Cherreads

Chapter 13 - Chapter 13: When the Audit Begins

Recap:

Kael Vire has gone through Sovereign Evolution and unlocked the Proto-Tyrant Form, pushing past the System's limits. Now, he's marked for deletion under Protocol 17-Black, waiting for the Audit to arrive—an execution not carried out by armies, but by reality-bending mechanisms designed to dismantle Sovereigns from the inside out.

---

The air shattered like glass.

Kael stood atop the Hollow Spire, his shadow elongated by the unsettling red light seeping from the sky.

[System Audit Initiated]

[Target: Kael Vire – Sovereign Class: Rogue Ascendant]

[Threat Level: Cataclysmic]

[Executor Rank Deployed: Auditor Prime - Identity Obscured]

Sel tightened her grip on her blade. "The Audit doesn't come with armies."

"No," Kael replied.

"It sends... *judges*."

---

The first sign was silence.

Complete silence.

No birds.

No wind.

Not even the faintest hum of domain resonance.

Then, the sky shattered like a mirror.

A lone figure descended, faceless, wrapped in chains that seemed to loop endlessly.

**Auditor Prime.**

Its voice didn't echo. It *replaced* all sound.

> "Kael Vire. You are a contradiction. A Sovereign born from abandonment. You were never meant to exist.

The System will rectify this."

Kael stepped forward, the Proto-Tyrant Form glowing softly at his shoulders.

"You audited me the moment you left me to rot."

"Now you'll face the *consequences*."

---

[Combat Zone Established: Audit Chamber]

**All Sovereign Traits Disabled**

**Edicts Temporarily Nullified**

**You may only fight using core identity strength and Echo contracts.**

Joran grunted.

"They're stripping your power."

Kael smirked, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Good.

Let's see what's left when I burn everything else away."

---

The battle erupted without a hint of warning.

The Auditor moved like a shadow—appearing at Kael's side, behind him, above him—everywhere and nowhere at once.

Its chains didn't just strike; they *rewrote* the very fabric of space.

Sel shouted, panic lacing his voice.

"You can't dodge that!"

But Kael didn't dodge.

He stood firm.

Each strike left symbols burned into his skin, a painful reminder of the assault.

Every movement aimed to reduce him to mere *code*.

But he wasn't just code.

He was *refusal* made flesh.

---

[Echo Contract Triggered: Ashmaw the Crownless]

Kael merged with Ashmaw, unleashing a torrent of fire and black stone.

The ground erupted in ancestral fury.

Even the Auditor faltered for a moment.

Then Kael struck.

A fist wreathed in sovereign flame shattered one of the Auditor's halos.

> *Error. Pattern deviation... unacceptable.*

The Auditor flickered with emergency light.

> *Triggering Reset.*

---

Kael's crown dimmed, a wave of pain shooting through his spine.

Yet his voice remained steady.

"You want to rewrite me?"

He raised both arms defiantly.

"Then read me properly."

---

[Domain Override Triggered]

*Echo Maw: Core Activated.*

*Protocol Breach Accepted.*

*Kael Vire acknowledged as Sovereign Host of Tier-Null Chaos.*

A new light flooded the sky.

Not Sovereign.

Not System.

Something **older**.

---

The Auditor screamed silently, then turned to flee.

---

Kael dropped to one knee, steam rising from his skin.

Sel rushed to his side, breathless. "You won…"

Kael shook his head, a somber look in his eyes.

"No."

"I *survived*."

---

Far away, in a temple orbiting a shattered sun, the Chainbreaker laughed.

"The Audit failed," it declared.

"And now the game begins."

---

End of Chapter 13

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