The scream did not stop,it was spreading
The Bone Orchard moved as if it was alive and been reborn.
Every tree shook, branches slamming against each other with sharp cracking sounds. The skull fruits above split one after another, their green glow turning violent, unstable, like inside them something was trying to escape.
The ground beneath Kael's feet shifted, it snakes and became softer
His foot pressed into the black soil as if it had turned half-liquid.
Then the attack came from inside.
Kael's body froze for half a second.
His hand shot to his head.
The Orchard disappeared, not entirely but as if something else forced its way over it.
He was falling.
Fire burned across his back. Wings his wings tore apart as golden light collapsed into ash. The sky above him cracked, breaking like glass as he dropped through it.
The air screamed ancient , the pain felt real.
Too real.
Them the scene snapped ,he staggered forward.
Before he could steady himself another memory hit.
A small body in his arms,warm but warmth fading second by second. His fingers struggled to hold by felt nothing.
Another memory forced in immediately.
Mira.
Her eyes.
Her voice cutting off
"YOU…!"
It replayed over and over again.
Kael dropped to one knee.
The pressure inside his skull built rapidly, stacking faster than he could process he saw through the dead seraphim's eyes as golden wings burned to stubs,a dying mother's warmth,Mira's heart burst between his claw her betrayal sour and coppery.
The system broke through the interference.
[Warning: Soul Overload Detected]
[Memory fragments exceeding vessel capacity]
[Stability failing]
The Orchard grew louder.
The screams matched the pressure now from the center, the Grove Warden moved.
Its massive body unfolded, bones grinding against each other as it rose higher. The hollow spaces inside its trunk opened wider, revealing layers of fused skeletons shifting like something breathing.
"You feels it now," the Warden said.
Kael's fingers dug into the soil cracksspread under his hand.
Another wave hit, but this time more than one, they was hundreds each one overlapping another.
He couldn't separate them anymore,couldn't tell where he ended or where they began.
The system flickered violently.
[Critical Warning]
[Voracious Maw suppression in progress]
[Failure will result in permanent fragmentation]
Kael's breathing broke,for a moment he almost stopped.Then something moved deep inside his chest.
The hunger.
It didn't fight the memories it ignored them,reached past them.
For more.
Kael's eyes snapped open.
Silver burned through the distortion.
"…mine," he said.
The word came out rough but calm,
The system stabilized.
The Orchard reacted instantly.
The ground exploded.
Roots shot upward from every direction, sharp and fast, aiming to bind him in place.
Kael moved, he didn't retreat he moved forward.Black threads burst from his body, tearing through the first wave before it could touch him.
~SHRRRK~
Fragments of bone-root fell and dissolved into dust.
More came faster and thicker, he continued forward.His small body moved sharply through the chaos, feet hitting the unstable ground as he forced his way toward the center.
Above him, the skull fruits dropped.
Hundreds.
They shattered on impact, releasing bursts of green light that spread like fog across the ground.
The moment it touched him memories tried to force their way in.
Kael didn't resist.
He opened his mouth.
The threads changed direction instantly and pulled.
The green light twisted, dragged toward him in streams, collapsing into his body before it could take form.
The system reacted.
[Devouring in Progress]
[Memory fragments absorbed]
[Stability partially restored]
Kael didn't slow down, ahead the Grove Warden fully revealed itself.
Towering.
Roots spread across the entire Orchard, connecting every tree into one structure.
Its voice rolled across the field.
"You ate what isn't yours."
Kael kept moving.
Then Warden attacked, branches slammed down.
~BOOM~
The impact shattered the ground around him.
Kael rolled to the side, stood up immediately, and kept moving. His claws dragged across the surface as he regained balance, leaving thin black lines behind him.
The Orchard was no longer testing him ,It was trying to kill him.
The roots changed pattern,instead of striking, they began to close in forming a cage.kael saw this and thread behind him lashed outward constantly, cutting gaps before they could seal.
He reached the first cocoon in the wardens hollow inside
Kael drove his claws into it.
~Crack~
It shattered.
The soul inside did not scatter.
It surged.
Kael devoured it instantly.
The system surged.
[Devoured: Failed Sovereign — Elara Voss (Rank: 0.8% Authority at death)]
[Authority Surge: +1.47%]
[Memory Acquired: "Final Rejection of the Throne" (can temporarily nullify system prompts)]
[Soul Mass Overflow: Redirecting to physical augmentation]
The Orchard reacted violently.
The Warden's entire body shook.
For the first time it made a real sound it screamed
The roots lost coordination for half a second.
That was enough.
Kael moved faster devouring cocoon after cocoons
Taking everything.
The pressure inside him rose again but this time he was feeding it.
The Warden tried one last time.
The memories changed not the past but the future.
Kael was standing on a throne made of ash looking down his own hands tearing into his chest.
Eating himself.
The voice came from everywhere.
"You will become this."
Kael didn't slow down.
"Then I'll eat that too."
He reached the Warden.
Climbed.
Using its own body as a path upward.
Branches tried to crush him roots tried to drag him down.
He ignored all of it.
The threads anchored him pulling him forward,step by step
Until he reached the hollow core.
The center.
Everything the Orchard was built around, he didn't hesitate he jumped in.
For a momen everything stopped.Then the Orchard broke.
Cracks spread across every tree.
Roots shriveled the branches collapsed.
The scream cut off abruptly, from the centre kael stepped out more different he changed became more older and stronger
The Orchard was gone.
Completely.
Only black ground remained.
The system stabilized fully.
[Floor 2 — The Bone Orchard — Completely Devoured]
[Clear Grade: EX (Impossible Grade — First in Recorded Cycles)]
[Authority Rank Increased: 3.011% → 12.777%]
[Title Earned: Orchard Devourer]
[Unique Title Earned: The One Who Ate Regret]
[Passive Evolution: Soul Devouring Gluttony → Stage 3: Bottomless Hunger]
[New Ability: Regret Conversion (turn absorbed regrets into stat points at 1:1 ratio)]
[Hidden Reward Unlocked: Skeleton Key Fragment (allows temporary descent to skipped floors)]
[Floor 2 fully consumed — No respawn possible for future candidates on this floor]
Then staircase rose again made out of black bone with silver veins running through it.
Kael looked at his hands once.
Flexed them.
Then stepped forward.
The moment his foot touched the first step the world shifted.
Silver mist rose to meet him, he walked upward without stopping.Each step made a soft sound.
~Tick… tick… tick…~
Not the hollow clatter from before.
This one sounded… like something was counting him.
The air grew colder the higher he climbed. Not the cold of wind or water, but something thinner. It felt like the world itself was becoming less solid.
Halfway up, the system appeared again.
[Floor Transition in Progress]
[Current Authority Rank: 12.777%]
[Body Stabilization: Incomplete]
[Warning: Rapid evolution detected — structural collapse risk remains]
Kael glanced at the message once and ignored it.
His body still felt tight from the last fight. The power he gained hadn't settled properly. Every movement carried a faint resistance, like his muscles were still learning how to exist in their new shape.
He reached the top of the staircase.
There was no gate,no wall just a flat surface of… water.
Kael stopped,the entire world ahead of him was an ocean. Calm. Still. Endless in every direction. The surface reflected everything perfectly the dark sky above, the pale light stretching across it, even the staircase behind him.
But it felt wrong the were no waves no movement like an ocean should be. Not even the echo of his own breathing.
The system appeared again.
[Floor 3 — The Mirror Sea]
[Difficulty: high ]
[Primary Rule: Reflection is Truth]
[Secondary Rule: Falsehood will be corrected]
[Warning: External perception cannot be trusted]
Kael stepped forward his foot touched the surface of the water. It did not sink, it held him.
Like glass.
A faint ripple spread outward from where he stepped, but it did not distort the reflection.
Kael looked down.
He saw himself,twelve years old ash-grey hair, silver eyes,dark skin.
Still.
Watching.
Then the reflection blinked but he did not.
His body froze for half a second, then the reflection smiled slowly.
Kael's expression did not change.
The thing beneath him tilted its head slightly, studying him then it spoke.
"You took longer than expected."
Kael stepped back once.
The surface did not break.
The reflection followed the movement perfectly now, now delay.
Like nothing had happened.
The system flickered again.
[Warning: First Reflection Contact Detected]
[Do not trust mirrored entities]
[Do not respond to unsolicited dialogue]
Kael crouched slightly and touched the surface with his fingers.
It felt solid and cold.He pressed harder then the surface bent and broke like glass.
But it didn't sink.
The pieces rose,they twisted, stretched, and then became three more.
One stepped forward first.
It wore rough armor, scratched and dirty. It smiled like it enjoyed pain.
Another stood still in white robes, holding a small child close to its chest.
The last one stood behind them.
Wearing a crown Seated om a throne.
But it was crying.
All three spoke at the same time.
"We could have been enough."
Kael tightened his knuckles .
Then he moved.
The surface shifted slightly under his feet. Small ripples spread outward, and from those ripples, new reflections started forming.
A child, a younger version of him that never lost his parents
Then another.
A teenager standing straight, strong not broken.
An old man surrounded by family, grey-haired and peaceful
They didn't attack.
They just stood there blocking him,watching.
Some reached out their hands not to fight but to stop him
Kael didn't slow down.
He swung.
The first one broke apart immediately, no blood spilled just light breaking into pieces and pulling into his body.
The system reacted.
[Reflection Devoured: The One Who Stayed Human]
[0.44% Authority]
[Memory Fragment: "Last Family Dinner Before the Rot"]
[Regret Conversion Activated → +1 Stat Point (allocated to Hunger Resistance)]
The more he killed, the heavier the coat became.
Not from weight.
From weight of absence.
Each unlived life he erased pressed against his ribs like missing organs.
By the time he reached the halfway mark, the sea around him was crowded.
Hundreds of Kaels.
Some begging.
Some cursing.
Some simply staring with those soft brown eyes.
One stepped forward ,older, battle-worn, missing an arm, wearing the same coat but torn and bloodied.
This one didn't speak.
He just raised a sword identical to Kael's… and attacked.
Fist met void.
The clash rang like a funeral bell across the entire sea.
Kael parried and defend he felt the other Kael's strength raw, desperate, alive in a way he hadn't been since the crib.
They fought for what felt like hours.
Every block, every cut, every near-miss echoed with unlived moments.
Finally Kael drove his hand through the reflection's heart.
It didn't shatter.
It bled—real blood, red and human.
The reflection looked down at the wound, then up at Kael.
Softly:
"You won… but you lost the right to call this victory."
Then it faded.
Slowly.
Kael stood still for a second.
Breathing slightly heavier now, he pulled his hand free.
Ahead
He could see it.
The center.
A black structure rising out of the silver surface tall and sharp like glass.
He started walking again.
This time
Nothing blocked him.
The reflections moved aside letting him pass.
Because they finally understood.
There was no version of Kael left that could be saved.
At the base of the structure—
One last reflection stood there.
It looked exactly like him, the current him, long coat, silver-cracked skin, glowing eyes.It didn't hold a weapon.
It opened its arms slightly.
"Stop here," it said. "You don't have to keep going."
Kael looked at it.
For a moment ,mist moved slowly around them.
The silver surface stayed still.
"Be me," the reflection said. "End it here."
Kael raised his hand
"I'm not hungry for this."
He striked.
The reflection didn't fight.
It simply smiled with relieved but saddened and shattered.
All the reflections in the sea rose at once, spiraling toward Kael like a reverse rain of silver tears.
He absorbed them.
Every single one.
[Floor 3 — The Mirror Sea — Cleared]
[Clear Grade: EX+ (No reflections spared / All regrets devoured)]
[Authority Rank Increased: 12.777% → 38.999%]
[Title Earned: Regret's Executioner]
[Unique Ability Unlocked: Mirror Severance (can temporarily summon and control devoured reflections as combat avatars — duration scales with Authority spent)]
[Hidden Reward: Fragment of the True Throne (increases next floor difficulty by ×1.5 but doubles Authority gain)]
The spire's throne cracked open.
A new staircase spiraled upward silver-veined black bone, but now flecked with red from the blood of the last human reflection.
Kael sheathed the sword.
Looked back once at the now-still sea.
No ripples.
No reflections.
Just empty mirror.
He whispered voice low, rough, almost gentle:
"Goodbye."
Then stepped onto the next stair.
Somewhere far above, in the heart of the Throne of Ashes, something ancient chuckled.
It liked this one.
Very much.