The air screeched as Belphegor's ashen claws sliced through the space where Akash's head had been a microsecond ago. Even with his injured legs, Akash's instincts were screaming, forcing him to move.
[WARNING: HOST IS AT 15% HEALTH]
[CRITICAL DAMAGE TO LOWER MERIDIANS]
"You destroyed my peace!" Belphegor howled, his voice no longer slow but high-pitched and filled with rage. He moved like a blur of grey smoke, his claws leaving trails of purple poison in the air. "Now I'll turn your internal organs into gravel!"
Akash coughed up blood, the purple mist still trying to settle in his lungs. He looked at Meera and Master Yun. Meera's breathing was shallow; the stone was creeping up her arms. He was out of time.
"System," Akash whispered, his eyes flashing with a dangerous, unstable violet light. "Initiate the Sovereign's Sacrifice."
[SYSTEM: CAUTION! SACRIFICING FOUNDATION STABILITY WILL PERMANENTLY DAMAGE YOUR CORE!]
[DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED?]
"If I don't have a core, I can't protect them anyway," Akash thought. "Unlock the 5th Gate: The Gate of Ruin!"
BOOM!
A pillar of pure black lightning erupted from Akash, so powerful that it pushed the purple fog back for a mile. His hair turned silver-white at the tips, and his Broken Sovereign Blade began to hum with a sound like a dying star.
[TEMPORARY BUFF: SOVEREIGN OF THE VOID]
[CULTIVATION TEMPORARILY BOOSTED TO CORE FORMATION LEVEL 1]
Belphegor froze, his spectral claws trembling. For the first time, the Sin-Eater felt a level of pressure that made his own soul want to kneel. "This... this is impossible! You're just a Level 3 brat!"
"I am the king of this graveyard," Akash said, his voice echoing from the void itself.
He didn't use a step. He simply blinked, appearing right in front of Belphegor. He caught the Sin-Eater's claws with his bare left hand—the sound of sizzling flesh ignored—and thrust the Broken Sovereign Blade straight through Belphegor's throat.
"Sovereign Art: Finality—The End of Dreams!"
The black lightning didn't just kill Belphegor; it erased his very essence. The purple mist vanished instantly. The Sin-Eater's body turned into ash, leaving behind a glowing, purple Core.
[BOSS DEFEATED: BELPHEGOR]
[LOOT ACQUIRED: SLOTH'S SOUL-CORE]
[MISSION STATUS: MEERA AND MASTER YUN ARE AWAKENING]
Akash's silver hair faded back to black, and he collapsed to his knees, his blade clattering to the ground. His body was a wreck, but as he saw Meera's eyes snap open and the stone on her arms crumble away, he smiled.
"Akash!" Meera screamed, rushing toward his blood-soaked body.
But before she could reach him, the sky turned blood-red. A voice boomed from the heavens, colder than the Observer's.
"Two Sin-Eaters fallen? How disappointing. It seems I must send the Twins of Envy to finish this."The blood-red sky didn't just change color; it began to weep. A rain of dark, emerald droplets started to fall, and everywhere a drop touched, the ground sizzled and turned black.
Meera finally reached Akash, sliding on her knees to catch him. Her hands were trembling as she touched his face, which was covered in cold sweat and blood. "Akash! Wake up! We won... Belphegor is gone!"
But Akash couldn't respond. His eyes were rolled back, and the Sovereign Armor on his chest was flickering like a dying candle.
[SYSTEM ALERT: CRITICAL ENERGY DEPLETION]
[CORE FRAGMENTS: UNSTABLE]
[PROBABILITY OF REMAINING CONSCIOUS: 2%]
Master Yun stood up, leaning heavily on his sword. He looked toward the horizon where the red sky met the golden ruins. Two streaks of light—one as green as poison and the other as black as a void—were descending with terrifying speed.
"They are coming," Yun whispered, his voice full of dread. "The Twins... Yin and Yang. They don't just kill their prey; they consume the very potential of their victims. They will want your Black-Gold Foundation, Akash."
Suddenly, the air grew cold—colder than the Sloth's mist. A high-pitched, childish giggle echoed from the clouds.
"Oh look, brother! A broken king and a crying girl," a girl's voice sang from the sky.
"How disgusting," a boy's voice replied, filled with pure hatred. "I want to see that black lightning extinguish. I want to see his hope turn into ash."
Two small figures landed softly on the edge of the rooftop. They looked like children, dressed in matching funeral robes, but their eyes were ancient and swirling with a poisonous green flame. The ground beneath their feet didn't just crack; it seemed to wither, as if the very life was being sucked out of the stones.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: TARGETS IDENTIFIED - THE TWINS OF ENVY]
[CULTIVATION: ???]
[WARNING: HOSTILE INTENT AT MAXIMUM LEVEL]
Akash's hand twitched. He felt the overwhelming pressure. Even in his unconscious state, his Indomitable Will was trying to force his body to stand, but his muscles were torn and his Qi was gone.
"Don't worry, little lizard," the girl, Yang, said as she stepped forward, her shadow stretching out like a monster. "We won't kill you quickly. We're going to take everything you've worked for, piece by piece."
The red rain grew heavier, and as the Twins raised their hands, a dome of emerald light trapped Akash, Meera, and Yun. There was no escape. The "Greed" was over, but the "Envy" was just beginning.
[SYSTEM FINAL LOG - CHAPTER 15: DARKNESS DESCENDS] The emerald dome tightened around them, the toxic rain turning into a thick, poisonous fog. Meera shielded Akash's body with her own, but she could feel her life-force being siphoned away by the Twins' mere presence.
"Step away from the boy, girl," Yin said, his voice cold and devoid of any human emotion. "His Black-Gold Foundation belongs to someone who actually knows how to use it. A cockroach shouldn't wear the crown of a king."
Master Yun coughed, blood splattering against his white beard. "You... you are monsters. To target a fallen warrior... have you no shame?"
"Shame?" Yang giggled, hopping skip-rope style over a crack in the roof. "We only have hunger. And right now, his soul smells like the most delicious meal in the Seven Realms."
[SYSTEM ALERT: EXTERNAL CORE EXTRACTION DETECTED]
[COUNTER-MEASURE: NONE AVAILABLE]
[STATUS: HOST IS DEFENSELESS]
Yang raised her small, pale hand. A thread of emerald Qi shot out, wrapping around Akash's neck and lifting his limp body into the air. Akash's head hung low, his eyes closed, his Broken Sovereign Blade slipping from his numb fingers and clattering onto the stone.
"Stop it! Let him go!" Meera screamed, lunging at Yang, but Yin simply flicked his wrist. A wave of black force slammed into Meera, sending her crashing into the emerald barrier.
"Meera..." Master Yun growled, his eyes burning with a final, desperate light. "I am the last elder of the Fallen Cloud Sect. I will not let you take him!"
Yun began to glow with a blinding white light. He wasn't just using his Qi; he was burning his very life-essence—the Shattering Soul Art.
"Oh? A suicide move?" Yin tilted his head, looking bored. "How predictable. Sister, finish the extraction before the old man explodes."
As Yang pulled the emerald thread tighter, Akash's Black-Gold Foundation began to vibrate violently inside his body. A faint, golden mist started to leak out of his chest—his cultivation was being ripped out of him while he was still alive.
[WARNING: PERMANENT CULTIVATION LOSS INITIATED]
[5%... 10%... 15%...]
But deep within Akash's subconscious, in the darkest corner of his mind, a voice roared. It wasn't the System's robotic tone. It was a voice that sounded like thunder hitting an iron mountain.
"You want my power? Then you shall have my BURDEN!"
Suddenly, the flickers of the Sovereign Armor on Akash's chest stopped blinking. They turned a deep, blood-red.
[SYSTEM ERROR: FORBIDDEN PROTOCOL 'HELL-GATE' ACCESSED]
[WARNING: THE SOVEREIGN IS NO LONGER IN CONTROL]
Akash's eyes snapped open. But they weren't violet anymore. They were pitch black, with a single ring of crimson lightning spinning around the pupil. He grabbed the emerald thread with his bare hand and, with a single jerk, pulled Yang toward him.