My Taboo Harem System

The Crown touched his head.

Denzel expected pain.

There was none.

For one impossible second, everything simply stopped.

The trembling facility.

The alarms.

The pressure building beneath the floor.

Even his own breathing.

All of it disappeared.

Denzel stood in absolute silence.

Then the world screamed.

Not with sound.

With presence.

Something slammed into his consciousness from every direction at once.

Memories that weren’t his.

Faces he had never seen.

Cities he had never visited.

People waking from sleep.

Children crying.

Old men dropping to their knees.

Soldiers staring at their hands.

Kings.

Healers.

Warriors.

Monsters.

Thousands upon thousands of Royal Bloodlines reacting to something they had never understood.

Denzel staggered.

His hand caught the wall.

"What the hell..."

The words barely left his mouth.

A pressure passed through him.

Then another.

Then another.

Each one felt different.

Some were weak.

Some were powerful.

A few were so overwhelming that Denzel instinctively wanted to get away from them.

But they were all connected.

Not by distance.

Not by blood.

By him.

Denzel’s eyes widened.

He could feel them.

For the first time, he understood what the older man had meant.

Royal Authority wasn’t energy.

It wasn’t a weapon.

It was recognition.

Every Royal Bloodline in the world had just recognized something.

Someone.

Him.

The thought made his stomach tighten.

He pulled his hand away from the wall.

The older man was still kneeling.

Except he wasn’t looking at Denzel anymore.

He was staring at the Crown.

Its transparent structure had changed.

The seven points were no longer empty.

They burned with different colors, each one containing a strange symbol that Denzel couldn’t understand.

The Crown itself wasn’t sitting on his head.

It was floating a few inches above it.

Yet Denzel could feel its weight.

Not physically.

Conceptually.

Like the entire world had suddenly decided that he was carrying something that belonged to it.

"Denzel."

The older man’s voice was barely audible.

Denzel looked down.

The man’s hands were trembling.

"You said this was impossible."

"I was wrong."

"You knew about this."

"I knew about the Crown."

"Not this."

The older man swallowed.

"No."

Denzel stared at him.

"What just happened?"

The man hesitated.

"The Royal Bloodlines awakened."

"I noticed."

"No."

The older man looked up.

"You don’t understand."

Denzel waited.

The man’s eyes were fixed on him.

"They didn’t simply awaken."

A distant explosion shook the facility.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Neither of them moved.

The older man continued.

"They recognized their king."

Denzel’s expression went blank.

"I’m not a king."

The older man almost laughed.

It wasn’t amusement.

It was disbelief.

"That’s what you think matters?"

Denzel frowned.

"What matters, then?"

The man pointed toward the Crown.

"That."

Denzel looked upward.

The Crown remained perfectly still.

"I didn’t ask for it."

"I know."

"I don’t want it."

"I know."

"Then take it."

The older man stared at him.

"I can’t."

"Why?"

"Because it isn’t yours to give."

Denzel’s expression hardened.

"Then whose is it?"

The older man didn’t answer.

A crack appeared beneath them.

The floor split.

Denzel jumped backward as black energy erupted from the opening.

The older man immediately stood.

"Move."

Denzel didn’t argue.

They ran.

The corridor collapsed behind them.

Stone walls folded inward as something enormous pushed through from beneath the facility.

Denzel glanced over his shoulder.

He saw a hand.

Too large.

Too pale.

Its fingers curled around the broken floor.

Then another hand appeared.

The older man grabbed Denzel’s shoulder.

"Don’t look."

Denzel looked anyway.

The thing pulled itself upward.

Denzel’s stomach dropped.

It wasn’t a creature.

It was a person.

Or something that had once been one.

Its body was covered in black cracks.

Seven silver marks had been carved into its chest.

Its head slowly lifted.

Its eyes opened.

They were empty.

Yet Denzel felt it looking directly at him.

The Crown above his head reacted.

One of its seven points flashed.

The creature smiled.

"Found..."

Its voice broke apart.

Denzel felt the same presence from before.

The voice inside his mind returned.

Found you.

He froze.

The creature’s mouth opened wider.

"Found you."

The older man stepped in front of him.

"No."

The creature tilted its head.

"You."

The older man raised his hand.

Royal Authority exploded from his body.

The corridor shook.

Denzel stared.

He had never seen the man release that much power.

Silver symbols covered his arms.

His eyes changed.

For the first time, Denzel saw what he had been hiding.

The older man wasn’t simply someone who understood Royal Authority.

He had possessed it.

A lot of it.

"Run," the man said.

Denzel didn’t move.

"You know that thing."

"I know what it is."

"What is it?"

The man’s jaw tightened.

"The first failure."

The creature laughed.

The sound echoed through the corridor.

"The first..."

Its body twitched.

"Failure."

The older man attacked.

A spear of silver light formed in his hand.

He drove it straight through the creature’s chest.

The impact sent a shockwave through the facility.

Denzel covered his face.

When the dust cleared, the creature was still standing.

The spear remained lodged inside it.

The creature looked down.

Then back up.

"Still weak."

The older man’s expression changed.

The creature grabbed the spear.

It snapped.

Denzel’s eyes narrowed.

The older man immediately stepped backward.

"Go."

"You can’t stop it."

"No."

The man looked at Denzel.

"But I can slow it down."

Denzel stared at him.

"You’re going to die."

"I know."

"That’s a terrible plan."

"It isn’t a plan."

The man smiled faintly.

"It’s an apology."

Denzel’s eyes narrowed.

"For what?"

The older man didn’t answer.

The creature moved.

It crossed the corridor in an instant.

Denzel barely saw it.

The older man intercepted the attack.

The two collided.

The wall behind them exploded.

Denzel was thrown backward.

He hit the floor hard.

Pain shot through his shoulder.

He pushed himself upright.

The Crown above him pulsed.

Something changed.

The world slowed.

Not completely.

Just enough.

Denzel could see the creature’s movement.

He could see the older man’s position.

He could see the point where the creature was about to strike.

And he knew.

Not guessed.

Knew.

His body moved before he consciously decided to.

Denzel raised his hand.

"Stop."

The creature froze.

The older man froze.

Even the falling debris seemed to hesitate.

Denzel stared.

The command had worked.

But this time, something else happened.

The Crown responded.

One of its points shattered.

The creature screamed.

Denzel’s vision blurred.

A memory entered his mind.

Not his.

The older man’s.

A young man stood inside the same laboratory.

Younger.

Much younger.

Beside him stood another boy.

Denzel.

Sixteen.

The older man was holding a blood-covered child.

The child looked exactly like the creature.

Denzel’s breathing stopped.

The memory shifted.

The older man was crying.

"I can’t save you."

The child smiled.

"You don’t have to."

Then the seven gates opened.

Denzel watched the memory fracture.

The laboratory disappeared.

Another memory replaced it.

The older man standing before seven people.

All of them wearing crowns.

One of them spoke.

"You failed."

The older man lowered his head.

"I know."

"You allowed the vessel to escape."

"I know."

"You know what happens if it finds the Crown."

The older man looked up.

"I’ll find him first."

Another memory.

Years later.

The older man entering the ruined chamber.

Finding Denzel.

Watching him from the shadows.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Denzel’s vision snapped back.

He staggered.

The creature was still frozen.

The older man was staring at him.

"You saw it."

Denzel’s voice was quiet.

"You knew me before today."

The man said nothing.

"You knew what happened to me."

"I knew part of it."

"You knew about the seventh gate."

"Yes."

"You knew about the Crown."

"Yes."

Denzel’s eyes hardened.

"And you brought me here because you needed to know whether I was the one."

The older man looked away.

"Yes."

Denzel laughed once.

There was no humor in it.

"At least you’re honest now."

The creature’s head moved.

Just slightly.

The older man’s expression changed.

"Denzel."

Denzel noticed it too.

The command was weakening.

The creature’s fingers twitched.

Denzel raised his hand again.

"Stay."

The Crown pulsed.

A second point shattered.

Denzel felt something rip through his body.

Blood ran from his nose.

The creature stopped moving again.

But this time, the command didn’t feel like control.

It felt like a negotiation.

Something inside the Crown was taking payment.

Denzel wiped the blood from his nose.

"How many times can I use this?"

The older man stared at the Crown.

"Seven."

Denzel’s eyes moved upward.

"Seven commands?"

"No."

The man shook his head.

"Seven points."

Denzel understood.

Each command consumed one.

The Crown wasn’t giving him unlimited authority.

It was giving him seven chances.

And after that...

He didn’t know.

The creature suddenly smiled.

"You don’t understand."

Denzel stared at it.

Its body began cracking.

Black light poured through the fractures.

"The Crown isn’t yours."

Denzel’s expression hardened.

"Then whose is it?"

The creature looked upward.

"His."

The facility went silent.

Denzel felt the presence again.

This time it wasn’t distant.

It was directly behind him.

He turned.

Nothing was there.

But the air had changed.

The Crown above his head slowly rotated.

The seven symbols disappeared.

In their place appeared a single mark.

An eye.

Denzel’s stomach tightened.

The older man dropped to his knees again.

"No."

Denzel looked at him.

"What?"

The man wasn’t looking at Denzel.

He was looking above him.

"The Crown has chosen."

"Chosen what?"

The man shook his head.

"Not a king."

The creature began laughing.

"Not a ruler."

The older man’s voice broke.

"A vessel."

Denzel’s eyes narrowed.

"For what?"

The answer came from everywhere.

The walls.

The floor.

The Crown.

His own mind.

A voice spoke.

Not loudly.

It didn’t need to.

The seventh gate is open.

Denzel’s pupils contracted.

The Crown flashed.

Across the world, every awakened Royal Bloodline stopped.

For one heartbeat, they all looked toward the same direction.

Toward him.

Then something else happened.

Every Royal Bloodline heard the same voice.

The Crown has returned.

Denzel felt their fear.

Thousands of minds reacting at once.

Some prayed.

Some ran.

Some drew weapons.

Some bowed.

And somewhere far away, one person laughed.

Denzel could feel that laugh.

It was different from the others.

Calm.

Excited.

Expectant.

Someone had been waiting for this.

The Crown descended another inch.

Denzel reached up instinctively.

His fingers passed through it.

The moment he touched the invisible structure, seven lines of light spread across his arm.

The first became a sword.

The second became a shield.

The third became a chain.

The fourth became an eye.

The fifth became a crown.

The sixth remained empty.

The seventh...

The seventh was black.

Denzel stared at it.

"What is that?"

The older man looked at the seventh mark.

His face lost what little color remained.

"That’s not part of the Crown."

"Then what is it?"

The man whispered.

"The thing that killed the last King."

Denzel’s expression changed.

The black mark moved.

It crawled across the Crown.

Then it reached the center.

A crack appeared.

Denzel heard something laugh inside his head.

The creature in front of him suddenly collapsed.

Its body dissolved into black particles.

The older man didn’t move.

Denzel looked at the empty corridor.

"Where did it go?"

The man slowly stood.

"It didn’t."

Denzel turned.

"What?"

"It was never here to fight you."

The older man looked toward the ceiling.

"It was here to wake you."

The facility began collapsing.

This time, there was no chamber to run toward.

No corridor to follow.

No system notification telling Denzel what came next.

Only the Crown above his head.

And the seventh black mark spreading across it.

Denzel clenched his fist.

"Then what did I just wake?"

The older man looked at him.

For the first time since Denzel had met him, the man looked genuinely afraid.

"You."

Denzel frowned.

"What?"

"You were never the vessel."

The Crown pulsed.

The entire world shook.

The older man stared into Denzel’s eyes.

"You were the thing they sealed inside it."

Denzel didn’t have time to respond.

The seventh black mark reached the center.

The Crown shattered.

And somewhere beneath the world—

Something opened its eyes.