NOVEL WEB Chapter 35: Chapter 35: The Hollow Warden
[Prologue – A Falling Star]
The sky bled quietly over Veora.
At first, the villagers thought it was a shooting star—bright, fast, silent.
But then it stopped midair.
And began to descend.
A jagged mass of obsidian iron, wrapped in spiked chains that dragged behind it like cosmic shackles. At its core stood a towering humanoid—nearly four meters tall—shrouded in broken armor and crackling with voidlight.
Its face was a blank mask carved from the bones of dead stars.
Its eyes were hollow craters, leaking darkness.
It landed in silence.
And the world seemed to forget what sound was.
---
[Scene 1 – Alarm]
Orlan woke first.
He sat upright, sweat dripping from his forehead. His runes flared with panic.
"Something just unfolded nearby," he whispered. "Reality... blinked."
Elira burst in moments later, sword half-drawn. "Everyone's frozen outside. They can't move."
Rhea, unusually pale, simply said: "He's here."
Kun stepped out into the dawnlight.
The villagers stood like statues, caught mid-motion—eyes wide but unseeing.
And at the center of the village, where the temple once stood...
Stood the Hollow Warden.
---
[Scene 2 – The First Blow]
"Target acquired," the Warden said.
Its voice sounded like wind across tombstones—empty, eternal.
Kun didn't wait.
He charged.
His blade blazed gold and silver, streaking through the frozen field like cometlight.
But when he struck—
His blade passed through the Warden's chest.
No blood.
No resistance.
Just emptiness.
The Warden's hand closed around Kun's neck instantly, lifting him off the ground.
> "Confirmed: Sovereign Host compromised."
> "Commencing Extraction."
Black chains erupted from the Warden's chest—hundreds, barbed, screaming like ghosts. They pierced the air around Kun, targeting his flame, pulling at it.
Elira screamed, slashing in.
Rhea fired a bolt to disrupt the pull.
Orlan dropped a gravity-seal that warped the space between them.
The chains cracked—but Kun dropped, unconscious, flames guttering.
---
[Scene 3 – Team vs. Warden]
The Hollow Warden moved without haste.
But every motion bent physics.
Elira's strikes passed through it unless she timed them with her own breath. She began to mirror its movement, fighting with predictive precision.
Rhea used terrain, leading it in circles, noting the one-second delay between each shift in position.
Orlan realized something else:
> "It doesn't exist entirely in now."
> "It's fractured across several moments. We need to sync our attack!"
They moved as one.
Three blades.
Three spells.
Three anchors in time.
And for the first time—
The Warden staggered.
---
[Scene 4 – Kun Awakens]
Inside his mind, Kun floated.
But not alone.
The Celestora seal burned within him, reacting violently to the Warden's presence.
He saw images—memories—not his own.
Worlds forgotten.
Flames that burned knowledge.
Gods that fell into silence.
And at the center—
A throne of hollow flame.
And Kael… smiling.
> "Now you see," Kael's voice echoed.
> "You weren't the first Starborn. Just the last prototype."
Kun screamed—
And awakened.
---
[Scene 5 – Final Clash]
Kun rose.
His eyes were white.
His aura flickered—not gold, not silver—but broken starlight.
The Sovereign Form fractured—but not weakened.
It adapted.
He walked through the chains.
The Warden raised its arm.
But Kun caught it.
> "You're just a container," Kun whispered. "But I'm the fire."
He slammed his hand into the Warden's chest.
> Starfire Technique: Astral Bloom.
A flower of memory-light erupted—each petal a name, a place, a scream, a dream.
The Warden staggered.
Then shattered.
Its armor fell to pieces.
Inside... was no one.
Just a husk.
A hollow shell.
---
[Scene 6 – Aftermath]
Kun stood in the dust, trembling.
Orlan approached, stunned. "That wasn't a person."
"No," Kun said. "It was what happens when you burn the soul away, and only the command remains."
Rhea added quietly: "Kael's building an army… not of believers—but of emptiness."
Elira touched Kun's shoulder.
"You won. But you're bleeding."
He looked down.
There was no wound.
But his shadow was flickering unnaturally.
And somewhere far away...
The mirror Kun inside Kael's lake opened its eyes.