Aurora Chronicle: Despair's Aftermath Left by a Fallen Ruler
My name is Ash. I was once the right hand of the world's most feared ruler, the Demon Lord Aurora Chronicle.
Three years have passed since that final battle. People celebrate Aurora's death and laugh together in a peaceful world. But every time I see those smiles, my heart is torn by a sharp pain. They don't understand anything. What Lord Aurora was protecting. What she was fighting against.
Three years ago, the world faced two threats. One was the horde of monsters visible to human eyes. The
Aurora Chronicle: Despair's Aftermath Left by a Fallen Ruler - Guardian's Mad Feast
The stone steps leading underground released a damp chill that crept up from Ash's feet with every step he took. Ancient runes carved into the walls emitted a faint, pale blue light, barely illuminating the path beneath him. The air was heavy, thick with the smell of mold, decaying leaves, and something else—something metallic.
The third subterranean level of the ruined city of Zalvaak.
A forgotten ritual site, unmarked on any map. Ash tightened his grip on the silver pendant in his left hand. A memento of Oro. A replica of the sealing crest. Its cold surface pressed against his three fingers.
*(It's here.)*
His left eye—the deep crimson one—throbbed faintly. He could see the flow of Code, drawn toward the center of this vast hollow as if the stars themselves were being pulled by an invisible gravitational source.
When he reached the bottom of the steps, he found himself in an enormous domed chamber. The ceiling dissolved into darkness, impossible to see. Countless geometric patterns carved into the walls pulsed with light, as if breathing.
And at the center of the space—an altar.
A circular pedestal of obsidian. On its surface, the sealing runes Oro had etched with her own blood shimmered, forming seven rings. One of the seven keys that sealed the Chronicle Code—left behind three years ago by Oro to protect the world.
The First Seal.
"...Found it."
Ash murmured the words under his breath and approached the altar. He extended his right hand, fitting the pendant into the depression at the center of the seal.
In that instant—
The air trembled.
Silver light erupted from the altar's surface. It rose toward the ceiling like a pillar, then slowly began to take human shape. Arms, legs, a head. But it was not a complete human form. Its surface warped and twisted, countless faces surfacing and vanishing, vanishing and surfacing again.
What should have been a silver body had, over three years of imprisonment, continued to absorb the world's hatred and Stagnant Corruption, staining itself a murky black.
The remnant of a Guardian Code.
A guardian Oro had once severed from her own left arm and created to protect the seal.
The countless faces on the remnant's surface all turned toward Ash at once. Each face was twisted in agony, burning with hatred, frozen in terror.
And then—
*"...Ah...O...Oro..."*
Fragmented voices echoed through the chamber.
The remnant reacted to the pendant Ash held. One of the faces on its surface faintly resembled Oro. But in the next moment, that face twisted with hatred and melted into another.
*"WRONG...WRONG...YOU ARE...!"*
The remnant screamed.
Countless tentacles extended from its body in all directions. Their jet-black tips were sharply pointed, and each surface bore small faces of its own.
Ash immediately leaped backward.
"...Three years, and you've forgotten your master's face."
There was no emotion in his voice.
But deep in his chest—
*(Even Lady Oro's will...)*
Twisted.
Corroded by Stagnant Corruption, contaminated by the world's hatred, the former guardian could no longer recognize even its rightful successor.
The remnant moved.
One of the tentacles tore through the air, closing in on Ash. He deployed a defensive formula with his left hand. A pale blue barrier caught the tentacle.
*GAGIIN!*
The impact shook the entire chamber.
"...Heavy."
Countless cracks ran across the surface of his defensive formula. The remnant's former power as a guardian had been amplified by the Stagnant Corruption. Each blow was too much for any half-formed formula to withstand.
A second wave. A third.
Tentacles attacked from all sides. Ash evaded with minimal movement while etching an offensive formula with his right hand. A penetration formula. Needles of pale blue light pierced through one of the tentacles.
*Juuuuu...*
The impaled tentacle collapsed, scattering black fluid. But—
From the severed end, a new tentacle immediately sprouted.
The regeneration speed was abnormal.
On the remnant's surface, countless faces sneered.
*"USELESS...USELESS...WE HAVE LEARNED..."*
Ash's left eye tracked the movement of the Code. Inside the remnant, the structural information of his formula was being analyzed and studied. The intelligence of a former guardian—the ability to analyze an enemy's formulas mid-combat and construct countermeasures—still remained.
*(This is bad.)*
Ash clenched his teeth.
In the next instant, the remnant's tentacles predicted Ash's attack pattern and circled around from the side before he could release his formula.
"—!"
Ash tried to pull his right hand back.
But he was too late.
*ZASHU.*
Two tentacles entangled his right hand. One around the wrist, the other around his fingers—
*BOKIRI.*
A dull sound echoed through the chamber.
Ash's ring finger and little finger were bitten off at the base.
"...Guh...!"
Blood sprayed. Fresh crimson stained the obsidian of the altar. Enduring the searing pain, Ash leaped backward, putting distance between himself and the remnant.
Warm liquid dripped from his right hand.
Three fingers had become one.
*(...So only the thumb remains.)*
The remnant chewed the severed fingers. The faces on its surface savored them with delight.
*"DELICIOUS...DELICIOUS...MORE..."*
A voice innocent as a child's, yet filled with bottomless malice.
Breathing raggedly, Ash deployed a hemostatic formula with his left hand. The cross-section of his right hand seared, and the smell of burning flesh—*juh*—stung his nostrils.
*(It's reacting to emotional fluctuations.)*
He analyzed the situation coldly. The remnant sensed Ash's emotions—especially anger and fear—and accelerated its attacks in those moments. That meant if he could completely shut off his emotions, he should be able to handle it.
But—
*(The bleeding is severe.)*
The blood loss from his right hand was causing his body temperature to drop. The precision of his formulas was deteriorating along with his stamina.
The remnant extended its tentacles again.
This time, countless. Ten, twenty—an uncountable number of tentacles surged toward Ash, surrounding him.
He maintained his defensive formula with his left hand alone, but one of the tentacles slipped through the barrier and struck his abdomen.
"Gah...!"
The sensation of his internal organs shuddering. The taste of blood spread through his mouth.
The faces on the remnant's surface began screaming all at once.
*"ORO! ORO! WHY! WHY DID YOU ABANDON ME!"*
*"LONELY! LONELY! I WAS ALONE ALL THIS TIME!"*
*"I HATE THE WORLD! I HATE ORO! I HATE YOU TOO!"*
The fragmented screams reverberated through the chamber, overlapping.
Ash bit his lip.
*(...That's wrong.)*
Oro didn't abandon this guardian.
She severed a part of herself and left it here to protect the world. And yet—this was the result of three years spent absorbing nothing but the world's hatred and Stagnant Corruption in this darkness, isolated from the outside world.
*(Even Lady Oro's feelings...)*
Contaminated.
The remnant drew its tentacles back. Every tip aimed at Ash, converging like countless spears.
—Is this the end?
Ash tried to deploy one final defensive formula with his remaining left hand.
That was when it happened.
"AAAAASH!!!"
A roar like thunder echoed from the chamber's entrance.
At the same moment, a black flash streaked through the air.
A black blade etched with anti-Code formulas—Grue Bastan's sword—severed one of the remnant's tentacles at the base.
*GYAAAAAA!!*
The remnant let out a death cry. The severed tentacle collapsed, scattering black fluid.
Ash turned.
Standing there—a one-eyed swordsman.
Ash-brown hair streaked with white. A deep indigo right eye, and a left eye covered by an eyepatch. A body carved with countless blade scars. A former comrade. The leader of the Grey Fang, Grue Bastan.
In his right hand, he gripped a longsword etched with black blade-runes. Its edge was forged from a special metal that nullified Code formulas—black steel.
"You bastard... I knew you'd be here."
Breathing heavily, Grue glared at Ash. In that single eye swirled anger, suspicion, and—something else, something more complicated.
"...Why are you here?"
Ash asked the question quietly.
"Isn't it obvious?!"
Grue shouted.
"I followed you to find out what you're hiding! Leaving a warning in that abandoned village, even saving the hero Selen... What do you know that's worth going that far?! What did Oro entrust to you in her final moments?!"
Grue's voice echoed through the chamber.
"Before I kill you, you're going to spill it. The whole truth about Oro."
At those words, Ash's expression shifted almost imperceptibly.
—But.
The remnant recognized the new intruder.
*"OBSTACLE...OBSTACLE..."*
The countless faces on its surface all turned toward Grue at once.
The remnant's tentacles switched targets from Ash to Grue.
"...What the hell is that monster?"
Grue raised his black steel sword.
The tentacles surged. Ten, twenty—a wall of jet-black whips pressing in. Grue slashed at them with his black steel blade, but half the tentacles had no physical substance, and before he knew it, they were coiling around his limbs.
"Dammit...!"
The arm swinging his sword was entangled by tentacles. His legs too. His torso. The tentacles hoisted Grue's body into the air, restraining him. The faces on the remnant's surface twisted in mockery.
*"CAUGHT YOU...CAUGHT YOU..."*
The remnant had taken Grue hostage.
And then—the center of the remnant's chest split open, and a dazzling spear of light began to form within. That was the pure power of the Guardian Code. If it pierced him, it would annihilate his body along with any defensive formula.
The remnant's faces turned toward Ash.
*"CHOOSE...CHOOSE..."*
The voice echoed.
*"SUBMISSION...OR...THIS ONE'S DEATH..."*
Ash clenched his fist.
The fingers of his left hand dug into his palm. Blood still dripped from the severed end of his right hand.
*(...Grue.)*
A former comrade. Someone he had fought beside, shoulder to shoulder, in the Ashlands.
And—now, an enemy who hated him as a traitor.
"...Either way, death is the same."
Ash murmured the words quietly.
"I have no reason to save you. I will carry on Lady Oro's will. For that, I'll pay any sacrifice."
Restrained as he was, Grue glared at Ash.
And then—he laughed.
"...Heh."
A dry laugh.
"Don't lie, Ash."
Grue's single eye stared straight at Ash.
"Your eyes... they're the same as Lady Oro's. The eyes she showed in her final moments three years ago. The eyes of someone carrying the weight of the world alone, unable to tell anyone, dying in silence... eyes of tragic resolve."
Ash's left eye widened slightly.
"I... hated you for so long. I couldn't forgive your betrayal. But... that warning in the abandoned village. Saving Selen. And now, seeing your eyes... I understand."
Grue's voice filled with intensity.
"You're carrying on Lady Oro's truth, aren't you? She entrusted something to you, and you're trying to fulfill it. Am I wrong?"
Ash didn't answer.
But—that silence was an answer.
The spear of light completed its formation.
The remnant aimed the tip of the spear at Grue's chest, preparing to force Ash into a final choice.
In that instant.
Grue—cut through the tentacles restraining him with his own black steel blade.
"Don't screw with me!!"
Freed from his restraints, Grue twisted his body in midair and planted himself in front of Ash.
Shielding Ash with his back.
The spear of light was unleashed.
"UOOOOOOOOOH!!!"
Grue tried to catch the spear of light with his black steel sword.
But—
*ZASHU.*
The spear of light slipped through the black steel blade and pierced deep into Grue's side.
Fresh blood scattered across the altar.
"...Grue."
A hoarse voice escaped Ash's lips.
Grue's body slowly tilted—
*DOSARI.*
He collapsed into a pool of blood.
"...R...un..."
Vomiting blood, Grue still reached out toward Ash.
Deep in Ash's chest—something snapped.
*(...No.)
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