The air split with the sound of stone tearing.
The cavern trembled violently as the ground beneath Aric and Lira cracked further, swallowing dust and debris into an abyssal maw. The Sentinel slammed its claw into the fractured floor, shards of stone spraying outward, and the vibration rattled Aric's teeth.
The prisoner stepped forward, chains scraping across the floor, each movement reverberating like a death knell. Its mask had cracked even further, revealing glimpses of a hollow skull beneath. Its presence pressed down on Aric like an unbearable weight, a gravitational pull of despair and inevitability.
Shadows surged around him in response, thrashing violently. The Sorrow System flared, violet light erupting in spasms that danced across the walls. It screamed in his skull:
[Host at critical threshold.][Stability failing—System resonance at maximum.][Solution: Integration or rejection.]
Aric gritted his teeth, forcing control over the surge. I will not break. I will not let it consume me.
He had felt despair before—he had bathed in it, grown stronger from it—but this was different. This was ancient sorrow, old as the ruins themselves, old enough to have birthed the system he wielded. And now, it sought to claim him.
"Aric," Lira hissed, pulling him behind a shard of jagged stone. Her blade flashed in the dim green light. "We can't hold it off forever!"
The prisoner's voice whispered through his mind again, intimate, relentless:
"You are mine, vessel. Let go… or be crushed."
The System pulsed, shadows erupting like a storm. Tendrils lashed outward, wrapping around the chains of the prisoner and the debris of the crumbling cavern. Aric could feel the power of the Sorrow System seeking harmony with the ancient grief. The resonance was intoxicating, nearly seducing him into obedience.
Do it, the voice urged. Submit. Feed. Become what you were born to be.
Aric shook his head violently, sweat and blood streaking his face. "No. I will not be your tool."
The figure tilted its head, the cracked mask's painted smile stretching wider. "Foolish boy. You are already what you deny. Resistance is a luxury of the weak."
Outside the chamber, the Sentinel roared and struck the ground again, sending a wave of debris inward. The cavern floor split wider, jagged stone jutting up like spears. Shadows from Aric's System wrapped around him and Lira, shielding them from the worst of it.
He knew he had to act. Hesitation here meant death, or worse—submission. The prisoner extended its arms, chains whipping violently. A massive chain shot toward him like a snake, spiked links aimed to pierce, bind, and crush.
Aric twisted, shadows slicing through the chain midair. Sparks flew, and the chain disintegrated, but the effort sent him staggering backward. Pain lanced through his ribs and shoulder. Lira lunged at a second chain, but it whipped past her like a living thing, rattling against the stone so close she could feel the wind it stirred.
The prisoner chuckled, a hollow, bone-grating sound. "Ah… so feeble. Yet the system fights through you. It is mine and yours—inseparable. You cannot resist it forever."
The Sorrow System pulsed in response to the prisoner's presence. Aric could feel the ancient grief flowing into him, tasting it, learning it, threatening to overwhelm his consciousness. The violet energy flared higher than ever before, coiling like a living storm. His vision blurred, mind trembling.
Mastery is the only path, he thought desperately. Control it… harness it… or die.
He took a deep breath, centering himself. Shadows extended outward, striking at the chains again, wrapping the prisoner's ankles, weaving around its wrists. He could feel the resonance tightening, the System syncing with the ancient sorrow, but on his terms.
The prisoner faltered slightly. Its chains rattled, struggling against the unexpected pushback. "Interesting… you dare to bind me?"
"Yes," Aric growled, teeth clenched. "I will not be your puppet."
The cavern quaked violently. Stone shattered, chunks raining down. The Sentinel outside bellowed, claws digging furiously, crimson eye blazing like a furnace. It wanted to enter. Aric could feel its intent—an adversary, a sentinel, and yet… there was a strange recognition in its gaze.
The prisoner hissed, voice dripping with malice: "You will break before the world shatters. You are nothing… yet you think you are something."
Aric's shadows writhed violently, merging with the violet energy of the System. For the first time, he felt the System not as a tool, but as a living extension of himself. Tendrils of grief surged outward, pulling chains, debris, and despair into his control.
The prisoner recoiled slightly, the mask cracking further. "Impossible… the vessel grows stronger… it resists me!"
"Yes," Aric spat blood, forcing shadows to lash faster, tighter. "I am my own master. I will not be consumed."
The Sentinel howled outside, striking the ground again. The chamber floor buckled beneath its impact. A fissure opened, swallowing shards of stone. Lira pulled Aric backward. "We need to move, now!"
He looked at her, shaking his head. "No… I have to finish this. I need to master it here—now!"
Shadows coiled violently around the prisoner, feeding on its own despair, and Aric felt the surge of power unlike anything he had experienced before. The resonance flared, the violet light burning brighter, illuminating the chamber in pure, violent energy.
The prisoner screamed—not with its mouth, but through the very air, a sound that pressed into their bones, making the blood in their veins shiver. Chains snapped, fragments of ancient sorrow scattered, yet the figure did not collapse.
"You… cannot… contain me," it hissed, the mask cracking completely, revealing hollow, darkened sockets where eyes should have been.
Aric forced his focus, pushing shadows deeper, twisting, coiling, binding, until at last the resonance stabilized—not fully subdued, but bent to his will. The System glowed around him like a storm, shadows dancing with deliberate precision, feeding off the sorrow yet resisting full integration.
The prisoner's form flickered, weakening, its chains rattling in protest. Outside, the Sentinel paused, sensing the shift. Its crimson eye narrowed.
Aric's chest heaved, sweat and blood streaking his face. "I am not your vessel," he growled. "I am my own master. And I will harness sorrow… on my terms."
The prisoner shrieked, a final cry of fury and despair, then dissolved into a swirl of black mist, sucked into the shadows he controlled. The chains clattered to the floor, broken and lifeless.
Silence filled the chamber.
The Sentinel's roar subsided, replaced by a low, contemplative rumble. It stepped back, its gaze never leaving Aric, as though acknowledging a power it could not ignore. Then, slowly, it retreated, leaving the cavern—but not without a warning glance that promised the next encounter would be worse.
Aric sank to his knees, gasping, shadows slowly retracting, the System still pulsing faintly around him. Lira knelt beside him, gripping his shoulder. "You… you did it. You controlled it."
Aric shook his head, exhaustion and exhilaration washing over him. "For now," he whispered. "It's only the beginning. The true trials… are yet to come."
The chamber around them began to stabilize, debris settling, dust drifting in slow motes in the torchlight. Yet Aric could feel it—ancient sorrow still lingered, waiting, watching. He had survived. He had wrestled control. But the abyss had not forgotten him.
He would need every ounce of strength, every fragment of mastery, if he hoped to confront the Demon King himself.
And somewhere deep in the shadows of the world, something older, darker, and more dangerous than any demon stirred… waiting for him to rise.
The trial had ended. The war within him was only beginning.