Chapter 6: The Calculus of Sacrifice
The Hollow King's laughter vibrated through the void, shaking the white path beneath Elias's feet. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, revealing an abyss below—an abyss filled with numbers, swirling like a storm of broken code.
Illana's grip on his arm was iron. "Elias, don't—!"
But he was already stepping forward.
His corrupted hand hovered over the door-mouth. The moment it made contact, the world shattered—
The Vision of the Lock
—and Elias saw the truth.
The Hollow King was not a prisoner.
He was a parasite.
The Ivory Tower wasn't built to contain him—it was built to feed him. Every spell cast by its mages, every equation solved, every drop of mana spent… it all trickled down here, into the King's gullet.
And now, after centuries of gluttony, he was almost strong enough to break free.
The door-mouth grinned. "YOU SEE? THEY MADE ME THEIR GOD. AND NOW THEY WILL DIE SCREAMING."
Elias recoiled. His blackened veins burned—not with pain, but with recognition. The corruption wasn't just spreading through him.
It was counting down.
The Inquisition Arrives
A blast of golden light tore through the void. The Grand Magisters' forces had breached the core.
At their head stood Magister Orthen—or what was left of him. His mask was gone, his face a ruin of bleeding sockets, his mouth sewn shut with glowing wire.
"Kill the Keybearer," he rasped through the stitches. "Before he dooms us all."
A dozen spellblades ignited.
Illana stepped in front of Elias, her dagger raised. "Run. I'll hold them."
Elias didn't move.
He was staring at Orthen's sewn-shut mouth—and the faint, familiar symbols etched into the wire.
His equation.
They've been using pieces of it.
They don't even know what it is.
The Only Way Out
The door-mouth hissed. "THEY WILL KILL HER. THEN YOU. THEN THE WORLD. OPEN ME, AND I WILL SAVE YOU."
Elias closed his eyes.
If the Tower feeds him… then starving him is the answer.
But the Tower's magic was woven into the world itself. To sever it would be like severing gravity.
Unless—
Unless the lock became the key.
Elias exhaled. Then he pulled at the corruption in his veins, gathering it into his palm like a coiled snake.
Illana screamed his name.
Orthen raised his blade.
And Elias shoved his hand into the door-mouth's jaws.
The Fracture
The void screamed.
The door-mouth convulsed, its edges unraveling into frantic equations as Elias's corruption infected it. The Tower's core logic began to dissolve—
—and the Hollow King howled—
—not in triumph.
In terror.
"NO! YOU CAN'T—!"
Elias gritted his teeth as the corruption consumed him, racing up his neck, his jaw, his eyes—
"I'm not locking you in," he whispered.
"I'm locking you out."*
A final, deafening crack—
—and then—
—silence.
The Aftermath
Elias woke on cold stone.
The void was gone. The door was gone.
And the Hollow King's voice…
…was quiet.
Not gone. But distant.
Like a scream on the other side of reality.
Illana crouched beside him, her face bloodied but alive. "What did you do?"
Elias lifted his hand. The black veins were frozen now, pale as scar tissue.
"I rewrote the rules," he said.
Above them, the Tower trembled—not in rage.
In fear.
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End Chapter 6