The red glow of the chains faded, leaving Kael on his knees, gasping for breath. His head spun with confusion. The memory of screeching tires and blinding headlights still clung to him, but the hard stone beneath his hands felt too real to be a dream.
He looked up again at the figure wearing the broken crown—but it was gone, vanishing like smoke in the wind. Only its voice remained in his mind: Break your chains, or be crushed beneath them.
Kael forced himself to stand. All around him stretched a dead, endless land. Jagged rocks jutted up like the bones of a giant corpse. The sky, a dark violet, groaned with thunder. In the far distance, a black fortress rose, its sharp towers piercing the heavens like spears.
He swallowed hard. "Deloria… is that the name of this place?"
The answer came from the cold voice of the System:
[World: Deloria – The Shackled Empire][System Directive: Survive. Repay. Ascend.]
Kael clenched his fists, but the chains around his wrists rattled, reminding him that he wasn't free—not here, not anywhere.
He began to walk, boots scraping on the stone. Every step grew heavier, as though the chains dragged at his soul as well as his body.
The silence pressed on him, broken only by faint whispers from the shackles. Sometimes, he thought he could hear words—pleading, crying, cursing.
His chest tightened. I didn't even say goodbye… Faces flashed in his mind. His sister's disappointed eyes. His mother's weary sigh. The fights. The anger. The shame.
"I was a failure there," he muttered. "Am I going to fail here too?"
The System answered at once, merciless as ever:
[Failure Condition: Eternal Shackling. Your soul will be bound in torment without release.]
His hands shook. Eternal shackling… never-ending… no escape, not even in death.
"Damn you," he growled. "Damn this system. Damn this world."
The chains pulsed with red light, feeding on his anger.
Then came a sound.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
Kael froze. From behind sharp rocks, figures appeared—humanoid but twisted. Their skin was pale like ash, heavy chains dragging from their necks across the ground. Their hollow white eyes glowed with lifeless light.
[System Alert: Debt Collectors detected.][Rank: Lesser Shades][Objective: Extract soul fragments from delinquent debtors.]
Kael's heart dropped. "You've got to be kidding me…"
One Shade hissed, its jaw stretching open unnaturally wide. A long, jagged chain shot out from its mouth, snapping toward him like a whip.
Instinct took over—Kael raised his arms. The crimson shackles flared, intercepting the attack with a metallic clash. Sparks burst into the air.
A message blinked before his eyes:
[System Notice: Soul Chains can be used offensively or defensively.][Warning: Each use drains fragments of the host's soul.]
Cold dread sank into Kael's gut. So every fight costs me pieces of myself?
Another Shade lunged. Kael swung his chained arm wildly. To his shock, the crimson shackle shot out like a whip and slammed into the Shade's chest. The creature shrieked, crumbling into dust. A faint glowing wisp floated up from its remains.
[Soul Fragment acquired: +1]
The wisp sank into Kael's chest, warming his body and easing his fatigue.
He gasped. "So I can take from them… to pay the debt."
But three more Shades circled him, their chains dragging across the ground.
Kael's pulse thundered. He had never been a fighter. In his old life, he couldn't even stand up to his boss's scolding. But now… it was fight or die.
The Shades struck again. Kael ducked and rolled, lashing out with his chains. Each strike rattled his body, draining him, but one by one the creatures turned to dust, leaving glowing fragments behind.
At last, silence returned. Only the faint whispers of the absorbed fragments lingered in his mind.
Kael collapsed, drenched in sweat though the air was cold. His wrists burned from the glow of the shackles.
The System spoke again, as calm as ever:
[Combat Complete.][Soul Fragments Collected: 4][Eternal Debt Remaining: 999,996 Soul Marks.]
Kael gave a bitter laugh, his voice echoing across the empty land. "Four down… and still a million to go."
He pressed his face into his hands. "This is impossible."
But under the despair, something stubborn sparked inside him. The same stubbornness that had carried him through every failure in his old life.
"I won't be shackled forever," he whispered. "Not by debt. Not by this empire. I'll find a way. Even if it kills me again."
The chains hummed softly, almost as if they had heard his vow.
And so, under the broken sky of Deloria, Kael's story began—one of chains, blood, and the desperate fight to break free.