The Darkness System: Rise of the Broken Sovereign

The golden-bodied man and the ice woman moved simultaneously.

The golden man launched himself forward—fist cocked. The ice woman raised both hands—crackle—frost energy condensing into sharpened icicles that launched toward Kael from three directions.

Kael formed a hand sign.

"SHADOW PHANTOMS."

WHUUUM.

Five clones materialized from his shadow. They moved instantly—two intercepting the golden man, three swarming the ice woman.

The golden man’s fist connected with the first clone—SLAM—and it dissolved into shadow. The second clone ducked under his guard and drove an elbow into his ribs. Crack. The golden body technique absorbed the impact, but it bought Kael time.

The ice woman shrieked as three clones surrounded her. SHRIIEEK. She fired ice spikes in every direction but the clones dodged and countered with Dark Slashes.

Meanwhile, Kael’s hands moved rapidly forming multiple seals. Runes appeared in the sky above—fzzzt-fzzzt—lightning symbols inscribed in the air itself, glowing white-blue against the Void Realm’s painted sky.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Lightning strikes descended from the runic symbols—five bolts targeting the remaining five cultivators. Sarah, the wind woman, the earth man, the water man with one arm, and the young Rank 4.

The Rank 4, Rank 5, and Rank 6 cultivators scattered. The young Rank 4 screamed—AAH!—as a bolt grazed his shoulder, searing his flesh.

Sarah didn’t flinch. Her gold eyes swept upward and she raised one hand. Light energy condensed into a beam that struck the runes above her directly. The runic symbols shattered and the lightning bolt meant for her dissolved.

She rushed Kael as she activated a light speed technique. Her body became a blur of white radiance crossing thirty meters in a heartbeat. A light blade formed in her right hand.

She appeared in front of Kael with her blade raised swinging downward towards his head.

Kael smirked.

He flipped multiple rune coins from his system storage, each one inscribed with barrier runes. They orbited around him and activated simultaneously—VVVVM—forming layered barriers of runic light.

Sarah’s light blade struck the first barrier. CRACK. It shattered. Second barrier. CRACK. Shattered. Third—CRACK—shattered.

But the barriers slowed her strike enough.

The dark core entered Kael’s chest.

THRUM!

His aura exploded. Mana Heart Rank 4 became Rank 5—surge—Rank 6—crack—Rank 7—the ground trembled—Rank 8.

WHUUUUM!

The shockwave pushed Sarah backward. She stabbed her light blade into the ground carving a trench as she slid. Her gold eyes widened.

Mana Heart Rank 8. What sort of technique is that? This has gotten really dangerous.

Lightning cracked around Kael’s body as Lightning Body activating. He drew one Shadow Slayer blade from his system storage—shing—and took a single step.

ZIP.

He appeared behind the Mana Heart Rank 4—the young man who’d been struggling against the lightning runes. The boy’s eyes widened. He opened his mouth to speak.

Kael’s blade swept horizontally.

SHING.

The boy’s body divided into two pieces.

Thud. Thud.

Both halves hit the ground. Blood pooled—splatter—across the ruined stone.

The Mana Heart Rank 6 man beside him—the one Kael had already taken an arm from—watched in horror. His eyes went wide as he turned to run.

WHOOSH—

His body fell.

Thud.

He looked down. Confused. His legs were gone—separated cleanly at the waist. Blood poured from the stumps—splurt-splurt—pooling beneath him.

"AHHHHHH—!" he screamed, his voice breaking. "MY LEGS—!"

Kael stood behind him, blade dripping red. He’d moved so fast the man hadn’t even perceived the cut.

The golden-bodied man saw his teammates dying. He shattered the shadow phantom holding him and lunged at Kael. His fist shot forward—golden body technique blazing, mana reinforced at full power.

Kael caught it.

His left hand locked around the golden man’s fist.

The golden man’s eyes widened. Kael hadn’t even budged an inch. His feet were planted as though the fist had struck a mountain.

With his right hand, Kael threw his Shadow Slayer blade. The blade spun—whirrr—and crossed the distance to the legless man on the ground.

SHHK.

The blade pierced his skull. Crack. His screaming stopped as his body went limp.

The golden man threw his other fist toward Kael’s face.

Kael caught that one too.

The golden man’s expression shifted from shock to disbelief. He tried to pull free. He couldn’t. Kael’s grip was iron—Void Body Refinement Tier 4 Peak, reinforced not just with mana but with Void energy itself. Superior to the golden body technique in every way.

"You’re a body cultivator too?" the golden man whispered.

Kael kneed him in the stomach.

SLAM.

The golden body technique deactivated—the glow dying across his skin like a snuffed candle. The man coughed blood—cough—and doubled over. Kael released both fists and let him crumple.

Behind him—Sarah and the ice woman attacked simultaneously.

Sarah’s light blade came from the right. The ice woman’s icicles came from the left. Both aimed to kill.

The golden man lunged from the ground—wrapping both arms around Kael in a bear hug, locking him in place. His body was broken, his technique deactivated, but his physical strength remained. He squeezed—crack—trying to crush Kael’s ribs.

The blades came toward Kael’s head.

"GRAVITY FIELD."

WHUUUUM!

An intense gravity field erupted from Kael’s body in a sphere.

All three of them crashed into the ground.

SLAM. SLAM. SLAM.

The ice woman hit first—her body slamming into the ruined stone so hard it cracked. Crack. She gasped—air driven from her lungs. Her icicles dissolved.

Sarah hit next—her light blade skidding away across the stone. Clatter. She caught herself on one knee—crack—the ground beneath her splintering.

The golden man was driven into the earth. His arms released Kael. His face pressed into the dirt—thud—and his body screamed under the pressure. But he was still conscious.

Sarah’s gold eyes widened.

Three abilities? Gravity?

She looked at the golden man. Their eyes met.

The same thought crossed both their minds simultaneously.

Is he a Vorn?

Kael walked toward the golden man. The gravity field held Sarah and the ice woman pinned. The golden man struggled—his muscles straining, his body trembling under the crushing weight.

Kael called his Shadow Slayer blade. It ripped free from the dead man’s skull—SHHK—and flew through the air into his hand. Catch.

He stood before the golden man. The man looked up—blood dripping from his lips, eyes filled with a mixture of rage and fear.

"Please—" the golden man started.

Kael stabbed him through the heart.

SHHK.

The blade entered cleanly—piercing through the sternum, severing the heart. The golden man’s body convulsed once—twitch—and went still.

Kael pulled the blade free. Schlck. Blood followed.

He reached behind him and pulled out the Netherworld Soul Locking Flag. The cloth unfurled—flutter—and the runes along its surface flickered. Vvvvm.

The golden man’s soul emerged from his body—a translucent, ghostly outline that lingered for three seconds before beginning to fade.

The flag absorbed it.

WHOOSH.

The soul was pulled into the cloth—sucked into the pocket dimension. The flag’s runes pulsed brighter—flicker—and Kael felt the golden man’s soul energy settle into the internal space.

Three out of one hundred.

Kael created another five shadow phantoms.

"Kill the two weaker ones," he ordered.

The phantoms moved. Five dark figures descended on the wind woman and the earth man. Screams filled the ruins—AAH—NO——and then silence.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Kael walked toward the ice woman. She lay on the ground—pinned by his gravity field, her frost mana suppressed, her body trembling. She looked up at him with terrified eyes.

SHHK.

One clean slash and her body went still as her soul was absorbed into the soul flag.

Four out of one hundred.

The gravity field released. The pressure vanished—whuum—and the air returned to normal.

Sarah stood slowly.

Only she remained.

Kael turned his back to her. He didn’t even bother raising his blade.

He began walking away.

"Carve my face into your memory," Kael said without turning around. "Because I’ll be a constant fear in the back of your mind. A demon appearing every single moment you close your eyes."

Step. Step. Step.

He left the ruins. The darkness core in his chest dissolved—fizzzt—and his aura dropped back to Mana Heart Rank 4.

He didn’t worry about Cassian. Those stairway runes would stop any cultivator who lacked temporal affinity. And Cassian could handle himself.

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