Chapter 119 - The Nameless Horror
The white world collapsed.
Reality splintered into countless fragments.
Kai felt himself falling through endless darkness.
Around him...
The stars of creation flickered like dying candles.
---
The Codex of the Beast Sovereign blazed with crimson light.
Emergency Alert
Ancient Archive...
Compromised.
Reality Stability:
17%
Cause:
Unknown Entity
---
A scream echoed across the void.
It did not come from a throat.
It came from existence itself.
Every sound in the universe seemed to twist around it.
The Seven Guardians instinctively moved closer to Kai.
Even Pyron's golden mane stood on end.
"I have never felt..."
"...anything like this."
---
The darkness ahead slowly unfolded.
Not as a creature.
Not as a shadow.
But as an absence.
A place where reality simply ceased to exist.
Stars disappeared when they drifted too close.
Light itself was swallowed.
Time froze at its edges.
---
The Codex tried to identify it.
Its pages turned wildly.
Entity Analysis
Name:
...
...
...
ERROR
Origin:
Unknown
Age:
Unknown
Classification:
Not Found
---
The Origin King took a single step forward.
For the first time since Kai had met him...
He bowed his head.
"So..."
"You have awakened."
---
The emptiness answered.
Not with words.
With memories.
Kai suddenly saw thousands of worlds.
Each thriving.
Each filled with life.
Then...
One by one...
They vanished.
Not destroyed.
Erased.
As though they had never existed.
No ruins.
No ashes.
No history.
Only silence.
---
Noctis clenched his fists.
"I remember..."
The Origin King looked at him.
"You were never meant to."
Noctis slowly nodded.
"The missing worlds..."
"They weren't myths."
"They were real."
---
The Codex flickered once more.
Ancient Records Restored
Worlds Before the Present Universe:
1,024
Current Worlds Remaining:
217
Status of Missing Worlds:
Erased
---
Kai's heart pounded.
"Who erased them?"
The Origin King slowly turned toward the emptiness.
"It did."
---
The void rippled.
A single eye opened.
Unlike the golden eye behind the Gate...
This eye had no colour.
It reflected nothing.
Anyone who looked into it forgot a memory.
Selene suddenly gasped.
"My..."
"My mother's face..."
"I can't remember it..."
Lucien staggered.
"The name of my first master..."
"It's gone..."
---
The Codex immediately responded.
Cognitive Hazard Detected
Do Not Look Directly
Memory Loss in Progress
---
Kai closed his eyes.
He gripped the wooden whistle the First Beast Sovereign had given him.
The simple melody drifted softly through the darkness.
The forgotten memories returned to his companions.
The nameless eye slowly blinked.
Almost...
Curiously.
---
The Origin King looked at Kai in surprise.
"The Song of First Bonds..."
"It remembers even what the void cannot erase."
---
Suddenly, the emptiness moved.
Not toward Kai.
Toward the Gate of Origins.
The Gate shook violently.
Golden cracks spread across its ancient surface.
The Origin King raised both hands.
Noctis summoned every chain he possessed.
The Seven Guardians unleashed their power.
Together, they halted the advancing void.
But only barely.
---
The Codex issued a final warning.
Truth Revealed
The Gate of Origins was never built to imprison the Origin King.
Its true purpose was to keep the Nameless Horror outside existence.
Silence followed.
Kai slowly looked at the Origin King.
"You stayed inside..."
"...to guard the Gate."
The Origin King smiled sadly.
"For twelve thousand years."
"I have been its final keeper."
Another deafening impact shook the Gate.
A tiny fracture spread across the seal.
Through it...
A single tendril of absolute darkness slipped into the universe.
Where it touched the void...
A distant star simply vanished.
No explosion.
No light.
It was as though it had never existed.
Kai tightened his grip on the Star-forged Spear.
The battle to save one world had ended.
The battle to save all existence had just begun.