NOVEL WEB Chapter 456: Throne XI
The 24 hours before the duel passed like a held breath.
Leon stood atop a quiet ridge overlooking the mirrored lake at the plaza's edge. The surface reflected not just his form, but his presence—one that now pulsed with subtle waves of authority. He wasn't just climbing anymore. The Tower had accepted him as part of its logic tree. Every decision he made here would ripple downward across hundreds of floors.
That weight wasn't crushing. It was clarifying.
He heard footsteps behind him. Roselia approached first, arms crossed.
"You're calm."
"I've already fought what I could become," Leon replied. "This next part is just… refinement."
Milim dropped beside them, stretching. "We looked up this Yvaal. She's old. Dominion-based law shaping. Likes control, suppression, and burning out resistance. Kind of your polar opposite."
Kael joined with a low whistle. "You didn't pull a light opponent."
Roman chuckled. "He didn't choose. The Tower chose her to test him."
Naval appeared last, flipping a scroll of glowing glyphs. "Her domain is structured around compliance-based conditioning. If she considers your intentions disruptive, she'll try to burn your Law to nothing."
Leon simply nodded. "Then I'll survive her judgment without bending to her rules."
System Notification
Duel Commencement Initiated
Combat Floor: Sanctuary of Dominion Flame
Challenger: Leon Aetheren
Defender: Yvaal, Architect of Dominion
Objective: Survive and maintain Law Stability for five phases.
Victory Condition: Force Yvaal to acknowledge Law Compatibility.
Failure: Law Proposal revoked, Architect status stripped.
The Arena
It was a cathedral.
Not one of faith, but of control. A mile-wide dome of white fire circled by burning statues—all of them kneeling, their faces covered in ash and gold. In the center stood Yvaal.
She was beautiful, terrible, and ancient.
Clad in flowing robes of solar flame, with a crown made from spinning rings of glyphs, she didn't look at Leon at first. She looked through him.
"You come bearing kindness. Uplift. Mercy." Her voice echoed, controlled and calm. "That has no place here."
Leon walked into the center ring.
"It does now."
She opened one hand. The temperature rose a thousand degrees instantly. "Then defend it, Architect."
Phase One: Suppression Flame
Pillars of golden fire erupted, searing control runes into the battlefield. Leon's limbs slowed. Not because of injury, but because dominance over his will was being forced through system compression.
Yvaal raised a finger.
"You were allowed to enter this tier. But mercy weakens walls. Compassion breaks structures. Surrender your law and I'll leave you whole."
Leon's Shell Reverb activated. The flames didn't touch him—they bent around him, like space refused to let them in.
He stepped forward, defying the suppression.
"No."
Phase Two: Dominion Prism
The air fractured. Leon was split into four copies—each one caught in a crystalline prison meant to test his intentions. One copy was shown a world where he ruled alone, as a tyrant. Another—where he sacrificed others to preserve the Tower. A third—where he fled responsibility. The fourth—faced a future where everyone he raised fell because of his ideals.
Only one could move freely.
Leon smiled inside the third prison and shattered it with a pulse.
"I never ran."
Phase Three: Purity Seal Burn
A branding mark appeared above Leon. His Law—Builder's Ascendancy—was being examined, tested for contradiction. If it wavered, it would collapse.
Yvaal called down flame directly from her Law Anchor.
"Every Builder becomes a Tyrant when faced with chaos. That is the truth of history."
Leon let the flames fall.
Then from inside, still standing, answered:
"Then I'll build better history."
Phase Four: Judgement Sunfall
A miniature star descended. No evasion. No defense. The ultimate test.
Leon activated Echo of Origin and Timeline Drift together, folding milliseconds inwards—not to dodge, but to forge a single moment of perfect intent.
"I do not raise others to serve me. I raise them to stand beside me."
He struck the falling sun with a bare palm—
And it broke.
Phase Five: The Voice of Fire
Yvaal descended from her throne.
All attacks stopped.
She now stood in front of him, crown dimmed.
"The last to survive this trial lost everything within five floors. Compassion doesn't last in the Tower."
Leon didn't look away. "Then it's time it did."
Yvaal studied him for a moment.
Then nodded once.
And knelt.
System Update
Duel Complete – Law Maintained
Challenger: Victory
Architect Seat Claimed: Flame of Dominion (Subsumed into Builder's Ascendancy)
Title Gained: Lawbinder
Legacy Power Absorbed: Domain Over Dominion Constructs
Floor 600 Unlocked: Nexus Commons + Command Layer
Later, back at their private tower in the Commons, Roselia placed her shield against the wall and sat beside Leon.
"You won."
Leon nodded.
Milim chimed in, "You converted her Law. She gave up her Seat. No Architect has done that in centuries."
"I didn't win by overpowering her," Leon said. "I showed her another path."
Roman chuckled. "And now the rest of the Council is going to want to see what path you walk next."
Leon stood up.
He looked toward the sky, where floors bent around a spiraling crystal root.
Leon stood at the threshold of a raw, unformed world.
Unlike every floor before it, Floor 601 was blank.
No monsters. No terrain. No laws.
Just open sky above a sea of potential—a white-gold void that shimmered with possibility.
This wasn't a battlefield.
It was a canvas.
And Leon now held the brush.
System Notification: Architect Tier Directive
Floor 601 – Status: Unshaped
Awaiting Core Law Anchor
Architect: Leon Aetheren
Seed Classification: Builder-Class
Anchor Law: Builder's Ascendancy (Uplift Over Conquest)
Proceed to initiate First Shape Protocol?
Leon raised his right hand. His team stood behind him, silent.
"I'm not building a floor for testing," he said. "I'm building a foundation. Something different."
Roselia looked around at the endless space. "You're making a home, aren't you?"
Leon smiled faintly. "No. I'm making a proving ground—for a better kind of strength."
He stepped forward—and the void responded.
Light gathered at his feet, spiraling outward in precise arcs.
First Shape Protocol: Engaged
Select Floor Type:
• Combat Arena
• Open World Domain
• Multi-Biome Hybrid
• Sovereign Fortress
• Custom Design (Builder Discretion)
Leon didn't hesitate.
➤ Custom Design: Bastion of the Many
He spoke the next words slowly, deliberately:
"A floor where people can train, live, fight, and grow—not just survive. No conquest-driven laws. No trial by fire. This is a domain to build people, not test them to death."