novelraw Chapter 146 - 142: The Gospel Of Hunger
Chapter 146 - 142: The Gospel Of Hunger
This was getting nowhere.
And worse—
Everything had already gone wrong.
The plan had failed.
The ambush had failed.
And in the chaos that followed, Eirian had been forced to do something she would carry far longer than any wound.
She had killed her own.
Dienari was her second in command.
Jorin Tel—the young commander of House Tel of Coies's third fleet.
Neither of them had wanted to betray her.
Neither of them would have normally faltered.
They had come to help.
And she had cut them down alongside the two hundred warriors who had stood with them.
Eirian's golden eyes dimmed.
For a moment, the battlefield blurred.
Then it sharpened again.
That attack—
That grid.
Whatever it had been—
It hadn't just turned the tide.
It had erased it.
Tens of thousands of lives… gone.
Silenced in an instant.
She could still feel the absence of them in the air.
Like something vast had been hollowed out.
Caelus was still alive.
She could feel him in the distance—his aura strained, wounded, clashing against something powerful.
She turned slightly, catching a glimpse of the storm of weapons tearing through the horizon.
Jack.
That had to be him.
But she couldn't go.
Not now.
Not like this.
Her attention shifted back.
To the woman in front of her.
Floating.
Relaxed.
As if none of this mattered.
The purple-and-white monk robe flowed loosely around her body, revealing more than it concealed. Black and purple hair drifted behind her like ink in water, and those yellow slit eyes watched Eirian with a kind of amused hunger.
A demon.
If Eirian had ever seen one.
Her grip tightened on her blade.
This—
This was the kind of woman she couldn't stand.
Someone who didn't respect themselves.
Didn't respect others.
Someone who turned power into indulgence.
Into spectacle.
That leads to nothing but rot.
Eirian's jaw clenched.
"Being strong…" she said quietly, lifting her sword, "doesn't mean you have to become a monster."
Her aura flared faintly.
Starlight flickered across her armor.
But even as she floated forward—
Even as her blade rose—
She couldn't deny it anymore.
As this battle dragged on…
She was losing.
Ria watched the woman charge at her.
Eirian cut through the air like a falling star—blue hair whipping behind her, golden eyes burning with defiance. Her armor, once pristine, was now cracked and fractured along the chest and shoulders. Pieces of it were barely holding together, faint lines of Ryun flickering between the breaks like failing light through shattered glass. Blood traced along her arm where a previous strike had torn through.
And still—
She charged.
Ria smirked.
Her spirit hadn't broken.
Even after everything.
Even after being forced to cut down her own allies… watching her carve through them had been entertaining. Ria had expected that to be the breaking point. The moment her resolve cracked.
But no.
She was still coming.
Still clinging to that righteousness.
Still pretending it meant something.
Ria exhaled softly.
"As fun as this has been…"
Her gaze flicked briefly toward the distant battlefield.
The storm of weapons still churned.
That boy floating there—
Strong.
Interesting.
Something worth taking.
And the Sryun user fighting Cawren…
She wanted a piece of that too.
A sample.
A taste.
Her eyes returned to Eirian.
"But first…"
Her smile sharpened slightly.
"I need to finish you."
Absorb her.
Take her legacy.
Close one side of the board.
Then—
Caelus.
Once she devoured him…
Everything would be complete.
Zequlot's task fulfilled.
Ria tilted her head slightly, watching Eirian close the distance.
"…you're exactly the type I hate," she murmured.
"The righteous ones."
"The ones who think they're better because they follow rules."
Her yellow eyes narrowed slightly.
"Cowardice dressed as virtue."
She paused.
Then blinked.
"…hm."
Her expression flattened slightly.
"That was… more emotional than I'd like."
She flicked her finger.
A thin arc of Sryun snapped through the air.
It was almost invisible—
Until it hit.
The slash carved across Eirian mid-flight, tearing through her trajectory and sending her crashing out of the sky.
Eirian hit the ground hard, the impact cracking the already broken stone beneath her.
Ria extended her hand.
Purple Sryun gathered instantly.
It didn't burn like normal fire.
It crawled.
Warped.
Blocky distortions flickered within it like corrupted data bleeding into reality.
Then she released it.
Beams of Sryun fire shot downward.
Curving mid-air like starving creatures as they raced toward Eirian.
Boom.
The impact swallowed the ground in a violent explosion.
Purple flames erupted outward, devouring everything they touched, eating through stone, air, and residual Ryun alike.
Ria descended slowly through the smoke.
Landing lightly as the corrupted flames continued to gnaw at the battlefield around her.
A streak of blue tore upward through the smoke.
The blast ripped through the lingering Sryun flames, scattering them outward in a violent surge of Ryun. Dust, ash, and warped energy were forced back in a widening ring as the light stabilized.
Ria raised a hand lazily and brushed the pressure aside, her expression barely changing.
"Still wanting to fight?" she said flatly. "Girl, give it a rest."
From the cratered rubble below, Eirian rose.
Slowly.
Her sword was planted into the ground, her weight leaning heavily against it as she forced herself upright. Armor was now cracked along the chest and shoulder, pieces splintered and misaligned. Blue light leaked faintly through the fractures as her Ryun struggled to stabilize her body.
Dust slid off her shoulders as she straightened.
Her golden eyes locked onto Ria.
"Why do you talk like that?" she asked, voice strained but steady. "Are you an Outlander?"
Ria tilted her head slightly.
"Not by choice," she replied. "But yes."
Her gaze sharpened faintly.
"I know you are too. You're infused with your UI."
Eirian's eyes widened.
"How do you—?!"
Ria waved it off.
"Doesn't matter."
Eirian's grip tightened on her blade.
"It does matter," she said firmly. "That's an invasion on multiple levels. And I've never heard of—"
Ria cut her off.
"Do you know Vantis?"
Eirian blinked.
"Who?!"
Ria paused for a moment, studying her.
"…so you don't."
A faint smile pulled at her lips.
"I thought all Outlanders who fused with their UIs had spoken with it. Or… him. Or whatever it is."
She shrugged slightly.
"Doesn't really matter. I'll worry about that mystery later.. I guess."
Her eyes narrowed.
"Now it's time to devour your legacy."
Eirian stepped forward despite the strain in her body.
"Why?!"
Ria didn't answer.
Her hand flicked outward.
The ground behind Eirian exploded.
Dark roots—thick, twisted, veined with glowing purple Sryun—erupted from the earth and lashed forward like living weapons.
Eirian reacted instantly.
She pushed off her blade and twisted mid-step, dodging the first wave as the roots tore through the space she had occupied a moment before. She jumped back, boots skidding across fractured stone as more roots surged after her.
Each movement cost her.
Her body was exhausted.
Her aura unstable.
But she refused to fall.
"Why are you doing this?!" she shouted.
Another wave of roots lunged forward.
Eirian moved.
Her sword danced in controlled arcs, each swing deflecting and slicing through the incoming roots. Blue Ryun flared with each strike, carving clean paths through the Sryun constructs—but she could feel it.
The resistance.
The difference.
Sryun wasn't like Ryun.
Interacting with it—
Fighting it—
Cost more.
Much more.
Each deflection drained her faster than it should have.
She exhaled sharply.
"…of course."
Her stance faltered for just a fraction of a second.
She had already failed as a commander.
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Her forces were gone.
Most of the civilians dead.
Her decisions—
Her responsibility.
Her eyes lifted again to Ria.
But this—
This she could not allow to continue.
Not her.
Not someone like her.
Eirian planted her blade into the ground.
Her aura surged.
Blue light erupted outward from her body as Ryun gathered violently around her form. The energy condensed, spiraling upward as her presence forced itself into the sky.
Then—
A pillar of light shot upward.
Straight into the heavens.
The pillar of blue light roared into the sky, tearing through the haze of smoke and ruin. Wind spiraled outward from Eirian as her aura stabilized, pushing back the lingering Sryun like a tide refusing to be swallowed.
Ria watched it with mild interest.
Hands resting on her hips.
Head tilted.
"…you really doing all that," she said lazily, glancing up at the beam, "just to stand back up again?"
Eirian didn't answer immediately.
Her breathing steadied.
Her grip tightened.
Ria's yellow eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why do you want to be a savior so bad?"
The question landed softer than her attacks had.
"If you had just indulged yourself," she continued, shrugging lightly, "actually used the power you've been given instead of trying to carry everyone else—this fight might've ended differently."
Eirian's eyes didn't leave her.
"You're not in this for power," she said.
Ria blinked once.
Then smiled.
"Oh? Bitch who are you to tell me?"
Eirian took a step forward.
"Your indulgence doesn't lead anywhere."
Her voice sharpened.
"I can tell by how you fight."
Ria's smile thinned slightly.
Eirian raised her blade again.
"You're empty."
"A soulless woman dressing up destruction as freedom."
Her gaze hardened.
"You show off the worst of femininity and call it strength."
Silence.
Then—
Ria laughed.
Soft.
Amused.
"You say that like women like me don't thrive," she said, lowering one hand slightly. "We don't just survive—we control the ones who run things."
Her eyes glinted.
"We shape the outcome. Quietly. Indirectly."
Eirian shook her head.
"This isn't a front for me."
Her voice didn't waver.
"I didn't just wake up and decide to be this."
Her aura flickered again, steady but strained.
"I was in JROTC before this."
Ria's expression shifted slightly.
"Top of my class."
"I stopped two real-life shootings."
The wind around her tightened.
"I had a career path into the Marines."
Her grip on the blade tightened further.
"And then I got dragged into this."
She looked out into the distance.
At the ruined city.
At the bodies that no longer moved.
"I know this world is awful."
"Built to cage people."
"To kill them."
Her jaw clenched.
"But it also shows the truth."
Her eyes snapped back to Ria.
"It shows who people really are."
Her fist tightened.
"And you?"
Her voice dropped slightly.
"You were always like this."
"Requiem didn't make you ugly."
"It just took the mask off."
Ria didn't move.
Eirian stepped forward again.
"So no," she said.
"Your indulgence doesn't lead anywhere."
"No legacy."
"No meaning."
Her blade lifted.
"Just a legend for the dead."
Ria didn't move.
For once, she didn't answer immediately.
Her indulgence leads nowhere.
The words didn't bounce off her the way most things did. They lingered, sitting in the back of her mind as she stared at Eirian through the fading glow of that pillar of light. Not because they hurt—but because they aligned. Slightly.
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction.
She could feel it.
Eirian was using this moment not just to fight, but to anchor herself. To build strength through conviction. Through identity. Through memory. Through belief.
Ria tilted her head slightly.
"…interesting."
It didn't change anything.
But it did answer something.
Or at least point her in the right direction.
She had noticed it before.
But now it was clearer.
Outlanders.
They resisted her.
Not all of them—but the stronger ones, the ones with presence, with weight—they didn't fall into her influence the way natives of Requiem did.
Jamal.
A gangster before Requiem. His sense of self rooted in something hard. Unshakable for obvious reasons.
Cawren.
A man who had lived structured, successful. Used to control. Used to choice.
Crisper.
That gamer girl who simply ignored her.
And now—
Eirian.
JROTC. Discipline. Purpose. A life built on ideals before being thrown into world.
Ria's lips curved slightly.
"…so that's it."
Their convictions.
Their identities from Earth.
Those things didn't disappear when they entered Requiem.
They reinforced them.
Made them harder to bend.
Harder to consume.
She tapped her finger lightly against her arm.
"So your 'righteousness'…"
"…isn't just annoying."
"It's structural."
Eirian didn't respond.
Ria's eyes sharpened.
"But that just means…"
Her smile slowly returned.
"I need to break that first."
She stepped forward slightly, aura flickering as Sryun began to coil faintly around her again.
Because that was the real answer here.
Not whether indulgence led somewhere.
Not whether legacy mattered.
Those were just narratives.
What mattered—
Was control.
And if she could figure out how to make someone like Eirian—someone strong, disciplined, conviction-rooted—
Her smile widened slightly.
"…that would do wonders for the Brand."
Her gaze locked onto Eirian again.
Hungry in a different way.
"Let's test something," she said softly.
"Let's see what it takes…"
"…to make someone like you subscribe."
Eirian exhaled slowly.
Then reached inward.
Deep.
Past the pain.
Past the noise.
Past the failure.
The familiar interface flickered at the edge of her vision—the system she had carried with her since first appearance in Requiem. Astral Sovereigns Online. For years, it had been her greatest advantage. It dissected threats, calculated outcomes, fed her the information needed to survive and win.
Six years in Requiem.
Twelve years, because she kept track of Earth's time.
That system had helped turn her into something more than just another Outlander.
A name.
A presence.
A small legend.
But now—
It was useless.
Every screen she tried to pull up distorted.
Every readout bled into static.
Her stat eye twitched—
[Error.]
[Error.]
[Error.]
She closed her eyes for half a second.
"…doesn't matter."
Then opened them.
Clear.
Focused.
If the system couldn't guide her—
Her grip tightened around her blade.
She didn't need numbers to understand what stood in front of her.
She didn't need percentages to know what was at stake.
There were still civilians alive.
Still people hiding.
Still lives that hadn't been erased yet.
And she would protect them.
The same way she tried to protect the ones before.
Even if she had failed them.
Her gaze locked onto Ria.
Measured.
This woman can break.
The thought settled into her mind with certainty.
Not hope.
Not guesswork.
Fact.
And I'll find the right hammer.
Her aura surged again.
Not as explosive as before.
But sharper.
More controlled.
Refined.
Eirian stepped forward—
Then launched.
Charging straight at Ria.
Ria didn't wait.
The moment Eirian moved, the ground answered.
Dark roots burst upward in jagged waves, thick and writhing, veins glowing with pulsing purple Sryun. They twisted through the air like living serpents, snapping and striking from multiple angles at once.
At the same time—
Draconic flames ignited.
Purple-black flames poured outward from Ria's hand, stretching and coiling into the shapes of snarling beasts before lunging forward. Their jaws snapped shut where Eirian had just been, devouring space and leaving warped distortions in their wake.
Ria stepped—
Then wasn't there.
She glitched.
Her body fractured into afterimages for a split second before reappearing at a different angle, her fingers flicking outward.
"#Break."
The word didn't sound like a word.
A warped construct shot forward—jagged, fragmented, almost like a broken symbol made real. It tore through the air toward Eirian, distorting everything around it.
Eirian moved.
But the moment she tried to shift with Ryun—
It failed.
The air resisted.
The space around the attack… denied her.
Her eyes narrowed.
Not teleportable.
She adjusted instantly.
She pushed off the ground manually, twisting her body just enough for the attack to miss—
But even missing, it carved through the air beside her like it had cut something deeper than space itself.
Another flick.
"#Bind."
More constructs.
Random.
Unpredictable.
Each one carrying a different effect.
Each one warping the battlefield itself.
Eirian's movements became sharper.
More deliberate.
She couldn't rely on her usual Ryun mobility.
Every dodge cost more.
Every movement demanded raw effort.
But she kept going.
She surged forward through the chaos.
Her blade ignited.
A clean arc of light carved through incoming roots, splitting them apart before they could coil around her.
She stepped again.
Another strike.
Another.
She layered them.
Star over star.
Attack over attack.
Her form tightening into precision as she forced her way through Ria's barrage.
Ria watched.
And smiled.
Even as the attacks started landing.
Cuts.
Burns.
Fragments of star-infused Ryun colliding with her body.
But—
No damage.
Not real damage.
The strikes connected.
But they didn't stick.
Ria's form absorbed, redirected, or simply ignored the impact as she continued to move, glitching around Eirian and layering more attacks over the battlefield.
"#Decay."
"#Split."
"#Boring."
Each one changed the rules.
Each one forced Eirian to adapt again.
And again.
And again.
But she didn't stop.
She couldn't.
Her breathing grew heavier.
Her body screamed at her to slow down.
But she pushed through it.
One more step.
One more strike.
One more layer.
Her aura tightened.
Condensed.
Focused into something sharper.
Cleaner.
She slipped through a gap in the chaos.
Right into Ria's range.
Her blade rose.
Three movements.
Perfectly chained.
The first cut split upward.
The second cut crossed it.
The third—
Came through the center.
The impact cracked outward in a burst of starlight.
Ria's head snapped slightly to the side.
For the first time—
Something changed.
A thin fracture spread across her cheek.
Her smile paused.
Eirian slid back across the ground, boots carving through stone as she forced distance between them.
She exhaled hard.
Then laughed.
A short, breathless sound.
"I knew it!"
Ria's UI flickered rapidly across her vision.
Even as her form glitched, even as she shifted between positions and layers of Sryun distortion, the system was still running its analysis.
Eirian's energy…
Was changing.
It wasn't just increasing.
It was stacking.
Layering.
Reinforcing itself in ways that didn't align with standard Ryun output.
Something foreign was taking hold.
Something not bound to the system.
Ria's eyes narrowed slightly as she waited for more data.
More confirmation.
More—
Then it hit.
A wave of energy rolled outward.
Ria turned.
For the first time—
Concern touched her expression.
Eirian stood at the center of a spiraling storm of blue energy. The air itself was shifting color, bending into deep hues of azure as her aura expanded outward in layered currents.
Her blade—
Was changing.
The light along its edge deepened, stretching beyond simple Ryun manifestation into something denser. Something that carried weight beyond just energy.
Ria's pupils shrank slightly.
"What… the fuck?"
Eirian didn't answer immediately.
Her voice came low.
"You fight for nothing."
The air tightened.
"You're just a whore who wants attention."
Ria's gaze hardened.
"But what do you do with that attention?"
Eirian's grip tightened as her magic surged violently around her.
"Absolutely nothing."
Ria's UI spiked again.
Warnings.
Unreadable outputs.
Fluctuations that didn't follow logic.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"What—when did—"
Eirian stepped forward.
"I fight for people."
Her aura flared.
"And in return…"
The blue energy coiled tighter around her body.
"Their beliefs."
"Their cries."
"Fuel me."
Her eyes burned.
"Even if they die."
Ria's breath caught for half a second.
Eirian shifted her stance.
"You called me a savior demon."
A pause.
"That's not entirely true."
The energy around her sharpened.
Condensed.
"A savior saves everyone."
Her blade lowered slightly to her side.
"I'm not that."
Her voice hardened.
"I'm a hero."
Her aura pulsed again—heavier now, denser.
"One who carries the consequences of my own actions."
"My shoulders hold the weight for tomorrow."
She lifted her sword.
Pointed it directly at Ria.
The air between them distorted.
"From this point forward…"
Her voice dropped.
"You will feel the judgment of everything you've done."
Ria opened her mouth—
But didn't get the chance to speak.
Eirian vanished.
Then appeared in front of her.
Her blade descended—
Carrying the weight of something far beyond just Ryun.
It felt like the cosmos itself was swinging down with her.
They clashed and the world bent.
The clash didn't sound like steel. It sounded like pressure breaking. Blue and violet exploded outward from the impact, ripping the air apart as their energies collided. The ground beneath them cratered again, fractures racing outward in jagged lines as the force tried to decide which will would dominate. Ria snapped into motion first, glitching sideways as she unleashed a wave of draconic Sryun flame; Eirian carved straight through it, her blade dragging a streak of starlight that split the fire in two. Roots surged up to bind her, but she twisted mid-step, cleaving them apart while a cluster of orbiting stars shot forward and detonated against Ria's guard, forcing her back a step.
Ria pushed back. Hard. Her body flickered, slipping between positions as she layered Sryun between moments, trying to redirect, to distort, to overwrite what Eirian was doing. But it didn't work the same. Not anymore.
Eirian didn't slow. Didn't falter. Her aura surged again—and something clicked. Not in Ria. In the world.
Blue Horizon.
This wasn't simply power. Or an escalation. It was a phenomenon. Her magic. The more Eirian was pushed into a corner—the more she needed to win—the more others believed she could—the stronger she became. Not gradually. Exponentially.
She stepped forward again. They clashed a second time, and this time the stars answered. They formed around her—not in the sky, but orbiting her body like a living constellation. Ria fired a jagged #Invert construct point-blank, but Eirian slipped through the distortion, her sword flashing in a tight arc that sent three stars crashing into Ria's side in succession.
Ria felt it.
For the first time in a long time—
Pain.
A star struck her shoulder. It burned—not like Sryun, not like Ryun. It judged. Another hit her side. Another grazed her arm. Each one tore at her form in a way that didn't align with her defenses.
Ria's expression darkened.
This—this was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. This wasn't how the Brand worked. This wasn't how control worked.
Eirian hadn't suddenly surpassed her. That wasn't it.
Ria still had access to hundreds of monk techniques. Traits. Disciplines. Abilities she had devoured through her Ritual Of Hunger. She had more tools. More versatility. More reach.
But that wasn't what this was about anymore.
Eirian was doing something worse.
She was inserting herself into Ria's narrative. Overwriting it. Defining it.
Just like—
Back then.
Her mind flickered. Words.
Old ones. Familiar ones. Ugly ones.
Whore.
Bitch.
Demon.
Loser.
Her jaw tightened.
"No."
Her Sryun surged violently. Behind her, something massive formed. A grotesque, purple-scaled mouth of shadow and flame erupted into existence, its jaw splitting too wide, lined with jagged, shifting teeth made of condensed Sryun. It opened—wide—and surged upward, devouring the raining stars in a single sweeping motion.
The pressure eased.
For a moment.
Ria inhaled slowly.
Then exhaled.
Her expression smoothed. This wasn't about emotion. This wasn't about reaction. This was about control.
She opened her eyes—
And froze.
Eirian was already there.
Eirian didn't give her a second to recover.
The moment Ria registered her presence—
The hit came.
A clean, brutal strike across the face that snapped her head sideways and sent her body skidding through the air. Before she could stabilize, Eirian was already there again, stepping through the space like she belonged in every point at once.
Another strike.
This time to the ribs.
The impact folded Ria slightly before launching her backward into a collapsing wall of stone. The structure crumbled on contact, but Eirian didn't let the momentum die. She followed through, blade flashing as another star detonated against Ria's chest, blasting her out the other side of the debris.
Ria twisted mid-air—
Tried to glitch—
But Eirian was already inside her space again.
A knee drove into her stomach.
A downward slash carved across her shoulder.
Then a backhand strike of pure Ryun-enhanced force sent her spiraling into the ground hard enough to crater it.
The battlefield began to collapse under the pressure.
The land split.
Stone peeled upward.
The very air seemed to ripple as Blue Horizon continued to escalate, feeding Eirian more output with every exchange.
Ria hit the ground—
Bounced—
Rolled—
And was struck again before she could fully rise.
A star slammed into her side and detonated, sending her tumbling across the broken terrain like she weighed nothing.
For the first time since becoming the Malefic Temptress—
Ria was on the back foot.
Her thoughts sharpened through the chaos.
This isn't Ryun.
Her eyes tracked Eirian through the blur of motion.
This has to be… Magic.
Cawren's words surfaced in her mind.
Magic.
Foreign.
Unstable.
Different for everyone.
Even he hadn't fully understood it.
Ria slid across the ground, carving a trench through shattered stone before forcing herself to stop.
Eirian was already descending again.
Ria reacted.
Roots erupted upward instantly, forming a thick barrier around her body—layers of bark and dragon scales interwoven with Sryun veins pulsing through them.
The next impact hit.
Hard.
The barrier cracked.
Held—
Barely.
The surrounding area shattered outward, shockwaves tearing through what little remained of the area. Rubble lifted into the air before being blown apart entirely by the pressure of their clash.
Inside the barrier—
Ria breathed.
Once.
Twice.
Then she noticed it.
Blood.
Her blood.
Running down her arm.
Dripping from her fingertips.
Her eyes widened slightly.
She stared at it for half a second.
Then—
Something shifted.
Her expression changed.
The calm broke.
And something darker surfaced beneath it.
Anger.
Her fingers curled slowly as the Sryun around her began to thicken, distort, and pulse more violently than before.
"…what the actual fuck?!"
"How dare you—"
Her voice cracked.
Then rose.
"How dare you—how dare you—"
The words spiraled, repeating, breaking, reforming as something deeper took hold. The Sryun around her responded instantly, feeding on it—on the anger, the humiliation, the fracture in her control.
It thickened.
Darkened.
Deep purple currents bled into black as it poured from her body in waves, saturating the air. The pressure shifted again, heavier now, suffocating, like the world itself was being dragged downward into something rotten.
Her soul twisted with it.
Morphing.
Deepening.
The ground around her cracked under the weight of it as the barrier of roots reinforced itself, veins pulsing like a living heart.
Eirian didn't hesitate.
Her body shot upward, tearing through the air as Blue Horizon surged again, feeding her, amplifying her, answering her need to end this now.
She rose high—
Then turned—
And dropped.
Titan Fall Strike Of Maglide Star.
The heavens answered.
A massive celestial construct formed above her blade, a star compressed into a singular point of annihilating force. The sky itself seemed to bend as she brought it down.
The strike descended like judgment.
It hit the dome.
And everything broke.
The root barrier shattered instantly, splintering into fragments that were erased before they could even fall. The impact drove straight through, the celestial force ripping into Ria's body as the explosion expanded outward in a blinding surge of blue-white light.
The ground collapsed beneath it.
Air was torn apart.
Sound vanished.
For a moment—
There was only light.
Ria felt it.
Not the damage.
Not the destruction.
But the weight behind it.
As the light tore through her, as her body failed to respond the way it should have, as her vision began to dim—
Her thoughts slowed.
Fragmented.
And in that fading moment—
She thought.
Not of power.
Not of control.
But of something much simpler.
So after everything…
I still ended up getting erased.
No.
That wasn't how her story ended.
Not here.
Not like this.
The light burned through her, trying to erase her, trying to define her as something that could be judged, overcome, surpassed—and Ria rejected it.
Her consciousness snapped back inward, clawing onto itself as everything else began to fade.
She had been here before. Not this world. Not this battlefield. But this feeling. Being judged. Being reduced. Being labeled.
Her mind surged.
I was a millionaire on Earth.
I beat the system.
I built myself.
Alesha.
That name still carried weight. Millions had watched her, paid her, wanted her, desired her—and just as many hated her, mocked her, condemned her for indulgence, for choosing herself, for refusing to be anything else.
Her teeth clenched.
And I still won. I already won! I'll just do it again!
Her thoughts snapped again—to Cawren. Still fighting. Still standing. Still evolving. He had redefined himself. Changed his narrative.
And she would not fall behind him.
Would not die before him.
Not after everything.
Her mind shifted again—to Zequlot. Her patron. His hunger wasn't shallow. It wasn't indulgence for the sake of pleasure. It was purpose. Sinful ambition. The belief that one could climb no matter the morality. No matter the cost.
And he did it all—for something greater. For his Lord.
Her eyes widened.
That moment.
That feeling she experienced before—
She understood it now.
Why her charm had failed for Outlanders.
Why her influence hadn't taken root.
It wasn't resistance.
She needed something to stick.
Like devotion.
Reverence.
Awe.
Worship.
An overwhelming, undeniable pull toward something beyond oneself.
Her breathing slowed.
Her thoughts aligned.
"…Gospel."
The word settled.
Ria wasn't just about indulgence. Not anymore. That was too small. Too personal. Too optional.
Her concept sharpened.
Ria = consumption through desire.
But that wasn't enough. Not at this level. Not against people like this.
What she needed was inevitability.
Gospel = a truth others accept… or are forced to accept.
Her Brand had always been identity.
Choice.
"I indulge because I want to."
But that wasn't absolute. That could be resisted. Rejected. Denied.
Her eyes snapped open within the fading light.
Something deeper took hold.
Colder.
Wider.
"No…"
Her voice echoed faintly through the collapsing energy around her.
"That's wrong."
Her soul shifted. Rewriting itself.
"I don't indulge because I want to…"
Her Sryun warped. Changed. Expanded.
"I indulge…"
"…because that's what everything becomes."
The light around her fractured.
Bent.
Distorted.
A new Brand formed.
Indulgence of Voracity.
Not hunger.
Not simple desire.
But hunger that justifies itself.
Hunger that becomes law.
Her presence twisted the space around her—not through force, but through pull. Through implication. Through inevitability.
Everything that perceived her felt it.
The subtle shift.
The quiet invitation.
The creeping participation.
You don't resist.
You engage.
You watch.
You consider.
And in doing so—
You begin.
Slowly.
Inevitably.
To be consumed.
Not by her hand.
But by your own involvement.
Her form stabilized within the collapsing light. Eyes glowing. Smile returning—different now.
Not seductive.
Certain.
"I don't need you to submit…"
Her voice carried softly.
"But you will participate."
The light shattered outward.
And Ria stepped forward—reborn under her own Gospel.