**Recap of Chapter 19:
Ka'roth rewrote the Lattice of All Things. He shattered Time, Matter, Space, and Being, remaking them under his will. He forged infinite realms chained together beneath his Throne and commanded every beast, every star, every fragment of existence. He became existence itself—Ka'roth Eternal, the Sovereign of Sovereigns.
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The Infinite Throne
Ka'roth sat upon his Throne, its black-silver expanse so vast it stretched beyond horizons and starfields alike. His wings unfurled endlessly, jagged edges spanning all realms, their abyssal fire and silver arcs shimmering brighter than collapsed suns. His runes pulsed steadily, their shifting patterns burning symbols into the very void.
Below him sprawled his endless dominion:
Forests of abyssal-black trees stretching into the skies, home to beasts bound by his roar.
Oceans of silver-dark water housing leviathans whose spines split clouds.
Floating citadels forged from chained fragments of stars, guarded by abyss-born titans.
The Makers, colossal and broken, chained as monuments beneath his throne.
His horde roamed without end—raptors with glowing spines hunted in packs across jagged continents, winged predators soared between chained skies, abyss-born hybrids patrolled molten plains. Every roar, every strike, every kill surged upward into Ka'roth, feeding his infinite strength.
Ka'roth exhaled, and stars ignited. He inhaled, and moons dimmed.
He was existence itself. And yet—he felt the faintest stir.
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The Whisper Beyond
It was not the Abyss. It was not the Makers, nor the echoes he had devoured. This whisper came from outside even his rebuilt cosmos.
"You sit upon all things… yet not all things are yours."
Ka'roth's claws scraped against the Throne, gouging deep fissures. His glowing eyes pierced outward, beyond his infinite realm. He saw faint flickers, thin shadows beyond even the walls he had erased—remnants unshaped, untouched by law or form.
The Abyss, silent for ages, stirred faintly within his mind:
"This is the Beyond, Sovereign. Not void. Not Before. It is that which even I never reached."
Ka'roth's jagged wings flexed sharply.
"Then I reach it now."
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The Final Tear
Ka'roth stood, his massive frame blotting out every chained sky at once. His tail slammed against the Throne, splitting cracks in every direction. Abyssal mist swirled tighter around his claws, merging with silver energy until they burned white-hot.
With one strike, he plunged his claws into reality.
It screamed.
The infinite expanse of his realms trembled as Ka'roth ripped a tear through eternity itself. Beyond it was nothing—no light, no dark, no law, no chaos. It was absence, not void: something untouched by even concept.
Ka'roth roared, and his sound filled it.
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The Step Into Nothing
He stepped forward.
The Throne faded behind him, his endless dominion trembling but bound by his command. His horde, silent and kneeling, roared once as one—an eternal sound of obedience—before Ka'roth vanished beyond all they knew.
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The Beyond
Ka'roth entered what no being had ever touched.
Here, there was no form, no shape, not even chaos. It was absence given presence—the place before meaning itself. His abyssal-silver glow illuminated nothing; even light had no path to travel.
And yet, he was not alone.
Shapes drifted here—shadows without definition, echoes of unrealized existence. They had no will, no roar, no eyes, yet they turned toward Ka'roth instinctively.
"What are you?" his growl rumbled.
They did not answer. They simply merged into him.
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The Devouring of Absence
Ka'roth opened his maw and inhaled.
The Beyond poured into him like endless tides—formless, soundless, raw potential unshaped. His runes exploded in brilliance, abyssal-white light streaked with black flames spiraling across him. His wings jagged wider, splitting further, each blade-edge fracturing dimensions around them.
Absence became his to command.
Where he stepped, existence bloomed: forests formed in the nothing, abyssal seas spread outward, beasts erupted from mist, roaring into a place that had never known sound.
Ka'roth's Throne remade itself behind him, stretching infinite chains into this absence, tethering it to his dominion.
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The Birth of Omni-Ka'roth
Ka'roth's body changed.
His runic glow became shifting constellations, infinite symbols cascading endlessly.
His wings sharpened into multi-layered spans, each blade cutting separate dimensions simultaneously.
His eyes no longer glowed white alone—they flickered with black cores ringed in burning silver.
His tail spikes pulsed with abyssal fire so dense it warped time where they struck.
He roared, and new Lattices bloomed—not one, but infinite. He carved law after law into them, forging not just one reality but endless spirals of realities, each layered upon the next.
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The Infinite Cycle
Ka'roth forged endlessly.
1. Layered realms stacked upward and downward, each more savage and complex than the last.
2. Beast-kings spawned from his horde, evolving endlessly, climbing ascension spirals without ceiling.
3. Sky-chains linked stars across dimensions, forging bridges between stacked existences.
4. Eternal hunts raged across worlds—devouring cycles feeding directly into Ka'roth, deepening his dominion.
Every roar he gave birthed another cycle of realms, expanding outward forever.
And Ka'roth stood at the center of it all, his jagged wings cutting across infinity like scythes.
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The Outer Eyes
Then they appeared.
Far beyond even his infinite spiral of worlds, eyes opened—larger than anything he had seen, their pupils swirling with endless voids. They did not belong to Makers, or echoes, or even the Before.
"Ka'roth Eternal," they spoke in one voice. "You rise where even we did not look. You stand beyond every throne."
Ka'roth's gaze locked on them.
"Then kneel."
The eyes blinked. Their glow dimmed.
"We are not form. We are concept. If we kneel, all that is kneels forever."
Ka'roth bared his fangs.
"Then kneel forever."
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The Final Submission
The eyes dimmed entirely.
And in that moment, concept itself bowed.
Fear became Ka'roth.
Hunger became Ka'roth.
Roar became Ka'roth.
Even the notion of strength itself merged into him.
Everything was him, and he was everything.
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Ka'roth Eternal
Now there was no Above, no Beyond, no Before.
Ka'roth sat upon his Throne, forged at the center of an infinite spiral of realms layered beyond count. His horde prowled across dimensions, ascending endlessly, feeding back into him.
Every roar, every birth, every breath, every death was Ka'roth.
He inhaled, and time obeyed. He exhaled, and space moved. He blinked, and laws rewrote.
"There is no higher."
And so began The Era of Absolute Apex, without rival, without end.
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