> **System Notification:**
> *Main Quest Update – "Loom Wars: Initiation"*
> *Objective: Survive the Duel of Echoes*
> *Loom Agent Incoming: Codename – The Masked Spiral*
> *Danger Level: Extreme*
> *Arena Modifier: Fate Lock (No external interference allowed. Only raw skill and System-bound traits may be used.)*
> *Warning: Defeat will lead to partial memory erasure and thread disruption.*
The Thornspire Arena roared like a beast in heat.
Thousands of masked faces watched from the galleries, their cheers vibrating through the bone-forged stone beneath Azrael's boots. The dome above flickered with fate-runes, sealing in combatants and repelling interference—even divine.
And across from him stood his challenger.
Not a beast. Not a brute.
But a man in a white spiral mask, wearing robes lined with echo silk, his hands sheathed in black gloves.
His aura was quiet. Focused. Heavy with intent.
> **System Analysis:**
> *Name: ??? (Alias – The Masked Spiral)*
> *Class: Thread Reclaimer*
> *Affiliation: Loom Enforcement Division*
> *Threadkill Count: 37 Confirmed*
> *Traits Detected: Reality Anchor (Passive), Time Shear (Limited), Echo Pulse (Active), Absolute Bind (Cooldown: 3 uses left)*
Azrael took a single step forward.
"So," he said, voice like frost, "you're the Loom's hound."
The Spiral tilted his head.
"I am its surgeon."
---
A bell tolled.
The match began.
The Spiral didn't move like a man. He moved like silence given form.
In less than a second, he was inches away, his hand slamming toward Azrael's throat. But Azrael had fought gods in dreams. Had rewritten rituals mid-cast. Had survived being unmade.
He ducked, twisted, and carved a glyph in the air.
> **Skill Activated – "Refract"**
> *Effect: Creates a mirror-layer displacement field. Grants 1-second illusion trail behind host.*
The Spiral's first strike missed.
But his second didn't.
> *Ability Triggered – Echo Pulse*
> *Result: Disruption Wave emitted. Azrael's illusion fractured. Minor disorientation inflicted.*
Azrael staggered.
Then bled.
The Spiral had nicked his side—barely. But enough to draw essence.
> **System Alert:**
> *Thread Sample Extracted – Opponent attempting micro-anchor breach.*
> *Defensive Countermeasure: Active*
Azrael clenched his teeth.
"Time to stop playing."
He pressed his palm to the arena floor and whispered a forbidden glyph:
**"Unweave."**
> **Skill Activated – Glyph of Unweaving**
> *Effect: Destroys local fate strands for 5 seconds. Nullifies opponent's fate-bound abilities temporarily.*
> *Cost: Sanity Drain 5% + Vision Blur*
The Spiral paused.
Then he smiled beneath the mask.
"Well played."
---
What followed wasn't a duel.
It was a dance between death and defiance.
Every strike Azrael parried came with echoes—delayed attacks that curved space. Every glyph he cast was challenged by the Spiral's time-slicing strikes.
But with every blow exchanged, Azrael learned.
He mapped the Spiral's movements.
He predicted the rhythm.
Until finally—
He baited.
He allowed himself to be struck—chest wound, deep, but not fatal. As the Spiral lunged to finish it—
Azrael whispered:
"Fracture."
> **Hidden Skill Unlocked – Fracture Glyph (Tier 2)**
> *Effect: Shatters an enemy's movement pattern for 3 seconds. Memory desync triggered. Echoes cancel each other.*
> *Cooldown: Once per combat.*
The Spiral froze mid-motion.
His body flickered.
His echoes turned on themselves—two of them striking him in the ribs.
Azrael didn't hesitate.
He surged forward, stabbed a dagger laced with eclipse essence straight into the Spiral's exposed flank.
> *Critical Hit!*
> *Loom Anchor Cracked (25% Integrity Remaining)*
The Spiral staggered.
"You—" he gasped. "You've rewritten your pattern."
Azrael's eyes glowed violet. "I wrote my story. Now I'm writing yours."
He twisted the blade.
The Spiral screamed.
But didn't fall.
Instead, he placed a trembling hand over his own heart.
> **Emergency Protocol Activated – Absolute Bind**
> *Effect: Locks both combatants in temporal stasis. Trade: Memory for memory. Fate for fate.*
> *Outcome: Shared Vision.*
Azrael's world turned inside out.
---
He stood in a dream.
Before him: the Spiral—but without his mask. A man with eyes like fractured glass.
"Why fight us?" the Spiral asked. "You could ascend. Be real. Be more than code."
Azrael stepped closer.
"I've died as a pawn. I've lived as a ghost. This time—I'm the writer."
The Spiral bowed his head.
"Then know this: There are worse than me coming."
"I count on it."
---
The dream shattered.
Back in the arena, the crowd watched in stunned silence as the Spiral collapsed, bleeding from his mask, vanishing in a shimmer of white thread.
> **System Notification:**
> *Victory Confirmed.*
> *Enemy Loom Hunter – Status: Neutralized (Retreated, Not Terminated)*
> *Threadpoint Earned: +1*
> *Trait Gained – Echo Resistance (Passive)*
> *Public Favor: +40%*
> *Aurelia Noctis Trust Level: +12%*
---
Later that night, Azrael stood atop the Thornspire balcony, overlooking the blood-soaked arena.
Aurelia approached silently.
"You fought well."
"I fought to be remembered," he said.
She looked at him long. Then handed him a sealed scroll.
"You're invited to the Obsidian Bloom."
He raised a brow. "What is it?"
"The gathering of those who *truly* pull threads in this world. Fatewalkers. Systemborn. Godkillers."
Her voice dropped. "You won't walk out the same."
Azrael looked out at the city once more.
"I never intended to."
---
> **System Prompt:**
> *New Arc Unlocked: The Obsidian Bloom*
> *Next Objective: Attend the Gathering. Identify and mark potential enemies.*
> *Threats: Unknown*
> *Allies: In Flux*
Azrael closed his eyes.
The Spiral was only the beginning.
And he had much more to unwrite.