The entrance to the Hollow Deep wasn't a gate. It was a gaping wound in the world.
Flesh-colored rock twisted down into the earth like a spiral of scar tissue. Crimson mist seeped from within, whispering of old blood and buried screams. This place wasn't a dungeon—it was a grave pretending to still be alive.
I stepped past the threshold.
[Warning: You are entering a Tier-3 Echo Zone. Survivability: 21%.]
[Quest: Hunt the Abyss Echo. Bonus Objectives: Unknown.]
"Cozy place," I muttered.
Nyx slinked ahead, his obsidian fur nearly invisible in the dim glow of the pulsing crystals. "Something is breathing down here. Something big."
Darius said nothing. The armor along his arms shimmered faintly with enchantment. His eyes were fixed ahead, focused and unreadable.
We walked deeper, passing under bone arches and spires of ash glass. Every step echoed too loudly. The air grew thicker—like syrup and smoke.
That's when the scent hit me.
Rot. Old and wet, like meat left to fester in holy water. I paused.
"It's here."
Darius nodded. "Echoes usually draw you in before they attack. But this one's different. It's waiting."
As if summoned by his words, the ground beneath us ruptured.
No tremor. No warning. Just instant chaos.
A jagged maw split open, lined with teeth made from shattered swords. A monstrosity burst forth—limbs like blades, eyes stitched shut, howling in blind rage. A true Abyss Echo. All instinct and agony.
[Echo Detected: Level 22 - Ravager Spawn]
It lunged at me.
I raised my hand instinctively.
[Skill Activated: Blackfire Lance]
A spear of searing black flame erupted from my palm and drove straight into its face—but the beast didn't even flinch. It crashed into me, and we were airborne.
The world spun.
I hit the wall hard enough to crack stone.
Pain flared, but I grinned.
It had hurt me. That meant it could bleed.
Nyx exploded from the side, fangs drenched in shadow, biting deep into the creature's exposed ribs. Darius followed with a sweep of his glaive that cleaved two limbs off in a single motion—but the beast simply screamed and grew more.
Its limbs regenerated. Twice as many.
"Oh good," I spat blood. "It's one of those Echoes."
[New Objective: Survive Phase One.]
The system loved being vague.
And me?
I loved a fight.
"To hell with phases."
My Authority ignited like a curse made flesh, spreading through my limbs like dark lightning.
"Let's burn this thing alive."
[HP: 63%]
[Status: Bruised, Minor Internal Damage. Buff: Blackfire Surge (Active)]
The Echo shrieked again, a sound that bent the air like warping glass. Its regeneration wasn't just fast—it was evolving. Every blow we landed reshaped it, adapted it.
Blades sprouted from its back. Eyes forced themselves open across its torso, twitching and weeping dark ichor.
"What kind of Echo is this?" I hissed, dodging a whip-limb by inches. "It's not just rage—it's learning."
Nyx teleported above it mid-leap, his form splitting into afterimages. Shadow clones? Clever beast.
[Soul Skill: Lupine Mirage – Active (x3)]
Three Nyxes hit the Ravager at once, ripping through eyes, tendons, and nerves. One clone was shredded in the counterstrike. Another landed behind me, panting.
The last one burst in a spray of dark flame as the Ravager turned—and Darius struck.
With a howl of wind and magic, his glaive slammed down like judgment, severing the Echo in half.
It fell.
Slumped.
Twitched.
Then…
It laughed.
[Warning: Echo Mutation Detected – Phase Transition Imminent.]
"What?!"
Its flesh melted into black sludge, spreading out like ink spilled across the Hollow Deep floor. Bones rattled and twisted up from the ground—spires forming. The chamber itself began to shift.
Runes lit along the walls. Pulsing. Reacting.
Darius backed toward me. "The Echo is triggering a Domain."
"Oh, that's just great."
The walls closed in. The air rippled. We were inside a nightmare womb now.
From the dark, a new form emerged. Slimmer. Faster. No longer blind. Its gaze fixed on me—hungry, intelligent.
[Abyss Echo: Ravager Ascendant – Level 24]
I felt it.
The pressure. The hatred. The challenge.
And I smiled.
I summoned the Authority coiled deep in my bones, the legacy of something far older than this Echo.
Blackfire danced up my arms.
"I've been waiting for a real fight."
I cracked my neck.
"Let's see which of us breaks first."
The Ravager Ascendant lunged, its limbs a blur of blackened steel and raw malice. The air cracked as it moved, and I barely had time to react.
I raised my hand, blackfire surging through my veins, but the Echo's claws hit first—scraping across my side, tearing through flesh like parchment. I gritted my teeth against the pain.
[HP: 42%]
I spun to the side, barely dodging a slash that would've taken my head off. The force of the strike knocked the air from my lungs, and my knees buckled.
Darius was already moving. He met the Ravager midair, glaive spinning in a deadly arc. The beast twisted, its jagged blades striking with uncanny precision. The clash of steel echoed, ringing through the Hollow Deep like the toll of a death bell.
Nyx was nowhere to be seen. The shadows swallowed him up, but I knew better than to trust it. The battle was far from over.
I could feel the burn in my veins—the Blackfire Surge was reaching its limit. The power I was drawing was ancient, dangerous. If I went too far, I risked collapsing into madness. But right now? I didn't care.
"Die!" I roared, channeling every last ounce of my fury into the Blackfire Lance.
The spear shot forward, blazing like a comet of destruction. It slammed into the Ravager's chest, but the beast grinned. Its body melted around the attack, reforming instantly. The burn marks smoldered, but the monster's cruel smile never faltered.
Darius swore under his breath. "It's adapting to our attacks—this one's different. It's feeding on us."
I raised my arm, feeling the tremor in my body. "Then we'll starve it."
With that, I let go.
Blackfire coursed wildly through my body, bursting from every pore, a torrent of raw energy that bent the air around me. It was chaotic, uncontrollable—beautiful. It devoured everything in its path.
The Ravager lunged again, but it couldn't move fast enough. My strike met it mid-dash, a bolt of black flame that tore through its chest, shattering bone and sinew in an instant.
It screamed.
A shrill, ear-piercing shriek that shook the very ground beneath our feet. I could feel its energy—its rage—pushing against mine, fighting back, but I wasn't about to let it win.
"I said die!" I screamed, slamming my fist into the creature's chest as more Blackfire poured from me like a tidal wave.
The world exploded in a flash of white and red.
[Skill: Blackfire Overload – Cataclysmic Strike Activated]
The Ravager roared, but it was already too late. The Blackfire tore through its core, erupting out from every wound, every crack in its body. Flesh boiled away, replaced by cinders and ash. It howled again, but it was nothing more than a dying echo now, a wisp of smoke in a world of flames.
And then…
Silence.
I stood in the center of a vast crater, smoke swirling around me. My breath came in ragged gasps, and I could barely feel my legs beneath me. The Blackfire was draining—leaving nothing but emptiness behind.
Nyx reappeared beside me, blood dripping from his fangs, his form flickering in and out of shadow.
"You did it," he whispered, but I knew the cost.
[HP: 12%]
[Status: Exhausted, Blackfire Surge Deactivated.]
I fell to my knees, barely catching myself before I hit the ground. The weight of the battle, the toll it had taken, threatened to crush me. But I didn't care. The Ravager was dead. I had won.
Darius knelt beside me, his eyes narrowing. "We've won the battle, but this place… It's not done with us yet."
I looked up, half-blinded by smoke and sweat. "What do you mean?"
The walls trembled, and the faintest whisper of movement came from above. The Echo was gone, but something was rising from the depths.
And I had no time to rest.
[HP: 4%]
[Status: Critical Condition, Blackfire Surge: Inactive, Exhaustion: Severe]
The Hollow Deep quaked. The walls trembled with the sound of shifting stone, the ground beneath us crumbling and reforming like a living thing. My body felt like it was made of shattered glass—each movement sending a ripple of agony through my bones. The Blackfire was gone, leaving only a hollow, gnawing emptiness in its wake.
But I couldn't stop. I couldn't—I wouldn't stop.
"I'm not done yet," I gasped, dragging myself to my feet, using the jagged rock wall to steady my vision. Blood dripped from my side, and my vision blurred, but I ignored it.
The air was thick with something… different. The temperature dropped, and a shadow stretched across the floor, longer and darker than the rest.
Something new was coming.
Darius gripped his glaive tighter, his stance defensive but ready. He said nothing. His gaze was fixed on the shifting shadows, the ever-growing presence that filled the chamber with a palpable, crushing weight. He was just as exhausted as I was, but unlike me, he still had some semblance of his strength left.
"Hold your ground," he whispered, though I knew he was barely holding on himself. "Whatever it is, we face it together."
The ground beneath our feet cracked open, and from the darkness, something massive rose.
A towering monstrosity. It resembled a great, hunched beast—its form twisted and alien, its body encased in thick, chitinous armor. Black tendrils wrapped around its limbs, and its head was crowned with a twisted, jagged horn that scraped the ceiling. It was an Echo, but not any Echo I had ever seen. This one was born of something deeper, something older.
[Abyss Echo: The Hollow King – Level 30]
The Hollow King let out a low, rumbling growl, its voice vibrating in the very air. Its eyes glowed with malevolent light, focusing on us with predatory precision.
[Warning: Phase Shift – The Hollow King has begun to feed. His strength increases with each second.]
"This is what it's been leading to," I muttered, forcing the words through gritted teeth. "A damn king."
The Hollow King swung its massive arm, tendrils extending like whips, lashing out in all directions. One of them struck Darius, sending him crashing into the far wall with a sickening crunch.
I didn't have time to check on him.
The Hollow King was already charging me, its body moving like a nightmare come to life.
I staggered forward, pain shooting through my limbs. My sword was gone, shattered in the chaos, but I still had my claws—my legacy. The blood-red glow of my Authority flared weakly around my hands, a distant echo of the power I had once wielded.
With what little strength I had left, I threw myself at the Hollow King, fist raised, ready to strike.
But it was too fast.
The Hollow King swatted me aside like a ragdoll, sending me hurtling through the air. I crashed against the stone, my ribs cracking with the impact. Blood surged in my throat, and I coughed violently, but I refused to stay down.
[HP: 1%]
I couldn't breathe.
My vision was a haze of dark spots, my body a warzone of injuries. But in the silence, I heard a voice—the only thing keeping me tethered to reality.
"Get up, Sylvia."
It was Nyx. His voice was low but urgent. His form flickered, barely visible in the shadows, his ethereal presence like the faintest ember in the cold.
"I'll kill you if you don't move," he growled, before his voice softened. "For me."
I blinked, fighting through the fog. He was right.
This wasn't about survival anymore. It was about finishing what I had started—about making sure the Hollow King didn't win.
With a final, desperate roar, I dragged myself to my feet. The Hollow King was still advancing, its gaping maw opening wide. The air stank of death, and every step it took seemed to drain the light from the world around me.
I barely registered the glint of Darius's glaive as it came crashing down from the shadows—one last, desperate strike.
The Hollow King howled in agony as the weapon pierced its side, but the creature wasn't finished. It roared again, shaking the ground beneath us.
And in that moment, something inside me snapped.
I could feel it. The old power—the real power of the Demon King's blood. The blood of the First Daughter. The dark flame of my ancestors rose within me, a force older and deadlier than anything I had ever known.
[Skill Unlocked: Demon King's Wrath – Final Stand Activated]
I let the darkness consume me.
A massive surge of energy erupted from my core, flaring outward like a black storm. My hands were engulfed in shadowed fire—true Blackfire now. I could feel the power roaring through me, shredding every limit I had ever known.
I lunged, fists glowing with death.
The Hollow King barely had time to react before the final blow fell.
Blackfire tore through its chest, shattering its ribs and burning its core from the inside out. The beast screamed in agony as its form began to unravel, collapsing under the weight of its own destruction.
It was over.
[Abyss Echo: The Hollow King – Defeated.]
The last of its screams echoed through the Hollow Deep, dying with the dawn.
The room fell silent. The darkness lifted.
I collapsed to my knees, utterly drained, my body trembling with the aftermath of the battle. The light of the rising sun filtered through the cracks in the stone, casting a faint glow on the ruins.
I had won. But at what cost?