Chapter 15 – The Chains of Heaven

The 19th floor was unlike any that had come before.

There was no trial announcement. No warning. Only a single message:

> [Welcome to Heaven.]

The words burned across Erevan's vision in golden light, but they meant nothing kind.

The sky above was white, not with clouds, but chains—miles-long links that moved like serpents, weaving through the air, humming with suppressed power. Below him stretched a sprawling city, ethereal and divine, glowing with temples, towers, and floating bridges.

And not a single soul.

Not until she arrived.

Erevan stood atop a marble spire, the wind calm but heavy. He felt it before he saw her—pressure, like gravity had decided to lean closer.

She floated down from the chains above, wings of celestial steel folded behind her. Her hair shimmered like starlight in water. Her eyes, cold yet mournful, locked onto him the moment her feet touched the marble.

"Erevan. It's been a long time."

He said nothing. But his jaw tightened.

Because her voice...

It remembered him.

> [System Alert: Unknown entity detected.]

[Name: Seraphiel – The Last Judicator of Heaven.]

[Connection to User: Class S—Intimate/Hostile.]

He stepped back instinctively.

"Don't you recognize me?" she asked, tilting her head. "Of course, they erased that part. But you still feel it, don't you? That ache in your core."

Erevan didn't respond, but the ache was there.

Not physical. Not even emotional.

Something deeper. A wound etched in the code of his soul.

She walked toward him, slow, deliberate, not raising a weapon. "You once stood with us. Do you remember the Gate? The fall? The promise you made before you broke it all?"

Still silence.

She stopped three feet from him.

"I asked them not to kill you. I begged them. And this... this is what's left of you?"

He looked at her now, really looked. And deep beneath the cosmic armor and divine light—he saw pain. Not hatred. Not even rage. Just disappointment.

"I don't remember," he said finally.

She nodded. "That's what they wanted. But I do. I remember you swearing you'd climb this Tower not for power, but to stop it. To end the cycle."

Something in Erevan's eyes flickered.

Seraphiel lifted a hand, palm outward. "I won't fight you. But this floor is sealed until you remember."

He tensed. "Then I'll tear through until I do."

She closed her eyes.

Chains fell from the heavens like meteors.

> [Warning: Divine Binding Level 4 – Restriction of Trueform Active.]

[System Override Detected: Seraphiel holds administrative authority over this floor.]

He dodged as the first chain struck the spire, shattering it into dust. He leapt to another platform mid-air, but more chains followed—each one singing with holy light.

The air was too heavy to adapt instantly.

Too familiar.

"She's holding back," Erevan muttered.

Not out of mercy.

Out of hope.

And that was what made it worse.

He landed on the steps of a ruined cathedral below, gasping from the sudden weight pressing on his bones. His suit flickered, struggling against the divine code. This wasn't just combat—it was rejection. The Tower itself wanted him unmade here.

A memory surged—half-formed, splintered:

A golden field. His hand reaching for hers. A promise of rebellion. Her tear-streaked face saying, "We can change it, together."

He didn't know what it meant.

But something inside him screamed that it mattered.

Suddenly, a voice rang out in his mind—not hers.

The System's.

> [Abysswalker Trait Activation: Soul Fragment Resonance.]

[Hidden Trait Awakened: Chainbreaker – Resist Class S Binding once per cycle.]

Light exploded from his chest, shattering the nearest chain before it touched him.

Seraphiel's eyes widened. "No... that power... you weren't supposed to—"

He shot forward like a comet, blade in hand, face unreadable.

"I don't remember the past," he said. "But I know one thing."

He stopped inches from her, blade hovering at her throat.

"I made it this far because I had a reason."

And in that moment, as the heavens held their breath, she smiled—just a little.

"You always did."

> [Floor 19: Judicator's Domain Cleared.]

The chains retracted. The white sky dimmed.

And Erevan turned, walking toward the next stair, not looking back—even as Seraphiel fell to her knees behind him, whispering a name no longer in the System's records.

His real name.

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