Chapter 330: Echo of a Shattered Oath
However, its type gave me a pause - Time/Mental hybrid. Did that mean I could only use it if I had affinity with time? Or could I still use it because of my mental loci?
But then again, the Mender’s Paradox was also a Life/Mental hybrid. I could use it, although the limitations were clear, like my proficiency was slow, and I couldn’t exactly reattach limbs yet. Maybe those parts required life affinity to accomplish.
Then...
Let’s say that I did learn them - would that mean I would have affinity with those two?
The thought was exhilarating. If hybrid techniques could grant a form of pseudo-affinity, it could open up entirely new avenues of power that should be theoretically closed to me.
I couldn’t wait to try it out, to see if the [Chrono-Mental Anchor] would respond to my mental loci even without an innate connection to time.
Or maybe I do have an affinity with time. Considering those Threads.
My eyes then drifted to the notes at the bottom of the description, the earlier excitement cooling into a sharp, focused alertness.
"The Architect’s game is not yet over; the board still remains. Other players are still moving. Your actions have fortified a critical frontline in a war most do not know exists. The Abyss has taken note."
A cold weight settled in my stomach. It was a confirmation and a warning. We hadn’t won a war; we’d just successfully defended a single, critical fortress.
The Architect was one piece, and his imprisonment was a setback for the other side, not a checkmate. And now... I was on their radar.
The sense of accomplishment from sealing him away was instantly tempered by a renewed sense of vigilance. I would have to be careful, now more than ever.
I closed the windows, the words burning in my mind, and focused on the next prompt that appeared.
━━━━━━━━◇◆◇━━━━━━━━
SCENARIO: "THE KNIGHT’S FALLEN VOW"
"A loyal knight’s pure heart became the perfect weapon for corruption. One moment of mercy, one act of compassion, twisted into a key for oblivion. You saw the shadow behind the sword and stopped a tragedy written in stars."
STATUS: COMPLETED (Hidden Scenario*)
OBJECTIVES:
✓ Discover Zephyr’s hidden conflict and the Abyssal influence upon him
✓ Intervene before he could unknowingly breach the Ossuary seals
✓ Defeat the Architect’s spiritual corruption without harming Zephyr
✓ Protect Zephyr’s soul from fracturing under Abyssal betrayal
REWARDS:
- 250 Scenario Points
- [Aegis of Dawn] – "A fragment of light made solid. Negates a single soul attack or corruption attempt."
- [Spatial Severance Technique - Tier 1] – "A precise and devastating technique that creates a microscopic, temporary rift in space along the edge of a weapon or limb."
[Echo of a Shattered Oath] – "A crystallized glimpse of a tragic future that never was. Upon activation, experience a vision of Zephyr’s fall: his corruption into an Abyssal Herald, his sword turned against all he loved, and the desolation left in his wake. A grim reminder of the cost of failure."
Title Acquired: [Keeper of the Unbroken Vow] – "You remind others who they are, even when they forget. Your presence bolsters the mental and spiritual defenses of those who fight alongside you for a just cause."
Affinity Boost: [Zephyr] – Current Affinity: ★★★★★ (Unshakable Bond)
SPECIAL NOTE:
"This scenario carried catastrophic failure conditions: The release of an Abyssal Overseer, the corruption and fall of a Primordial’s disciple, and the creation of a powerful new enemy. By prioritizing salvation over destruction, you have preserved a mighty shield for the world to come."
━━━━━━━━◇◆◇━━━━━━━━
"This..."
Am I... seeing this right?
My breath caught in my throat as I scanned the rewards. The points were expected, but the items... The [Aegis of Dawn] was a literal lifesaver, a get-out-of-jail-free card against the exact kind of insidious attack the Architect could have used(or already did).
The [Spatial Severance] technique sent a thrill through me, a truly offensive spatial ability, something I could use to fight back, not just evade. It also reminded me of Zephyr’s technique. Or perhaps they were the same.
But it was the [Echo of a Shattered Oath] that made my blood run cold.
A vision of what could have been. Of what I had prevented.
My mind recoiled from the imagined horror of it: Zephyr, not as the stoic, loyal knight, but as a corrupted Herald of the Abyss. His honor twisted into a weapon of oblivion, his sword cutting down everything and everyone he had sworn to protect. The sheer, devastating cost of failure was crystallized into a single, terrifying item in my inventory.
The "Special Note" drove it all home.
Catastrophic failure conditions...
I hadn’t just completed scenarios; I had diverted a potential apocalypse.
"...Hmm."
The weight of that responsibility settled on my shoulders, heavy and sobering.
The rewards were incredible, but they were also a stark reminder. That this wasn’t a game. That the stakes were real, and they were higher than I could have ever imagined.
"Hum..."
Taking a deep breath, I continued my inspection, my gaze lingering on the title, [Keeper of the Unbroken Vow].
This will be useful too.
Then my eyes paused at the final reward.
Affinity Boost: [Zephyr] – Current Affinity: ★★★★★ (Unshakable Bond)
My lips curled upwards into a subconscious, genuine smile I couldn’t suppress.
A five-star bond. My first one...
Honestly, the irony wasn’t lost on me.
When I first met Zephyr, he had seemed like the textbook definition of a future antagonist. Every word he spoke carried the weight of a death threat, his tone so cold and cutting it could have frozen fire.
His very presence had radiated danger, the kind of controlled lethality that made you wonder not if he would kill you, but when. I had been certain he would either become my enemy or, at best, remain a distant, intimidating figure whose path occasionally crossed mine.
Who could have predicted that the man who once looked at me like I was an insect beneath his boot(it really felt like that) would become... this?
But then again, we didn’t reach this point just because. We faced a lot of hardships.
We faced death together more times than I could count, each crisis stripping away another layer of the walls we had built around ourselves.
We had become master and disciple to each other while being disciples of the same master — a relationship so tangled and complex it defied easy categorization. From tentative allies to reluctant partners, from mutual respect to something approaching brotherhood.
And it had all happened in less than a year.
The timeline was staggering when I really thought about it. In normal circumstances, building this level of trust and understanding would take years, maybe decades.
But there was something about facing existential threats together, about literally holding someone’s life in your hands while they trusted you not to break it, that accelerated bonds beyond normal human experience. We had compressed a lifetime of friendship into months of shared danger and mutual growth.
The smile lingered on my face as I continued reading, warmth spreading through my chest despite the cold warnings that surrounded us.
But gradually, that warmth faded as my eyes drifted back to one particular reward, and the smile slowly transformed into something far more solemn.
[Echo of a Shattered Oath].
My fingers unconsciously clenched.
This wasn’t just some abstract reward; it was a window into the darkest possible timeline, a simulation of exactly what I had prevented. Probably similar to the Threads.
If so...
How close had we really come to that catastrophe? How many other scenarios like this were playing out across the world, with no one there to intervene? And...
...Should I use it now?