The corridor beyond the Skybone Vault was not carved—it was grown.
White bone twisted like roots through obsidian walls, and eerie whispers drifted through the air like incense smoke.
Woon Gihyeon stopped suddenly, eyes narrowing.
“This place... it’s not just a tomb. It’s a warning.”
Mujin pressed forward, Skycut Fang in hand.
“Warning against what?”
Then the air changed.
A chill crept into their lungs.
From the walls, the bones began to twitch.
Whispers coalesced into a single voice:
“He who awakens the seal... must pay the Emperor’s due.”
A pale mist surged forth, coiling into the shape of an armored warrior—
his skeletal face crowned with a shattered jade helm.
“I am Daehun, last general of the Skybone Emperor.”
He raised his broken glaive, and the walls trembled.
Part II: The Duel of Regret
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Daehun’s strikes were not just physical—they were memories.
Each swing carried the weight of a forgotten war,
and every blow sent visions into Mujin’s mind:
-
A child weeping as war machines trampled his village.
-
A brother abandoned during escape.
-
A lie whispered to survive.
“Your sins may be modern, Mujin,” Daehun roared,
“but your soul is stained just the same.”
Mujin fell to one knee, bleeding from both his side and his memories.
His body fought, but his mind fractured.
“I’m not here to desecrate your Emperor,” he gasped.
“I’m here because I was dragged here—
and now I fight to return, to protect my world!”
The Heaven’s Seal on his chest shimmered.
From within, the sixth sigil pulsed—joined by a seventh.
Unity.
Gihyeon whispered behind him, “You’ve earned the Emperor’s test. Now earn his legacy.”
Mujin surged forward.
He didn't block Daehun’s strike.
He received it—absorbing the weight of regret, and twisting it with resolve.
With a clean upward arc of Skycut Fang, he shattered the spectral glaive.
Part III: The Emperor Speaks
Daehun knelt.
“You have faced the curse... and answered with truth.”
Behind him, a stone door opened—
inside, a floating orb of sapphire fire.
The Eighth Treasure: Azure Heart of Remembrance.
As Mujin touched it,
his surroundings fell silent.
A deep voice, ancient and thunderous, boomed in his soul.
“Martial Soul...
You are not our heir.
But you may yet become our reckoning.”
Then—
A vision of Earth.
Modern streets, chaos, fire.
A shadowy figure walking through Seoul, wearing the very same Heaven’s Seal.
Mujin gasped.
“Someone else... is awakening the Gate.”
Epilogue: The Second Challenger
Far from Baekje, deep beneath the South Sea,
another relic pulsed awake.
A boy, no older than seventeen, opened his eyes.
His hair was silver.
On his palm glowed a faint replica of Mujin’s seal.
And he whispered:
“The game’s already started.”
To be continued.