Banished to the Abyss After Defying the Author-Chapter 8: The Weight That Lingers

The Abyssal World had changed.

Rivers of lava cut through the land like exposed veins, glowing lines of heat where stone had never been meant to soften.

Mountains groaned under their own weight, fractures spreading slowly—as if the world itself were struggling to adjust to something it hadn’t agreed to carry.

Noah stopped at the edge of one such river.

Victoria stared at it, stunned.

"What... what happened here?"

Noah followed the molten flow with his eyes. "Hell collapsed."

She turned sharply. "Then why is this happening here?"

He stepped forward, boots skirting the heat without resistance.

"When Hell broke," he said, "its dead didn’t vanish. They were redistributed—Shallow Hell, Underground Hell." He paused. "The Underworld has limits. When those limits are exceeded, it expels what it can’t sustain."

Victoria blinked. "So the Underworld is... dumping waste?"

"In crude terms," Noah replied, "yes."

She watched the lava for another moment, then nodded. "Right. Three hells. Load redistribution. Makes sense."

Noah glanced at her. "You didn’t understand a word."

She smiled faintly. "I understood enough not to argue."

He resumed walking.

After a time, he spoke again.

"You survived."

Her steps slowed.

"When Azazealeux removed me," Noah continued, "how did you live?"

The smile faded.

Victoria drew in a slow breath. "When you vanished... everything holding me together snapped." Her fingers curled unconsciously at her side. "Memories I didn’t know I’d lost came back all at once. It felt like drowning while standing still."

She kept walking, eyes forward.

"My soul started tearing," she said. "Not instantly. Slowly." A pause. "Painfully."

Noah said nothing.

"Then a portal opened," she continued. "Luciferus drove the Sable Edge into the ground." Her voice steadied. "And I woke up."

Noah listened until she finished.

"...I’m glad you lived," he said at last.

She nodded once. "So am I."

They walked in silence until she stopped.

"Noah."

"Yes."

She hesitated. "Now that I have the Sable Edge... this is where we part, isn’t it?"

He didn’t answer.

She pressed on. "You only helped me find the sword. And what you are—" She swallowed. "Authority bends around you, even when you’re doing nothing."

She turned and held the blade out toward him.

"Will you help me find my people?" she asked. "Or... do you want this?"

Noah looked at the sword.

He took it.

The metal hummed softly in his grip—strained, diminished. A tool made for one final truth.

One cut left, he realized.

He weighed it in his hand.

If I turn this on myself... maybe it fails. Maybe it works.

If I give it to her... she escapes what shaped her.

The pause lingered.

Indecision.

That alone startled him.

Victoria waved her hand in front of his face. "You’re thinking again."

He handed the sword back.

"For me," he said, "it’s weak."

Her eyebrow rose. "That arrogant, huh?"

"Yes."

She smiled despite herself.

"...So this really is goodbye?"

Noah nodded.

"You can find them with that blade," he said. "Your people. Your path."

"And you?"

"I have kings to find."

Before she could reply, he vanished.

Victoria stood alone among broken stone and flowing fire, the Sable Edge warm in her hand.

Noah stood atop a distant ridge, the Abyss stretching endlessly below.

He didn’t move.

Why didn’t I leave cleanly?

The horizon wavered with heat and distortion.

Why does distance feel wrong?

Something stirred—unwelcome, unfamiliar.

Is this the body?

Or Dragonforce nudging again?

He raised his hand, then let it fall.

"I can surpass emotion," he muttered. "So why does it persist?"

He turned away and walked.

Days passed across empty terrain. He spoke once into the void.

"If you’re kings," he said, voice sharp, "face me."

Nothing answered.

Eventually, he summoned a throne and sat.

Thought returned.

Victoria.

The name lingered longer than it should have.

He looked up.

Clouds darkened. Ash swirled—and for a moment, the pattern resembled a familiar silhouette.

"Elonore..." he murmured. "Restricted as well."

He stood. The throne dissolved.

His senses flared—and found her.

A faint presence.

Alive.

Something inside him loosened.

A smile surfaced.

He touched his face—and froze.

"...So it’s real."

Annoyed, he shook his head and turned forward.

Hell devils crawled from fissures ahead.

Space folded into a box around them.

They vanished.

"...Azazealeux," Noah muttered. "Good."

Noah kept walking toward Victoria.

Then the sky bled.

Color drained from the world, replaced by a deep, choking red. The air thickened, heavy with intent. Reality itself seemed to recoil.

A figure descended from above.

Three horns curved from his head. Four wings of black feathers spread wide—each plume sharp as obsidian blades. His eyes burned a deep, ancient red.

Noah stopped and looked up.

"So," he said calmly, "you finally decided to show yourself."

His gaze sharpened.

"Devil King of Salvation—Mortatis."

Mortatis smiled from the sky.

"Without the authority of the King of Kings," he replied, voice echoing from everywhere at once, "you cannot command me. You can’t even make me pause."

Noah sighed.

"My authority," he said, "was never the source. It was just a byproduct." His eyes narrowed. "I didn’t lose my will. And I didn’t lose my power."

Annoyance flickered across Mortatis’s expression.

"You speak like a mortal now," he said dismissively. "It doesn’t matter. You’ll never find my true body anyway."

Noah vanished.

He reappeared directly in front of Mortatis, hand reaching for his throat—

—and both of them glitched.

Space fractured. Noah’s hand passed through empty distortion as Mortatis reappeared far away, still hovering.

"What’s wrong?" Mortatis mocked. "Former—banished—King of Kings. Can’t catch me?"

Noah’s jaw tightened.

"So you’re abusing your authority," he said coldly. "Devil King of Salvation. Glitching reality every moment. Every second."

Mortatis’s smile widened. "Naturally. I know about your clairvoyance." His eyes gleamed. "Unfortunate for you—it doesn’t work on kings or gods."

Noah stared at him.

"Mortatis," he said evenly, "I can offer you power. Stand with me."

For a fraction of a moment, Noah exhaled and spoke a single word.

"Stop."

The world obeyed—almost.

Mortatis froze for less than a heartbeat before tearing free, glitching backward once more.

"No," Mortatis said lightly. "I didn’t come to join you. Not after what you’ve done." He turned away. "But that’s irrelevant."

He looked back once, smiling.

"I came because I already finished my work."

And he vanished.

The red sky faded.

Noah’s senses flared outward instantly.

Searching.

Scanning.

Nothing.

Victoria’s presence was gone.

From the town.From the Abyss.From the entire world.

Noah stood perfectly still.

Shock didn’t show on his face.

But the silence around him deepened.

And for the first time since his banishment—

something inside him broke.