The abyss howled like a living storm. Chains raked across the graveyard of titans, each link glowing as if forged in a furnace beyond time. The envoy's true face—half Lin's, half abyss—hovered before him, grinning as though his terror was a coronation in itself.
The crown of chains descended inch by inch, the jagged points shimmering with sickly light. Every bone in the graveyard shuddered, pulled toward the throne as though gravity itself bent to the envoy's will.
Lin's knees buckled. The marrow within him surged, writhing like a nest of serpents beneath his skin. His blood screamed in recognition, a thousand voices whispering in unison: kneel. submit. become.
"No," Lin gasped, his hands clawing at the ground, at his own chest, anything to anchor himself. His nails cracked against the stone, his skin split under the pressure, but he refused to kneel.
The envoy's laugh was Lin's laugh, distorted. "Resistance is a child's tantrum. The marrow knows truth, even if your tongue denies it. Every chain within you bends toward me. Do you feel it?"
And he did. That was the horror. Each chain inside him vibrated with longing, straining toward the envoy like a starving beast scenting blood.
Min-joon's arms wrapped around him tighter. His face was smeared with blood, his voice shredded from screaming, but his words were steady. "Lin. Stay. Fight. You're not its. You're not his. You're mine, do you hear me? You're yours."
Lin's vision blurred. His marrow screamed louder, demanding surrender, but Min-joon's voice cut through the roar like a blade.
The envoy's gaze slid toward Min-joon, contempt flickering across the mirrored face. "This tether. This… mortal affection. It is weakness. When he kneels, you will vanish first. Do you understand?"
Chains snapped forward. One coiled around Min-joon's waist, yanking him back. He grunted, his grip slipping, but he clung to Lin like a drowning man refusing the tide.
Keller hurled himself at the chain, his knife flashing. Useless. The blade shattered on impact, shards scattering like sparks. He cursed, leaping barehanded to pry it loose. "If you're going to make him kneel, you'll have to drag me down too, you smug bastard!"
The envoy barely glanced at him. Another chain lashed out, slamming Keller into a crumbling rib cage. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood but still clawing at the links with stubborn defiance.
Hwan staggered closer, his hands blistered and shaking. His voice was hoarse, but it carried. "Lin! You're not made of it—you're made of us! Every step you took with us, every choice you made—it was yours! Not its!"
Lin's head snapped toward him. The words hit something deeper than marrow. A different truth, one that clawed for space against the abyss's claim.
The envoy hissed, its face contorting. "Noise. Fleeting sentiment. You cannot overwrite marrow with memory."
But the chains inside Lin faltered. Just for a heartbeat.
The envoy noticed. Its face twisted with fury, the grin vanishing into a snarl. "Then let me remind you."
The crown plummeted.
It slammed onto Lin's head with the force of a collapsing world.
Pain detonated through him. The chains within erupted, shooting outward, piercing his skin, his blood, his lungs. He screamed as black links tore free from his ribs, anchoring him to the throne. The envoy's laughter echoed through him—not around him, but inside him, a resonance that shook marrow to dust.
Min-joon screamed his name, hurling himself forward, clawing at the crown. His fingers blistered on contact, burning to the bone, but he didn't let go. "Lin! Don't you dare leave me!"
Lin convulsed, his body halfway between collapse and explosion. His vision split. In one eye, he saw the graveyard, his friends, Min-joon's desperate face. In the other, he saw endless abyss, chains stretching into infinity, a throne waiting for him to sit.
The envoy's voice whispered from every chain: "Choose. Them, or eternity. Weakness, or truth."
Lin's scream ripped the air. Blood poured from his mouth, his chest, his eyes. The marrow inside him howled, demanding surrender, but another voice rose to meet it—Min-joon's, Keller's, Hwan's.
The explosion rattled worlds.
Chains shattered like glass, scattering into the void. The envoy screamed, its voice no longer Lin's but something older, uglier, raw with fury and pain. Its mirrored face cracked down the middle, collapsing into fragments.
The graveyard convulsed. Titan skulls split, ribs collapsed, bones turned to ash. The throne crumbled beneath Lin's feet, vanishing into the abyss.
He collapsed, chains retracting violently into his body, ripping him bloody. Min-joon caught him before he hit the ground, clutching him against his chest.
Lin's body trembled, his breath shallow, but his eyes—blazing, defiant—were his own.
The envoy staggered in the wreckage, its form unraveling, face half-gone, chains flailing uselessly. "This… is not over. You are marrow. You cannot… deny what you are."
Lin spat blood onto the ground, his voice hoarse but unyielding. "Maybe I can't change what I am. But I decide who I'll be. Not you."
The envoy shrieked, collapsing into shards of black light that spiraled back into the abyss.
For the first time since entering the graveyard, silence fell.
Min-joon sagged forward, pressing his forehead against Lin's. Tears streaked his bloodstained cheeks. "You stubborn bastard," he whispered. "You scared the hell out of me."
Lin's lips twitched into a weak, broken smile. "Scared… myself too."
Keller limped over, coughing blood, but grinning through it. "Well. Guess we can add 'broke a cosmic crown' to your list of party tricks."
Hwan collapsed beside them, his blistered hands trembling as he reached for Lin's shoulder. "You're still you. That's all that matters."
Lin closed his eyes, exhausted beyond words, but the faint smile didn't fade. For the first time, the marrow inside him was quiet. Not gone, but subdued.
He had broken the crown. He had broken the envoy's claim.
But deep inside, in the silence left behind, one truth lingered like a whisper:
The abyss wasn't finished with him.