When Lin spoke the word kneel in defiance, the world itself seemed to convulse. The abyss-born filling the streets didn't simply fall silent—they screamed, a shrill, inhuman cacophony that rattled glass from the towers and sent shockwaves down the broken avenues.
Dozens of them collapsed outright, spasming as if some unseen thread had been cut. Others tore at their own bodies, claws raking across flesh, ichor spraying as they convulsed. Their kneeling had not been ritual—it had been necessity, their existence bound to the word crowned. And now that word had been broken.
The skyline buckled. A streetlight groaned, bending into a twisted arch before snapping entirely. Pavement split in jagged seams. Even the air shimmered, like a great furnace roaring to life.
Above, the colossal figure did not retreat.
Its hand remained extended, but no longer gentle, no longer an open palm of invitation. The fingers curled slightly, each motion grinding the air into thunder. The crown on its head blazed brighter, flames licking outward in tendrils of pale bone-fire that scarred the sky itself.
And then the resonance shifted.
It was no longer an invitation.
It was a demand.
—PROVE.
The single syllable ripped through marrow and steel alike. Keller clutched his ears and dropped to one knee, blood dripping between his fingers. Min-joon screamed, his voice drowned in the quake of it. Hwan staggered back a step, his grin twisting, eyes wide with awe.
Lin convulsed as if struck by lightning. His chains erupted from his back, jagged and uncontrolled, smashing into concrete, wrapping around shattered lamp posts, lashing across cars that crumpled like toys. They moved like serpents freed from a cage, striking at everything—friend and foe alike.
"Lin!" Min-joon cried, ducking as one chain whipped past his head, carving a scar across the asphalt.
Keller rolled, rifle snapping to his shoulder. His finger squeezed the trigger in tight bursts, muzzle flash cracking against the storm above. Bullets tore into the chains, sparking off their crimson sheen. The rounds slowed them for a heartbeat—enough to keep them from crushing Min-joon—but no more. The chains writhed, bullets embedded in their length, ichor dripping like molten tar.
"Damn it, Lin, control it!" Keller bellowed, firing again, each shot punctuated with ragged breaths. "Or I swear I'll—"
A chain whipped toward him, faster than sight. Keller fired once more, but it wasn't enough. The chain smashed into his chest, hurling him across the street. He slammed into a toppled streetlight with a crack of bone, the rifle skidding from his grip.
"Keller!" Min-joon shouted, starting toward him—only for another chain to slam into the ground, blocking his path.
Lin's scream drowned them both. He clawed at his own chest as if trying to tear the chains back inside, his body jerking with each eruption. His vision blurred crimson, the world flickering between reality and the abyss's throne-room vision.
The colossus leaned lower, hand lowering with terrible patience. Each movement brought earthquakes that rippled through the ruins.
—ENDURE.
The word rattled Lin's bones, but there was something beneath it this time. Not just demand. Not just trial. A cruel curiosity, as if the abyss itself wondered what he would do next.
"Lin!" Min-joon screamed again, forcing his way past the thrashing chains. One slashed his arm, blood spraying, but he didn't stop. He grabbed Lin's face with both hands, forcing their eyes to meet.
"You hear me? Look at me! Not them, not it—me!" His voice cracked under strain, but he didn't falter. "You're not a crown, you're not some abyss-born messiah. You're my friend. You're Lin!"
Lin's chains twitched, their movements faltering for a single heartbeat.
Min-joon's grip tightened, nails digging into Lin's skin. "Remember the rooftop? The subway? The nights we barely crawled out alive because you refused to let go? That was you! That was your choice! Not theirs!"
The abyss-born screamed again, their frenzy tearing through the streets. One launched itself at Min-joon, its body bloated with writhing veins—but a chain intercepted it mid-leap, impaling it through the chest and slamming it into the pavement.
Lin's chains had acted… to protect.
For the first time, they hesitated between abyss and anchor.
Keller dragged himself upright, coughing blood. His ribs screamed with each breath, but his hand closed around his sidearm. With shaking arms, he raised it, aiming at Lin's skull.
"I told you," he rasped, voice raw. "Crown or not… if you lose yourself, I'll end you."
"Don't!" Min-joon shouted, desperation tearing his throat. He didn't release Lin's face. "He's fighting—can't you see it? He's fighting!"
Keller's finger tightened on the trigger. His vision swam with blood and fury. But before the shot could fire—
Hwan's voice cut through the storm, sharp and steady.
"You still don't understand."
All eyes snapped toward him. The older man stood with his arms spread wide, his gaze locked on the colossus above. His smirk was gone, replaced with a reverence that bordered on madness.
"The abyss doesn't kneel," Hwan said softly. "It doesn't want obedience. It never did. Do you think the Crown is some leash? Some curse? No. It chooses not the one who submits—but the one who resists until the abyss itself bends."
He turned to Lin, eyes shining. "That's why it chose you. Not Jin. Not me. You."
Lin gasped, the chains writhing violently at his back. His body shook under the weight of the words.
The colossus's resonance deepened.
—RESIST.
The syllable tore skyscrapers in half. Windows burst outward in cascades of glass. The ground split in a dozen directions, crimson ichor gushing from the cracks.
The hand lowered further, fingers curling toward Lin. The pressure forced Min-joon to the ground, Keller to his knees. Even Hwan's smirk cracked as his legs buckled.
But Lin stood.
Chains dug into the earth around him, anchoring him upright as the abyss bore down. His chest heaved, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. He raised his head, eyes blazing crimson, but within them flickered something else—something stubborn, something human.
"I…" His voice cracked, torn raw. "I won't kneel… and I won't… crown."
The words tore through the resonance like shards of glass.
The colossus paused. Its massive head tilted, as if considering.
The abyss-born shrieked louder, their bodies convulsing, many bursting apart into clouds of ichor that rained across the streets. The city bent, skyscrapers groaning, foundations cracking under the weight of the resonance.
The hand hovered inches above Lin, its vast shadow swallowing him whole.
And then the resonance shifted again—deeper, darker, trembling with something like amusement.
—WORTHY?
The trial was not over.
The hand began to close.
The city itself screamed as the colossal fingers curled inward, the air burning with pressure. Towers snapped like twigs, roads imploded, cars flipped end over end. The abyss-born wailed as if crushed by their own devotion.
Lin roared back. His chains exploded outward in a halo of crimson light, slamming into the ground, anchoring him as the weight of the hand descended.
The trial had begun.