The sky above the Hellgate shard was dead.
No stars. No wind. Just silence—so pure it clawed at the ears like a scream swallowed by eternity.
Jayce cracked a grin, but it faltered as his coin refused to flip.
> [Warning: Local Law Override – "Concept of Chance: Temporarily Nullified"]
[Boss Domain Activated – Anti-Fate Zone]
A massive throne of stitched tongues, ribcages, and broken code loomed in the distance. Upon it sat a figure clad in robes of woven silence. No eyes, no mouth—only a crown made of snapped bones and twitching wires. The air around him throbbed like a heart forcibly kept beating.
> [Legacy Boss: The Tongueless King – Remnant of Anti-System Protocols]
Phase: 1/6
Clones: 3 (Unstable, Reforming)
Core Mechanic: Silence Dominion
Speech-based talents nullified
Coordination suffers -60%
Sound-based abilities inverted or corrupted
Lian gritted his teeth. "He's targeting communication. We fight together, and he's cutting the thread."
Kuro nodded, shadow-writing symbols into the dirt. Their glow pulsed in Morse:
"Adapt. Switch to thoughtcasting."
> [System Override Initiated – Shared Mental Channel Created]
Temporary Link Established: Party Communication Enabled (Encrypted via Fate Diver Protocol)
Alina's thoughts echoed sharp and pure:
"He's anchored in suffering. Every tongue on that throne is someone he silenced. We kill the clones first."
---
The First Clone Appears
The first clone dropped like a comet. It bore the same royal garb, but twisted—one arm made of static, the other a whip of digitized teeth.
Ria leapt first, her war song muffled—but her blade sang on impact.
> [Talent Activation – Rhythm of Ruin: No Sound, No Mercy]
– Her abilities strengthen the less audible she becomes
– +300% Crit Damage inside Silence Fields
She carved a spiraling gouge across the clone's chest—only for black silence to pour out like blood, devouring light.
Jayce followed, now fighting in code. His jokes became written glyphs, blasted across the battlefield like memes turned missiles.
> [Coin Multiplier Glyph – "Dead Serious"]:
For every failed joke written, deal damage equal to system error logs
Five errors. Five explosions.
---
Second Clone Drops
Kuro engaged instantly, his talent now fused with Void Ink:
> [Talent: Hollow Draw – Rewrite]
Erases enemy mechanics for 5 seconds
Cooldown: Life-based – every use costs one future
He used it twice.
Both times, he smiled. "I'm not planning to live forever."
The clone tried to scream—its sound backfired. The nullified zone began to destabilize.
---
Alina's Revelation
The third clone reached Alina—but didn't attack.
It collapsed to its knees.
She gasped—because she recognized it.
It was her brother. One of the lost survivors—rendered a clone, trapped in a body not his own.
> [Remnant Identity: D-14 – Soul Fragment of Elias Nox]
Silent. Suffering. Still inside.
She had one choice.
> [Use: Absolute Mend – Memory Forfeit Required]
Alina's hands glowed. She stepped forward, said goodbye, then forgot his face.
But Elias's scream shattered the silence. One clone down.
---
Phase Shift
> [Tongueless King Phase Two: Activated]
All clones eliminated. Real form awakening.
Local laws rejected. Sound restored.
The King rose. From his void-split throat, a roar of all stolen voices blasted the sky into bleeding fragments.
> [World Event Unlocked: Screaming Eclipse]
Time limit: 6 minutes until collapse
Objective: Kill the King five more times before reality breaks
Lian's voice cut through the madness.
"We rewrite everything."
And together, they charged.
---