The swirling violet vortex of the A-Rank Gate loomed before them, towering like a tear in the very fabric of the world. It didn't just emit light; it seemed to consume the ambient sound around it, creating a deafening, pressurized vacuum.
Aria paused just a step away from the threshold, her daggers sheathed but her hands tense. She glanced back toward the courtyard, where the scavengers were still kneeling in the fog.
"You just left them there," Aria said, her voice barely audible over the hum of the portal. "You didn't even tell them to get up."
Elias stood at the edge of the vortex, his profile illuminated by the sickly purple light. "If I tell them to stand, I acknowledge them. If I acknowledge them, they will expect me to lead them, protect them, and feed them." He turned to face her, his expression unreadable. "I am not a shepherd, Aria. I am a conqueror. If they want to survive, they need to learn to stand on their own."
Aria swallowed hard. It was a brutal philosophy, but in a world that had ended ten years ago, it was the only one that guaranteed survival. She nodded once, stepping up beside him.
"Together, then," she said.
"Stay close," Elias replied. "A-Rank Gates don't follow the laws of physics."
They stepped through the violet tear.
The sensation of spatial transfer was violent. It felt as if their bodies were being stretched across a thousand miles and snapped back together in a single second. When Aria finally opened her eyes, she immediately dropped into a defensive crouch, expecting a swarm of monsters.
Instead, she gasped.
They weren't in a cave, a swamp, or a ruined city. They were standing on a massive, floating island made entirely of pristine white marble. Above them, the sky was a fractured mosaic of pure gold and deep, bleeding crimson, as if a heavenly realm had been shattered by a cosmic hammer.
Suspended in the air around them were chunks of ancient, glowing architecture—broken pillars, shattered statues of weeping angels, and massive chains of gold that hung uselessly into the cloudy abyss below. In the distance, connected by a fractured bridge of light, sat a colossal, ruined cathedral.
"What is this place?" Aria whispered, her assassin training momentarily forgotten as she stared at the terrifying beauty of the realm. "This doesn't look like a monster den. It looks... holy."
"It was," Elias said, his eyes scanning the floating ruins. "Once."
In his past life, Elias had heard rumors of these specific, ultra-rare dungeons. They were called Fallen Realms. They weren't born from the Abyss; they were celestial dimensions that had been conquered and corrupted by the System.
"Don't let the white marble fool you," Elias warned, drawing his hands out of his pockets. The air around him began to warp as his abyssal mana reacted aggressively to the lingering holy energy of the dimension. "The things that live here are worse than demons. Demons just want to eat your flesh. Fallen celestial beings want to purify your soul by burning it to ash."
As if responding to his words, the ground beneath them began to vibrate.
From the shadows of the broken marble pillars, figures began to emerge. They were humanoid, standing over seven feet tall, clad in magnificent, glowing silver armor. However, their armor was stained with creeping black veins, and where their heads should have been, there were only floating, jagged halos of jagged, dark light.
They held massive greatswords that ignited with a terrifying mix of white holy fire and black abyssal smoke.
[System Alert: You have entered the 'Sanctuary of the Blind Judgment'.] [Enemy Spotted: Corrupted Inquisitor (Lv. 35) x 12]
Aria gripped her daggers, her heart hammering. "Level 35... Elias, standard A-Rank mobs shouldn't be this high level at the entrance!"
"This isn't a standard Gate," Elias said, a dark, thrilled smile spreading across his face.
The Corrupted Inquisitors didn't roar. They moved in perfect, eerie synchronization, raising their greatswords and charging forward with terrifying, blinding speed. The ground cracked beneath their heavy boots.
Elias didn't step back. He spread his arms wide, welcoming the corrupted holy warriors.
"Iron. Blood. Eclipse," Elias commanded, his voice echoing like thunder across the floating island. "Show these false angels what true darkness looks like."
The white marble floor instantly turned pitch black as the Monarch's shadow expanded, and the true battle for the Fallen Realm began.