NOVEL WEB Chapter 295: Shackles Of Memory
Silence.
The Leviathans were gone. Their massive corpses floated in pieces across the void, drifting slowly, dissolving into streaks of soul light that flickered out like embers in a dead wind.
Their howls had faded, their pressure lifted, but the void remained heavy, like the aftermath of a storm that had only paused to catch its breath.
The battlefield was still, but it wasn't peaceful. It was waiting.
And in the center of it all, the Heart pulsed.
No longer guarded, it beat faster now. A deep, thunderous sound that resonated through bone and blood.
Its glow shifted from pale blue to urgent gold, then crimson, then back again, a frantic cycle of warning, fury, and defiance. Each pulse sent small ripples of energy outward, brushing the group with a rising tide of tension.
Lilith stood closest to it, her legs trembling. Her skin bore the map of her battle. Soul burns carved across her arms and cheeks, thin cracks in her flesh where raw light leaked like blood.
Her visible aura of soul energy flickered erratically, unstable and wild, surging in jagged bursts of light, colors shifting with her staggered breaths. Her hands shook as she tried to stay upright, her blades gone, her power flickering.
Zuzu crouched beside Thorn, who leaned heavily against a jagged stone, blood soaking his clothes from a few wounds. His new bone arm had hairline fractured in two places, and his ribs were bruised if not broken.
Her hands trembled as she ripped more cloth from her cloak, wrapping his wounds with makeshift bindings.
"You with me, Thorn?" she asked softly, wiping sweat from her brow.
"Barely." He groaned, his face pale. "You look worse than I feel."
"Don't flatter yourself. You're a mess."
He gave a weak chuckle, wincing. "We alive?"
Zuzu looked toward the Heart. "That depends."
Ren stood apart from them, approaching the Heart in slow, measured steps.
The void around him tightened, as if space itself recoiled from the Heart. The light sharpened, no longer warm or divine, but surgical.
It pierced him, examining every thread of his soul. Pressure built in his chest, like invisible hands clutching his ribs. The closer he got, the more he saw.
It was not just a pulsing sphere of light.
Inside it, suspended like a fetus in a womb, was a creature made entirely of soul energy. Tiny limbs. Fingers curled inward. Eyes closed. Its fragile form pulsed in sync with the chamber, as if the Heart were its cradle and cage all at once.
Ren stopped. His breath caught in his throat.
"It's alive." He whispered, voice hoarse.
Lilith took one step closer, drawn to it like a dying star to gravity.
Her fingers touched the Heart's surface.
The reaction was instant.
A scream, high and piercing, ripped through her mind. It had no voice, no words, only raw agony. Threads of soul energy lashed out from the Heart and burrowed into her chest, binding to her spirit.
Her eyes widened, then clenched shut. Her legs buckled beneath the sudden psychic weight.
"Lilith!" Ren shouted, but she didn't hear him.
Her soul form ignited, a pulse of white and crimson flame surging outward. The threads held. They gripped her like a net, crawling deeper into her mind.
Then came the pulses.
The Heart fought back.
It didn't fight with claws or flames. It attacked with memory.
A storm of thought and emotion crashed into her consciousness. Images, sensations, dreams twisted into weapons. The world around her dissolved.
She stood in a field of stars.
Endless constellations shimmered above and below, infinite and quiet. The air was still. Soft whispers echoed through the space, wrapping her in their cold embrace.
"Rest."
"Sleep."
"You've done enough."
Her limbs grew heavy. Her heart slowed.
A memory appeared, drifting like a leaf across water. Elias stood before her at nine, sword raised, shielding her from a cruel noble who had shouted insults during a feast at the Underw0od estate.
His face had been calm.
"You don't have to be like them." He'd said, kneeling down. "You just have to be you. That's more than enough."
She blinked, eyes wet.
Another memory formed.
She was seven, peering from behind a pillar in the estate. Her sisters were laughing, dancing around their father as he lifted them into the air, spinning them. Lilith stood alone in the shadows.
Elias had approached quietly.
"You okay?"
She hadn't answered right away. Then she said, "I want to play too... but I don't know how."
Elias had crouched next to her, ruffling her hair. "Then we make our own game. Come on, I'll teach you."
The stars pulsed.
"You miss him."
"He protected you."
"Stay here."
Lilith clenched her fists.
"He's gone because of this. Because of the Heart. I won't stay."
The pressure increased.
But her voice rose over it.
She screamed.
Her aura exploded in golden fire, tearing through the illusion. The stars cracked, splitting apart. The whispers fell silent.
Outside, Ren kept moving forward against the pressure.
The tendrils came for him now. They slashed at the air, and he summoned Freedom, the blade glowing a bright white.
"Not today."
He activated Push. Wind howled behind him. He surged forward, hacking through the tendrils with each step. They screeched in his mind, vomiting fear and doubt.
The creature inside the Heart twisted.
It opened its eyes.
The world shook.
Ren staggered, blood dripping from his nose and ears. His vision blurred, but he kept going.
"LILITH!"
She heard him.
Her eyes opened.
The threads around her soul trembled.
She reached for the Heart.
Her fingers sank into the surface. The light burned her skin, but she held firm.
"You don't belong here." She growled.
Her hands closed around the fetus-shaped core.
It screamed.
It fought.
It thrashed, sending surges of memory and grief. Images of Elias dying. Her sisters laughing without her. Her father's loving but wary stare. It tried to drown her in sorrow.
But Lilith stood.
"I'm not afraid of you."
She began to pull.
The core strained. Its light dimmed. Bit by bit, it came loose.
Ren reached them.
He raised Freedom.
Soul energy flooded his blade, everything he had, Push resonance, soul energy, and Tithecraft strength. The blade pulsed violently, unstable.
It cracked.
Ren screamed and swung.
Freedom shattered.
The blow hit the core.
It split apart.
The creature wailed, then disintegrated.
The Heart gave one final scream, a long, drawn out thud.
Then it died.
The light faded.
Silence returned.
The Deep was dead.