CHAPTER 506: SHADES VII

The world split open.

When Leon whispered the name, it wasn’t just sound—it was decree. Fracture Requiem pulsed outward, and everything in its path shattered into echoes. Chains lost their unity, unraveling into fragments of themselves: one link striking, another reversing, a third collapsing before it even reached. Reality could no longer hold a single outcome; every motion fractured into three, five, a thousand broken possibilities.

The ground groaned. Stone ridges split apart, their pieces hovering midair before scattering into a storm of debris that refused to fall in the same direction. Even Kar’veth’s throne cracked deeper, its obsidian banners shuddering under a rhythm they could not master.

Kar’veth bared his teeth, his voice a thunderclap that fought against the breaking song."You dare fracture sovereignty itself?"

Leon’s blood streamed from his eyes, his nose, the corners of his mouth. His skin split in hairline fissures, light pouring through like molten cracks in glass. Every step forward nearly broke him, yet his pulse never faltered. His voice rang like a verdict:"No throne commands me. Not yours. Not Kaelith’s. Not the Tower’s."

Naval could barely breathe. The pressure of the clash was suffocating, yet awe rooted him in place. "He’s... splitting the law itself."

Milim laughed wildly, delight sparking in her eyes. "Now that’s my Leon!" She surged into the air, fists blazing, her blows syncing perfectly with the broken rhythm, detonating chain after chain in bursts of fractured resonance.

Roselia’s knees shook, but her sigils blazed brighter than ever. "It’s... it’s not just breaking," she whispered, voice trembling between fear and wonder. "It’s rewriting what can exist."

Liliana tightened her grip on her staff. She could feel her own heartbeat trying to sync with Leon’s—painful, overwhelming, yet undeniably right. "This is... beyond resonance."

Roman spat blood into the dirt, a grin cutting across his battered face. "Ha! Break his damn throne, Leon!"

Kar’veth roared, chains converging into a single massive shackle, so vast it blotted the arena’s broken sky. A chain forged not of iron, but of dominion itself."This is the law of Shackles! The weight that bound worlds, the command that forged Thrones! Your requiem ends here!"

Leon staggered, nearly collapsing under the tidal surge of that sovereign decree. His pulse stuttered, blood spraying from his lips. For a moment, it looked as though his body would fail him.

But then—his fractures widened. Not just outside, but within. His own being split, splintered into shards of possibility. And in that chaos, he found a rhythm deeper than all before it.

His eyes burned like stars gone supernova.

"Fracture Requiem... BREAK!"

The Fifth Pulse unleashed.

The colossal chain met the fractured symphony—And the world went white.

The white silence swallowed everything.

No air.

No sound.

No motion.

Just the stillness of a world erased.

Leon floated in it—if "floating" was even the word. His body was gone, or maybe it had been broken into so many pieces that it no longer mattered. His mind splintered into countless echoes, each one living and dying in a different outcome.

In one, he was crushed beneath Kar’veth’s chain.

In another, he shattered it and stood triumphant.

In yet another, he bled out on the stone while his team screamed his name.

And further still—outcomes where he never fought, never climbed, never existed.

Every possibility screamed through him at once. A choir of fractured selves, all dissolving into the Fifth Pulse.

He should have been lost.

But in the center of that chaos, a rhythm still beat.

His rhythm.

One heartbeat.

One decision.

One truth: no Throne commands me.

The silence rippled—then fractured.

A sound like breaking glass tore through the void, and reality snapped back.

The arena reformed in jagged breaths. The ruined city, the cracked throne, the shattered sky—it all flickered back into being.

Kar’veth was on one knee, blood streaking down his face. His chains lay in ruins around him, links scattered like bones of a slain beast. His breath came ragged, his aura shuddering with each pulse of Leon’s rhythm still echoing in the air.

But he was laughing. Low, harsh, filled with savage joy.

"Ahhh... Flamebreaker. You did it. You broke my command."

Leon stood at the center of the devastation. His body was a ruin—blood soaked every inch, fissures of light crawling across his skin as though he were still fracturing. His legs shook, barely holding him upright. Yet his eyes burned, steady, defiant.

Naval staggered to his side, staring in disbelief. "...Leon..."

Roselia’s lips trembled. "He... he survived..."

Liliana clutched her staff to her chest, whispering, "Not survived. Conquered."

Kar’veth rose slowly, clutching the armrest of his half-shattered throne. His grin was ragged, but his voice was steady, echoing across the battlefield like a sovereign’s decree.

"Flamebreaker Leon. Conductor of Fractures. The shard chose well." His chains rattled once, then fell still. "You have earned this Throne. And with it—my recognition."

The banners above him flared one last time before dissolving into light.

The Throne of Shackles was broken.

And Leon stood, barely breathing, but victorious.

The air finally cleared. The fight was over.

Leon stood in the middle of the battlefield, his body shaking, blood running down his face. He looked like he could fall at any moment, but his eyes still burned with the same fire that had carried him through.

Around him, the city was broken even more than before—stone split, towers leaning, the ground full of deep cracks. Kar’veth’s throne was shattered, his endless chains scattered like broken metal.

The Sovereign himself was on one knee. He was hurt, his body marked with blood, but he wasn’t angry. He was smiling.

"You did it," Kar’veth said, his deep voice rough but full of respect. "You broke my law. You broke the chains. The shard chose well."

He pushed himself up slowly, standing tall one last time. The banners above his throne glowed, then dissolved into light, fading into the sky.

Leon swayed, almost falling, but Naval rushed to his side, catching him before he hit the ground.

"He’s alive," Naval said, relief breaking into his voice.

Roselia pressed her hand to her lips, her eyes wet. "I thought... I thought we’d lost him."

Liliana stepped closer, clutching her staff tight. "No. He didn’t just survive. He won."

Roman spat blood, a grin tugging at his tired face. "Hah... that’s our leader."

Kar’veth’s form was fading now, his throne breaking apart into sparks of light. Yet his voice still carried, strong, proud, unshaken.

"Leon. Flamebreaker. Conductor of Fractures. You now hold what I once held. My Throne... is yours."

The light surged, flowing toward Leon, sinking into his body. The weight of a broken Sovereign, of a throne’s power, pressed against him, heavy and absolute.

And then, the battlefield went still.

Leon had claimed the Throne of Shackles.