Chapter 54: Pact of the Hollow King
They trudged forward, bloodstained and weary. The survivors of Earth had passed their first trial, but Yg'drakael was not done with them. No, this world enjoyed their suffering.
The cracked, blistered terrain shifted beneath their boots. The ground itself was pulsing — breathing. Jagged towers stabbed out of the horizon like broken teeth, wrapped in chains of bone and smog.
A dark mist began to follow them. Whispers curled around their ears, repeating fragments of their thoughts, regrets, and fears.
Then the system spoke.
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System Directive: Forced Encounter
> Target: Hollow King Va'zael
Type: Sovereign of Regret
World Role: Temptation Entity
Warning: This being does not seek your death.
It seeks your compliance.
---
The temperature plummeted. Shadows twisted and stretched into unnatural shapes as a throne of hollowed skulls rose before them, dragged upward by chains that snapped through the air like vipers.
Sitting atop that throne was a giant draped in stitched cloaks of despair — the Hollow King. His face was a black void, but his voice was silk wrapped in rot.
> "Welcome, broken children of a broken Earth," Va'zael said. "I come not to fight… but to bless."
His words hit like a drug. Lian felt numb. Melia's bleeding slowed. Jayce almost collapsed from the weight lifting off his soul — just a little.
> "You have done the impossible. Resisted despair. Fought without power. Killed without weapons."
"You deserve… reward."
The Hollow King opened one long, segmented hand — and in it appeared five Soul Pacts. Glowing red scrolls.
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Temptation: Power Without Cost?
Each scroll bore a different inscription:
Scroll of Strength: Your blows become like thunder.
Scroll of Sight: Know what your enemies plan before they act.
Scroll of Flame: Summon fire to burn your foes.
Scroll of Restoration: Heal without sacrifice.
Scroll of Obedience: Make others bend to your will.
Va'zael's voice echoed again.
> "Take one each. No price today. No tricks. Only… trust."
Boom growled. "There's always a trick."
Sera narrowed her eyes. "No cost today. What about tomorrow?"
The Hollow King tilted his head. "Tomorrow is not my concern."
---
Lian stepped forward. "We don't need them."
"Don't lie," Va'zael hissed, voice now sharpened like knives. "You're weak. You're bleeding. The next trial will break you without me. I offer mercy."
Jayce almost reached for the Scroll of Strength. His hand trembled mid-air. "What if this is our only chance?"
Sera held him back.
> "Then we'll die standing," she said, "not kneeling."
With a shout, Lian threw a stone at the Hollow King's throne.
Va'zael didn't flinch.
> "So be it. The path ahead is yours — and so is the suffering."
He vanished — and the scrolls turned to ash.
---
Trial II Begins: The Crawling Depths
The moment the Hollow King disappeared, the ground cracked open beneath them.
There was no time to scream.
They fell.
Fifty meters.
Seventy.
A hundred.
Lian slammed into the rocky floor, bones bruised but unbroken. Jayce landed beside him with a crunch — his arm bent wrong.
Boom screamed through his teeth, trying to relocate his dislocated knee with a sickening snap.
Melia's body was a wreck — but her eyes burned with fury.
Around them, the walls moved — thousands of Eyeless Crawlers skittering through flesh-lined tunnels, chittering with anticipation.
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Battle: The Unseen Hunger
They were hunted. No weapons. No powers. The system refused to intervene.
The crawlers attacked like a wave — acid spit, bone claws, and screams that shredded nerves.
Lian found a femur and broke two crawler skulls with it.
Jayce used his broken arm like bait — stabbing with a jagged rib he'd pulled from a corpse.
Boom dragged himself through the filth and ignited oil from his torch belt, turning the tunnel into a furnace.
Sera screamed through blood and set off an explosion of fire using nothing but friction, pressure, and instinct.
They survived.
Just barely.
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When it was over, the tunnel was a scorched ruin. Their bodies were a patchwork of burns, cracks, and exhaustion. But their eyes… their eyes were fire.
Lian stood, barely, and spoke what they were all thinking.
> "We. Don't. Need. The King."
They limped forward.
And Yg'drakael laughed in the distance.
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Chapter End