Chapter 23: A Throne of Chains

Chapter 23: A Throne of Chains

The Bastion was no longer a prison. It was a symbol.

Smoke rose in black columns against the morning sky, and the charred walls of the once-mighty fortress groaned under the weight of silence. Where once screams echoed in sealed chambers, now there was only wind and freedom.

Rayden stood atop what had been the Warden's dais, now little more than scorched stone. Around him, the freed Nullbound had gathered, uncertain of what came next. Some bore old scars—others had forgotten how to speak. All of them looked to him with questions in their eyes.

He understood what they needed.

Not a speech.

A reason.

"We're not going back," Rayden said, his voice quiet but heavy. "Not to cities that rejected you. Not to Systems that abandoned you. Here, in this ruin, we build something new."

He looked at the cracked throne behind him—once the Warden's command chair, made from the fused cores of fallen Systems.

He placed his hand on it.

The Berserk System pulsed.

[Quest Update: Founding of the Crimson Bastion]

Objective: Claim the Seat of Defiance

Reward: Territory Bonus – Rage Domain (Lv.1)

Rayden's eyes flared.

A shockwave rippled through the ruined fortress as the System branded it. Glyphs scrawled themselves across broken walls. Fire pits lit without flame. The air thickened with something primal—anger turned into energy. Rage transformed into sanctuary.

Kaelri watched from the steps, arms crossed. "So now you're a king?"

Rayden shook his head. "I'm a symbol. Kings get obeyed. I want them to rise on their own."

But Kaelri stepped closer, lowering her voice. "They'll still follow you. No matter what you call yourself."

Jexa and Thorn approached next, along with the silver-haired Tempest Witch—whose name, they learned, was Lyss Everhail. She'd once been a High Mage of the Storm Accord, before her System was sabotaged by the Seers.

"I saw the way you fought," Lyss said, her tone somewhere between reverence and fear. "You didn't channel your power. You devoured it."

Rayden didn't deny it. The Berserk System didn't play by any rulebook. It consumed, mutated, rewrote. He had come to understand that even his thoughts were sometimes edged in crimson he didn't fully recognize.

Still, he nodded. "We fight the old order. That makes us dangerous."

Thorn clenched his flaming fists. "Good. I want them to fear us."

Rayden looked out across the mountains. The High Seers would know by now. They'd send their agents. Maybe even other Awakened. Maybe worse.

"Let them come," he murmured. "This time, we won't be caught in chains."

That night, the Broken lit fires in every tower.

The newly named Crimson Bastion stood tall in the dark.

Its walls were imperfect.

Its people scarred.

Its ruler—a boy with a forbidden System and fury in his veins.

But it was theirs.

And the world had just felt the first pulse of a rebellion that would shake the gods themselves.