Chapter 18: Thorns of the Saint, Roots of the Void
The air cracked like glass under pressure.
Each step Shen took toward the heart of the Bloomroot Maze made the sky above Emberreach groan in protest. What had once been a holy garden—used by the Solar Saints to cultivate divine blessings—now pulsed with thorned vines, glowing fungi, and cursed luminescence.
The Thorned Saint was waiting.
She stood barefoot in the moss-laced ruins, her halo dimmed, her golden robes shredded and coiling like petals caught in rot. Her eyes burned, not with faith, but betrayal.
"You carry the brand of the Void. You should not exist," she whispered, her voice both mournful and monstrous. "But I see you, God Slayer."
Shen didn't answer. His Voidbrand pulsed over his chest, threads of darkness writhing like veins under pale skin.
Behind him, Nyxria halted by a twisted arch of palewood. Her fingers hovered over the moss as the system interface shimmered briefly.
[Bloomroot Interference Detected.]
[Mental Labyrinth Active: Memory Loop Initiated.]
"This place… it's not just a battlefield," Nyxria murmured. "It's a test. Of truth, and lies. Of memory."
A sudden shiver ran through Shen. The vines at his feet recoiled—not from him, but from the Voidbrand itself. Something deep inside it had awakened… something sealed.
⚔️ The Clash Begins
The Thorned Saint raised her staff—once a beacon of life, now twisted by corrupted roots. It screamed as it moved, thorns blooming mid-air, turning into serrated spears.
"Do you think killing gods makes you righteous?" she said. "You are nothing but a walking wound. A sin that breathes."
Shen moved faster than her voice. His palm struck forward—not touching her, but parting space itself. Reality bent as a Void Pulse shot out, swallowing the Saint's initial barrage.
[New Voidbrand Skill: Null Halo - Unlocked]
Temporarily negates divine effects within a short radius. Side effect: Identity fracturing.
The Saint staggered, her holy sigils dimming. But she smiled.
"Good. Suffer with me."
She stabbed the ground. Bloomroot vines exploded upward, forming walls, mouths, limbs. Some were hers—some bore his face.
"Memory constructs," Shen hissed. "She's drawing from my sealed past."
🧠 A Memory, Unsealed
The world around Shen trembled, pixelating.
He found himself standing in a dim hall—ancient, hollow. A boy—himself, younger—stood before a shattered mirror, holding a blade that dripped not blood, but light.
"They told me power meant nothing if I couldn't save them…"
The voice echoed like a ghost. Shen gritted his teeth. This wasn't memory. It was extraction.
The Voidbrand responded:
[Core Seal Weakening. Do you wish to unlock: STAGE TWO – Voidbrand: Eclipsed Genesis?]
Cost: One permanent emotional bond. Sacrifice required.
"No," Shen growled. "Not yet."
🌿 Nyxria's Discovery
Back in the waking world, Nyxria moved through the Bloomroot labyrinth, feeling it twist around her mind. Images flickered—her old life? No. Someone else's.
"These aren't my memories. They're Shen's… no—worse. They're the Void's."
She found an altar beneath a living tree that wept blood instead of sap. Symbols written in both ancient system code and celestial script formed a spiral around a core crystal.
[Bloomroot Core Analysis: The Tree was once… a god?]
"This Saint," Nyxria whispered, "she didn't fall. She was left behind."
💥 Final Confrontation
Back on the battlefield, Shen and the Thorned Saint clashed in mid-air, blades drawn from opposite philosophies.
Her thorns met his void. Her prayers met his silence.
"I burned my name for my people!" she screamed.
"I erased mine to kill gods like you," Shen replied coldly.
But she was dying.
As the Saint collapsed, thorns blooming from her chest in reverse—returning to her, not striking out—she looked at Shen one last time.
"You aren't the Anomaly, are you?" she whispered.
"You're the origin. The one the Prophecy feared."
🌀 World Shift
At that moment, the sky cracked—not a metaphor, but literally.
Everyone in Emberreach saw it: a rift of light splitting the heavens, as if something above the world had turned its eye below.
[World Event: "LUNAR FRACTURE – Phase II" Begins]
All divine beings aware of the Nullbrand's presence.
System Broadcast: "He has awoken. Prepare."
💠 Chapter End Teaser:
In the ruined sanctuary, Nyxria picks up a dying petal from the Saint's body.
"The roots of the Void don't just consume…" she said quietly.
"They remember."
And far, far away, on a floating throne of broken time, a god in chains opens his one remaining eye.
"So... the Eclipsed One lives."