The Grand Library of Valoria was not built for the living. Its shelves stretched so high they disappeared into a magical mist, and the floor was made of polished obsidian that reflected the flickering purple sky outside. Here, the history of the world was kept—and guarded by the most dangerous of the Twelve.
[Location: The Grand Library of Valoria]
[Objective: Eliminate the Saint of Silence & The Saint of Lore]
[Warning: Area Effect 'Eternal Hush' Active - Sound is Lethal]
Arlan stepped through the shattered oak doors. Instantly, his system interface turned a deep, warning red.
[Status Alert: Audio-Synesthesia Triggered]
[Effect: Every sound you make deals internal damage to your organs.]
Arlan felt his heart hammer against his ribs. Thump-thump. With every beat, a spike of pain shot through his chest, as if his own blood was turning into needles. This was the power of Zero, the Saint of Silence. He didn't fight with blades; he turned your own existence into a weapon against you.
From the shadows of the third tier, two figures appeared. One was a tall, faceless entity wrapped in white bandages—Zero. Beside him stood an old man clutching a tome that pulsed with a sickly yellow light—Veritas, the Saint of Lore.
"You have come far, little prince," Veritas whispered, his voice somehow bypassing the 'Silence' effect. "But do you know why this System was truly built? Why your father poisoned you? It wasn't because he hated you. It was because he feared what lived inside you."
Arlan tried to speak, but a cough of blood sprayed the floor. Each vibration of his vocal cords felt like a saw blade cutting his throat.
[HP: 2,100 / 3,500]
[Sanity: 58% (Dropping Fast)]
I don't need to speak, Arlan thought, his eyes glowing with a feral green light. I just need to erase you.
He activated Void Pulse. Instead of fighting the silence, he became it. He synchronized his mana frequency to the absolute zero of the void. For a moment, even the Saint of Silence looked confused. Arlan became a ghost, moving through the library without a single vibration, not even a heartbeat.
[Skill Synergy: Abyssal Blink + Zero-Frequency]
In the span of a single micro-second, Arlan appeared behind Zero. He didn't use his sword. He shoved his bare hand into the Saint's chest and activated Soul Devour.
[Saint Extinguished: Zero the Silent]
[Exp Gained: 35,000]
[Level Up! Level 29 -> Level 31]
[New Passive: 'Heart of the Void' - You are now immune to sound-based magic.]
As Zero dissolved into white dust, the "Hush" lifted. Arlan turned to Veritas, his blade dripping with shadow-matter. "Tell me the truth, old man. Or I'll burn every book in this library with you inside them."
Veritas opened his pulsing book to the very last page. His eyes widened in terror. "The System... it isn't a gift, Arlan. It's a cage. It was built to keep you from waking up. You aren't the hero of this story... you are the catastrophe the world has been trying to forget."
[System Error: Core Memory Corrupted]
[New Quest: The Truth of the First King]
Veritas's words hung in the air like a death sentence. Arlan's grip on the Eclipse Blade tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"A cage?" Arlan's voice was raspy, the damage from the 'Eternal Hush' still healing. "You're saying my father turned me into a monster to save the world? That's the most pathetic lie the Empire has ever told."
"It is no lie," Veritas countered, stepping back as the shelves around him began to bleed black ink. "Look at the logs, boy! Why do you think your 'System' gives you points for killing? Why does it reward you for consuming souls? It's not training you to be a King... it's feeding the thing that was born inside you."
[Sanity: 49% - Warning: Hallucinations beginning]
[System Message: Restricted Data Accessed. Rebooting...]
The library began to distort. The bookshelves stretched into infinite loops, and the faces of the people Arlan had killed—Lord Kaelen, Barak, and countless soldiers—began to emerge from the ink-stained floor. They weren't just shadows; they were memories, screaming for release.
[Skill Triggered: Memory Consumption (Passive)]
Suddenly, Arlan wasn't standing in the library anymore. He was in a void, watching a younger version of himself—the night he was poisoned. He saw his father, King Valerius, standing over him with a cup of liquid that glowed with a terrifying, ancient light.
"I am sorry, my son," the King's memory whispered. "But the darkness within you is older than the throne. If I cannot kill it, I must chain it with the 'System'. May the gods forgive me."
Arlan's eyes snapped open. The green fire in his pupils was now laced with a deep, abyssal purple. He wasn't afraid. He was insulted.
"If I am the catastrophe," Arlan hissed, his aura exploding outward and shattering the obsidian floor, "then I will be the most glorious disaster this world has ever seen."
Veritas tried to chant a final spell from his yellow tome, but the ink wouldn't obey him. The ink was flowing toward Arlan, drawn to the Chaos Core like iron filings to a magnet.
"Stop!" Veritas shrieked. "You're absorbing the History of the World! If that knowledge enters your mind, you'll go insane!"
[System Alert: Mass Data Ingestion in progress...]
[Analyzing 10,000 years of Lore...]
[Level Up! Level 31 -> Level 33]
Arlan didn't stop. He stepped forward, and every book he passed turned to ash, their knowledge flowing into his veins. He reached Veritas and grabbed the old man's face.
"You want to talk about lore?" Arlan asked, his voice echoing with the sound of a thousand dead kings. "I just read your entire life, Veritas. I know where the King keeps the Final Seal."
With a brutal twist, Arlan crushed the Saint's skull, not with strength, but with a sudden burst of gravity.
[Saint Extinguished: Veritas, the Lore-Keeper]
[Exp Gained: 40,000]
[Loot: The Chronos Key (Quest Item)]
The library began to collapse. Without the Saints to stabilize it, the space was folding in on itself. Outside, the second great tower—the Tower of Knowledge—exploded in a shower of blue sparks.
Arlan walked out of the crumbling ruins just as Lyra and Sebastian arrived. They stopped dead when they saw him. Arlan was different. His skin was paler, his height seemed to have increased, and the air around him felt heavy—as if the world itself was struggling to carry his weight.
"Arlan?" Lyra asked, her ice magic flickering. "What did you find in there?"
Arlan looked at the Imperial Palace. He could see through the walls now. He could see his father waiting on the throne, surrounded by the remaining nine Saints.
"I found out that I've been playing a game," Arlan said, the Chronos Key glowing in his hand. "And it's time I broke the board."
[New Skill Unlocked: 'Reality Warp' (Limited)]
[Objective Updated: The Final Nine]