The corridor beyond the ruined chamber was choked with dust and stale air, the scent of decay lingering in the stone. Kieran pressed forward, his boots crunching over shattered debris. Behind him, his Sentinels moved in synchronized silence, their violet eyes gleaming faintly in the gloom. The Dominion Core floated at his side, pulsing with a steady rhythm, its obsidian edges glimmering with fractured light.
The passage narrowed ahead, the stone walls pressing in, their jagged surfaces etched with forgotten glyphs. Faint traces of violet energy flickered through the carvings like veins of light, pulsating faintly with an ancient resonance. Kieran's eyes narrowed.
**[System Notification: Dominion Detection Activated]**
**[Residual Arcane Energy Detected – Estimated Age: 12,000 years]**
**[Status: Corrupted Sovereign Node Nearby]**
"Sovereign Node…" Kieran muttered under his breath. His fingers traced the edge of his stone blade, his instincts sharpening.
The corridor eventually opened into a vast chamber, but the sight that greeted him made him stop in his tracks. The ruins were unlike anything he had seen so far. Crumbling pillars, once carved with intricate sigils, jutted from the ground like jagged teeth. In the center of the room stood a massive throne of black stone, cracked and weathered with age. At its base, a pool of violet liquid shimmered with an ethereal glow, casting warped reflections against the stone walls. The air was thick with the scent of ancient magic—pungent and electric.
But it wasn't the throne that made him pause—it was what sat upon it.
A massive figure, clad in rusted black armor, slouched in the throne. The armor was jagged and uneven, as if it had been fused to the skeletal frame within. The helm was cracked open, exposing the charred bone beneath. Its eye sockets were hollow, but faint violet flames flickered dimly within. The figure clutched a broken glaive in one hand, the blade corroded and jagged.
Kieran's Dominion Core pulsed violently.
**[System Notification: Sovereign Remnant Detected]**
**[Elite Boss: Hollow Sovereign – Level 36]**
**[Status: Corrupted. Dominion Core Influence: 5%]**
The skeletal figure stirred slightly, the movement almost imperceptible. Its bony fingers tightened around the glaive, grinding against the corroded metal. The violet flames in its eye sockets flared with sudden intensity.
Without warning, the Hollow Sovereign's aura erupted outward, a shockwave of corrupted magic blasting through the chamber. The walls cracked, and the entire chamber seemed to groan under the weight of its power. Kieran stumbled back a step, bracing himself against the force.
The Hollow Sovereign's voice was guttural and broken—a rasping echo of a forgotten king.
**"Dominion… is mine…"**
Then it moved.
The Sovereign sprang from the throne with terrifying speed, crossing the chamber in a single bound. The glaive cleaved downward in a brutal arc, aiming for Kieran's head. He sidestepped just in time, the blade shattering the stone where he had stood. Shards of rock blasted outward, scraping against his cheek.
Without hesitation, he retaliated. His blade flashed, enhanced by Arcane Siphon, and he drove it toward the Hollow Sovereign's exposed ribcage. The blade bit deep into the corrupted bone, violet energy crackling along the edge. The creature staggered back slightly but did not falter.
Kieran's Sentinels rushed forward. Their greatswords swung in unison, carving into the Hollow Sovereign's form. The first blow cleaved into its shoulder, severing one of the corroded armor plates. The second Sentinel's blade struck low, slicing through its skeletal thigh. The corrupted king stumbled, but as it fell, it twisted with inhuman agility, slashing with its glaive.
The weapon caught one Sentinel by the chest, cutting through its armor. The spectral warrior staggered, its form flickering slightly as the blow disrupted its essence.
Kieran's eyes flashed with violet light. He activated **Dominion Surge**, flooding his veins with arcane energy. His limbs grew lighter, faster, and more precise. His blade hummed with power as he lunged.
The Hollow Sovereign met him with a savage backhand strike. Kieran ducked, the glaive whistling over his head. In a flash, he pivoted, his sword trailing violet flame. He drove the blade into the creature's sternum with a two-handed thrust. The impact reverberated through the chamber, and the Hollow Sovereign staggered back.
**[Dominion Core Absorption: +5%]**
**[Enemy Weakened: -10% Defense]**
"Now!" Kieran barked.
The Dusk Hounds materialized from the ether in a flash of black and violet flame. Their skeletal frames glistened with shadow essence, and their eyes burned with spectral fire. They lunged in unison. The first Hound clamped its jaws around the Hollow Sovereign's leg, its necrotic fangs sinking deep. The second tore into its side, rending bone and armor apart.
The corrupted king roared in defiance, slamming its glaive into the ground. The impact released a shockwave of violet force, blasting the Hounds backward. They tumbled across the stone floor, momentarily dazed.
But Kieran was already moving. His stone blade gleamed with Arcane Siphon energy as he drove it into the exposed core of the Hollow Sovereign's chest. The blade pierced through corrupted bone and struck the core within.
The Hollow Sovereign screamed—a broken, guttural sound of agony. Violet energy exploded outward from the wound, black tendrils of power unraveling from its form. The corrupted flames in its eye sockets flickered violently before extinguishing entirely. The skeletal form crumbled to the ground, shattering into fragments of bone and rusted iron.
The chamber fell deathly silent. The only sound was Kieran's heavy breathing and the faint hum of the Dominion Core. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, his fingers stained with dark ichor.
A system notification flashed across his vision.
**[Elite Boss Defeated: Hollow Sovereign]**
**[Dominion Points: +250]**
**[Sovereign's Mark Acquired – Grants +15% Attack Speed in All Dominion Territories]**
**[Loot Acquired: Hollow King's Glaive – Legendary]**
The glaive shimmered faintly on the ground where the Hollow Sovereign had fallen. Kieran bent down, his fingers closing around the weapon's jagged haft. The moment he touched it, he felt the surge of corrupted power course through him—a trace of the ancient king's rage, now bound to him.
His grip tightened around the glaive. He could feel the essence of the Hollow Sovereign lingering, but it was no longer an enemy. It was his now.
He turned to his Sentinels, their spectral forms still flickering faintly from the battle. The Dominion Core hovered silently beside him, glowing brighter than before.
Kieran glanced at the broken throne—the Hollow Throne—now abandoned.
His lips curved into a cold smile.
"Their kingdom is gone," he muttered, his voice low. "But I'll build one from its ashes."
Without looking back, he sheathed his blade, slung the glaive over his back, and strode toward the corridor ahead. The ruins of the Hollow Sovereign belonged to him now. And this was only the beginning.