Chapter 74: The Abyss Demands Its King
Sai's breath came fast and shallow as the **throne rumbled**, its abyssal mist **coiling around him** like living chains.
The palace trembled, its black stone walls **shifting**, warping as if something **older than time itself was awakening.** The weight of the Abyss **crashed down on his shoulders**, pressing against his bones, pressing against his mind.
And at the center of it all—**the golden-eyed Sai watched him.**
Still standing before the throne.
Still **smiling.**
"You feel it now, don't you?" the King murmured. "The weight of what you've been denying?"
Sai's fingers **tightened around his remaining dagger**, his chest rising and falling with sharp, controlled breaths.
He wasn't just fighting the King anymore.
He was **fighting the Abyss itself.**
The **black mist curled around his legs**, whispering as it touched his skin. **It wasn't attacking him.**
It was **welcoming him.**
And that terrified him more than anything.
Sai clenched his jaw. "I didn't come here to take the throne."
The golden-eyed Sai exhaled softly. "And yet, here you stand."
The mist **tightened around him.**
And suddenly—Sai wasn't in the throne room anymore.
---
### **The Throne's Judgment**
Abyssal mist **swallowed him whole**, pulling him into something deeper, something **not bound by reality.**
The throne room **vanished**, and suddenly—he was standing in **a world of shifting blackness.**
No sky.
No ground.
Just an endless **void.**
And then—**the voices started.**
**"You were chosen."**
**"You opened the gates."**
**"You let us in."**
Sai's chest **tightened.** The whispers **weren't human.**
They weren't even alive.
They were **something else.**
Something **ancient.**
He **turned sharply**, his dagger flashing, but there was **nothing to fight.** Just shadows.
Just **echoes.**
And then—**figures emerged from the darkness.**
Not just one.
Not just two.
But **hundreds.**
Sai's pulse **pounded.** He knew what they were.
**The ones who came before.**
The ones who had **touched the Abyss and failed.**
They **stared at him**, their golden abyssal eyes burning in the dark. Their faces were **blurred, shifting**, as if time had forgotten them.
And then—**they moved.**
They rushed toward him, their hands **outstretched**, their whispers turning into a **roaring storm of voices.**
**"Take the throne."**
**"End the cycle."**
**"Become what we could not."**
Sai **gritted his teeth**, forcing his body into motion.
He **slashed through the first figure**, his dagger **cutting through the mist** like a blade through water. The shape **dissolved instantly**—but another took its place.
Then another.
And another.
They weren't attacking him.
They were **pushing him.**
Driving him **toward the throne.**
Sai's breathing **quickened.** He knew this wasn't real. He knew this was the Abyss **testing him again.**
But the longer he stood here, the harder it became to **separate himself from it.**
Because the whispers **weren't lying.**
He **had** opened the gates.
He **had** let the Abyss back into the world.
And now—it was **offering him a choice.**
Sai **shook his head violently.**
"No," he growled. "I make my own choices."
The whispers **laughed.**
**"You still think you are free?"**
Sai's chest **tightened.**
Then—**the shadows surged.**
And the Abyss **dragged him under.**
---
### **A Vision of the End**
Darkness.
Then—**fire.**
Sai **gasped**, stumbling forward as his vision **shifted again.**
The **city was burning.**
Not the abyssal city he had walked through before.
Not ruins.
But the **real world.**
Towers **collapsed in flames.**
Skyships **fell from the sky.**
Hunters—strong, powerful warriors—**were kneeling in the streets, broken.**
And at the center of it all—
**Him.**
Sai **stood on the throne, draped in abyssal fire**, his golden abyssal eyes **watching the world burn.**
Not fighting.
Not stopping it.
Just **watching.**
His heart **hammered violently against his ribs.**
No.
No, no, no.
This wasn't real.
This wasn't—
**"This is what happens if you refuse."**
Sai **whirled around.**
The golden-eyed Sai—**the King—stood behind him, watching the destruction with an unreadable expression.**
Sai's hands **trembled.** "You're lying."
The King tilted his head slightly. **"Am I?"**
Sai clenched his jaw. "The Abyss doesn't care who sits on the throne. It just wants someone to take it."
The King exhaled softly. "And what happens if no one does?"
The vision **shifted.**
The burning city **vanished.**
And suddenly—Sai was standing on the **edge of an abyssal chasm.**
A **tear in reality.**
And beyond it?
**Nothing.**
Not darkness.
Not death.
Just **pure, endless void.**
And **it was spreading.**
Swallowing the world, consuming it, devouring **everything.**
Sai's blood **ran cold.**
The King's voice was quiet. **"This is what happens if no one takes the throne. If no one holds the Abyss in place."**
Sai **staggered backward.**
Because this time—**he knew it wasn't a lie.**
The Abyss wasn't just a force.
It was a **wound.**
A **bleeding fracture in reality.**
And without someone to **anchor it**, to **control it**—it would spread.
Forever.
Sai's breath came fast, uneven.
The King watched him carefully.
"You still don't want the throne?"
Sai's hands **shook.**
Because for the first time—he wasn't sure anymore.
But then—
He saw **something else.**
Beyond the void, beyond the abyssal flames, beyond the throne—
**He saw himself.**
Not the King.
Not the version of him that had fallen.
But **him.**
**The one who had survived. The one who had fought.**
The one who had **chosen.**
And suddenly—**Sai understood.**
He had been asking the wrong question.
It wasn't about **whether he took the throne or not.**
It was about **what he did with it.**
Sai **gritted his teeth.**
The golden-eyed Sai **smirked.**
"You're finally getting it."
Sai took a slow breath.
The Abyss wasn't just trying to control him.
It was **giving him a choice.**
To rule.
To destroy.
To break the cycle.
Or **to create something new.**
Sai's eyes **hardened.**
He **turned away from the throne.**
And walked toward the abyss.
The golden-eyed Sai's smile faded slightly.
"Interesting."
Sai stared into the chasm, the swirling darkness **below him.**
Then—he **jumped.**
And the Abyss **roared.**