Chapter 521: Inevitable VI
The air bent inward as though the void itself wanted to collapse into the figure’s hunger.
Glothar did not stride with ceremony like Halreth, nor drift like Thalen—he stalked, each step dragging the blank canvas down, pulling it into teeth-shaped rips that snapped shut behind him. Where he passed, possibility was not erased or judged. It was eaten.
Naval’s grip tightened on his trident, sweat running down his cracked skin. "He’s not reshaping the void... he’s feeding on it."
Roselia whispered, clutching her staff though her flame sputtered against the pressure. "...Maw of Thrones. The Sovereign who doesn’t rule by law or fate. He devours thrones, and with them, the worlds they anchor."
Glothar stopped a dozen paces away, his helm tilting toward Leon. The burning blade in his hand hissed, the fire sounding like screams being smothered.
"You fractured law. You hold weight that breaks Sovereigns. You are not Flamebreaker." His voice grated like bone on stone. "You are prey."
The Fifth Pulse surged in Leon’s chest, instinctively rejecting the pull of hunger, but the strain nearly buckled him. His body was still cracked, still bleeding light, every resonance thread pulling against him.
Milim darted in front of him, her aura flaring bright enough to scorch the void. "If you want to swallow him—you’ll choke on all of us first!"
Glothar’s helm turned, the crimson eyes narrowing on her. He lifted his free hand and closed it slowly. The light around Milim guttered, her flames bending inward as though her own power wanted to leap into his grasp. She hissed, forcing it back with sheer fury, but the tug was undeniable.
Leon’s teeth clenched. He forced a step forward, resonance grinding in his veins. His voice rasped, layered with echoes.
"You want what I carry? Then take it. But know this—everything I fracture refuses to be consumed."
The Sovereign tilted his head, as if amused.
"Refusal feeds me deeper."
The void behind him split open, not in collapse, but in hunger—an endless maw of crowns and swords, devoured and broken, screaming faintly as echoes of fallen rulers. The sight dragged the breath from their lungs.
Roman roared, slamming his fists together to steady himself. "He’s trying to chew the spine itself apart! Leon, if he takes it—"
Liliana’s voice cut in, sharp, steady despite the shaking floor. "—then everything we’re holding breaks. Every throne. Every world."
Glothar stepped forward again, his aura pressing like jaws closing around them. "Then give it to me, Flamebreaker. Let the Maw bear what you cannot. Your end will be quiet. Swift. Your burden—digested."
Leon’s lips pulled into a bloody grin, eyes blazing with fractured rings.
"...You’ll find I’m hard to swallow."
The Fifth Pulse flared outward, snapping the void back a pace, enough to clear breath for the group. But the pressure only grew—the Maw had noticed, and now he was hungry.
The canvas groaned like a dying star as Glothar’s presence deepened. He did not lunge—he leaned, the way an abyss leans when it notices you staring too long.
His voice dragged across the space, not only through sound but through thought, slithering into every vein of doubt.
"Look at him." The helm turned slightly, crimson slits staring at Leon, but his words fell upon the others. "Your champion bleeds cracks into the spine. He fractures what he touches. Each pulse he forces shreds him apart. Do you believe he will live long enough to hold you aloft?"
Naval’s trident trembled. The sea-born warrior’s oath to guard Leon’s path had carried him this far, but now every word dug into the truth he feared. Naval had seen Leon breaking—every duel, every climb, every pulse tearing him thinner.
"Naval." The Maw’s hand opened, and from the rift behind him poured visions: drowned citadels, kingdoms eaten whole, seas boiling into void. "Your oath can be absolved. Swear to me, and you’ll never watch another lord drown beneath their own burden."
Naval’s eyes flickered, jaw tightening.
Glothar’s helm turned, slowly, toward Roselia. The devouring fire in his hand twisted, reshaping into blossoms of ash. "Roselia. How long can your flame last when every throne you feed it to burns you hollow? Give me your ember. Let it rest. You will never be asked to burn again."
Roselia’s grip on her staff faltered—the flame guttered, bending, wanting to leap free.
He did not stop. His voice stretched wider, like fangs circling the group.
"Liliana. You bind and weave. But your threads fray each time the fracture sings. Surrender them to me. Rest in silence. No more weaving for those who cannot carry themselves."
Liliana’s breath caught, her gaze flicking toward Leon’s back. She clenched her fists until blood welled, forcing her hands still.
"Roman," Glothar growled, the fireblade lowering until its point marked him. "You were forged to fight, not to follow. Why waste your roar on another’s broken rhythm? Come. Tear free. Feed, and never kneel again."
The void shuddered as his words rippled like teeth clamping down. Even Milim, defiant and radiant, felt the pull scraping at her soul.
Leon’s chest heaved, every breath slicing through him as though his ribs were blades. He could feel the tug on his allies—the hunger offering them what he couldn’t. Relief. Rest. Freedom.
But then the Fifth Pulse shivered in him, a violent refusal that ripped outward in distorted rings. His voice cracked, carrying every fracture, every refusal he had carved into the void.
"Don’t listen—don’t you dare! He offers silence because he cannot sing! He devours thrones because he cannot bear them!"
The resonance burst from him, shaking the others back into themselves, threads reconnecting to him through the pain.
Glothar tilted his helm, the crimson slits narrowing as the fire hissed into a snarl. "You fracture yourself louder than I ever could. You think refusal protects them?"
The Maw lifted his blade, both hands gripping it now. The devouring flames screamed like crowns cracking.
"Then let us see if your refusal feeds me deeper... or if it tears you apart before I even swallow."
The void snapped, and Glothar surged forward, the Maw of Thrones finally biting.