[REMAKE] Invasion on the Southern Shores

The opened threshold widens over Tartarus’s chasm, its pale rim trembling above the abyss. Ares still holds the basin as black bindings constrict his arms, while Helios, Zukalina, and Sisyphus remain beyond the palace-side boundary.

At the ledge, Hades stands beside Thanatos, directing pale chains through the threshold. The faceless presence hangs captive nearby, its ash-dark strands twisting against the divine restraints.

The basin’s black ember flares as it nears the captive presence. Broken crowns emerge across the entity’s shifting form, each line sharpening only within the basin’s cold light.

Ares holds the basin steady above the threshold. The bindings constrict around his arms, but the vessel remains fixed as its black ember burns through every broken crown.

The captive presence bends toward the basin. Its ash-dark strands unravel into ancient lettering, while pale chains from Tartarus lock each mark in place.

The final crown splits open. Beneath it, a name appears in stark black fire: OBRYX, THE HOLLOW SOVEREIGN, the buried will that used Corinth and the dead as its conduit.

Hades draws both hands apart, and the pale chains cinch around the revealed name. Obryx’s faceless form collapses inward, its threads pinned beneath the threshold while the basin’s ember dims.

Ares locks his grip around the basin and holds it steady despite the black ember dragging against his arms. The threshold stops trembling beneath his feet.

Hades and Thanatos pull the pale chains through the exposed name. Each link closes around Obryx’s will, pinning its ash-dark strands to the Tartarus seal.

The cost settles sharply: the black band around Ares’s wrist splits his skin with cold fire, and the mark spreads across his palm beneath the basin.

Obryx’s name collapses into a single sealed glyph. Its faceless form remains trapped beyond the threshold, while a second pulse travels through the conduit toward Corinth.

Ares lowers the basin by measured degrees. The black band around his wrist loosens, and the vessel’s weight leaves his palms without tearing the remaining mark.

The basin settles within the threshold’s pale rim, fully released. Its ember contracts into a sealed point as the chains around Obryx hold fast.

Hades draws a circle of pale fire around the basin without touching it. The circle closes, separating the vessel from Ares and the captive sovereign.

A second pulse races through the conduit toward Corinth. Beyond the threshold, Obryx’s sealed glyph flares in answer, and the Tartarus chains ring like struck iron.

The question crosses the threshold as the conduit pulses again. Obryx’s sealed glyph answers from within Tartarus, and a hairline fracture appears across the basin’s pale-fire circle.

The crack widens by a finger’s breadth. Pale fire spills into the threshold, and the basin’s ember flares toward Corinth while the chains around Obryx groan.

Ares turns from the basin and calls Zukalina to the threshold. The command travels through the pale fire, reaching Corinth without disturbing the vessel.

Zukalina enters the opened passage from the palace side, sword lowered and hands plainly visible. She stops beyond the pale-fire circle, well beyond the basin’s reach.

The war sigil across Zukalina’s armor answers the basin with a muted flare. Obryx’s chains groan, but the pale circle holds and the vessel remains untouched.

Zukalina fixes her gaze on the sealed basin. Its ember opens like a dark eye, and a thin black line reaches toward her sigil without crossing the circle.