The dust from the shattered wall did not settle. Instead, it hung in the air like a thick, grey curtain, tasting of ancient stone and burnt ozone. Arkael stood in the center of the chaos, his obsidian armor absorbing the flickering orange light of the torches like a black hole.
He did not wait for the dust to clear or for the knights to find their footing. He moved like a predator that had been waiting for this moment his entire life. With the Black Ledger tucked securely into his belt, he met the first knight's charge with a brutal shoulder check that sent the man flying back into the stone hallway.
"Halt, heretics!" the Captain screamed. His voice was full of a desperate, religious fury that bordered on madness. He raised a massive broadsword that hummed with a pale, sanctified light.
"By the Light of the Sun and the law of the King, you are under arrest! You have nowhere to run! Surrender the stolen goods and face your judgment!"
"Arkael, don't just hit them! We need an exit strategy! Every second we stay here, more guards are coming!" I shouted in his mind. My voice felt thin and fragile, vibrating through the synchronization link like a wire about to snap.
I could feel everything Arkael felt. I felt the adrenaline coursing through his blood—it felt like liquid fire rushing through his veins. I felt the weight of his sword and the cold anger in his heart.
But then, I felt something else. A cold, rhythmic thumping began to vibrate through the soles of Arkael's boots. It wasn't the sound of footsteps or the falling of stones. It was the hum of ancient, dark machinery waking up deep within the foundation of the vault.
My "Manager" interface, usually clear and blue, suddenly flashed a color I had never seen before: a bruised, sickly purple.
[ Alert! Detection: Hidden Runes Activating ]
[ Type: Anti-Divine Suppression Field&Anti-Abyss Chains ]
[ Origin: Forbidden Black Market Sorcery ]
"It's a trap within a trap!" I gasped, my mental voice cracking with fear. "Arkael, move! Now!"
But it was already too late. Before Arkael could pivot toward the open balcony, the floor beneath him flared with a blood-red light. It was a jagged, ugly light that didn't belong to the Church or the Kingdom. This was Valerius's ultimate secret—a weapon designed to kill gods and demons alike.
Suddenly, silver chains erupted from the stone floor like metallic snakes. They didn't move like normal metal; they moved with supernatural speed, homing in on the dark energy radiating from Arkael's armor.
They lunged at him, wrapping around his ankles, his wrists, and his throat in a single second. The sound of the chains tightening was like a hundred knives scraping against bone.
Arkael let out a roar of pure agony. It was a sound I felt in my own chest. The chains hissed where they touched his black armor, burning through his Abyssal energy with a high-pitched shriek. Steam rose from his skin as the "Holy" enchantment of the chains began to eat away at his very essence.
[ Warning! Warning! ]
[ Detected: [Anti-Divine Circle] – Suppressing Host's System Processing... ]
[ Mental Strain: 80% and rising. Faith Leak Detected. ]
I felt the suppression hit me like a physical blow. It felt like someone had poured liquid lead into my brain, filling my thoughts with heavy, grey fog. The high-definition vision I had through Arkael's eyes turned into a grainy, flickering mess.
My connection to the system began to stutter, and the HUD flickered on and off like a broken lightbulb in a storm. I was losing my grip on the world.
"Did you think I was just a greedy merchant?" Valerius's voice croaked from the far corner of the room. He had crawled away during the initial fight and was now standing near a hidden lever, his face twisted in a panicked, hysterical grin. His fine clothes were torn, and his wig was gone, but he looked triumphant.
"I paid a fortune to the Southern Alchemists for this 'Abyss-Slayer' trap! I knew the Church's light wouldn't be enough to stop a beast like that. You're not leaving this manor, you witch! You're going to burn with me, and your 'Goddess' will be nothing but a memory!"
The silver knights moved in, seeing Arkael pinned to the ground. They were no longer afraid; they saw their enemy restrained and weakened. They raised their glowing swords, ready to execute the "demon" where he knelt.
Arkael was forced to one knee, his breath coming in ragged, wet gasps as the silver chains tightened, cutting deep into his armor and the flesh beneath. I could feel his core vibrating—he was trying to explode outward in a burst of power, but the red runes were feeding on his energy, turning his own strength into more chains to bind him.
"Manager... get... out..." Arkael's thoughts were a ragged, dying echo in my head. "The link... it's a conduit. This circle... it will fry your brain. Disconnect... now! Save yourself!"
"No!" I shouted back, both in his mind and in my physical body back at the orphanage.
Back in the Willow Throne, miles away, my physical body was shaking uncontrollably. My eyes were burning with a dry, searing heat, and a warm, metallic trickle of blood started to run from my nose.
My fingers were clawing at the wooden armrests of the throne so hard that my nails were bleeding, but I didn't care. I couldn't leave him. "I am the Manager! I don't abandon my employees when the project goes south! We finish this together!"
[ System Alert: Neural Feedback at Critical Levels ]
[ Probability of Mental Collapse: 85% ]
[ System Recommendation: Immediate Disconnection to Protect the Host ]
I ignored the warning. I ignored the pain. I reached into the very center of my Faith pool. We still had the 500% overflow we had gathered from the villagers' prayers after the harvest. It was a massive amount of energy, a reservoir of pure hope and belief.
If I couldn't use it for "Light" because of the suppression runes, I would use it as a blunt object. I would use it as raw, unrefined energy to smash the world.
"System... initiate [Emergency System Overclock]!" I commanded. My mental voice was screaming through the static. "Burn 200% Faith in a single second! Break the Suppression Field through pure volume of power!"
[Warning: Overclocking in a Null-Zone will cause permanent Neural Damage! Your mind may shatter! ]
"DO IT! I'LL FIX MY BRAIN LATER! JUST SAVE HIM!"