I Ascend Alone-Chapter 113: The Declaration

I raised my gaze to meet the four piercing eyes of the Abyssal Arbiter. They seemed to look through me—past my flesh, past my soul—into something deeper, something even I hadn't yet grasped.

"Why?" I asked aloud, my voice steady despite the pressure pressing down on me. "Why did you bring me here? Why now?"

The Arbiter tilted its crowned head slightly, the shadows around its form rippling like liquid ink. Then, the voice returned—not through sound, but directly into my mind, deep and ancient.

"Because you asked a question," the Arbiter intoned, its tone both distant and personal, "one that Vorathos cannot answer. Not completely."

I furrowed my brows. "About the other monarchs," I murmured, more to myself.

"Indeed."

A wave of silence passed between us as the weight of the Arbiter's words settled. Then it continued, each syllable slow and deliberate.

"There are other monarchs, Ryzen Kael. Forces that govern domains not unlike the Abyss—equally ancient, equally powerful. Some slumber still. Others awaken. And a few... watch."

I swallowed hard.

"There are others, hidden deeper still. Monarchs whose names are forbidden, whose domains are erased from the annals of time itself."

I stared at the swirling vortex, unable to tear my eyes away. "Why tell me this now?" I asked, my voice quieter. "Why not let Vorathos speak of it later?"

The Arbiter's four eyes narrowed. "Because knowledge is power. And power must be given in fragments—lest it consume you whole."

It leaned forward slightly, the shadows around it thickening.

"Vorathos is your Vanguard, your sword in the dark. But I... I am your link to what lies beneath even the Abyss. I am the one who remembers."

A long pause stretched between us, heavy and profound. I took a deep breath, the air here thick with ancient weight, and then I asked:

"...Will these other Monarchs stand against me?"

The Arbiter's answer came slowly, each word laced with ominous truth.

"Some will. Some already have. And one, perhaps, waits to see if you will become what you are meant to be... or fall before you even begin."

And then, the throne room seemed to pulse with a strange hum—low, resonant, like the distant toll of a bell beneath the sea.

"Claim your thrones, Ryzen Kael," the Arbiter said, its voice growing colder now. "Gather your Vanguards. You will need them."

A pause.

"The war of Monarchs is not far off."

I stood there, the swirling vortex behind the Arbiter fading into the shadows once more, and I realized with dawning clarity: This was only the beginning.

I stood there, the silence pressing in like a second skin as the Arbiter's final words echoed in my mind.

"The war of Monarchs is not far off."

My fists clenched slightly at my sides. My thoughts circled back—not just to the thrones, not just to the Monarchs—but to that system. The one that had been guiding me, informing me, changing me.

My voice cut through the dense air. "Then answer me this, Arbiter," I said, stepping closer to the obsidian steps leading to the throne. "What is this system that's attached itself to me? The notifications. The status windows. The interface. You knew about the Monarchs, about me, about the Abyss—so do you know what this is?"

For the first time, the Arbiter didn't immediately respond.

Its four violet eyes dimmed slightly, like flickering lanterns in a sea of shadow. The shadows around its throne seemed to hesitate—no longer flowing and shifting, but still. Frozen. As if even it had to search for an answer.

And then, it spoke—slower than before, its tone unusually... careful.

"I have watched the rise and fall of Abyssal Monarchs for eons, Ryzen Kael. I have seen countless bearers of darkness rise to their thrones. But this 'system'—this construct—was not born of the Abyss. It is... foreign. Unnatural. Disconnected from the cycles I govern."

My eyes narrowed. "You're saying even you don't know where it came from?"

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The Arbiter's voice resonated in my mind, layered now with the faintest edge of unease.

"No. I do not."

A chill crept down my spine.

I stared at him in disbelief. "Then how did it attach to me?"

The Arbiter leaned back into the throne, shadows unfurling once again behind it like wings.

"That... I do not know. But I suspect..." it said slowly, "the one who gave it to you knows exactly what it is. And what you are meant to become because of it."

I went quiet. The thought unsettled me more than I wanted to admit. The system wasn't just a tool—it was something greater. Something that chose me. Or was designed for me.

I lowered my voice, barely more than a whisper. "Then who gave it to me?"

The Arbiter's eyes gleamed once more.

"That, alone... is a mystery only you can uncover."

A silence followed, deep and unbroken, until finally the Arbiter added:

"But know this—whoever wields the power to bind a system like that to a Monarch of the Abyss... is no ordinary being. Not even among the Monarchs."

The shadows stirred around us again. The throne chamber pulsed with energy as if something—someone—had just begun to take interest.

"You are not just walking the path of a Monarch, Ryzen Kael. You are walking a path no one has walked before."

The weight of the Arbiter's final words hung in the air, pressing down like the pressure of the deep. I stared up at him, trying to piece together the fragments of mystery I'd just been handed—the system, its unknown origin, the one who gave it to me.

But then, just as I turned to leave, a sudden shift in the throne room's atmosphere made me stop. The shadows around the Arbiter surged, no longer passive tendrils but looming, active presences. His four violet eyes pulsed with renewed intensity.

"One more thing, Ryzen Kael."

I turned back toward him slowly, feeling the chill of anticipation creep up my spine again.

"Before you return to the world of mortals... know this." His voice no longer whispered—it rang out, laced with foreboding.

"A calamity stirs on Earth. A force older than your nations. Older than your Hunters. It has begun to awaken."