Awakening

The roar of the Devourer of Echoes split the chamber like a blade, a frequency so loud it flattened air and crushed thought. The stone walls trembled. Dust exploded from the ceiling like ash from a dying star. Every torchlight flickered—then died.

Only the red glow of the boss's eyes remained.

Tyler stood still, sword in hand, tattoos glowing blue like rivers of lightning on flesh.

Behind him, Kaela shouted something—but her voice warped, twisted by the beast's power. Nysa screamed. Eryk's knees buckled.

The Echo Titan lunged, one claw smashing through the floor like it was wet paper. Tyler vanished just before impact, reappearing mid-air, slamming his sword across the beast's jaw.

CRITICAL – 9999!

The monster reeled.

But it didn't retreat. It adapted.

Suddenly, shadows coalesced along its arms, forming new bladed limbs. It leapt.

Tyler parried. Sparks and black lightning burst from the impact, cutting open a crater behind him.

"Nysa! Eryk! Move!" Kaela shouted, sending a protective barrier outward.

But the Devourer anticipated it.

It fired a wave of psychic force.

Kaela spun, raising her staff—but too late. The blast hit her square in the chest, and she crumpled like a doll, unconscious before she hit the ground.

Tyler turned sharply—eyes wide. "KAELA!"

Too slow.

The beast was already above the twins.

A second pulse of darkness came down like a bomb.

Nysa dove in front of Eryk with a shield spell that cracked instantly. Her scream tore through the chamber as her health dropped to a sliver. Eryk's body twisted in midair, blood gushing from a dozen lacerations.

They hit the ground. Silent. Motionless.

"No," Tyler whispered. "No—no—no—"

The Devourer turned to him.

Tyler's hands trembled. His sword felt heavy.

He had never… never felt rage like this.

Something inside him snapped.

The blue lines across his body flared once—then turned gold. A quiet hum followed, then a deep vibration like the world itself was trying to speak.

The ground cracked beneath his feet. Not from pressure—but from presence.

His aura exploded out of him like a supernova, golden threads weaving through the air like divine serpents. Lightning not of this realm—silent, ancient—flickered across his skin and then upward, piercing the dungeon ceiling as though reaching for the heavens.

The laws of reality stuttered.

The stone below him rose in floating shards. The gravity warped. Time… slowed.

The boss hesitated.

Then, the voice returned.

"You weren't meant to awaken this early."

"But perhaps… fate has other plans."

Tyler's head lolled forward. His eyes were gold, glowing faintly. He didn't move, but the wind around him roared. Heavenly energy coalesced above him like a descending halo—shards of light and starlight dancing.

The Devourer roared and lunged—

Tyler disappeared.

He reappeared behind the beast, sword through its spine.

CRITICAL – 9999!

He didn't flinch. He didn't speak.

The Devourer lashed out, but Tyler blurred—reality stuttered again, and now Tyler stood upside-down on the ceiling, golden lightning dancing from his fingertips.

He raised his hand—

"Ancient Lightning."

The bolt that fell was not made of mana. It was a concept—a divine, universal correction. It struck the Devourer with a force that bent the dungeon itself, creating a shockwave that silenced the world.

9999

9999

9999

The monster shrieked in a dozen dying tongues, writhing and shuddering, its body half-melted, half-split. It turned—but saw nothing.

Because Tyler was already behind it again.

The sword twisted in his hands like it wanted blood.

He moved.

Reality broke.

Then—

Everything went black.

The light disappeared. The sound faded.

The only thing left was a whisper.

"He is waking up."