Banished to the Abyss After Defying the Author-Chapter 21: The Cost of Gold

The chamber given to Noah was absurdly large. Pillars carved from polished crystal, curtains threaded with gold, a bed wide enough for royalty.

He lay back only briefly.

The door creaked.

A maid stepped inside carrying folded linens. The moment her eyes fell on Nyx resting on the marble floor, she froze.

"A black unicorn?" she whispered.

Her breath caught.

"Guards—!"

"No need," Noah said calmly, already sitting up.

He rose and crossed the room, placing a hand on Nyx’s mane. The unicorn leaned subtly into the touch.

"He is mine. His name is Nyx. He will not harm anyone."

The maid hesitated, studying the creature. Nyx’s silver horn glinted softly in the light.

Slowly, she bowed.

"My apologies... Master Noah."

Noah exhaled faintly.

"Why are you here?"

"Prince Nakula requests you investigate the northern quarter of the kingdom."

North.

Noah nodded once and left without further question.

The palace gates opened to streets that glittered, but the shine felt wrong.

People were shouting.

Two men fought over a torn piece of bread.

A woman clutched an empty basket and wept quietly.

Gold lined the buildings.

Hunger lined the faces.

Noah walked past them.

A man in golden armor stumbled from a scuffle and nearly collided with him. Pale skin. Ornate necklace. Eyes frantic.

Noah paused for a fraction of a second, then continued.

North.

The air grew heavier as he approached the outer district. Fewer guards. More silence.

Something pulsed beneath the surface of the ground. Faint, irregular.

"Nyx," Noah said quietly, "return to the palace. Bring Nakula."

Nyx hesitated only a heartbeat before sprinting away.

Noah remained.

A blur cut through the air.

Steel flashed.

He shifted his weight just enough for the blade to miss.

The attacker landed several paces away.

One eye intact. The other a hollow ruin. A twisted smile carved across his face.

"Who are you?" Noah asked. "Or should I say, what are you?"

The man did not answer.

He lunged again.

Noah’s fist met his chest.

The impact echoed, but the force redirected, vanishing sideways as though swallowed.

Noah’s eyes narrowed.

"Interesting."

Purple light seeped from the attacker’s skin.

For a single breath, Noah’s body disintegrated into ash.

The one-eyed man laughed.

Then the ash drew inward.

Reformed.

Noah stood where he had been, unburned, gaze sharper now.

"Not divine."

His smile thinned.

"Chaos-infused."

The attacker’s grin faltered.

He dissolved into mist.

By the time Nakula arrived with Nyx at his side, the street was empty.

"Well?" Nakula demanded. "What did you find?"

"Something foreign," Noah replied. "A fragment of Chaos. It does not belong to this world."

Nakula’s jaw tightened.

"What is Chaos?"

"A word you do not want to understand fully," Noah said. "Your weapons carry diluted traces of it. A byproduct."

Nakula absorbed that in silence.

Then he spoke again.

"There is another problem."

"Of course there is."

"A man purchased every grain store in Kurugshetra. Now he resells food at one hundred times the price."

Noah’s expression did not change.

"He must have capital beyond the treasury itself. Rumor says he found an impossible fortune on the southern road."

The southern road.

The thugs.

The raining gold.

Nyx shifted uneasily.

Noah inhaled slowly.

"So," he said quietly, "the money found a new owner."

Nakula watched him carefully.

"You know something."

"Perhaps."

He did not elaborate.

After Nakula left to mobilize his guards, Nyx’s voice brushed against Noah’s mind.

Noah. That man... is he using the gold you dropped when you killed those thugs?

Noah’s jaw tightened slightly.

"It could be anything," he said aloud.

But it isn’t, is it?

Noah looked at the sky and said nothing.

The weight settled differently now. He’d erased threats without considering where the debris would fall. The gold had been convenient. Excessive. Thoughtless.

And now a kingdom starved because of it.

Is this what happens when I act without consideration? he thought. Every action in this place leaves consequences I didn’t account for.

His gaze sharpened.

Chaos had descended here. Not by accident.

Nostradus.

When he tore open the Real Sky in the Sofail world, he didn’t just fracture one layer. He destabilized the boundaries between divinity and Chaos across multiple world.

Is this why everything I do spirals outward now? Noah thought. Why every step feels heavier than it should?

He exhaled.

"Let’s move."

Noah walked alone through the northern ruins.

An abandoned house stood crooked against the wind.

Inside, the air shimmered faintly.

Upstairs, on a cracked wooden floor, something pulsed.

A spear.

Forged of interwoven divinity and chaotic residue.

It hummed in his grip like something eager to be claimed.

Noah examined the balance, the grain of energy running through its shaft.

"Well," he murmured, "this day compensates itself."

The weapon vanished into his treasury.

When he stepped back into the street, the pale man in golden armor stood across from him once more.

Watching.

The necklace caught the light.

A flicker of familiarity stirred.

"Why do you feel known to me?" Noah asked quietly.

The man’s lips parted.

Then the earth convulsed.

The entire kingdom trembled as if struck from beneath.

Dust fell from rooftops.

People screamed.

Noah’s gaze snapped back to where the man had stood.

Empty.

Gone again.

The tremor subsided, leaving only unsettled silence.

The tremor had barely settled when the air tightened.

Something unseen moved.

Before Noah could turn, an invisible force slammed into him.

His vision blurred as pressure clamped around his skull and lifted him off the ground. The street cracked beneath the sudden surge of power.

He raised his hand to strike.

And froze.

Within the distortion.

Within the warped energy gripping him.

He felt it.

A pulse.

Familiar.

Victoria.

A fragment of her soul.

His fingers stiffened mid-motion.

A laugh echoed, shapeless and everywhere at once.

"What is this, King of Kings?" the voice mocked. "Did you sense something precious?"

Noah’s eyes sharpened.

"Release that fragment," he said quietly. "Whatever you are, do not hide behind her. Face me alone if you have courage."

The laughter deepened.

"Courage? Cowardice? Those are mortal concepts. They do not bind me."

The grip around his head tightened, grinding space itself.

"What do you want?" Noah asked, tone controlled.

"I want you to kill Mortatis. The Devil King of Salvation."

For a moment, Noah went still.

Then the pressure reversed.

The unseen force collapsed inward as though seized by something greater.

Noah’s hand closed around empty distortion and slammed it into the ground.

Stone shattered outward in a violent ring.

The formless presence compressed beneath his palm, its shape flickering into something vaguely humanoid.

Noah stepped forward and planted his foot onto it.

The pavement cratered.

"Now," he said calmly, increasing the pressure, "this is a better way to speak."

The entity struggled.

Energy flared wildly around them, but it could not lift his foot.

"Impossible," it hissed. "You could not resist moments ago. I measured you. You were weaker."

Noah’s lips curved faintly.

He said nothing.

The being’s form rippled in realization.

"...You let me take you."

Silence.

Noah’s heel pressed down further. The street groaned under the force.

"You wished to test my limits," the entity whispered.

"And," Noah replied softly, "I wished not to tear this kingdom apart unnecessarily."

His eyes glowed faint sapphire.

"I permitted you to carry me."

The distortion thrashed once more, but the space around it folded inward, suppressing every attempt to escape.

Under his foot, the being’s power trembled.

Noah leaned slightly forward.

"Speak carefully," he said. "You use Victoria’s fragment as leverage. That buys you one chance."

The formless presence flickered. Rage, fear, calculation all blending into unstable energy.

The cracked ground lay silent around them.