Chapter 62: REAVER ASCENDANT
[System Alert]
[Abyssal Symbiosis Initiated...]
[Warning: Identity Core Stability – 67%]
[New Trait Acquired: Shadowheart Binding – Abyss corruption stabilized. Mental resistance compromised. Power output increased]
[Tracking anomaly detected: [Reaver Prime] proximity rising...]
Prepare for convergence.
The system messages flashed briefly in Kaito’s vision, the red symbols inscribed in a language he had never read before—half-code, half-spell.
The fact that he could decipher them was disturbing. Something inside him was changing, adapting to the logic of the Abyss. Not simply distorting the game mechanics—tuning in.
Nyra stood at his side, rigid as a statue. Her eyes roved over the revealed Memory Spire at the distant end of the shard-filled corridor—a monolithic column towering to the black ceiling and dissolving into the void overhead. Its pulsing surface showed like a heart, with flashing ghost data and fragments of forgotten memories.
"Kaito," she whispered, her voice low, uncertain, "if you’re telling me what that abomination told you is true—if you are the Reaver, just warped—how do we fight that?"
Kaito did not respond at once. He could still feel the tingle in his hand from the shard of soul he had handled a moment before.