The battlefield was silent.
Where once holy flames raged, only blackened snow remained. The body of Seraph Valeia—once a radiant executioner of the Spiritbound—lay broken atop the frost. Her armor, once etched in gold, was cracked through the chest, and her spirit… gone.
Not released.Not destroyed.Devoured by the system.
Aren knelt beside her corpse, Thornbrand in hand.
[System Notification: Solar Virtue – Decomposition in Progress]Source Spirit: Class 4SState: Incomplete Transference
Would you like to absorb corrupted residue?
➤ Yes.
[Fragment Absorbed: Solar Virtue – Echo Core]Class: Divine Tier Essence – InertCompatibility: 0.3%
Warning: This essence is not compatible with Shadowline Protocol.Result: Stored in Archive
New Entry Unlocked: "False Purity Doctrine"
Aren frowned.
"Show me."
[System Archive – Entry #091 – Forbidden Knowledge: Doctrine of Purity]
The Spiritbound High Orders do not bond freely with spirits.They forge obedience through artificial links.
Using a technique known as the Risen Seal, they overwrite the will of high-tier spirits, chaining them to hosts through spiritual scarring and memory erasure.
Side Effects: Soul instability, obedience decay, terminal madness.
Status: Denied by all Spiritbound factions. Confirmed by Sovereign Witnesses.
Kaeliah approached quietly, her boots crunching on ash.
"Is that why she was trembling when you broke her link?" she asked. "Because the spirit wasn't truly hers?"
Aren nodded. "It was a prison. They call themselves bound… but they enslave what they fear."
He stood and looked to the sky, where faint spirit trails flickered like vanishing stars.
"I won't chain mine. Not with lies. Not with faith."
[Sovereign's Path – Moral Branching Achieved]
New Affinity: Truthborn SovereignTrait Unlocked:➤ "Will Unbroken" – Shadowbound under your command cannot be corrupted by false seals or mind-scars.
Progression: 26%
That night, Aren buried the fragments of Valeia beneath the frost.
Not as an enemy. Not as a martyr.
But as a warning.
And above her grave, he etched a single sentence in blackfire script:
"The light you trusted was forged in lies."