Ludwig remained still for a mont after stepping away from the now-absent tower grounds, staring at the empty stretch of sky where the Tower of Trials had stood only monts ago. Even after everything he had experienced inside it, the disappearance felt surreal in a way that killing Pride sohow had not.
A thing so ancient, so stubbornly present, had simply decided it was done with this world and left without ceremony. No farewell. No reward speech. No grand declaration. Just absence.
He exhaled slowly and finally allowed himself to focus on sothing far more imdiately relevant.
The notifications.
A flick of his hand brought the translucent windows back into view. For the second ti.
There were far too many.
Ludwig grimaced. "Right. Let’s see what absurd nonsense I’ve been handed this ti."
His eyes moved across the floating text.
[You have slain the Usurper of Death: Prideful Death.]
[Vanitas Fiero has been defeated.]
[You have obtained: Crown of Pride.]
[You have obtained: Ring of Vanitas.]
[The soul of Pride has been claid by Necros ]
[You have obtained 1 Shard of Darkness.]
[Eternal Quest III completed.]
[Eternal Quest IV available.]
Ludwig rubbed his forehead.
"Wonderful. Let’s check out the trauma-imbued accessories. We just got."
He focused first on the crown.
A new window expanded before him.
***
Crown of Pride
Classification: Imbued Trait
Origin: Prideful Death
A crown unseen by lesser eyes. Upon attunent, the crown manifests as invisible thorn markings across the user’s forehead, hidden unless observed by entities of significant authority or perception.
Passive – Vanity Absolute
External attempts to redefine, suppress, alter, diminish, or conceptually overwrite the wearer’s identity, rank, nature, status, or selfhood are heavily resisted.
The wearer rejects imposed inferiority.
Conceptual effects such as forced submission, hierarchy suppression, soul branding, authority ranking, and identity corruption suffer severe reduction or outright nullification.
Active – Self-Evident Truth
Declare one truth regarding the self.
So long as the declaration does not fundantally contradict the wearer’s current state, reality temporarily aligns itself with that truth.
Examples include:
I do not kneel.
I remain unbroken.
I stand above fear.
My will does not falter.
Duration, intensity, and stability scale with conviction and truthfulness.
False declarations incur backlash.
Passive Drawback – Hubris
The greater the discrepancy between declaration and reality, the harsher the recoil.
A false king is crushed beneath his own crown.
****
Ludwig stared at the screen for a few seconds.
Then slowly grinned.
"Oh."
That was nasty.
That was very nasty.
Wrath had given him brute escalation. Envy had granted utility through imbalance and degradation. But this? This was different. This was almost philosophical violence weaponized into an equipnt slot.
He could already imagine how useful it would be against the kind of enemies that loved throwing around concepts, authority systems, and bullshit taphysical declarations.
But it was also disgusting. It had an obvious weakness. The sa one Pride had.
"Basically... I can’t lie while the crown is active," he sighed.
Saying that I don’t bleed, for example, then proceeding to bleed will probably hit with enough backlash that it’ll kill most people.
’Gotta use this thing wisely...’
Anything trying to tell Ludwig what he was or wasn’t would now have to argue with Pride itself.
"Still, that is disgustingly practical," Ludwig muttered with genuine approval.
He reached upward experintally.
The crown itself did not physically appear in his hands. Instead, a cold sensation spread across his forehead like tal pressing against skin, followed by a faint prickling sensation.
Thorns.
Invisible lines traced themselves over his brow in a circular pattern, delicate enough to be mistaken for phantom pain.
Kaiser narrowed his eyes slightly. "Your mana shifted."
"New toy," Ludwig replied.
Gale folded his arms. "Should I be concerned?"
"Yes," Ludwig answered imdiately. "But not about this one."
He dismissed the crown window and opened the second item.
The ring.
A darker interface appeared.
***
Ring of Vanitas
Classification: Mythic Utility Relic
Origin: Tower of Trials Reward
A ring forged from the remnants of fading grandeur. Its surface reflects no light directly and bears inscriptions visible only during endings.
Passive – All Things Fade
Reveals instability, expiration points, degradation patterns, and structural weaknesses in magical constructs, summoned entities, enchanted systems, barriers, domains, rituals, and temporary manifestations.
The wearer perceives what is unsustainable.
False permanence becos visible.
Active – nto Mori
By touching a construct, enchantnt, barrier, magical object, summoned weapon, or manifested system, the wearer may accelerate its decline.
Durability, integrity, and magical cohesion rapidly deteriorate.
Cannot directly target living beings.
Effects scale based on target complexity and taphysical stability.
Passive Flavor Effect – Vanity Reflection
Worthless treasures appear slightly duller while worn.
****
Ludwig blinked.
Then blinked again.
"...This tower really hated Pride."
Because that was the second reward in a row built specifically to make future conceptual enemies miserable.
He slipped the ring onto one of his fingers.
Imdiately, the world changed.
Not visually, not fully.
But subtly.
A nearby decorative ward etched into the outer walls of Politia suddenly looked different, less solid sohow. Ludwig could see faint hairline fractures in its magical composition, tiny imperfections in the mana lattice sustaining it. Not literal cracks, but conceptual ones. Stress points. Failure lines.
He shifted his gaze toward one of the barrier formations atop a distant guard tower.
Sa thing.
Weaknesses.
Tilines.
Decay.
Nothing looked truly permanent anymore.
That was mildly unsettling.
"Well," Ludwig said, flexing his fingers, "that is either incredibly useful or going to make architecture permanently ugly..."
Kaiser stepped slightly closer, observing him with interest. "What does it do?"
"It teaches that everything eventually falls apart," Ludwig replied.
"That sounds remarkably on-brand for you."
"Thanks."
He dismissed the windows and exhaled.
The rewards were good. Better than good, actually. Crown of Pride especially was absurdly useful, and the Ring of Vanitas filled a very specific utility niche Ludwig had not realized he desperately needed until now.
But there was no ti to enjoy any of it.
Not with what he already knew was coming.
He looked toward the distant horizon beyond Politia’s towering walls, his expression hardening.
Solania.
The next disaster.
The next volu of problems.
The next catastrophic sequence of events, Ludwig was sohow expected to deal with despite having approximately zero emotional recovery ti.
Naturally.
A new notification appeared.
[You have been invited to a eting with Necros.]
Ludwig sighed so deeply it sounded almost spiritual.
"Ah," Kaiser said, recognizing the expression. "That again."
"Yes," Ludwig replied, already annoyed. "Apparently, Death has scheduling concerns."
Kaiser gave him a small nod. "Try not to get assigned sothing impossible."
Ludwig laughed.
A short, humorless sound.
"At this point," he said, "that feels less like advice and more like cody."
The world twisted around him a second later, space itself folding inward as the familiar sensation of being violently removed from existence claid him once more.
And then Ludwig was gone.
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