The Nebula Gate sealed behind them with a heavy, echoing thrum…
As if the entire dungeon recognized that retreat was no longer an option.
Only descent.
Only confrontation.
Only destiny.
The spiraling path ahead was carved from cosmic metal—
liquid starlight trapped into hardened form, glowing with pulsing veins of silver.
Flare inched forward, eyes wide.
"Why does it feel like this place is still moving?"
Lumeria swallowed hard.
"Because it is.
We're walking inside a collapsed star."
Hayate didn't react.
He simply continued downward, the crown behind his head growing sharper—
Its edges are beginning to resemble the complete Devouring Constellation.
Every step he took caused the dungeon to ripple, like a beast shuddering from the return of its master.
Then—
The temperature dropped.
Violently.
Frost formed along the metallic walls.
The spiral path narrowed.
Chains—actual cosmic chains—hung from the ceiling, each as thick as a mountain and glowing with imprisonment sigils.
Flare gulped.
"Uhh… Lumeria? …Please tell me these chains aren't for what I think they're for."
Lumeria's voice dropped to a whisper.
"They were used to bind the Sovereign's power.
To restrain him after the sealing war."
Hayate paused.
Just once.
His eyes narrowed, studying the ancient script carved into the chains.
"Five hundred and twelve shackles," he murmured.
"That many!?" Flare yelped.
"Yes," Hayate continued calmly.
"I broke five hundred and eleven of them before I died."
Flare's jaw dropped.
"You WHAT—?!"
But before she could panic further—
A voice echoed through the icy corridor.
A voice cold enough to freeze flame.
Smooth enough to cut steel.
Ancient enough to predate time.
"Well… well…
The prodigal Sovereign walks again."
The air condensed.
Chains rattled.
A figure stepped from the frost ahead—
not emerging…
…but forming from the cold itself.
---
THE SECOND GUARDIAN — THE FROST-CLAD WARDEN
He was tall.
Not imposing like the Wraith before…
but precise, calculated, honed like a blade forged from winter.
Armor of crystallized cosmos covered him.
His face was concealed by a helm of ice.
His cloak was woven from frozen void-dust.
And around his body—
Orbiting him like moons—
Were thirteen broken chains.
Each chain segment pulsed with a terrifying pressure.
Lumeria gasped, stepping backward.
"T-Those are Sovereign Shackles… the original ones…!"
Flare hid behind Hayate again.
"Why do these enemies keep getting worse!?"
The Warden's cold, distorted voice echoed through the hall:
"I am the Frost-Clad Warden.
Keeper of your chains.
One of the three who stood against you."
Hayate met his icy gaze without blinking.
"You were the architect of the seal."
The Warden's smile cracked like splitting ice.
"Yes.
I removed your memories myself…
Sovereign of Devouring Stars."
With a gesture, dozens of chains tore free from the walls, swirling around him like a blizzard.
"My purpose remains unchanged."
His voice sharpened.
"To bind you.
To break you anew.
To ensure you never reclaim what we took."
Flare whimpered.
"Oh stars—Hayate, he looks like a final boss who swallowed another final boss!"
Lumeria's grip tightened on her staff.
"This fight won't be like the Hollow Star. This man was the mind behind the sealing war. The strategist. The executioner."
The chains rattled in unison.
The Warden raised his hand—
And the dungeon froze solid.
---
THE CHAINSTORM BEGINS
A hurricane of cosmic frost exploded forward, chains snapping like serpents made of razor-edged ice.
Hayate didn't move.
Not until the last moment.
Then—
FLASH.
He vanished.
Chains slammed into the ground, carving trenches through the frozen star-metal.
Flare screamed:
"He dodged BEFORE they even moved—!!"
The Warden spoke calmly, unfazed.
"Your speed has improved."
Chains whirled again.
"But I built your cage.
You cannot escape me."
Hayate reappeared behind him.
"Fourth Form—"
A black halo flared in his hand.
"Oblivion—"
But the Warden snapped two chains together—
CLANG—!!
A cosmic shockwave blasted Hayate backward.
He skidded across the floor, frost forming beneath him.
Flare shrieked:
"HE BLOCKED OBLIVION!? WHO BLOCKS OBLIVION—!?"
Lumeria paled.
"He's not blocking.
He's redirecting.
Those chains aren't weapons—they're law-binding artifacts."
The Warden lifted his arm.
All thirteen chain segments ignited with frostfire.
"Shall we resume?"
Hayate stood.
No emotion.
Only purpose.
"Very well."
---
THE SOVEREIGN'S NEXT ASCENT
A system window flickered to life above him.
[SYNCHRONIZATION: 82% → 84% → 87%]
Lumeria gasped softly.
"That's too fast.
He's going to reach full awakening inside this fight."
Flare's flames sputtered.
"Isn't that—good?"
Lumeria didn't answer.
Because she wasn't sure.
And because the Warden noticed too.
He shifted his stance.
"You are awakening too quickly, Sovereign.
If you reach one hundred percent…
The throne will not be your only reclaiming."
His chains flared.
"You will devour the dungeon itself."
Hayate stepped forward, aura sharpening into a star-born hurricane.
"That is none of your concern."
The Warden extended his hand.
"It is mine."
Chains erupted.
Hayate vanished.
Two forces collided—
Frost and Devouring Star.
Law and Annihilation.
Precision and Purpose.
The dungeon cracked—
not physically…
Conceptually.
Lumeria shielded Flare as reality warped around them.
The Warden snarled:
"Your arrogance remains unchanged."
Hayate replied:
"And your delusion remains uncorrected."
He swept his hand.
"Fifth Form—Star-Rend Spiral."
A spinning vortex of devouring galaxies erupted from his arm.
The Warden crossed two shackles—
CRACK!
The spiral shattered.
But so did the Warden's chains.
The armor on his arm fractured.
Frost bled into mist.
He stepped back.
"You… have grown."
Hayate approached, cold and steady.
"You tried to seal the Sovereign."
"You succeeded once."
"You will fail now."
The Warden raised the remaining chains—
"I will not."
He wrapped them around his own body—
a desperate, suicidal technique.
Lumeria screamed:
"He's overclocking his existence! He's turning himself into a living seal—!"
Hayate lifted his hand.
A silent, lethal glow formed.
"Sixth Form."
Flare froze.
"HE HAS A SIXTH—!?"
Hayate didn't let her finish.
His voice dropped into absolute finality.
"—Sovereign's Eclipse."
A black sun ignited around his body.
The Warden took one step back.
"…Impossible."
The black sun surged.
The dungeon is inverted.
Chains shattered.
Frost melted.
Concepts collapsed.
And the Warden—
The mastermind of the seal—
The binder of the Sovereign—
was swallowed whole.
No scream.
No echo.
Only silence.
---
System Notification
[ENEMY 2 OF 3 — TERMINATED]
Synchronization: 87% → 92%
Gate Unlocked: The Last Oath Chamber
---
Flare exhaled shakily.
"I'm officially terrified. But also extremely impressed. But also still terrified."
Lumeria looked at Hayate with a trembling expression.
"You're… almost fully awakened."
Hayate didn't answer.
He simply turned toward the next descent:
A narrow tunnel lit by bleeding starlight.
The last path.
The final guardian.
The final enemy of the Sovereign.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"Let's go."
The path opened beneath them, spiraling downward into the crimson glow.
Because what awaited…
Was the one enemy Hayate had not yet named.
Not a king.
Not a warden.
Not a monster.
But something far worse—
His betrayer.
The final guardian.
Enemy 3 of 3.
And the keeper of the Sovereign's severed memory.
The one he once called—
"Brother."