> [Boss: Crownless King – Health Pools Remaining: 4/6]
[Clone Echoes: 3 Total – Current Status: 1 Clone Active (2/5 Deaths Left)]
[Damnation Clock: 10 Turns Remaining]
[System Rules Broken: Resurrection Disabled – Permanent Death Active]
[Reality Erasures: 4 Confirmed. Stability at 67%. Collapse Risk Rising.]
---
The battlefield was no longer a battlefield.
It had become a war of memory, identity, and soul. The Crownless King stood tall—its form less stable, more infinite. Its limbs moved like stories being rewritten. Its blade bent like timelines trying to escape.
And still… they fought.
---
Turn 6: Clone Echo Phase – "Echo of Survival"
The remaining clone shifted shape—this time, into Lian himself.
Only this version was cold. Robotic. A perfect survivor—void of empathy, loyalty, or risk.
Lian stared at it.
"…So that's what I could have been."
Echo-Lian raised its palm. Fate Coins spun in midair, thousands of them, orbiting like planets.
"No fear. No failure. Only survival."
Real Lian closed his eyes.
"I don't want to live like that."
The fight wasn't won through power, but choice. Lian refused to predict the coin. He let it fall every time.
And each time—he accepted the pain.
The fifth and final strike came when Lian stabbed his clone and let its blood stain a coin. That coin melted—and turned golden.
> [Clone Defeated: 2/5]
[Talent Fusion Triggered: Coin Multiplier + Diver's Gambit = "Fate Glitcher" – Can now rewrite one fate per battle, at permanent cost.]
> [System Recoil: "One future child of Lian has now been permanently erased."]
His hand trembled. But his eyes stayed on the King.
"This ends with us."
---
Turn 7: Crownless King's Divine Cast – "Null Reversal"
The King's voice shook reality. Words echoed backward. Time tried to fold.
A reversal beam launched—meant to undo their entire battle.
Kuro stepped forward.
"I'll block it."
"No—" Ria shouted.
"Let me," he said calmly. "Let someone choose to be the wall."
He used Phantom Memory Slash to rip through time mid-flight, then invoked a locked skill:
> [Secret Art: "Soulhold – Anchor My Story"]
[Effect: Anchor one chosen moment to reality. Cannot be undone, even by world-level skills.]
Kuro carved the memory of Jayce making the others laugh into system code.
The reversal wave struck him full-force.
> [System Shock: Kuro's right arm permanently erased. Cannot be regenerated. Pain multiplier: x5]
He dropped to a knee. "Still here…"
Jayce helped him up, smiling through tears. "You mad bastard."
---
Turn 8: Final Clone Resurgence – "Echo of Hope"
This one was different.
It didn't attack.
It sang.
A soft, wordless tune that echoed every laugh, cry, and scream the team had made. It didn't look like anyone. It looked like all of them—stitched together.
Ria stepped toward it. Her wings flickered between ash and light.
"…We don't kill this one," she said softly.
The others paused.
Ria lowered her blade. "We embrace it."
Lian stepped forward first. Then Kuro. Then Jayce.
They walked into the echo and accepted it.
> [Echo Absorbed: All Clones Cleared (5/5 Deaths)]
[System Bond Fusion: "Echoheart" – Grants +1 Legendary Fusion Talent to each survivor]
[New Passive Unlocked: "We Remember – Cannot lose emotional memories, even under Crownless Influence."]
The sky pulsed gold.
The Crownless King roared.
> [Final Phase Unlocked – "Crownless King: No-Name God"]
[Form: System Devourer – Class: Beyond Legendary]
It spread its arms.
Reality burned.
And still… they stood.
---
Jayce wiped his brow. "So… how many deaths do we owe this thing again?"
Lian's voice was steady. "Four. Then one more for its core."
Ria's wings blazed. "And we'll pay… together."