CHAPTER 195: SOLO GATE

The courtyard had gone silent, the kind of silence that felt too heavy, like the air itself knew something was wrong.

Nathan’s chest heaved across from him, sword clutched in a tight fist. Elara’s boots scuffed as she came closer, her expression a mixture of irritation and something sharper beneath. Merlin didn’t move, the wooden blade still loose in his grip, but his pulse beat fast enough to make the weapon tremble.

Then it happened.

A sound like tearing fabric, but stretched out across the entire sky.

The three of them froze, heads tilting upward. Above the fortress walls, the clouds themselves seemed to rip apart, edges glowing with a violent, shifting purple.

A gate.

Merlin’s stomach dropped.

’No... not here. Not now.’

Elara was already shouting orders. "Get the others awake! Now!" Her voice cracked sharp through the air as soldiers scrambled from the barracks, half-dressed, clutching steel.

Nathan’s eyes lit with a mixture of fear and determination. "Finally," he muttered, turning to Merlin. "This is it."

Merlin didn’t answer. His system pulsed in his vision.

[Gate Manifestation Detected]

[Stability: Critical Failure Imminent]

[Closure Requirement: Single-Bearer Entry]

[Candidate Selected: Merlin Everhart]

Merlin staggered back, almost dropping the blade.

’No. Not this. Don’t you dare—’

The system didn’t pause.

[Warning: Isolation Event Triggered]

[Timeline Integrity Demands Entry]

[Proceed Immediately]

"Merlin!" Nathan barked, eyes wide as the first monsters began to crawl through the crack. Twisted shadows, long limbs bending wrong, teeth clicking against the stone. He raised his sword, the grin gone now, replaced with steel focus.

"Stay with me!" Nathan shouted, rushing to his side.

But before Merlin could even think, the ground beneath his boots pulsed. A ring of light shot up around him, sharp and golden.

His body locked.

"Nathan—!"

Elara spun, horror flashing across her face. "Merlin!"

Nathan lunged forward, reaching for him. "What the hell’s going on?!"

Merlin’s throat closed. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t explain. The system drowned everything out.

[Transfer Initiated]

[Objective: Enter Gate. Close Gate.]

[Warning: Companions Will Not Follow]

Light swallowed him whole.

The last thing he saw was Nathan’s hand, inches away, and Elara’s mouth open in a scream.

Then—gone.

—

Merlin’s boots slammed onto jagged stone, the sound echoing through an endless cavern. The air was thick, damp, stinking of rot and copper. Shadows clung to the walls like oil.

He staggered forward, clutching his chest.

"No... no, no, no." His voice echoed back at him, mocking.

The gate hung above, a swirling rift bleeding purple light into the dark cavern. Shapes crawled out, dripping and snarling. Their eyes burned faint red, fixed directly on him.

Merlin lifted his sword, only to realize the wooden training weapon was gone.

In his hand now was steel. Cold. Sharp. Familiar.

The system pulsed.

[Weapon Adjustment Complete]

[Survive. Close Gate.]

Merlin’s grip tightened. His breath shuddered out.

’I knew it was coming. I just didn’t think... not like this.’

The first monster lunged.

He moved before it landed, blade slicing up through its throat. The creature shrieked, body dissolving into smoke before it hit the ground.

Another one leapt from the wall. Merlin spun, blade flashing, cleaving through its chest.

They kept coming. Crawling. Sprinting. Leaping from every angle.

And Merlin, he cut them down.

Every strike landed true. Every dodge happened a breath before the claws grazed his skin. His body was a blur, movements sharper than they’d ever been in training.

’Nathan was right. I do see it before it happens.’

His blade cracked through skulls, tore through limbs, shredded beasts until the cavern floor was littered with smoking remnants.

Still, more poured from the rift.

Merlin’s chest burned, his arms aching with every swing. His tunic clung damp to his skin.

’There’s no end. Not unless I...’

He turned his gaze upward. The gate pulsed like a heart, wide and throbbing.

His system flickered again.

[Gate Core Detected]

[Action Required: Direct Interface]

’Direct interface? What the hell does that mean—’

The floor split beneath him. A massive claw, black as tar, punched upward, scattering debris. A monster unlike the others pulled itself free, towering, armored in bone, maw wide enough to swallow a man whole. Its eyes glowed crimson.

Merlin staggered back.

’Boss... of course there’s a boss.’

The creature roared, the cavern shaking with it.

Merlin’s system pulsed in his vision.

[Warning: Star Advancement Possible]

[Threshold Achieved – 13th Star]

[Proceed?]

His breath caught.

’Thirteen? That’s... impossible. There’s no such thing as a thirteenth star.’

The claw came down.

Merlin dove aside, blade scraping against stone. His ribs flared with pain as he rolled back to his feet.

[Decision Required. Proceed?]

The beast charged, claws tearing trenches into the ground.

Merlin’s grip tightened until his knuckles whitened.

’If I don’t... I die here. Nathan, Elara... I’ll never see them again.’

His jaw clenched. "Do it."

The system pulsed.

[Star Advancement Confirmed]

[13-Star Talent Awakened]

The world exploded.

Merlin’s body convulsed as raw power surged through him, flooding every nerve, every muscle, every thought. His vision sharpened to painful clarity. He could see the monster’s every movement, every twitch of its muscles before it happened.

His body moved without hesitation.

The beast swung, Merlin slid beneath the strike, blade cutting deep into its arm. Black ichor sprayed. The creature roared.

Merlin was already climbing its arm, boots kicking off jagged bone. He leapt, steel flashing, and drove the blade down into its skull.

The monster screamed, thrashing wildly, trying to shake him loose. Merlin held on, tearing the blade free only to plunge it again, and again, until the skull cracked beneath his strikes.

The beast collapsed, shuddering, before dissolving into smoke like the rest.

Merlin stood panting on the stone floor, blade dripping with black.

The cavern was quiet now. No more crawling. No more snarling.

Only the gate pulsed above.

The system pulsed with it.

[Gate Core Vulnerable]

[Final Action Required: Enter and Destroy]

Merlin stared up at it, chest heaving.

’Enter...?’

The gate widened, pulling at him with invisible force.

’If I go in, will I even come back?’

He thought of Nathan’s grin. Elara’s sharp eyes. The fortress courtyard.

His jaw tightened.

"If it means they’re safe..."

He stepped forward.

The pull grew stronger. His boots left the stone.

And then, the gate swallowed him whole.

—

Merlin landed hard on black glass, the surface cracked and endless beneath him. Above, the sky swirled in impossible colors, violet and green colliding like storms.

In the distance, something waited. A core. A sphere of seething purple energy, pulsing like a heart.

The system whispered.

[Gate Core Located]

[Destroy Core To Seal Gate]

Merlin started forward, blade steady in his grip. His chest still heaved, body trembling with the aftershock of power, but his steps didn’t falter.

Shadows coiled along the glass, writhing into shapes, dozens of them. Familiar faces flickered in the dark.

Nathan. Elara. Mae. Dion.

Their forms twisted, wrong, mouths stretching too wide as they hissed his name.

"Merlin..."

He froze, blade trembling.

’They’re illusions. Just illusions.’

Still, Nathan’s twisted face grinned at him. "Why didn’t you tell me?"

Elara’s form sneered. "You think you can carry this alone?"

Merlin’s throat closed.

He forced his legs to move. Forced the blade to rise.

Each shadow he cut down screamed in their voices, fading into smoke. Each one cut deeper into him than the last.

Until only the core remained, pulsing violently, cracks spidering along its surface.

Merlin raised the blade high. His arms shook, sweat blinding his eyes.

"This ends now."

He drove the blade down.

The core shattered.

The world screamed.

Light consumed everything.

-/

When Merlin’s eyes opened, he was lying on cold stone. The courtyard. Soldiers stood around, weapons drawn, staring in shock.

The sky was whole again. The gate, gone.

Nathan was on his knees beside him, grabbing his shoulders. "Merlin! Hey! Talk to me!"

Elara stood over them, eyes wide with something he couldn’t name.

Merlin’s lips parted, voice hoarse. "Closed..."

And then, darkness took him.

—

Merlin woke with a sharp gasp, lungs dragging in air like he’d been drowning. His vision swam, then cleared enough to see the familiar ceiling of his dorm. The stone felt cold beneath his back, even through the thin sheets.

He turned his head. Nathan sat slouched in a chair, chin resting against his chest, asleep but still gripping his sword as if he hadn’t left his side. Elara wasn’t there, but her cloak was draped over the edge of the bed.

Merlin stared at the ceiling again, swallowing hard.

’That wasn’t training anymore... that was war. And I almost didn’t come back.’

The system pulsed in his vision before he could stop it.

[Gate Sealed: Success]

[Survival Probability at Initiation: 0.04%]

[13-Star Status Confirmed]

He shut his eyes, pressing a hand over them.

’Zero point zero four percent. I wasn’t supposed to live.’

The memory of the monster’s scream, the crack of the core shattering, the voices of Nathan and Elara twisted in the dark, it all pressed into his skull like a weight that wouldn’t leave.

The door creaked. Merlin flinched up, only to see Nathan stirring awake, blinking blearily.

"You’re alive," Nathan said, voice rough, but there was a smile tugging at his lips. "I was starting to think you’d sleep through the week."

Merlin tried to laugh, but it came out weak and broken. "Feels like I could."

Nathan leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "What the hell was that, Merlin? One second you’re sparring, the next you’re—" He cut himself off, eyes darkening. "...gone. Elara said it was the system pulling you in, but she doesn’t know how. Nobody does."

Merlin’s throat tightened. He forced himself to sit up, wincing at the ache in his ribs. "I don’t remember much," he lied, voice flat. "One moment I was there, then... monsters. Then nothing."