The system notification hit me mid-morning.
[CHALLENGE COMPLETE]
Status:Failed
Claimant: Elijah Voss
Midnight Crown Result: Dungeon Core Not Reached
Completion Rate: 34%
Penalty Incurred: Midnight Crown –25 Guild Reputation
Reward Granted: Elijah Voss +25 Reputation | +1 Sub-Claim Token | +XP
[XP GAINED: 310]
[Summon XP: +120 shared across active units]
[Progress to Rank E: 310 / 1500]
[Slot Efficiency Improved: Summon Mana Cost –2%]
I stared at the floating window as the last few glyphs faded from view.
They failed.
The dungeon was mine.
"They ran into Ashbourne," I explained that evening, fingers drumming against the old command table inside a repurposed bunker near Guild HQ. "And they thought he was a dungeon boss."
Arielle snorted. "You let them?"
I tilted my head. "Technically, Ashbourne let himself be seen. I just… watched."
Isaiah, sitting cross-legged across from us, added, "Did you at least pretend to warn them?"
"Nope."
Arielle groaned. "They'll come after you again. Maybe legally. Maybe not."
"Let them," I said. "They'll never find the dungeon core again. I buried it under fifty feet of spectral gravel."
Isaiah blinked. "Spectral gravel?"
"Don't ask."
Purgatory had changed.
Again.
Since defeating the Warden of Silence and completing AX-33, a noticeable shift had started at its edges. More undead patrolled the rising cliffs—no longer mindless husks, but sharper, more distinct.
Ashbourne's Gravewalkers had grown to eight.
Each wore a variation of the sigil that marked his command. One bore a half-burned cloak. Another wielded dual blades made from spectral bone. They no longer whispered in broken language. They sent full thoughts—primitive, but clear.
And Ashbourne?
He stood like a commander.
A quiet general awaiting orders.
This is what you meant, isn't it? I thought at him. About building something beneath me.
Ashbourne responded in a way that wasn't speech, but feeling—inevitability.
"How is he doing that?" Isaiah asked beside me, steps slow as we walked the elevated path above the southern graves.
"Who, Ashbourne?"
"Yeah. These… upgrades. This structure. I thought you were the one summoning them."
"I am," I said. "Sort of. I supply the essence. The will. The raw power. But once they enter Purgatory… he chooses."
Isaiah stopped. "He chooses who becomes what?"
"Exactly."
"And the rest?"
"Stored. Dispersed. Forgotten. Unless I intervene."
Isaiah looked troubled. "Doesn't that make him a necromancer too?"
I didn't answer.
Because I'd been asking myself the same thing.
Later, beneath the fractured sky of the realm, I stood at the edge of Lucifer's chamber. The vault cracked deeper now, veins of molten red lining its seal.
I could feel his awareness pressing against mine—silent, brooding.
Ashbourne remained ten paces behind me. Watching.
The second segment of the sigil on my hand flickered again. The mark for Lilith—the one meant to awaken next—was quiet. Dormant.
"You're worried," I said aloud.
Ashbourne didn't deny it.
Instead, he finally spoke.
"He was not born of death, but born to judge it. If he awakens too soon…"
"…you may not survive the meeting."
In the real world, we trained.
Isaiah proved his worth. His class, a rare Tactical Amplifier, let him map hostile mana zones, redirect magical pressure, and anchor defensive wards. His mind was sharp, but his instincts were sharper—especially when working alongside Ashbourne.
We cleared a minor F-tier dungeon together. More maze than fight. Still, it was enough to push my XP up another 120 points.
Stats ticked forward.
INT: 24 → 25
WIS: 30 → 31
Summon Slot Efficiency: +1%
It wasn't much.
But it was something.
That night, in Purgatory's main chamber, I asked the question I'd been putting off.
"How did you get in?"
Isaiah looked up from where he was sketching the realm's terrain in chalk. "Purgatory?"
"Yeah. This realm. It's not just space. It's tied to my soul. My ring."
Isaiah stood, brushing off his hands. "I didn't break in."
"I didn't let you in either."
"Not consciously," he said. "But this place… it's more than a pocket dimension. It's listening to your intent. Not just thoughts. Emotions. Alignment. I didn't sneak in. I resonated in."
Arielle, who'd just arrived, added, "When you collapsed in the dungeon and I grabbed your hand—your ring—I saw this place. Briefly. It felt… old. Cold. Alive."
We all turned toward the center.
Where Ashbourne stood.
And above him—the flickering sigil.
[Purgatory Realm Updated]
Access Control Tier I Unlocked
Known Trusted Souls: 2
Secondary Entry Anchor Detected: Isaiah Dorne
Realm Response: Stable
Soul Convergence Capacity: 7
Recommended Status: Partial Shared Sanctum
Isaiah whistled. "So, what—like a club?"
Arielle folded her arms. "More like a war room."
"The 7 Souls of Purgatory," I murmured. "And only the ones I trust can enter."
Ashbourne approached me later in the northern crypts. The terrain there had begun to shift—less like a graveyard and more like a fortress under construction.
His posture was calm, but the energy in the air was brittle.
"One of mine has grown too strong."
I looked toward the training field. The Bladed Shade—the fourth Gravewalker—was there, carving apart three sparring husks with terrifying ease.
"He doesn't follow you?"
"He obeys. But not willingly."
"And?"
"You must judge him. Or replace me."
The air trembled slightly at those words.
Judging a summon. Replacing Ashbourne?
Not today.
But maybe one day.
The next morning, my comm pinged.
Encrypted transmission.
Caelum.
His face flickered into view—more tired than I remembered, silver markings etched deeper.
"You've been busy," he said. "Ashbourne grows stronger. Purgatory breathes again."
"You said before there were others like me. Scions."
"I did."
I stepped closer to the screen. "I want to know what happened to them. Flame. Storm. Shadow. Time. Were they all killed?"
Caelum hesitated. "Some. Yes."
"And the rest?"
His voice dropped. "Some became something else. Their deaths weren't ends. They were… transitions. Scions don't vanish, Elijah. They echo. They imprint on the world."
A cold chill moved through my spine.
"What does that mean?"
"Figure it out fast," Caelum said, already fading from view. "Because the deeper your realm builds, the more it draws attention."
The feed went black.