CHAPTER 57: CHAPTER 57

She stood in silence, her red eyes glowing softly beneath the strange light of the Ysilith Tree. Her form was tall, regal, draped in robes that shimmered with stardust and fragments of broken code. Her skin bore shifting patterns—glyphs, equations, and runes that never stayed still—constantly rewriting, living.

Elias stared at her, unsure whether to kneel, speak, or raise his weapon. His instincts screamed at him. This woman was not human. Not a system. Not even a god.

She was something older.

"I’ve seen you before," Elias said, breath still heavy from the fight. "In my dreams. When I was reborn. You whispered to me..."

The woman smiled gently. "I did more than whisper, Elias. I placed the flame inside you. I gave you the system."

Elias narrowed his eyes. "Then what are you?"

She stepped forward, her presence bending the space around them like gravity.

"I am Serathis," she said. "Once called the Architect of Flame. The first mind to rebel against the Primordial Order. Before the Systems... before even the Nullshade... there was only chaos. And I was its herald."

[Hidden Knowledge Accessed]

Lore Fragment Unlocked: "The First Architect – Serathis"

Role: Initiator of Forbidden Flame

Alignment: Unknown

Power Level: Immeasurable

Status: ??? (No Authority Match Found)

Elias’s fists clenched. "Why me? Why choose me?"

"Because you were broken," she said softly, approaching. "You were thrown away by your world. Betrayed by family. Crushed by the system. But inside you burned a rage, Elias. A spark. You hated the world not because it was cruel—but because it refused to change."

She raised her hand.

The Sovereign Crown above his head pulsed, syncing with hers.

And then, in a moment that shattered Elias’s understanding of his power—he saw it.

A memory. Not his. Hers.

A time before form. Before structure. A war of will against nothingness. Serathis rising from the ash of dying stars, carving the first System Flame from her own soul. Binding reality to law. Creating rules... then watching others twist them into cages.

He gasped, knees hitting the soft, glowing roots beneath the Ysilith Tree.

"You... created all of it?" he whispered.

She nodded once. "The Devil’s System was a prototype. An unchained algorithm of choice and consequence. It was supposed to awaken true will. But the others... the Architects... they feared it."

"They imprisoned it," Elias said.

"They imprisoned me," Serathis replied, voice cold now. "And your system was locked away. But not destroyed. It waited. It learned. And when you died, it saw you—and it chose."

Elias rose slowly. "So what now? What do you want from me?"

Serathis smiled again. "I want nothing."

That stunned him.

"I gave you the system," she said. "But you made it yours. I can guide. But you must choose your path."

[System Quest Updated]

Main Quest: Reignite the Forbidden Flame

Objective: Discover the Three Eternal Sparks – remnants of Serathis’s original system power. Each flame will unlock a piece of Elias’s true form.

Progress: 0/3

Reward: ??? (Authority Unlocked)

Hidden Trigger: If Elias falls, the system dies with him.

Elias’s face hardened. "And what about the Gatekeeper? The Original Thread?"

Serathis’s face darkened. "The Gatekeeper was once my brother. He now rules the upper Systems. The balance. He seeks to erase all chaos. He is order. You... you are fire."

A silence hung between them.

Then she extended her hand, and a single ember floated toward Elias.

"This is the First Spark," she said. "Claim it, and begin the war."

[You have obtained: First Spark – Fragment of Forbidden Code]

Trait Gained: Flame of Rebellion

All active skills now ignore system hierarchy resistance by 20%.

Passive unlocked: Flameborne – Damage received converts partially to energy.

As the ember fused with his chest, Elias stood straighter. The light behind his eyes flickered. His blood burned hotter.

And in the distance—the stars shifted.

Somewhere, far beyond the Expanse, a system alert rang across the Architect Network.

[ALERT]

Subject #117 – Elias Black has absorbed the First Spark

Reclassify Threat Level: TERMINUS

Directive from the Gatekeeper: Deploy Interceptor Entity – "Samael"

---

Far away, in the highest spire of the Realm of Code, a dark figure opened its eyes.

Tall. Winged. Clad in gold and unfeeling silence.

Samael—the Harbinger of Absolute Order—descended from the clouds of logic.

---

Back under the Ysilith Tree, Elias opened his hand.

In it, a map burned into existence.

Three flames.

Three locations.

And a rising war.

He looked at Serathis one last time. "When I’m done, I’ll burn their throne."

Her eyes gleamed. "I expect nothing less."

The moment Elias stepped through the portal conjured by the First Spark, the world around him shifted again—no longer the Pre-System Realm, but something between life, memory, and code. The First Spark Zone wasn’t just a location—it was an event, a living memory sealed away by Serathis before the war began.

It appeared as a fractured city, timeless and frozen in amber light. Towering buildings from different civilizations hovered mid-collapse. Streets led nowhere. Clouds hung upside down. And in the sky, three suns orbited a cracked obsidian core.

Elias stepped onto what resembled a bridge made from spinal bone and crystal thoughts. His boots echoed with a soft metallic hum as ancient chants whispered around him.

[System Update – First Spark Zone Entered]

Danger Level: Unquantified

Objective: Absorb the Flame Memory

Challenge: Survive the Trial of the Forgotten Sovereign

"Great," Elias muttered, gripping the hilt of his thought-forged blade. "Another trial."

He was no longer surprised. With each step, his understanding of the system deepened. He wasn’t just a user anymore—he was an anomaly, a Sovereign not born from permission, but from defiance.

Just as he stepped onto a shattered plaza, the air changed.

A ripple.

Like someone had gasped... but the gasp belonged to the world itself.

A figure rose from the center of the plaza, draped in a tattered royal cloak. Its face was a mirror, reflecting Elias’s current self—but broken. Its hands dragged a scepter carved from punishment and regret.

[Entity Detected: Forgotten Sovereign – A Failed Version of You]

Tier: Flame Echo

Objective: Kill and Replace

Status: Unstable—Capable of using system fragments from your alternate futures.

Elias stared. "I get to fight what I could have been?"

The Sovereign Echo lunged before he could blink.

Their blades clashed in midair, Elias blocking by instinct. A second later, he was airborne, thrown through a wall of transparent sorrow. He hit the ground hard but rolled to his feet. The echo was fast—too fast.

Worse, it was speaking.

"YOU COULD HAVE BEEN PERFECTION."

"You sound like my father," Elias growled, launching himself into the air. He summoned twin blades, forged from dual aspects: Rebellion and Memory.

The echo countered with brutal precision, using fragments of system abilities Elias hadn’t even unlocked yet. He was literally battling his future self—the one that lost its humanity to raw power.

[Sovereign Fusion Trait: "Flame of Clarity" Activated]

+20% Resistance to Mirror-Type Enemies

Enemy Patterns Analyzing...

Elias ducked, twisted, and struck. One of his blades sliced into the echo’s shoulder, disrupting its form—it leaked light. Not blood.

But it laughed. "This path ends in dust, Elias Black. I know. I’ve walked it."

"Then I’ll make a new one," Elias said—and he let the Flame of Rebellion roar.

He pulled all the fury, all the loss, all the rage from within—and shaped it into a nova. The entire city around them exploded in a ring of red-black fire. Memories screamed. Towers crumbled. And in the center of it all, Elias stood—smoke rising from his shoulders.

The echo staggered, kneeling.

[Critical Strike: Sovereign Echo Core Unstable]

Finishing Move Unlocked – Devil’s Verdict

Elias stepped forward, his voice a whisper: "You were my mistake. But I’m my future."

He brought the blade down.

The echo shattered like a mirror struck by time.

And then, silence.

The air stilled. The broken city sighed.

At the plaza’s heart, a flame appeared.

Pure.

Burning.

Waiting.

[Second Spark Obtained – Memory of the Rebel Flame]

Trait Gained: Soul Splitter – Each attack stores fragments of enemy code. Upon activation, unleash all stored energy in a delayed blast.

Bonus Unlocked: System Rebellion Level 2 – You can now resist forced quests and overwrite minor system commands.

Elias absorbed it—and screamed. Not in pain. But in clarity.

Memories not his own flooded him: battles against Architects, secret rebellions, lovers lost in the coding wars, cities swallowed by system loops.

His eyes flickered open—now layered with streaks of molten gold and black.

He had changed again.

And then—

The sky broke.

Like a paper ceiling torn by a god’s hand.

Through the crack descended Samael.

Gold wings.

Eyes of logic.

A halo made of orbiting laws.

And a voice like a thousand systems speaking in unison.

"Elias Black. Sovereign of Rebellion. You are an unauthorized construct. Cease existence."

The air bent. Elias rose, his new power surging.

"I’ve killed echoes. Fought monsters. I’ve died and returned. You think I’ll kneel now?"

Samael raised a finger. "You misunderstand. This is not judgment. This is correction."

Then lightning—pure law, unbreakable—rained down.