Chapter 161 — The Road That Waited
Shoyo stopped.
Rick nearly walked into him.
"What?"
Shoyo didn't answer.
They had been moving through the underground city for what felt like hours.
The route had changed too many times.
Collapsed streets.
Broken tunnels.
Rooms that should not have existed beneath the city.
But now—
the passage ahead was clear.
Too clear.
Rick looked past Shoyo.
The former king stood at the far end.
Waiting.
Shoyo narrowed his eyes.
"You knew we would come here."
The former king didn't deny it.
"I knew you would eventually."
Rick sighed.
"Great."
Shoyo stepped forward.
Rick followed.
The former king watched them approach.
The silence between them had become familiar.
Neither Shoyo nor Rick trusted him.
But neither had forgotten what he had done to keep them alive.
That made everything worse.
Shoyo stopped several feet away.
"What is this place?"
The former king looked behind him.
A massive stone doorway stood at the end of the passage.
Unlike the ruined structures around it, it was still intact.
Symbols covered its surface.
Rick stared at them.
"I can't read any of that."
"You aren't supposed to."
Rick looked at the former king.
"Comforting."
Shoyo studied the door.
His expression tightened.
"Remus."
The former king nodded.
"This is what remains."
Rick looked around.
"We've been walking through Remus this entire time."
"No."
The former king turned toward him.
"You've been walking through its grave."
The words settled heavily.
Shoyo looked at the door.
"And behind that?"
The former king didn't answer immediately.
Rick noticed.
"That bad?"
The former king looked at him.
"Yes."
Rick sighed.
"Of course."
Shoyo moved toward the door.
The former king stepped in front of him.
"Wait."
Shoyo stopped.
"What?"
The former king's face was difficult to read.
For the first time since they had met him—
he looked uncertain.
"This is where I failed."
Rick's expression changed.
Shoyo remained silent.
The former king turned toward the door.
"Everything you have seen."
He gestured toward the darkness behind them.
"The city."
The destruction.
The underground ruins.
"The dead."
His hand slowly lowered.
"I was king when it happened."
Rick looked at him.
"What happened?"
The former king closed his eyes.
For several seconds—
nothing.
Then:
"I listened."
Shoyo's eyes narrowed.
"To who?"
The former king opened his eyes.
"The wrong people."
The silence became heavier.
Rick crossed his arms.
"That explains nothing."
"No."
The former king looked toward the door.
"But it explains why I brought you here."
Shoyo stepped closer.
"You didn't bring us."
The former king looked at him.
"You followed me."
Shoyo's expression didn't change.
The former king smiled faintly.
"Exactly."
Rick stared at both of them.
"Can we stop talking like that?"
Nobody answered him.
Rick sighed.
"Fine."
The former king placed his hand against the door.
Nothing happened.
Then the symbols began glowing.
The ground shook.
Shoyo reached for his weapon.
Rick moved beside him.
The door slowly opened.
Darkness waited beyond it.
The former king stepped inside.
Shoyo followed.
Rick looked behind him.
The underground world remained silent.
Then he heard something.
A distant roar.
Rick's face changed.
"Maybe we should hurry."
Shoyo looked back.
"Agreed."
They entered.
The door closed.
The room beyond was not a room.
It was an entire underground structure.
A city.
But smaller than the Remus above.
Older.
Stone towers stretched upward.
Bridges connected buildings.
Thousands of empty windows looked down at them.
Rick slowly turned.
"No."
Shoyo looked around.
"What?"
Rick pointed.
"This is under Remus?"
The former king nodded.
"Older Remus."
Shoyo's expression hardened.
Rick stared.
"There's more than one?"
The former king looked toward the darkness.
"There were."
Shoyo stepped forward.
The word stayed with them.
Were.
They moved through the empty streets.
Every building was damaged.
Not by time.
By violence.
Shoyo saw it immediately.
Claw marks.
Impact craters.
Broken stone.
Rick touched one of the walls.
"What happened?"
The former king didn't answer.
Shoyo did.
"A battle."
Rick looked at him.
"Against what?"
Shoyo stared into the darkness.
"Something that won."
They reached the center of the buried city.
A massive structure waited there.
The former king stopped.
Shoyo and Rick followed his eyes.
The building had no doors.
No windows.
Only a staircase leading downward.
Rick looked at the former king.
"Let me guess."
The former king nodded.
"Yes."
Rick sighed.
"We're going down again."
Shoyo began walking.
Rick followed reluctantly.
The former king came last.
The staircase seemed endless.
The deeper they went—
the quieter the world became.
Rick eventually stopped talking.
That worried Shoyo more than anything.
The former king's footsteps echoed behind them.
Then—
the stairs ended.
Shoyo stopped.
Rick stepped beside him.
Neither spoke.
Before them was a massive chamber.
And in its center—
something was buried.
Rick stared.
"What is that?"
The former king walked forward.
Shoyo followed.
The object became clearer.
Metal.
Ancient machinery.
Destroyed.
But still connected to the walls.
Thick cables stretched across the chamber.
Rick looked around.
"This isn't from Remus."
"No."
The former king stopped.
"It is what made Remus possible."
Shoyo's eyes narrowed.
Rick looked at him.
"What does that mean?"
The former king placed his hand against the machine.
"This was built before my kingdom."
Shoyo watched him.
"By who?"
The former king looked toward him.
"People who believed they could save the world."
Rick laughed once.
Nobody else did.
His smile disappeared.
"Right."
Shoyo stepped closer.
"What did it do?"
The former king looked at the machine.
Then answered.
"It opened the way."
The chamber shook.
Everyone froze.
Rick slowly looked toward the darkness.
"The way to what?"
The former king's expression hardened.
"I don't know."
Shoyo looked at him.
Rick did too.
The former king continued.
"That was the problem."
Something moved.
Far above them.
A distant roar.
Rick stepped backward.
Shoyo raised his weapon.
The former king stared toward the ceiling.
"It is awake."
Shoyo turned.
"What?"
The former king looked at him.
"The thing we buried."
The chamber shook again.
Rick whispered:
"No."
Stone fell from the ceiling.
The machine in the center began making a sound.
A deep mechanical pulse.
Shoyo moved toward it.
The former king grabbed his arm.
"Don't touch it."
Shoyo looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because it remembers you."
Shoyo went still.
Rick stared.
"What does that mean?"
The former king didn't answer.
The machine pulsed again.
Shoyo's vision blurred.
A voice entered his mind.
Not Death.
Not Lucifer.
Not Michael.
Something else.
SHOYO.
Shoyo grabbed his head.
Rick stepped forward.
"Shoyo!"
The former king backed away.
Shoyo looked at the machine.
His expression changed.
He remembered something.
Not his own memory.
A voice.
Someone calling him.
The darkness moved.
YOU CAME BACK.
Shoyo raised his weapon.
"Who are you?"
The former king whispered:
"Run."
Rick looked at him.
"What?"
The former king turned.
"RUN!"
The chamber exploded.
The ceiling collapsed.
Shoyo grabbed Rick.
They ran.
The former king remained behind.
Shoyo turned.
"MOVE!"
The former king smiled.
"No."
Shoyo stopped.
Rick grabbed him.
"SHOYO!"
The former king looked toward them.
For the first time—
he looked like a king.
"Go."
The darkness rose behind him.
Shoyo stared.
The former king raised his weapon.
"You came here to learn what happened to Remus."
Shoyo's face hardened.
The former king smiled faintly.
"Now survive long enough to tell them."
The darkness attacked.
Shoyo and Rick ran.
Behind them—
the former king roared.
The underground city shook.
Rick looked back.
"Are we leaving him?"
Shoyo's face was dark.
"We're coming back."
The roar followed them.
The ancient machine pulsed.
And somewhere beneath Remus—
something that had been waiting for Shoyo remembered his name.
End of Chapter 161