chamber**
The massive doors of the inner sanctum stood ahead.
Sai's heartbeat was steady, but his fingers twitched against his daggers.
Because he **knew**.
The moment he stepped through, **everything would change.**
Ezren's voice was quiet. "Are you ready?"
Sai smirked slightly. "Not even a little."
Then—**he pushed the doors open.**
The chamber beyond was **massive.**
And at the center of it, the **Abyssal Throne** stood, waiting.
A slow, deep **rumble** echoed through the air.
And then—**a voice.**
**"You have finally come."**
Sai's chest tightened.
The voice wasn't from the past.
It wasn't from an echo.
It was **here. Now.**
Sai exhaled, stepping forward. "Who are you?"
The darkness around the throne **shifted.**
A figure slowly rose from the abyssal mist.
Not the Betrayer.
Not the First King.
But something **else.**
Golden abyssal eyes **locked onto him.**
And then—the voice spoke again.
**"I am what you will become."**
Sai's blood **ran cold.**
Because the figure standing before the throne **looked exactly like him.**
And then—**the world shattered.**