Chapter 73: The Ritual’s Master – Battle Against the Black Gull Leader


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    The battlefield behind me was a graveyard of bodies and Riftspawn, but there was no time to stop.


    The Black Spire loomed above, and at its base, the leader of the Black Gull waited.


    His golden mask reflected the crimson-streaked sky, his long robes dripping with abyssal energy.


    He raised a single hand, and the very air twisted around him.


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    "You have come far, Forge."


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    His voice wasn’t just one.


    It was many—layered, distorted, as if countless voices were speaking at once.


    I tightened my grip on Gwaine. "I’m ending this. Right here. Right now."


    The leader tilted his head.


    And laughed.


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    The Duel Begins


    He moved first.


    Not running.


    Not dashing.


    Just… appearing.


    One moment he was yards away—the next, he was in front of me, a curved dagger plunging toward my throat.


    I barely had time to react.


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    Nyx snapped into place, parrying the strike as I twisted, slashing Gwaine upward.


    He vanished again, reappearing above me.


    A spear of pure void formed in his hands, crashing down—but before it could land, Lilith moved.


    Her chains whipped forward, intercepting his attack with an explosion of black fire.


    "Tsk tsk~," she purred. "No touching my summoner."


    The leader hissed, retreating back.


    But his mask remained… amused.


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    "Good. Show me your worth."


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    And then he unleashed hell.


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    A Fight Against the Impossible


    The air split apart, rifts forming mid-space as hundreds of abyssal blades materialized, raining down on me from every angle.


    Purn tore through them, his golden energy fangs ripping apart the incoming storm.


    Darius slammed his shield into the ground, forming a barrier of pure willpower, deflecting the onslaught.


    Iris and Zephyr flanked from the sides, moving like lightning to strike at the leader—


    But he was too fast.


    He warped through reality itself, stepping between dimensions as if the rules of space didn’t apply to him.


    Then—he appeared right in front of me.


    His hand touched my chest.


    And suddenly, my entire body went numb.


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    The Unexpected Event – A Fractured Reality


    I felt something tear inside me.


    Not flesh.


    Not bone.


    Something deeper.


    The System screamed.


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    [ERROR: UNKNOWN ENTITY ATTEMPTING TO OVERRIDE FORGE.]


    [WARNING: REALITY FRACTURING.]


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    I collapsed, gasping as my entire vision blurred.


    The battlefield faded.


    The Spire vanished.


    And suddenly—


    I wasn’t in the fight anymore.


    I was somewhere else.


    Standing in a world of nothingness.


    And in front of me…


    A throne of void.


    A figure seated upon it.


    And when it opened its eyes, I knew—


    This was the thing the Black Gull had been trying to summon.


    And somehow, it had just pulled me to it.