Chapter 87—The Threshold of the Seventh Seal.
Chapter 87—The Threshold of the Seventh Seal.
The golden light of the Sun-Forge Temple began to dim, fading from brilliant white-gold into a deep, heavy obsidian hue as the spatial portal at the back of the throne room stabilized.
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[SPATIAL TRANSITION DETECTED]
ORIGIN: Floor 7 — Sun-Forge Temple (Conquered)
DESTINATION: Floor 8 — Citadel of the True Void
WARNING: Extreme Negative Mana Density Detected!
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECT: [Absolute Silence] — Communication magic reduced by 90%!
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Kaelen stepped through the portal first, his dark coat flowing around him like liquid shadow. Behind him, Lyra, Tsubaki, Ignis, and Ren followed in tight formation, their weapons drawn and eyes sharp.
The air on Floor 8 was bitterly cold, carrying no wind, no sound, and no ambient light save for the distant, dying glow of crimson nebulae hanging in an endless black sky. Spread out before them was a floating continent made entirely of black volcanic glass, dominated by a towering structure that pierced the sky—the Citadel of the True Void.
Unlike the previous floors, there were no swarms of angelic constructs or roaring divine beasts roaming the courtyard. The absolute silence was eerie, heavy enough to make an ordinary hunter’s mind collapse under the psychological pressure.
"The ambient mana here isn’t elemental," Ren reported, lowering her tactical visor as purple data streams flickered across her display. "It’s pure, condensed void matter. If anyone without a high-tier void resistance steps onto this floor, their physical body will disintegrate within three minutes.""A fitting domain for the final guardian," Ignis muttered, resting his giant claymore on his shoulder while scanning the dark horizon.
"It’s too quiet. I don’t like it."
"Silence is simply the absence of prey before the strike," Tsubaki murmured, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his black Falana.
Lyra walked closely beside Kaelen, her hand gently resting in his. The six Heavenly Seals integrated into Kaelen’s body pulsed in a subtle, rhythmic unison under his skin, producing a warm golden glow through his dark shirt that countered the oppressive chill of the Void environment.
"The final seal is inside that citadel," Lyra whispered, her bright blue eyes reflecting the faint crimson light of the sky. "I can feel its resonance. But... it feels different from the others, Kaelen. It isn’t radiating divine energy. It’s radiating something ancient and cold."
"Because the 7th Seal isn’t guarded by an angel or a monarch," Kaelen replied, his low velvet voice breaking through the void silence with total authority. "It is guarded by the original entity that bound the Holy Grail itself."
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[SYSTEM ANALYZING...]
Target detected at citadel core!
NAME: Eradicator Nihilus — Warden of the Final Lock (Level 180 Tier-OVERLORD)
STATUS: Ancient Void Entity / Guardian of the 7th Seal
RELIQUE DETECTED: 7th Heavenly Seal Fragment (Core Integration: 99%)
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Kaelen’s lips curved into a cold, dark smile as the system panel flashed before his vision. A Level 180 Overlord-tier entity—the strongest adversary in the entire System Tower so far.
"Let’s not keep the Warden waiting," Kaelen said softly, pulling Lyra closer for a brief moment before stepping forward toward the massive iron gates of the citadel.
As the squad approached the gates, the obsidian ground beneath them trembled violently. Hundreds of black liquid spheres surged up from the glass tiles, expanding into hulking, void-infused armor suits armed with jagged spatial blades—Void Sentinels (Level 168 Elite).
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[AMBUSH INITIATED!]
HOSTILE ENTITIES: 120x Void Sentinels (Level 168 Elite)
OBJECTIVE: Secure the Citadel Courtyard!
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"Clear the path," Kaelen commanded smoothly without slowing his pace.
"Understood!" Tsubaki, Ignis, and Ren shouted in unison.
"Dragon Fire Art: Black Flames of Purgatory!" Ignis roared, swinging his claymore in a massive 360-degree arc. The combined power of his dragon fire and Kaelen’s void aura erupted into a black-and-gold firestorm, incinerating thirty Void Sentinels instantly!
"Shadow Style: Phantom Thousand Blade!" Tsubaki blurred into a hundred dark afterimages, crisscrossing through the enemy lines. Every slash severed spatial conduits, dropping dozens of heavy armor suits into lifeless heaps of dark dust!
"System Override: Spatial Decoupling Matrix!" Ren deployed six massive hovering pylons that emitted a high-frequency disruption field, disabling the Sentinels’ ability to reform their liquid void bodies!
Meanwhile, Lyra raised her staff, channeling pristine divine light into a massive shield that protected the squad from any stray void blasts.
Kaelen walked through the chaotic battlefield without raising a finger against the minor sentinels. His gaze remained locked onto the colossal double doors of the inner keep.
With a single flick of his left wrist, a wave of pure spatial suppression erupted from his body!
BOOOOOOM!
The remaining forty Sentinels were instantly flattened into the glass floor, their bodies crushed into raw mana particles under the weight of Kaelen’s quintuple-sealed authority!
The massive inner doors of the Citadel blew inward, shattering into thousands of black iron fragments.
Kaelen and his team stepped inside the grand throne hall of the Citadel of the True Void.
At the end of the hall, suspended inside a massive black crystal floating over a pit of swirling spatial energy, sat a terrifying figure. It was an eleven-foot-tall suit of pitch-black plate armor wrapped in tattered violet drapery, holding a massive scythe forged from pure dark antimatter.Floating directly inside the chest cavity of the armor was a radiant, diamond-shaped emblem burning with a brilliant white-gold light—the 7th and final Heavenly Seal.
Slowly, the head of the dark armor lifted, two glowing purple flames igniting within its empty eye sockets.
"Who dares... disturb the slumber of the Warden..." a voice echoed directly inside their minds, heavy with ancient power and cold apathy. "You carry six seals of the lower realms, mortal... yet you seek the forbidden door."
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[BOSS ENGAGEMENT NEAR.]
NAME: Eradicator Nihilus—Warden of the Final Lock (Level 180)
HP: 120,000,000 / 120,000,000
ABILITY: Absolute Spatial Deletion / Void Immunity
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Kaelen drew the Void Blade halfway from its sheath, the dark steel humming in absolute harmony with the surrounding void mana. His dark violet eyes gleamed with cold ambition as he stared down the ancient warden."I didn’t come to seek the door, Nihilus,"
Kaelen purred softly, taking a calm step forward as his black aura surged to its absolute peak. "I came to take your seal... and tear down the door."