For the first time since its awakening, the Genesis warden faltered.
The crimson glow in its eyes flickered in disbelief as the broken codes dripping from its wounds refused to reassemble.
Its eternal gift of regeneration was sealed.
High above, the silent watcher's breath was paused.
"He sealed the warden's regeneration? How's that possible?"
Vivan smirked, lowering his stance as the azure glyphs on his arm still pulsed with power.
"Surprised? Sorry, but your god mode is over."
But the warden's crimson eyes narrowed and instead of rage, a faint curl spread across its stone-carved lips. It was almost a smirk, mocking and defiant.
With deliberate calm it raised its blade again as crimson lightning flared in his long sword.
With a sudden burst of power it launched a vertical slash.
Vivan side stepped to dodge it expecting the strike to carve into stone but his eyes widened in horror. The warden had not aimed for him at all.
The crimson arc crashed into one of the crystal prisons. The seal around the Clevon heir shattered on impact, spraying the azure suspension fluid across the chamber as the unconscious body tumbled to the ground like a discarded doll.
Vivan's teeth clenched.
"You bastard…"
But the warden did not give a single glance at Vivan. It marched toward the body of the Clevon heir.
The long sword raised high in the air, and then the pointy sharp end of the blade came rushing at the unconscious body in a plunging motion.
Vivan stepped in a rush as his blade sparked with the black coated blue lightning once again.
"Precise Slash!"
The clash rang like thunder. Vivan's strike met the warden's blade just in time, parrying the killing thrust.
Sparks showered as the colossus staggered back, its stance opening for a single moment of vulnerability.
Without hesitation Vivan slid between the heir and the warden. Then his sword rose igniting the lightning frenzy once again.
Blue arcs licked the air as he pressed forward with relentless strikes. Steel crashed against crimson code in a storm of blows.
Yet the warden revealed its cruel intent. Every counter, every swing of its colossal sword aligned perfectly with the Clevon heir's position.
If Vivan dared to evade, even by a breath, the next strike would carve through the defenseless unconscious young man.
The warden shifted, crimson sparks crawling along its blade. Then with a sweeping arc it released a scarlet wind slash of crescent shape.
Vivan's lightning wrapped sword rose to intercept.
But there was no impact. His blade cut through the attack like mist.
"What the hell!!"
Vivan braced himself to receive the damage. But it phased through him also.
The truth hit him a bit too late.
*SHRRK*
The wind slash slammed into the Clevon heir's torso laid on the ground.
Blood splashed out of the deep wound on the body.
Vivan's fist trembled.
"Your attacks… are now target specific?"
An above, the silent watcher whispered in terror.
"No… that's not a normal slash. How's that even possible?"
Her gaze locked onto the warden as it raised its sword once more. A second crimson crescent surged forth.
Vivan didn't think. He lunged, dragging the heir's limp form across his shoulder, and dove aside. The slash screamed past—
But the warden's lips curled in a mocking grin.
It chanted in a low, guttural tongue. The second crescent twisted mid-air, curving back like a predator scenting blood.
Vivan's eyes widened.
"A tracking rune? You've got to be kidding me!"
The watcher's breath hitched, her heart sinking.
"That technique… no. I know it. One of Azerion the Binder's strongest seals… Phantom Rend."
Vivan used his brain.
Dodging wouldn't last forever. And blocking was impossible.
The attack was not bound by the laws of space, it was bound by target.
"I can't cut the slash but if it follows logic then…"
His eyes glowed with spinning rings of azure Eye of Veritas.
Lines of codes unraveled before his sight. Two chains of logic were glowing in crimson codes- one was tethering the strike to the Clevon heir while the other was enforcing its target specific execution.
His arm burned with the glow of Sigilforge. Glyphs crawled up his wrist.
"CodeBreaker!!"
The seal of code breaker circled over both of the chains.
It could not stop the active logic of the slash that made it target specific but it stopped the other one.
The wind slash abruptly hit the wall behind as Vivan dodged it carrying the heir.
Vivan's eyes widened.
"CodeBreaker could stop regeneration logic but not this one?"
The warden charged again as its blade sparked in crimson fury.
Vivan lowered the Clevon heir on the floor carefully, and then stepped infront of the warden, positioning himself at an angle to cut across warden's line of sight.
Another scarlet crescent screamed from the warden's blade.
Vivan advanced into it, letting the strike phase harmlessly through his body. But the instant it curved toward the heir, azure glyphs flared across his arm.
"CodeBreaker!"
The tethering logic shattered. The slash veered wildly and crashed into the stone behind them, missing the heir by a hair.
Vivan twisted mid-air, lightning crackling down his sword.
"Arcane Strike!"
His blade descended in a blazing arc, carving into the warden's shoulder. A mechanical groan split the chamber as crimson codes erupted like a fountain from the wound.
"How about this?" Vivan smirked as his eyes were blazing.
The silent watcher's eyes widened in disbelief.
"He adapted already…?"
Vivan's arcane strike roared toward the warden's throat.
But crimson glyphs surged through the warden's body.
Time fractured.
The air grew heavy, every spark of lightning paused mid-arc. Dust particles hung in the air like they have forgotten how to fall.
The warden's crimson blade carved through stillness.
A vicious vertical strike on Vivan's shoulder made his blood burst like a ruptured fountain.
Time snapped back.
He rolled on the ground clutching the wound as pain seared through him.
[System Chime]
- Critical hit taken
- HP recovery: 50% per second due to Empathy
- HP: 1500/50000
Above, the Silent Watcher did not even whisper. Only terror echoed in her thoughts.
"That's Azerion's Eternal Stasis..."
For the first time she stepped out of shadows. She was not a watcher anymore.
A shape dropped from the ceiling like a feather gliding down the air drift. The hood slipped back as her boots touched stone.
Silver hair floated around her frame like fragments of moonlight. Her black coat whipped backward as he moved forward, fast – too fast.
Emerald eyes burned with resolve yet laced with fear. Twin daggers flared in her hands.
The pendant at her throat swung wild with her momentum as the violet lightning erupted from her daggers.
Strike after strikes from her dagger kept tearing the motionless warden apart.
Vivan staggered up, clutching his bleeding shoulder.
"That pendant… Paul's? No, the curse sigil of Amionisa?"
Even through pain his thoughts raced.
"Dark guild? She is one of them?"
But his suspicion was cut short by a razor sharp voice.
"If you can stand then finish this now. Eternal Stasis cripples the user after activation. He won't move for a while."
Vivan's eyes snapped wide.
"She is right… ally or enemy does not matter right now."
His grip tightened on his sword as his throat vibrated in fury.
"Override!!"
The black-coated blue lightning didn't stop at his blade—this time it roared across his whole body.
His veins pulsed with light, his skin etched in glowing cracks as if his every muscle was breaking under the surge.
The stone floor splintered beneath his feet, unable to bear the charge. The air itself hissed, sparks snapping wild like a thunderstorm born inside the chamber.
"OOH! Override just changed as my general stats grew higher?" Vivan smirked inside his mind.
[System Chime]
- Override activated
- Override level maxed due to player's achievements, Cool down decreased by 23 hours 55 minutes
- General stats are being multiplied by true stats.
"Battle Vision!" he shouted.
The world shifted. Neon-blue grids overlaid reality, revealing attack vectors, movement paths, and most importantly the Warden's stats.
HP: Infinite
MP: Infinite
Cool down: 30 seconds remaining
Vivan's breath hitched.
"Infinite…? So the cool down penalties don't even matter? Who the hell design an unkillable raid boss in a game?"
The thought never left his lips nut his clenched jaw said enough. He was not the type to fold. Not now. Not ever.
"I've got Sigilforge. If I can't kill this guy… then I will seal him. And with Override's speed boost he won't even see it coming."
Glyphs blazed up his right arm as his index finger slashed through the air. A glowing circle of logic unfurled, each stroke weaving faster than the watcher's eye could follow.
The silver haired girl's daggers froze mid motion as she stared.
"What are you doing? With this power we can end it."
But by the time her words left her lips, his seal was already carved.
[System Chime]
- Insufficient MP to create a seal of that level
- Skill level reduced proportionate to available MP
- New Unique Created Skill Unlocked: Aether Shackles (Lv.1) — Seals enemy movement for 15 minutes
Vivan's shoulders sagged with disappointment, teeth grinding.
"Damn it… CodeBreaker didn't cost a shred of MP, but this one drains me dry? I wanted to forge an eternal seal of movement… and I get a half-baked timer instead."
Still, the glowing circuit pulsed to life, threads of azure code lashing out, wrapping around the Warden's colossal frame.
The silver-haired girl's voice cut sharp.
"…What did you just do?"
Vivan didn't answer her. He sprinted to the Clevon heir, lifting the limp body over his shoulder.
"We've only bought time. We need to run—now!"
They stepped out of the chamber, the massive stone doors grinding shut behind them with a final clang.
The silver-haired girl's voice cut sharp.
"We could have killed it."
Vivan's reply was slow, measured.
"That thing… was not killable."
Her brows furrowed, doubt flickering in her emerald eyes. The kind of doubt that was half-question, half-accusation—as if she wanted to believe him, but couldn't.
Vivan said nothing more, but his mind spun like a storm.
"CodeBreaker nullifies active logic. That's why I canceled its regeneration… and broke the tethering rune on that slash. But the phase-through execution? Untouchable. And sealing it eternally? Impossible."
His eyes narrowed.
"Does this mean CodeBreaker only works on linear logic… and not on complex logic?. That monster's entire design is woven from complex logic. Is that why Aether Shackles nearly drained me dry?"
Her voice snapped him back.
"What are you so quiet about? Answer me. What do you mean by unkillable? And how the hell do you even know that?"
Vivan turned his head, one brow arched, his tone low but cutting.
"Well… if we're asking questions, then maybe I should start with one of my own."
His eyes dropped to the pendant at her throat, still swaying faintly from their hurried steps.
"Why is the First Princess of Novarim wearing the curse sigil of Amionisa-the mark of the Dark Guild?"
The girl froze, her breath caught in her chest. Fear and tension wove across her expression, though she tried to bury it.
Their footsteps echoed deeper into the cavern, heavy with unease. But her eyes… her eyes never left Vivan's face as he watched back once again.
"That thing's algorithm is really broken!"
…To be continued