I Ascend Alone-Chapter 156: Everdeep Bastion Part VIII - Seraphveil, the Abyss-Winged Knight

Chapter 156 - Everdeep Bastion Part VIII - Seraphveil, the Abyss-Winged Knight

The crystal's energy surged through Dusk Reaver's body like a storm of black flame.

He dropped to both knees as his form unraveled—armor cracking, shadows bursting out from within.

A wave of darkness pulsed outward, forcing even Fenrir and the evolved Orcs to brace themselves. Lutharax paused mid-step, his chains recoiling slightly, as if sensing something unfamiliar now standing before him.

The glow faded. And where Dusk Reaver had once knelt, a new figure rose.

-

[ Sovereign of the Umbral Host – Seraphveil, the Abyss-Winged Knight ]

He stood tall, wrapped in sleek black armor lined with faint streaks of violet and silver—a design reminiscent of holy paladins, but rewritten in voidsteel. From his back extended four massive wings, angelic in form, yet constructed of living shadow, each feather edged with faintly glowing runes of the deep abyss.

A helm shaped like a knight's crown covered his face, leaving only a burning, single eye of obsidian light visible from beneath. His greatsword had transformed too—now broader, etched with abyss-script and smoldering in silence.

The system chimed again.

-

[ System Notice ]

➤ Dusk Reaver has evolved into: Seraphveil, the Abyss-Winged Knight (Sovereign-Class Entity)

➤ Type: Vanguard Seraph – Knight of the Abyss

➤ Wings of Silence: 4 (Tier: Sovereign-Ascendant)

➤ Traits: Absolute Loyalty, Immortal Binding (Abyss Monarch), Celestial-Shadow Hybridization

➤ New Ability Unlocked: Aegis of Final Dusk – Create a domain where allies gain enhanced resistance, shadow regeneration, and enemies suffer delayed entropy effects.

-

He raised his blade toward me, and knelt once more.

"Your will... is my ascension. Command me, My honored Sovereign."

Even Umbraezer fell silent in awe.

Vorathos whispered reverently, "An Abyss-Winged Knight...I've heard stories, but I didn't think I'll meet one of them so soon."

I took a step forward, eyes locked on Seraphveil's bowed form—his four shadowed wings stretched wide, motionless yet humming with coiled force.

"What do you mean by that," I said aloud, my voice steady but curious, aimed at the whisper in my shadow. "Why?"

A pause.

Then Vorathos answered, his voice low and reverent, echoing like steel grinding softly against ancient stone.

"Because he is."

Another voice joined, deeper—Umbraezer's tone tempered with respect, not fear.

"He now stands among the four."

My brow furrowed. "The four?"

Vorathos spoke again, slower this time, as if pulling knowledge from the deepest corners of shadow.

"The Abyss-Winged Knights. Only four have ever existed, forged not through birth or pact, but through ascension... through death, loyalty, and abyssal rebirth."

He continued.

"Each was once a blade of the Void, shattered and reforged in the silence between worlds. They do not serve a master—they await one."

"Not kings. Not gods. But the Monarch... the one who bears the right to walk toward the Black Heart."

That phrase.

The Black Heart.

It stirred something. A weight. A sense of gravity I didn't yet understand. I opened my mouth to ask, but Vorathos spoke before I could.

"Its truth is sealed, even from us."

"Only those who stand at the end of the path are meant to see it."

I looked again at Seraphveil, who remained kneeling with sword in hand. Silent. Waiting.

"Unlike us—Shadow Vanguards—who hold dominions and thrones meant to be claimed, the Abyss-Winged Knights do not lead. They guard. They are the wall between ruin and fate."

"Each one strong enough to challenge a Monarch... yet sworn to serve only the one who earns their rebirth."

Umbraezer's voice softened, almost in awe.

"You did not summon him, my Lord. You unlocked him."

Vorathos's voice returned, calm but filled with something rarely heard from him—solemnity.

"There is one more thing, my Lord." fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

I turned slightly, listening as the shadows curled around my feet, alive with quiet motion.

"The strength of an Abyss-Winged Knight is not determined by weapon, nor title. It is measured by their wings."

His words echoed through the space like a truth carved into the stone of existence.

"One wing... is the mark of awakening."

"Two... of dominion."

"Three... of judgment.

"And four..."

He paused, as if even speaking it required care.

"Four is the symbol of absolution—of completion. It is the threshold where even Monarchs hesitate."

My gaze shifted back to Seraphveil who is kneeling and waiting.

Wreathed in silent, ethereal darkness, his four obsidian wings extended behind him like blades drawn from the void.

Vorathos's voice softened, yet somehow carried more weight than ever before.

"The one who kneels before you, my liege, is not just a Knight of the Abyss... He is the strongest of them."

The realization settled in like a stone dropped into deep waters. A blade that had been waiting for someone to hold the hilt again.

I exhaled quietly.

"Then let's see what an Abyss-Winged Knight can do."

-

As the winds howled across the 7th floor's cracked and ruined expanse, Lutharax's full form stood towering—his abyss-tainted wings beating slow and heavy, each flap shaking the foundations of Everdeep itself. The aura spilling from him was suffocating, thick as smoke, heavy as gravity.

My summons—Fenrir, the Orc Sovereigns, the others—struggled to hold formation, their bodies trembling from the sheer force pressing down on them.

Vorathos's voice emerged again from my shadow, quietly insistent.

"My Lord... we ask your leave. Let Umbraezer and I face him in your name."

But I raised a hand, slowly.

"No."

The pressure swirled harder for a moment, but my voice cut through it.

"I only need one."

Without another word, I willed the others away.

Dark light flared—and in a blink, every summon vanished into the void. Only one remained.

And then Seraphveil rose.

Four wings of shadowlight unfolded with grace and devastation, blades of silence against the chaos. He stepped forward, his armor gleaming with layered void-metal, eyes like slits of pure starlight.

Then, he knelt once more.

"My honored Sovereign... You call upon me alone. I am humbled beyond words. Permit me, your shadow-blessed servant, to bring your will upon this foe."

I nodded once.

"Go."

And the moment the word left my mouth, Seraphveil vanished.

In a thunderous blink, he crossed the distance between us and Lutharax. The monstrous creature's claws moved to intercept, but Seraphveil was faster. His blade—no longer just a greatsword, but a crescent-forged arc of collapsed stars—clashed against the corrupted bone-armor of Lutharax's torso.

CRACK—

Sparks of abyssal and infernal energy exploded outward.

The floor cracked under the pressure of the collision.

Lutharax snarled, wings flaring as his tail whipped to impale, but Seraphveil blocked it with a second blade that formed midair, forged from his own essence.

CLANG!