**The Library's Wrath**
The Tower's fury tore through the Fourth Floor like a hurricane. Books exploded from shelves, their pages shredding into razor-edged projectiles. The air thrummed with the screams of long-dead scholars, their whispers now warped into a cacophony of curses. Lysandra and Serin ducked behind a crumbling pillar as a tome the size of a wagon slammed into the ground, its spine cracking open to reveal teeth.
"**You defy entropy itself,**" the Tower boomed, its voice shaking dust from the ceiling. "**But entropy always wins.**"
Lysandra's Starborn Scion mark flared on her opposite palm—a star-shaped sigil that burned silver against the Eclipseblood's creeping black veins. Serin eyed her warily. "Got a plan, Paradox?"
"Working on it," she hissed.
**[SYSTEM: BLOODLINE PURITY—63%]**
**[STARBORN SCION INTEGRATION—42%]**
**[WARNING: BLOODLINE CONFLICT DETECTED]**
---
**The Guardian of Secrets**
The sealed door at the library's heart pulsed, its Voidshard chains slithering like serpents. From the shadows coalesced a **Librarian**—a skeletal figure clad in robes of living parchment, its hollow eyes burning with Tower-fed malice. In its hands, it wielded a quill that dripped liquid void and a ledger glowing with prisoner names.
"**Return the stolen knowledge,**" it intoned, pages rustling like a death rattle. "**Or become ink.**"
Serin lobbed a phoenix-fire dagger. The Librarian caught it mid-air, the flames snuffing out as the ledger absorbed them.
"**Not ideal,**" Serin muttered.
Lysandra stepped forward, dual marks blazing. "I'll distract it. Melt the chains."
"With what? A stern glare?"
She didn't answer.
---
**Dance of Light and Shadow**
The Librarian struck first, its quill slashing reality itself. Lysandra Voidshifted through the attack, Starborn energy coalescing into a blade of starlight. She sliced through the ledger—
**SCREECH.**
The book screamed, its pages bleeding. The Librarian retaliated, tendrils of ink lashing out. Lysandra pivoted, Eclipseblood corruption surging as she absorbed the ink into her Mark.
**[CORRUPTION: 68%]**
**[STARBORN SCION INTEGRATION—45%]**
"Serin, *now*!"
He slammed his dagger into the floor, phoenix-fire racing along cracks in the stone. The flames coiled around the Voidshard chains, their eerie glow intensifying.
"**Stop them!**" the Tower roared.
The Librarian dissolved into a swarm of pages, each inscribed with a lethal rune. Lysandra gritted her teeth.
**[COSMIC EDICT ACTIVATED]**
Time froze.
---
**The Weight of Divinity**
In the suspended moment, Lysandra saw the Library's truth—the endless shelves were a prison for forgotten gods, their names etched into cursed tomes. The sealed door was their cage.
*And I hold the key.*
She lunged, starlight blade piercing the Librarian's core. Reality snapped back.
**BOOM.**
The chains shattered. The door groaned open, unleashing a howling gale of starlight and shadow.
**[BLOODLINE PURITY—70%]**
**[CORRUPTION: 73%]**
**[WARNING: HUMANITY AT CRITICAL THRESHOLD]**
---
**The First Sovereign's Prison**
Beyond the door lay a hollow star—a cavernous void where a titanic figure hung suspended in chains of celestial iron. The **First Sovereign**, their body half-eclipsed by shadow, half-illumined by starlight, lifted their head.
"**Ah. The Paradox arrives.**"
Lysandra's Marks blazed in recognition. The Sovereign's voice was her own, twisted by millennia of madness.
"**You see it now, don't you?**" they crooned. "**The Tower is no prison. It's a crucible. And you…**"
Their gaze fell to Serin. "**The Phoenixborn. How poetic—fire and void, life and entropy. You'll kill each other in the end.**"
Serin raised his dagger. "Skip the monologue."
The Sovereign laughed. "**You'll need me soon, child. The Tower's heart cannot be breached without sacrifice.**"
---
**Cliffhanger: The Choice**
The floor quaked. The Tower's voice splintered the air: "**You dare wake the First? Then perish with them!**"
The library collapsed, black holes devouring shelves and sky. The Sovereign's chains snapped.
"**Run,**" Lysandra ordered.
"Where?!" Serin shouted.
The Sovereign grinned. "**The Fifth Floor. Where your mother's bones rest, little star.**"
Lysandra froze.
**[SYSTEM: FINAL QUEST ISSUED]**
**[ASCEND TO THE HEART // SACRIFICE REQUIRED]**
Serin grabbed her arm. "Don't you *dare* listen—"
She pulled free, Eclipseblood and Starborn light clashing in her eyes. "I have to know."
---
**Epigraph:**
*"The Celestial Paradox is both key and lock. To end the Tower, one must become it."*
—Last entry of Seraphine Thorn's journal, recovered from the Fourth Floor's ruins.