Kael stood in the aftermath of his rampage the air thick with burning flesh and the scent of rot his boots sank into a sea of blood bones cracking beneath each step shadows wrapped around his arms like serpents alive and eager to kill again his gaze fell on the descending stairwell before him carved deep into the earth a voice echoed from the dark below low twisted layered with ancient tongues
Come further broken one your soul is almost ready
Kael did not hesitate
He stepped into the descent each footfall lit by red glowing symbols carved into the walls pulsing as he passed the whispers grew louder more voices more hatred more memories his hands trembled not from fear but from the power writhing inside them
At the bottom of the stairs he entered a circular chamber of obsidian stone dripping with blood the walls pulsed like flesh and in the center hovered a corpse torn apart yet kept alive by chains of light its mouth was sewn shut its body filled with spikes it radiated agony and magic
Kael walked to it and the corpse opened one eye
You are the cursed one it said not with its mouth but inside Kael's head your fate is already sealed your rage will burn the heavens
Kael grabbed the chain and ripped it free
The room exploded with crimson light the ground trembled the corpse screamed as energy rushed from it into Kael's chest carving new marks across his skin his body convulsed as the air itself bent around him every wound he had reopened and then sealed with dark flame
From the shadows emerged three new enemies one shaped like a priest its face hidden behind a mask of stitched children's skin another with a body of centipedes wearing armor made from living eyes the third floated without legs a spirit of forgotten war crimes its form constantly shifting between soldier king and executioner
Kael's blade burned with poison and flame his aura twisted and monstrous he rushed forward before they could react
The priest raised its staff but Kael severed its arms before it could chant the centipede knight lunged its jaws opening wide Kael stabbed his blade through its head and twisted until the body fell limp the ghost screamed and released a wave of death magic but Kael tore through it with a roar his hand plunged into the ghost's core and crushed it like glass
Silence returned
Kael staggered breathing heavily his eyes flickering with red and black fire the mark on his back split open revealing another eye watching and guiding
He laughed low and without emotion
I am not human anymore he said
And I will never stop until the gods scream my name in fear
The path forward split into three tunnels each marked by a different symbol
One burned with flame the second dripped with blood the third breathed with mist
He chose all three
Because Kael was no longer bound by rules
He raised his hand and split his shadow into three clones each walking a path each bound to his soul each as merciless as the original
As he walked the path of blood he met beasts stitched from corpses souls bound into iron cages and forced to crawl his sword danced through them all cutting them into raw pieces the walls screamed with every kill his eyes empty and cold
The clone walking the flame path encountered beasts born of ash and ember their bodies made of lava bones their breath igniting the ground but Kael's clone wielded the frost of the abyss freezing and shattering everything until only silence remained
The third clone faced illusions spirits that mimicked his past his family their cries pleading for mercy but he cut through them without pause because Kael had buried his weakness long ago
All paths converged
And at the center stood a throne made of skulls and chains upon it sat a massive demon crowned in bones his body glowing with red runes his wings torn and bleeding yet he smiled
I have waited for you broken king
Kael stepped forward
Then kneel and die