Chapter 206: Chapter 205: Shattered Crown
The marrow-station trembled as if the city’s bones were grinding against each other. Dust rained from the ceiling; the red glow of Lin’s chains lit the cavernous space in a sickly, pulsating rhythm, like the heartbeat of something too vast and too alive to comprehend.
Keller’s rifle was trained on Lin’s head, finger white on the trigger, yet he hesitated. Min-joon clutched Lin’s arm, as though his desperate grip alone could anchor him against the abyss rising inside. And Hwan—calm, smirking, hands folded behind his back—watched it all with the patience of a gambler who already knew the cards.
The kneeling figures were still chanting, but their voices cracked, warped, overlapping as if more than one throat spoke through each mouth. Heir. Crowned. Heir. Their kneeling became spasms. Flesh split, bone grew wrong, tendrils unfurled like roots tearing through stone. The station was no longer a ruin of steel and concrete; it was an altar.
Lin’s chains writhed. They didn’t simply move—they strained, like beasts pulling against reins. They wanted blood. They wanted to lash, pierce, devour. And for a terrifying moment, Lin wanted the same.
He heard Jin’s whisper again. Not distant, not like an echo in the marrow. Close. Intimate.
"Do you see, brother? They kneel because they know what you are. They bow because you were always meant to wear the crown."
Lin staggered, clutching his head, trying to silence the voice. But Jin’s words slithered deeper, coiling through his veins.
Min-joon’s voice cracked the air: "Lin! Look at me! Not them—me! You’re not their heir. You’re not Jin!"
That name hit like a blade. Lin froze. His chains paused mid-lash, suspended in the air like crimson lightning. His chest heaved, every breath burning.
Keller shifted his stance, gun never lowering. "Kid, if you don’t shut those things down right now, I’m putting you down. You get that? I’ll do it."
"Do it and we all die," Hwan said coolly. His eyes gleamed in the bloodlight, mocking Keller’s trigger finger. "Or maybe you’d prefer the abyss take you instead. Personally, I’d like to see it."
"Shut your mouth," Keller snarled, his voice fraying. "You’ve been itching for him to break since the second we dragged you along."
"I’m only encouraging him to stop lying to himself," Hwan replied, tilting his head toward Lin. "You feel it, don’t you? The pull? That crown was never meant to sit on anyone else’s head. You’re wearing it already, whether you admit it or not."
Lin’s knees buckled. He hit the ground hard, hands digging into the cracked tile. His chains slammed into the walls around him, carving gouges into stone. The kneeling creatures screamed—not in fear, but in ecstasy.
"Crowned. At last."
The chorus rattled the marrow-station like thunder.
Min-joon dropped to his knees beside him, grabbing Lin’s face with shaking hands. "Lin, listen to me! You’re not them! You’re not... you’re not some heir to their nightmare! You’re you! The one who saved me. The one who saved all of us a hundred times. Please—come back!"
For a flicker, Lin saw Min-joon’s face—not through abyss-light, not through blood-haze. Just Min-joon, wide-eyed, terrified, real. His pulse stuttered.
But Jin’s whisper grew louder.
"He’s begging because he’s weak. Because he fears what you are. But I don’t. I never feared you, brother. I knew what you could become. Wear the chains. Wear the crown. Show them why they kneel."
Lin’s vision blurred crimson.
The marrow-station shook again, harder this time. Chunks of ceiling split and fell, crashing into the chanting creatures. Some were crushed, but even as their bones shattered, they crawled forward, hands reaching for Lin as if their death-throes were worship.
One dragged itself across the floor with no legs, intestines trailing like roots. Another split its own skull open, a blossom of teeth and eyes erupting toward him, all chanting Heir. Heir. Heir.
Lin screamed. His chains erupted in a storm, lashing the ground, skewering bodies, pinning them to walls. The sound was horrific—wet tearing, bones snapping—but the creatures laughed as they died.
Keller swore under his breath. "That’s it. That’s the line. He’s gone." His finger tightened on the trigger.
"No!" Min-joon shouted, throwing himself between Keller’s gun and Lin’s trembling body. "You shoot him, you shoot me too!"
"Goddammit, kid—"
"Do it then!" Min-joon’s voice broke. "Kill both of us! Because if you kill him, there’s nothing left worth saving anyway!"
The words cut through the roar of chains, through the shrieks of dying creatures, through the marrow’s quake. Lin’s heart slammed against his ribs.
Hwan chuckled, low and amused. "Touching. Truly. But love won’t stop the abyss. It never does." He stepped closer, ignoring Keller’s snarl and raised rifle. "Lin, hear me. If you don’t command them, they’ll tear you apart. You’ve already seen it. The abyss doesn’t want a servant. It wants a king. Either you rule it—or it rules you."
Lin’s body shuddered. His chains snapped against the walls, carving bloody sigils into the stone. The chanting creatures writhed in unison, as if bound to the rhythm of his heartbeat.
Heir. Crowned. Heir.
And then—silence.
The creatures stopped. Their torn mouths hung open. Their twisted bodies froze, mid-spasm. The marrow-station itself seemed to pause, holding its breath.
Because Lin had spoken.
His voice was raw, half-human, half-something else. "Enough."
The chains obeyed. They slammed down into the ground in a ring around him, quivering, burning. The creatures fell flat, prostrating, their voices a hushed whisper: "Crowned. Crowned."
Min-joon’s hands dropped from Lin’s face, trembling. His eyes were wet, terrified. "Lin... what did you just do?"
Keller’s rifle never moved. Sweat dripped from his brow. His finger hovered millimeters from the trigger. "He didn’t just fight them. He commanded them."
Hwan’s grin widened. "And that, gentlemen, is the difference between prey and heir."
The marrow-station groaned. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ceiling. Black ichor poured from fissures like veins bursting open. The ground split under their feet, and a deafening rumble shook the cavern.
Min-joon screamed, grabbing Lin’s arm. Keller cursed and swung his rifle onto his back, hauling both of them toward the nearest stairwell. "Move! Station’s collapsing!"
The kneeling creatures didn’t flee. They stayed pressed to the ground, even as falling stone crushed their spines, even as fire and ichor poured over them. Their worship never wavered.
"Crowned. At last."
They stumbled up the cracked stairs, the marrow behind them imploding in a storm of blood, stone, and shrieks. Lin’s chains dragged behind him, sparking crimson against the walls, trembling like starving beasts barely leashed.
Every step felt heavier. His body burned. His veins were aflame. Min-joon’s grip was the only tether keeping him moving.
Above, the night air waited. But Lin knew the truth before they even broke the surface.
The crown was on his head already.
And it would never come off.