Elias walked through the scorched ruins, the air still thick with smoke and blood. His footsteps were slow, heavy—not from fatigue, but the weight of everything he had just absorbed.
Behind him, Steve's twisted body lay half-dissolved, a smoking crater where his heart used to be.
But the world hadn't gone quiet.
No.
Something stirred.
It wasn't the wind.
It was watching.
The moment Elias devoured that Abyssal Core, the System had warned him: The Seven Abyssal Lords are now aware of your existence.
And now he could feel them.
Like distant gods staring through a crack in the sky.
[System Alert!]
→ Warning: You are now marked by the Abyss.
→ The Abyssal Lords have taken interest in your soul.
→ Your journey is now bound to the conflict of realms.
Lightning split the horizon. The rain didn't fall—it hissed.
Elias turned, half-expecting another monster to rise, but instead, the silver-haired man who had appeared earlier still stood there, eyes closed.
