Meren woke up screaming.

He was chained in a dungeon beneath the Blackspire fortress, surrounded by silence, steel, and the very faint smell of burnt ego.

Across from him sat Aria.

Perfectly composed.

Dressed in black.

Holding a silver spoon, slowly stirring tea she wasn’t drinking.

“Good morning, sunshine,” she said. “We need to talk about what crawled inside your skull last night.”

Interrogation Mode: ACTIVE

Goal: Extract info about the Devourer System

Bonus: Emotional destruction of target

Optional: No survivors (if annoying)

Meren bared his teeth. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”

“Oh, I know,” Aria said sweetly. “You’re the discount version of something worse. And I want to meet the original.”

She held up a black shard—glowing faintly from his corrupted system core.

“Tell me who gave this to you.”

Meren laughed. “She’s coming for you.”

Aria smiled. “I hope she brings snacks. I get bored.”

System Sync: Core Residue Reading

— Source Trace Found

— Signal Origin: North-Eastern Shadow Zone

— Registered System Host: Y.V.

Yvonne. Confirmed.

Aria stood. “You’re no longer useful.”

Meren spat. “She’ll eat your system alive.”

And then—it happened.

Everything around her went silent. The world paused, as if a hand had pressed [stop] on time itself.

A voice whispered directly into her mind.

“Hello again, Aria.”

Familiar. Sweet. Fake.

“Still angry? You always took death so personally.”

WARNING: Unauthorized System Link Initiated

External Host: Yvonne – Devourer Alpha

Risk Level: Terminal

Countermeasures? [Yes] [Hell Yes]

Aria closed her eyes and smirked.

“You miss me that much, Yvonne?”

The voice hissed in reply.

“You don’t belong here. You were a mistake. Just a glitch I didn’t delete fast enough.”

Aria’s system surged.

Counter-Consume READY

Attempt Remote Interference?

[YES] Initiating Pulse Disruption…

Aria snapped back.

Meren screamed. His body arched—and then went limp.

Connection Severed

Yvonne’s Interference Blocked

Data Fragment Acquired: "Black Crown Protocol"

New Passive: Immunity to Remote Mind Infiltration

System Evolution: 29% Progress

Later that night, in her personal chambers, Aria stared at the ceiling while Elin cleaned blood off the rug.

“Elin,” she said casually, “if a backstabbing ex-friend who murdered me is planning to devour the world with a cursed system, should I send her an invitation?”

Elin didn’t look up. “To what?”

Aria smiled. “To my coronation.”

She stood, crossed to her desk, and began writing in scarlet ink on royal parchment.

“To Yvonne,

From the dead girl who’s not quite dead enough for you.

Let’s meet. No masks. No middlemen.

Just you, me, and the world between us.

Try not to choke.

—A”

She sealed it with her own blood.

New Quest Issued: The Invitation to Die

Objective: Provoke Yvonne into early confrontation

Risk: Everything

Reward: Access to Core System Collision Event (Alpha Tier Unlock)

She tied the letter to a black crow’s leg.

“Fly,” she whispered. “And tell her I’m coming for my crown.”

Far away, in a tower of obsidian and fire, Yvonne opened the scroll.

She smiled.

“Finally.”

Chapter 10: The Assassin, the Auction, and the Accidental Marriage Proposal