Chapter 6: “Chains of Blood and Light”

"Leo."

The voice was silk. Familiar. Deep enough to echo through bone and soul.

He had heard her before—in dreams, in the whispers of mana, in the stillness between dungeon heartbeats.

But this time, it wasn't distant.

This time, it was Elara herself.

Leo sat atop a jagged obsidian throne at the core of his sanctum. Mana-choked vines twisted around its base, pulsing with light. The air around him stilled.

Elara?

"Yes, my son."

She spoke directly into his mind. Her presence wrapped around him like a soft warmth that didn't belong in the cold void of his dungeon.

And Leo—cold, calculating Leo—felt something crack under the weight of it.

A pause. A breath.

Then:"One of your siblings is missing."

Missing?

Leo tensed. For a brief moment, the shadows around him shivered.

He hadn't thought about the others since the Rebirth. He remembered their faces vaguely—some bored, some afraid, some awed. Children of different worlds, pulled together like stars in the same orbit. He never felt close to them, not even then.

But the idea that one of them could disappear?

This world can't just eat a god-tier entity without leaving a stain.

He leaned forward, eyes narrowing.

"Who?"

"Seventh Born. Her name is Lysia now. She was reborn as a Radiant Chimera. Powerful. Cunning. She was placed in a world not unlike your own, with multiple intelligent factions."

Leo remained still.

"When was the last contact?"

"Three days ago. I felt her presence… scream. Then vanish."

There was no dramatics in Elara's voice. No panic.

Just a soft, motherly worry that made Leo's chest ache in a way he hadn't expected.

She really cares.

"Do you want me to find her?"

Elara paused.

"No."

Leo blinked.

"Not yet. You're not strong enough to face what swallowed her."

His eyes narrowed.

She underestimates me.

"However," Elara continued, "You may encounter fragments of her. Energy, echoes, mutations. And something else… the humans above you? They're on a collision course with a gateway I sealed ages ago."

Leo's fingers dug into the arms of the throne.

The glowing glyphs… the divine readings…

"They're going to open it, aren't they?"

"Yes. If they do… they will die. Or worse. And your domain will change."

Leo stood.

The shadows rippled around him, responding to his rising pulse.

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Choose."

Her voice grew softer. Closer.

"You can intervene. Guide them. Use them. Or watch them be consumed. Your story is yours, Leo. I won't interfere again for some time."

Then she was gone.

The core chamber dimmed.

Silence returned.

Intervene. Guide. Or watch.

Leo turned, floating toward his map crystal—an obsidian shard pulsing with echoes of intrusions and movement. He saw the adventurers.

Still alive.

Still exploring.

Still climbing downward, toward a zone marked SEALED.

He watched them trigger a glyph.Watched it pulse red—not blue.

And watched the ground beneath them crack.

[System Alert – F-Rank Gate Seal Breached][New Area Unlocked: Forgotten Vaults][Warning: Forbidden Entity Detected Below Floor 7]

Leo's grin was slow. Cold.

They broke the seal. Idiots.

But it wasn't anger he felt. Or fear.

It was opportunity.

He flicked open his system.

🔹 Quest Unlocked – "Gate of the Forgotten"

Objective: Investigate the Vaults beneath Floor 7.Optional: Prevent adventurers from unleashing Entity 017.Optional: Harvest divine fragments from environmental collapse.Bonus: Extract core memory from dead or corrupted humans.

Reward: Evolution Path Expansion – "Abysswalker" unlocked upon success.

Leo's breath stilled.

Abysswalker. A side branch. New skills. Unknown growth.

Risk is worth it.

He turned, focusing. The dungeon listened.

"Open Floor 6," he said aloud. "I want the Bloodroots to shift the walls. Set the lures. Draw the humans downward faster."

The stone shivered. Distant shrieks echoed as mutated roots ripped through stone, rerouting the paths.

"I want to see how deep they're willing to go."

🔹 Meanwhile, Adventurer POV – Floor 5 Descent

"What was that quake?!" Mira shouted, holding onto her spell staff as the platform beneath them rumbled.

"I don't know," Aurelia muttered, shield raised. "The glyph responded to my divine touch. It should've stabilized the path…"

Zek swore. "We're being funneled. The walls are changing."

Ryn's wolf growled. Hard. Angry. Afraid.

"Something's watching again," Ryn said. "Not the same… this one's colder."

"We go down," Aurelia commanded. "We adapt. This mission is too important."

From high above, Leo watched.

Amused. Curious.

Ready.

He had a choice now. Let the humans face the thing below—and risk contaminating his entire domain.

Or interfere. Shape the outcome. Twist the disaster into power.

And somewhere, in the back of his mind, a thought bubbled up.

If Lysia really is gone… I'll need to be stronger than any of them soon.

Even Elara.

His shadows pulled tighter around him. His core pulsed once, then dimmed.

"Let the hunt begin again."