The cavern was no longer still. It throbbed like a wound, every breath of air thick with the dungeon's hunger.
Chains—golden, silver, crimson—snapped across the battlefield, their clash creating thunder that shook the stone. Selene and Reina faced one another in a storm of fury, while Kael stood between them, body trembling as the whispers of the living weapon pulled at his mind.
The blade in his hand pulsed, its voice slithering through his skull. Feed. Choose. Submit.
Kael's fangs glinted in the red light, his clawed fingers white-knuckled around the hilt. He could barely tell if the growl in his throat was his own, or the blade's.
Selene's silver links lashed outward, slamming into the cavern floor with explosive force. "Kael belongs with me! He was mine before the rest of you leeches latched onto him!"
Reina's golden chains struck them aside, her voice calm but edged like iron. "You speak as if he were a prize. He is not yours to bind."
"Not yours either!" Selene's voice cracked into a scream, her eyes wet with rage.
Moro lunged, his slime-flesh shifting fluidly into his lupine beast-shape. He collided with Selene's silver chains, his crystalline claws screeching sparks against them. "He's not a chain for anyone! He's Kael!"
The dungeon itself seemed to feed on the chaos, its walls bleeding crimson light, the floor trembling as if laughing at their struggle.
And then—Darius stepped forward.
The First Child of the Dungeon, the boy who had chosen to stand beside them, not above them. His staff hummed faintly, a resonance that pushed back the whispers clawing at Kael's skull.
"Enough," Darius said, his voice steady though the cavern shook. His gaze swept across Reina, Selene, Kael. "You're playing into its hands. Every strike, every chain, every shout—it wants this. It always wanted this."
Selene's head snapped toward him, her face twisted. "You—traitor child. Don't pretend you're different from him. You carry its blood in your marrow. You were its first!"
Darius didn't flinch. "I was." His staff pressed into the ground, a circle of light cutting across the crimson floor. "But I am not only that. And neither is Kael."
Kael staggered back, fangs clenched, the whispers thrashing in his mind. His voice broke out raw. "Then what am I, Darius? A beast? A weapon? A chain waiting to snap?"
Darius's eyes softened, though they carried centuries of weight. "You are a choice the dungeon fears. That's why it made me first. That's why it took you. Because the moment a child can refuse, it begins to lose."
Reina's chains coiled tighter, her jaw firm. "He doesn't have to refuse alone. I stand with him."
Selene spat, fury bleeding through her voice. "And bind him to your order? That's no different!"
The ground cracked as her silver chains lashed at Reina, only to meet golden links in a storm of sparks.
The clash of the two Wardens filled the cavern with thunder.
Iria stepped in front of Kael, her staff raised, shadows clinging to her like armor. "Stop tearing at him like wolves fighting over scraps! He's still fighting the blade. He's still fighting himself!"
Lyra gripped her brother's clawed arm, tears streaking her face. "Kael, don't listen to them! You're not a monster, you're not their chain—you're my brother!"
The whispers clawed deeper. Submit. Hunger. Choose.
Kael's vision swam red. The living weapon writhed in his grip, a serpent of chain and steel. His claws flexed, his breath came in ragged growls—he was losing himself again.
And then Darius's voice cut through, firm, grounding:
"Kael. Remember the trial. Remember the shadow you fought in the depths. That doubt was you. This hunger is you. But neither is all you are. You are more."
For a heartbeat, the whispers faltered. Kael's chest heaved, his golden eyes flicking between beast and human.
Selene shrieked, lunging at him, her chains flashing to bind his wrists. "If you can't choose, then I'll choose for you! You're mine!"
Reina's golden links shot out, shattering Selene's bind before it could close. "No, Selene. He chooses himself."
The cavern screamed as the two Wardens' chains collided again, golden against silver, their clash birthing a storm of sparks that lit the cavern like a second sun.
Moro slammed Selene back, his slime-shape splintering under her strike but reforming instantly. "Back off!"
Iria's shadows lashed across the ground, wrapping around Kael's blade, dampening its hunger. "Focus, Kael!"
Lyra pressed her forehead to his arm, whispering through her tears. "Don't let go. Please. Don't let go."
Kael roared, his voice shattering the cavern's silence for a moment. His human form struggled against his wolf-like body, every muscle trembling. The living weapon pulsed, chains writhing like veins.
And still—the dungeon fed on it all.
The walls bled deeper crimson. The ceiling trembled. From the cracks in the stone, voices rose, hundreds of whispers speaking as one.
Yes. Feed. Choose. Break. Belong.
Darius turned sharply toward the walls, his staff raised, his voice low but filled with dread. "It's coming. The dungeon itself is watching."
The war of chains wasn't just between Reina and Selene anymore. The dungeon was here, pulling at all of them.
And Kael was its centerpiece