Silence was a lie.
The battlefield breathed with death. Not even the Hollowspawn moved now—only fed. Limbs, torsos, and craters of black flame scarred the earth. The System's glitch-static still echoed in the air like dying whispers.
Shia's blood had soaked the altar stones. Her body convulsed once, then went still again. Reed didn't know if she was alive or dying—just that she was warm. Still warm.
He looked up.
The Godseed loomed above the altar—seven meters tall, faceless, with a corona of seething light and fractal shadow, as if it were made from code stitched together by a mad god. Lines of broken glyphs ran along its arms.
> ENTITY STABILITY: UNBOUND
> MANIFESTATION: INCOMPLETE
Reed reached for his sword with a hand that barely obeyed. "You're not part of the plan," he muttered. "But neither was I."
The Godseed lowered its head. Not a bow. A scan.
Then it spoke. Not with sound, but by force—like a nail in the mind.
> ASCENDANT IDENTIFIED: REED // DESIGNATION: DOMAINBREAKER
Light flared. A glyph branded itself across Reed's chest—just above his heart. Painful. Permanent.
And then the entity collapsed into a flicker of data and vanished. No fanfare. No system warning. Just... gone.
Reed slumped, gasping.
Behind him, the altar shattered.
The battle was won. But victory tasted like iron and rot.
Reed spent the next twelve hours dragging survivors to shelter. Only twenty-two remained from his force—goblins, fang scouts, rogue knights, and two surviving Heroes. The rest were gone, devoured by Hollowspawn or torn apart in mindspore madness.
Shia was barely breathing. Her wounds glowed with unstable Soul Anchor residue. No cleric could fix that. Only time—or death.
He carried her into the roots of a collapsed siege tree and sealed the entrance with collapsed stone. He stood watch for three days without sleep, until her eyes opened and her first word was: "Water."
He almost laughed.
Three days later, the System chimed.
> DOMAIN INTEGRATION COMPLETE
> NEW OWNER: LORD REED // TITLE: THE UNCORRUPTED
> TERRITORY EXPANDED: GOBLIN'S HOLLOW + 12KM RADIUS
> DOMAIN TYPE: HYBRID (CORRUPTED/RECLAIMED)
> RANK: C > A
He stared at the screen, blood still on his hands.
"The Uncorrupted?" he muttered. "Hell of a joke."
He accepted the notifications. A surge of raw energy pulsed through the land. Trees twitched. The soil cracked. The Hollowspawn vanished underground, as if called home.
The battlefield began to heal—but not forget.
A week passed. Reed sat on the corpse of a shattered warbeast, staring into the fire. Shia slept beside him, wrapped in a cloak woven from mindspore silk. Her hair had turned white from the strain.
One of the goblin scouts approached.
"My Lord," it croaked, "riders seen. Heading east. The surviving lords flee. They take the story with them."
Reed stood slowly. "Good. Let them speak."
The goblin looked confused.
"They'll call me a monster. A glitch. A heretic." He cracked his neck. "And every terrified whisper will make me stronger."
He turned toward the east, where smoke still curled from the ruins.
"This is just step one."
He clenched his fist. The branded glyph pulsed.
> NEW QUEST UNLOCKED: CROWN OF WILDS
> OBJECTIVE: CLAIM THREE CORE DOMAINS
> BONUS OBJECTIVE: RECONSTRUCT ALTAR OF ORIGIN
Reed smiled, sharp and without joy.
Then the ground shook.
A tear opened in the sky. Not metaphorically—literally. A jagged rift in the clouds bled violet light. Something massive stirred behind it.
Shia opened her eyes. "Reed?"
He didn't answer.
Because above them, the System chimed again.
> WARNING: ENTITY // CODENAME: ARCH-HERALD // INBOUND