Masked By Fate: The Strongest Pretender

Smoke still coiled from the shattered remnants of the blood crystal as Riven stood among the rubble, cape fluttering behind him. The cultists were gone—either dead or scattered like rats. But it wasn't victory that lingered in the air—it was something colder.

Clarisse Vernhart approached, her blonde hair streaked with soot, scrolls clutched tightly to her chest. "You triggered a collapse protocol. There were at least six escape corridors laced with traps."

"I know," Riven said. "That's why I needed their attention on me. You mapped the exits?"

"Of course," she said with a huff. "I'm a tactician, not a flower vase."

Behind them, Ylira helped stabilize a wounded Aeris. "We found the secondary altar—Aeris disarmed the soul siphon just in time." She looked at Riven. "That wasn't just a cult gathering. They were summoning an artifact—a Blood Crown."

Riven's eyes narrowed. "A relic of dominion magic. Whoever wears it can command lesser minds… or control the dead."

Selene stepped from the shadows, her hands slick with blood, but her expression calm. "The Blood Sect wasn't acting alone. I found sigils from the Crimson Tribunal etched into the stonework."

"That changes things," Riven muttered. "They're no longer isolated cultists. This is political now."

Clarisse unfurled a map across a broken pillar. "Then we strike where it hurts. The Tribunal has holdings in the northern borderlands—fortresses, temples, blood vaults."

"But doing that risks exposing our hand," Selene added. "Unless... we make them think they're still in control."

Riven smirked. "Exactly."

Clarisse blinked. "You're going to let them believe they've won?"

Riven turned toward the darkness beyond the ruins. "Let them wear their stolen crown, sit on their dead throne, and celebrate their illusion of power. In the end, they'll never see it coming."

Lyra howled from a nearby ledge, signaling the others had regrouped.

"We move at first light," Riven said.

Clarisse glanced at him, eyes sharp. "You're not just planning to beat them, are you?"

Riven's half-mask glinted in the moonlight.

"I'm planning to rewrite the game."