The two stood in silence at the temple's edge, staring into the void beneath the ruined platform. The bridge hadn't returned.
"Looks like we're stuck," Yu-ri muttered, catching her breath, her golden spear floating beside her.
Seo Joon raised his gauntlet.
"Not quite."
With a thought, silver chains of light extended from his arm, forming a thin path through the dark—reacting to the Tower's hidden systems.
> [Skill: Chain of Memory — Partial Reality Override in Progress…]
The chains wrapped around the edges of nothingness, pulling reality back into shape. A bridge formed beneath their feet.
Yu-ri blinked. "...You can do that now?"
"I didn't know I could," Seo Joon said. "But the Tower's rules are starting to bend."
They stepped forward.
But they weren't alone.
---
Far above, eyes watched.
A team of four—cloaked in muted colors, bodies wrapped in enchanted cloth to hide their mana signatures—descended in silence.
The leader wore a crown of twisted bone and carried a scythe dripping with illusion magic. His name, whispered through the Tower like a curse: Crowe.
One of the masked figures whispered, "That's him. Seo Joon. And the girl. Both awakened."
"Orders?" another asked.
Crowe grinned beneath his mask.
> "We kill the boy."
"We capture the girl."
---
The ambush came swift.
A flash—then darkness swallowed the bridge.
Yu-ri barely raised her spear before three daggers shimmered into existence midair, all aimed for Seo Joon's back.
CLANG! The gauntlet blocked the first two. The third grazed his arm.
"Ambush!" Yu-ri shouted, eyes glowing. Her spear spun into her hand, flaring with golden light.
Four figures materialized around them. Seo Joon's eyes narrowed—he could barely sense them before they struck. Their mana was cloaked, corrupted, warped by something deeper than stealth. Something like… erasure.
He shifted into a defensive stance.
Crowe stepped forward, swinging his scythe lazily. "Didn't think we'd meet so soon, Vowkeeper."
"How do you know that name?" Seo Joon demanded.
Crowe chuckled. "The Tower whispers when it trembles. And you're making it shake."
Without another word, Crowe lunged.
---
The fight erupted.
Seo Joon met the scythe mid-swing—chains of light shooting from his gauntlet, wrapping around the blade. But Crowe moved like water, warping through shadows, severing the links one by one.
Yu-ri spun, deflecting an invisible arrow mid-air before driving her spear through the foot of a cloaked attacker.
The attacker screamed—and exploded into smoke.
An illusion.
> "They're phasing in and out of reality," she warned.
"I noticed!"
Seo Joon ducked under a wide arc of the scythe and countered with a palm strike—charged with raw intent. A blast of force slammed into Crowe, sending him skidding back.
But Crowe only laughed.
"Not bad, child of the Oath. Let's see how long you last."
He raised his hand.
Chains of black light erupted from the air, mirroring Seo Joon's skill—but twisted. Broken. As if corrupted echoes of the Oathbound Eclipse itself.
Seo Joon's eyes widened.
> He's using a version of my skill... but where did he learn it?
Yu-ri drove her spear into the bridge, releasing a wave of golden light that dispelled three incoming projectiles, clearing a path.
"Joon!" she shouted. "You take Crowe. I'll handle the shadows."
He nodded.
They split—fighting as if they had done this for years.
---
Crowe smirked, raising his scythe again.
"Let me show you what a forgotten Remnant looks like."
Seo Joon clenched his fist.
> "Then let's remind you what a true Vowkeeper can do."
---