Chapter 14: When Gods Look Down
The Sovereign's hand finally took shape.
Not flesh.Not bone.Not anything mortal minds were meant to understand.
It was a silhouette—an outline carved from the absence of light itself. Every inch of it rippled with pressure so dense the air vibrated. The fractured arena trembled around it, floating slabs cracking under its shadow.
Raviel swallowed hard. "We're out of time."
Lira yelled from across the arena, "Two more chains on my side!"
Arin didn't answer. He couldn't.
His hands were numb from ripping the last link apart. His forearms shook uncontrollably. Blood trickled down to his elbows from burst capillaries. Each breath felt like grinding shards of glass in his chest.
But he moved anyway.
Reth hung suspended by the remaining chains, his head slumped forward, eyes flickering between human and code. The glowing glyphs around him dimmed with every snap, but the controller fought harder each time.
When the third chain broke, the Sovereign's hand stopped descending.
And pointed.
A beam of cold power lashed toward them. It wasn't a spell, or energy, or light—it was pressure. Force. Command. Reality bending around a ruler's order.
Arin dove aside.
The beam hit a floating slab instead.
The entire platform twisted like paper, folding into itself until it collapsed into a single grain of dust… and vanished.
Raviel's voice cracked. "That… might be the worst thing I've ever seen."
"We keep going!" Arin barked.
He sprinted to the next chain—his body protesting with every step. His legs felt like they were made of stone, stiff and ready to snap.
Reth weakly raised his head. "Arin… stop. Please…"
Arin grabbed the chain anyway.
"Not happening."
The moment his fingers closed, agony ripped through him. His knees buckled. His vision swam.
He gritted his teeth and pulled.
Raviel appeared beside him, slashing at the link with reinforced shadow. Each strike chipped at it, sparks flying. "Why are you like this?" he muttered.
"Someone has to be," Arin hissed, pulling harder.
The chain cracked.
The Sovereign reacted instantly.
The arena darkened. The pressure doubled. The giant hand rotated toward Arin specifically.
Lira screamed, "Duck!"
Arin dropped as another beam of crushing force slammed where he'd been standing. The shockwave ripped through the platform, sending him tumbling. Raviel caught him mid-fall, jerking him back onto a stable slab.
"Try not to die while I'm helping you!" Raviel snapped.
Arin pushed away. "Next chain!"
They split without planning—Raviel to the right, Lira to the left, Arin straight forward.
Another chain snapped under Lira's runic burst, light blasting outward like a flare. She fell to her knees, panting, sweat dripping down her face.
"One left!" she shouted. "Only one!"
Reth's breathing was shallow now—barely visible.
His voice broke. "Arin… I—can't hold it—much longer…"
Arin reached the final chain.
It was different.
Thicker.Heavier.Glowing brighter.
A primary anchor.
The one truly binding Reth's soul.
Arin braced his stance, grabbed the chain with both hands—
—and felt something inside it looking back at him.
A presence.
Cold.
Limitless.
Judging.
A voice whispered through the link, not through sound but straight into his skull:
"UNWORTHY CREATURE."
Arin froze.
"THIS VESSEL IS CLAIMED."
The chain pulsed, burning his skin.
"RELEASE HIM OR BE ERASED."
Arin snarled back through clenched teeth. "Come erase me, then."
Raviel swore behind him. "Arin, don't provoke a Sovereign!"
Lira shouted, "It'll mark you!"
Arin pulled.
Pain obliterated thought. His muscles screamed. His bones felt like they were grinding apart. His heart hammered so violently he tasted blood.
The chain didn't budge.
The Sovereign's hand descended again—directly toward him.
Reth suddenly convulsed, his eyes widening. "Arin! MOVE!"
The hand's shadow reached Arin's feet.
He didn't step back.
He didn't look away.
He pulled again—harder.
His vision went black around the edges. His grip slipped and returned. His lungs stopped responding entirely. His heartbeat faltered.
He heard nothing.
Saw nothing.
Except Reth.
His mentor.His first real ally.The one who didn't abandon him in the early Underworld layers.
Arin roared, voice raw, desperate.
"LET HIM GO!"
Something snapped.Something BIG.
Not the chain.
The Sovereign's control.
For the first time, the massive hand jerked—hesitated—wavered.
Reth's eyes flashed with clarity. "Arin… now!"
Arin dug his feet into the ground so hard the stone cracked and PULLED with everything he had left.
The chain shattered.
The explosion of released energy knocked all three of them back. The shockwave tore through the arena, breaking slabs and shattering fragments into dust.
The Sovereign's hand recoiled, folding inward like a wounded animal.
The system screamed:
[HOST RESTORED: RETH][SOVEREIGN AUTHORITY: FORCED EJECTION][DIMENSIONAL BREACH CLOSING]
Reth collapsed, hitting a floating platform hard. His chains dissolved into harmless light.
Arin hit the stone next to him, coughing violently, his body refusing to move. Every nerve burned. His hands were raw and bleeding.
The Sovereign's voice echoed one last time across the arena:
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS."
The hand faded.
The pressure vanished.
The arena slowly stabilized, floating slabs settling into a fractured but harmless pattern.
Silence followed.
For the first time in what felt like hours.
Raviel lay on his back, gasping. "I'm… never… helping you again."
Lira wiped her eyes with shaking hands. "We survived… somehow."
Arin forced himself up on one elbow.
Reth lay unconscious, but breathing.
Alive.
Arin exhaled a long, shaking breath. "…Told you I'd free you."
His body finally gave out and he fell back, staring at the swirling void sky above.
He didn't know what came next.
But he knew one thing:
A Sovereign had just marked him.
And they didn't forget.