There was no sky.
Only light.
The kind that didn't shine—it judged.
The Thronebreaker stood alone in a realm of endless white. Not cold. Not warm. Just absolute. A blank canvas, yet impossibly dense, as if the weight of creation pressed against every inch of his skin.
He couldn't tell where the ground ended and the air began.
Even his shadow refused to follow him here.
❖ Realm Identified: [White Realm]
– Status: Origin of Oaths
– Threat Level: Unmeasurable
– Caution: Every step here echoes.
He moved.
The white shifted with each footstep, forming slow ripples of time that folded back in on themselves. Somewhere ahead, the throne waited. He could feel it—not in the distance, but in the gravity of his thoughts, like a memory trying to be reborn.
And beside that throne—
A figure waited.
Solenne.
But not the twisted fragment from the Black Pattern. Not a dream. Not a nightmare.
The real one.
Or what was left of her.
She wore white, same as the realm. A gown made of judgment. No shoes. No weapons. No armor. Her hair flowed like liquid memory, and her eyes…
They were fire.
"You shouldn't have come here," she said.
Her voice carried no anger. Only… finality.
He stopped walking.
"I've walked through broken timelines, entropy storms, and the dying breath of starborn emperors to get here."
She nodded slowly.
"And yet, this is the only place that matters."
He looked around. Nothing but infinity.
"Because it's pure?"
"No," she said, stepping forward. "Because it's honest. This realm doesn't hide your truth. It doesn't mask your lies. It doesn't bend to your will."
"It's not supposed to."
She stopped five feet away. "Then you already know what this place demands."
He did.
And it terrified him more than any warlord, beast, or false god he had faced:
Confession.
The White Realm shimmered—and behind Solenne, a memory emerged like mist being exhaled from the earth.
He watched himself, kneeling on a blood-soaked battlefield, holding her in his arms.
She was dying.
"Tell me the truth," she had whispered.
But in that moment—he hadn't.
He'd told her it would all be okay. That he'd fix everything.
She'd smiled.
Then closed her eyes.
And never opened them again.
The memory evaporated.
But the guilt remained.
Solenne's gaze sharpened. "The White Realm remembers every truth you've buried beneath power."
He didn't speak.
There was nothing to say.
So the realm answered for him.
A voice spoke, not from the air, but from his bones.
❖ Initiating White Trial
– Protocol: Confess or Be Unmade
– First Seal: The Lie That Saved You
– Identify the moment.
And it appeared.
Another memory.
He was a child again. Running. Hunted. Not by beasts. Not by soldiers.
By himself.
A shadow version. Born of trauma. Fueled by fear. He had made a deal that day—a promise to a silent god he'd never name again.
"I'll burn everything. Just let me live."
He hadn't even been old enough to spell "mercy."
And the realm made him relive it. Exactly as it happened. No cuts. No filters.
The pain hit harder now. Because he understood what that moment cost.
❖ Confess: Why did you live?
He closed his eyes.
"Because I was a coward."
The realm shifted.
The throne in the distance cracked slightly.
❖ First Seal Broken.
Solenne's expression didn't change.
But he swore… the air around her pulsed with approval.
❖ Second Seal: The Truth You Refused
Another memory.
The moment he first heard the Throne System awaken.
He had smiled.
Not in wonder. Not in relief.
In satisfaction.
Because deep down… he'd wanted power. Craved it. Dreamed of it.
Even as the world burned around him.
He didn't take the system out of duty.
He took it because it made him feel like a god.
❖ Confess: What was your first thought when you received the system?
He whispered, "Now no one can hurt me again."
The realm shuddered.
Not in judgment.
In acceptance.
❖ Second Seal Broken.
The throne glowed brighter.
The air hummed with tension.
❖ Final Seal: The Betrayal You Can't Forgive
He knew what was coming.
He braced himself.
But it still destroyed him.
It wasn't someone else's betrayal.
It was his own.
The moment he chose to let the First Realm die.
The day of the Fracture.
He had power. Enough to intervene. Enough to change the tide.
But he hadn't.
He had stood at the edge of creation—
—and chosen to walk away.
Why?
Because he was tired.
Because some part of him wanted it all to end.
He had watched Eidralorn burn.
And whispered:
"Let it go."
❖ Confess: Why didn't you save the First Realm?
He dropped to his knees.
"…Because I didn't believe it was worth saving."
The silence afterward was not empty.
It was absolute.
Then—
❖ Final Seal Broken.
The throne cracked open.
Not metaphorically. Not symbolically.
Literally.
Stone peeled back. Chains snapped. And from within the hollow throne…
A seed of light emerged.
Solenne knelt.
Not to him.
To the moment.
To the choice now offered.
She spoke, voice calm and steady.
"The throne is yours again. Not to wield. Not to reclaim. But to decide."
He looked down at the seed.
It pulsed with power.
With potential.
It could restore realms.
Reverse time.
Rebuild Eidralorn.
Even bring back her.
He reached for it—
Then stopped.
Because that was the test.
It always had been.
He looked at Solenne.
And smiled.
"No."
He clenched his fist.
And crushed the seed.
Light exploded.
Not in destruction.
But in release.
The White Realm rippled—then shattered like glass, not from violence, but freedom.
And in that final moment…
The throne crumbled into ash.
Not because he failed.
But because he chose not to sit on it.
❖ [Oath Completed: White Trial Passed]
– Authority Upgraded: [Thronebreaker — True Designation: World Refuser]
– Ability Gained: [Voidwalk: Move through unrevealed realms]
– Throne Progression: 23%
When the light faded…
He stood alone once more.
On a cliff overlooking a realm of red storms and burning rivers.
The next realm.
The Realm of Rage.
And behind him—
Solenne was gone.