THE ALMIGHTY SYSTEM IS JUST A LEWD GIRL-Chapter 40: KROTH:Eater Of Names

The hour was gone before they knew it.

The last toll struck the air like a hammer, heavy and final. The hall froze again and laughter stopped, music cut mid-beat, dancers halted mid-step.

Then Maethra rose.. No one needed to say anything. Everyone felt it,the entire palace breathed with her. The walls pulsed faintly,veins of gold snaking through the stone like blood under skin.

Melchior looked at the others,his face was hard,flat,resigned.

"She’s done waiting," he said.

Rhea’s hand was already on her sword,Vesper clenched her bone chips until they drew blood,Selendra bared her fangs and Eiji felt Alma’s hum against his ribs..high, frantic.

[She’s gathering power. The drain’s full. This is the end of her patience.]

Maethra stepped forward,her blindfold shimmered faintly, her mouth curved into a cold smile.

"Time," she said simply. "No offering,no choice. I will take what is mine."

She raised her hand and the air warped.

The guards moved at once,drawing their blades that hissed with energy. The crowd began to dissolve into shadow not fleeing, but melting, becoming the dark mist that fed her strength.

Melchior drew a sigil in the air with his bare hand,his voice cut through the thick silence.

"Then we call the breaker."

Rhea spun toward him. "Melchior..no.."

He didn’t stop,the sigil burned red,then black. His eyes glowed faintly and the mark spread across the floor,carving lines into the marble.

Maethra’s expression sharpened. "You dare summon him here?"

Melchior didn’t answer,the sigil exploded with sound. The ground split open not in fire,not in light but in a dark hum that devoured every other noise. The walls rippled and the mirrors shattered.

A door formed from nothing,tall and jagged,like the edge of broken glass.

The air behind it boiled then went still.

A figure stepped through.

The same horned figure Eiji had seen before.

The one that had chased the back in Charlotte’s kingdom,in the other realm.

The one that called him Mine.

Kroth.

He was massive,his frame barely fitting through the doorway. His skin shimmered between shadow and metal,his horns twisted backward like blades, his eyes burning with pale fire. When he breathed, the hall dimmed..as if light itself feared him.

Rhea froze mid-step.

Vesper dropped her sigil stones.

Selendra whispered, "That’s him."

Alma spoke in Eiji’s mind, quiet, shaking.

[He’s the one. The one who touched your soul. The one who marked you.]

Eiji’s throat tightened. "What the hell is he doing here?"

Melchior didn’t answer,he only said, "Survive."

Maethra looked unbothered at first. Her blindfold dissolved,showing eyes that glowed white and gold.

"So," she said,calmly and venomous. "The eater of names comes crawling to my court."

Kroth tilted his head slightly,his voice was deep, like stone dragged through thunder.

"You sit on stolen thrones," he said. "You eat what you did not earn,you feed on what was not yours. I am here to collect."

Her laugh cracked like glass. "You think you can collect from me?"

The hall shook as her true form unfurled.

Her body stretched,silk tearing like paper. Golden flesh twisted into something larger..a towering figure with six arms, three faces, and eyes that bled light. Her voice echoed from every direction.

"I am Maethra," she said. "Goddess of Greed, Lust, and Profanity. I am what mortals crave and what gods fear."

"Then you shall fall," Kroth said.

The world split...their clash was not light or sound...it was impact.

Waves of raw power slammed through the hall,bending walls and throwing people like dolls. Tables burst apart and stone cracked.

Eiji was thrown backward and he hit the floor hard,the breath knocked out of him.

Alma’s voice snapped in his skull:

[Move! Move now! The structure is collapsing!]

Vesper dragged Rhea behind an overturned pillar as shards of stone rained down. Selendra leapt over them,her claws drawn,her tail whipping.

Melchior stood near the edge of the chaos, holding the sigil open as Kroth and Maethra tore the world apart.

Every strike between them shattered something..the air, the floor, reality itself.

Kroth’s claws raked through the golden light around Maethra, tearing through her glamour and exposing the rotting mass beneath. She struck back,driving one of her hands through his chest, golden fire burning through shadow.

He staggered but didn’t fall and his eyes burned brighter.

"Greed burns fast," he growled.

"Then you’ll feed me," she hissed.

They collided again,the impact crushed what was left of the throne and split the hall into two halves.

Eiji tried to get up,but the air was like weight. The whole world screamed around him.

"Melchior!" Rhea shouted. "Do something!"

"I did," he said grimly. "This is the something."

The floor beneath them opened.. not to void, not to flame, but to a red prison of mirrors. The entire group fell through as the palace came apart.

They landed hard in another space,the walls were black and pulsing. Chains hung from nothing. Faces moved inside the walls like trapped souls.

Selendra cursed. "We’re in one of her mirrors."

Alma spoke again:

[No. Worse. This is her prison domain. Nothing here dies properly.]

The chains around the room moved, twisting and forming bodies,not human. Not demons...these were her children...the Soul Reapers.

Their forms were tall,lean,armored in bone. Their mouths were split open and instead of eyes, they had black holes that glowed faintly from within. They carried blades made from ribs and claws, dripping with gold light.

Vesper threw her bones forward. "Don’t let them touch you!"

The first Reaper charged and Rhea cut it down clean through the chest...it fell, screamed, and stood again like nothing happened.

Eiji raised his hand, calling Alma. "We need fire!"

[Already on it.]

Light burst from his chest, shooting into his palm. A spear of pure energy formed. He threw it through one of the Reapers’ heads..it exploded into light, then reformed,crawling back on its limbs.

"They don’t die!" Selendra shouted.

"They do," Melchior said, eyes sharp. "You just have to hit what they came from."

"The hell does that mean?" Rhea yelled.

"The chains!" he barked. "Break the chains!"

Selendra spun,eyes wild,tail whipping as she leapt toward the wall. She sank her claws into the nearest chain. The wall screamed. The Reaper she’d been fighting stumbled,froze, then fell into dust.

"That’s one!" she shouted.

Vesper dropped low,tracing a sigil that burned blue,her body shimmered. When the next Reaper lunged,she met it with her bare hand..the sigil burned through its blade, cracking it.

"Come on!" she snarled. "You want a meal, come earn it!"

Eiji ran to another chain and slammed his hand against it, Alma’s energy pouring through him.

The wall burned white,the chain snapped and another Reaper disintegrated.

But for every one they broke,two more appeared.

"Melchior!" Rhea shouted again, parrying a blade that cut the air like thunder. "There’s too many!"

He didn’t answer,he was standing perfectly still now,his eyes closed,his lips moving.

Eiji realized what he was doing. "He’s focusing on Kroth."

Above them,the ceiling cracked open..revealing the chaos of the real world above.

Maethra and Kroth were locked in a storm of light and darkness.

The goddess bled gold and Kroth’s shadow wrapped around her like a noose.

Every strike from him took a chunk of her light, every counter from her shredded pieces of his form.

And through it all, Kroth’s gaze flicked once..just once..down toward Eiji.

The same words echoed in Eiji’s head:

Mine.

His body trembled,Alma’s voice filled him again.

[He still wants you. Whatever bond was made when he first saw you.. it’s not broken. He’s not here for her alone.]

Eiji’s breath caught. "If he wins, he’ll take me."

"Then we don’t let him win," Rhea snapped.

The floor shook again and chains started snapping on their own now. The Reapers screamed in unison..a single,horrible sound that made the walls bleed.

Vesper turned,hair wild, face covered in blood and dust. "Melchior! We can’t hold this!"

He opened his eyes at last. "Then don’t."

He raised his hand and drew another sigil in the air,this one brighter, faster. "Everyone to me!"

Rhea grabbed Eiji by the arm, Selendra and Vesper fell in beside them,their weapons ready even as the floor cracked apart.

Alma’s voice rose in his head:

[I can pull us through,but it’ll burn me. I can’t hold Kroth and her at the same time.]

"Do it," Eiji said.

Maethra screamed above them..a sound like the world tearing open. Kroth’s roar followed,shaking everything.

Then Alma’s energy burst outward.

The sigil ignited,the prison broke.

They were thrown through... back into what was left of the hall. The entire place was collapsing. Half the roof was gone,flames and light tore through the structure.

Maethra was on her knees,her form flickering, golden blood pouring from her eyes. Kroth stood over her,battered, bleeding shadows,horns cracked.

"You cannot kill me," Maethra hissed. "You are bound by debt."

Kroth leaned down, his grin carved from the dark.

"I can eat debt too."

He drove his hand into her chest. The palace screamed and the ground split.

Maethra’s body shattered into shards of gold and black smoke. Kroth’s form wavered,his body half dissolving. He looked down at Eiji again..the fire in his eyes burned hotter.

"Mine," he said again,his voice deep enough to shake the sky.

Before he could move,Melchior threw a sigil at the ground.

"Not today," he said.

A light snapped between them.. pure and white..and Kroth roared as the sigil sealed.

His form was dragged backward through the broken gate,his claws scraping against the marble until he vanished into the void.

Only the crackling of flame,the hall was gone,the sky above was split open, bleeding gold,the wind howled through ruins.

Eiji fell to his knees, Alma’s hum was weak,flickering.

[Still... alive. Barely.]

Rhea looked around,sword still drawn.

"Everyone alive?"

Vesper groaned. "Define alive."

Selendra spat out blood and smirked weakly. "We’re breathing,that’s enough."

Melchior stood a few steps away, staring at the broken sky. "We bought time," he said. "But Kroth won’t stop. Maethra’s gone...for now. And he’ll come for what he thinks is his."

Eiji pressed a hand to his chest, feeling the fading pulse of Alma under his skin.

"She called me host," he said quietly. "He calls me his. What am I to either of them?"

Melchior didn’t answer,the wind howled through what was left of the palace, carrying ash and whispers.

Finally, Melchior said, "You’re the key. The one everyone wants but no one understands and we just made two enemies instead of one."

Above them,the last bell tolled..low and broken,the echo carried far into the desert night.