“Do you want to die?” Alex asked calmly, his voice carrying no emotion as he stopped walking, feeling Aldritch’s hand tighten slightly on his shoulder.
“You can’t beat me.”
Truthfully, Alex didn’t even need to stop.
He could’ve kept walking without so much as a second glance.
Aldritch’s level, somewhere between 1,000 and 1,200 at most, meant he wouldn’t even be able to scratch him.
Not a single point of health would be lost.
It was almost funny.
When they first met, Alex had been the one incapable of dealing damage to him.
Now, the roles had completely reversed, and the difference was laughable.
Fwish! Swash!
“Darkness Grip,” Aldritch muttered, activating a skill as his hand remained locked onto Alex’s shoulder.
Black, shadowy energy wrapped around his arm and surged toward Alex’s body, but the man didn’t even flinch.
-0!
The numbers floated mockingly into the air.
Not even a sliver of damage was registered, even though that skill should have easily shattered bone.
“What the…” Aldritch stammered, wide-eyed.
Fwish! Fwash!
Before he could react, Alex shifted forward, moving with a slow, almost lazy grace, and with a simple kick, launched Aldritch away.
He hadn’t even used full strength, barely any force at all, really.
But that slight movement was enough to send Aldritch crashing violently into a nearby wall with a resounding boom, stone shattering on impact.
“…Don’t try to fight me again. Don’t be stupid,” Alex groaned, turning back toward the massive chained door ahead, “I’m opening the [Door of Destiny].”
“R-REALLY?” Aldritch coughed violently, blood leaking from his lips, his entire body feeling like it had been torn apart from the inside.
He couldn’t even comprehend what had just happened.
He had lost, completely and utterly, without Alex using a single skill.
Not even a proper attack. It was like fighting a god.
Aldritch’s vision blurred as he gazed at the figure in front of him.
The aura around Alex was dense, oppressive, almost divine, but in a violent, terrifying way.
Instinctively, he knew.
There was no beating him. No challenging him.
Only submission or death.
“Y-You’re really going to open the door…” he mumbled, hardly able to keep his consciousness together, “D-Do you even know…what’s on the other side…?”
He wanted to move, get closer, to do anything, but his body refused to obey.
Bones cracked with every attempted breath, muscles spasmed uncontrollably.
He was powerless.
“You need the tokens to open it,” Alex said, walking forward once again, finally reaching the chained golden door.
The massive barrier towered over everything in the room, ancient and covered in glowing runes.
He paused for a second, glancing back over his shoulder.
His next words were cold, like ice.
“But let me make one thing very clear, try anything, and I’ll kill you.”
Aldritch flinched, feeling a wave of nausea almost make him retch.
Alex wasn’t joking.
He wasn’t threatening out of anger or pride.
It was a fact, a casual truth, spoken with the tone of someone who had ended lives without a second thought.
It wasn’t just his strength, it was the complete lack of hesitation behind it that made Aldritch freeze in terror.
“He’s so used to killing it doesn’t even faze him,” Aldritch realized grimly, “Shit… I really can’t do anything.”
With nothing left but to watch, he stayed silent, broken and defeated.
Now standing before the [Door of Destiny], Alex took a breath and waited.
And then…
Ding!
[All five tokens detected on the user!]
[Initiating process to open the “Door of Destiny.”]
Without any movement from Alex himself, the five tokens inside his body, likely embedded there from that earlier ritual, began to emerge.
They floated around him, spinning slowly, each one radiating its own vibrant color.
The chains wrapped around the door, made of various glowing metals, began to tremble.
Each chain was linked to one specific token, and within each was a slot-like opening, clearly designed to accept the corresponding piece.
Aldritch, barely hanging onto consciousness, could only marvel at the sight.
“This door…it’s insane…” he whispered.
Fwish! Click!
The first to move was the [Token of the Tower], a silver token engraved with the image of a towering spire.
It floated toward its corresponding chain and, with a mechanical precision, slotted itself into place.
Beep!
[Removing chain of the “Token of the Tower.”]
The blue-colored chain dissolved instantly into a cloud of shimmering particles, vanishing as if it had never existed.
Almost immediately after, the [Token of the Abyss] followed.
Black and marked with the image of a swirling vortex, it slid into its respective chain’s slot.
Click!
[Removing chain of the “Token of the Abyss.”]
The black chain crumbled away, absorbed into the air.
Three chains remained now, and the entire room vibrated with an increasing energy.
The runes across the golden doors burned even brighter, the atmosphere growing thicker, heavier.
Click! Click!
[Removing chain of the “Token of the Undead.”]
[Removing chain of the “Token of Wrath.”]
The undead token was shaped like a black skull, while the wrath token was deep crimson, emblazoned with a roaring flame.
As both clicked into place and removed their respective chains, the tension in the room skyrocketed.
Only one chain was left.
The air became so charged with power that Alex instinctively shielded his face with his arm.
His instincts screamed at him about the danger, this wasn’t something just anyone could approach.
Turning back slightly, he noticed Aldritch had lost consciousness.
Blood streamed from his mouth and ears, his body twitching once before falling completely still.
“Come on…” Alex gritted his teeth and pressed forward.
Finally, the last token, the [Token of Nightmares], reacted.
A deep purple token adorned with the image of an open eye.
It floated into the final chain and clicked neatly into place.
And in that instant…
Fwish! Bam!
The golden double doors exploded open.
The runes blazed one final time in a blinding crescendo of light, and then the force of the released power slammed into Alex like a hurricane, flinging him backward violently.
Crash!
He shot across the room and smashed straight through the far wall, landing outside the ritual chamber in the ruined basement hallway.
Groaning, Alex used his claws to dig into the broken stone and pull himself upright.
As he shook the dust from his eyes, he noticed dozens, no, hundreds, of bodies scattered across the floor.
At first, he thought they had all been knocked unconscious.
[They aren’t unconscious,] the Crown of Calamity’s voice echoed inside his mind.
“Huh?” Alex muttered in confusion.
Looking closer, his stomach twisted.
Their bodies were unnaturally still. Their skin pale. Their eyes wide open in death.
They were all dead.
Everyone who had been anywhere near the door, even outside the ritual room, had perished the moment the doors opened.
Shaking his head, Alex turned his gaze back to the [Door of Destiny].
It stood wide open now, light pouring from it so brightly it was impossible to see what lay beyond.
But even through the light, he could feel the truth, the raw, absolute danger that waited inside.
He knew if the force from the door reached beyond the church walls, maybe even into Dawn City itself, there would be catastrophic casualties.
Tens of thousands dead in seconds.
Maybe even hundreds of thousands.
“What the hell is this thing…” Alex thought grimly, tension knotting his stomach as he unfurled his six wings.
He stepped forward.
The pressure pushing against him was unlike anything he had ever faced before.
Every step forward was a battle, as if the very world itself wanted to force him away.
And yet, he pushed on.
“I thought getting through the door would be the easy part,” Alex gritted his teeth, wings flapping to resist the massive force, “Looks like even entering it is a death trial in itself.”
Still, he refused to give up.
His eyes, burning with a fierce determination, narrowed on the blinding white light ahead.
He couldn’t stop now. He had come too far.
He flapped his wings harder, pouring everything he had into fighting the brutal wind blasting out from the door.
Now back inside the chamber, he glanced briefly at Aldritch’s crumpled body.
Just as the Crown of Calamity had said, he wasn’t just unconscious, he was dead.
Blood had poured from his eyes, his ears, and even his mouth.
His body was limp, lifeless.
Aldritch had died without even touching the threshold.
Flap! Flap! Flap!
Alex kept pushing.
His muscles strained.
His vision blurred at the edges.
He could feel his own life force beginning to crack under the sheer pressure.
And yet, he would not falter.
Every inch forward felt like dragging a mountain, but he advanced, clawing his way step by agonizing step.
Finally, when he felt he could endure no more, when his wings almost gave out entirely, he gathered all the strength left inside him, and with one last mighty flap,
Fwish! BAM!
He shot forward like a bullet, crossing the final threshold and plunging through the white veil.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
[Congratulations, you have entered the “Door of Destiny” and will now head to the “Palace of Destiny”]