The Oathbound Eclipse

> "Some cities remember. Others forget.

But this one... this one pretends."

—Inscription at the gate of Floor Four

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Arrival

The transition was immediate.

One moment, they were in the forested Whispering Grove.

The next, they stood before gates taller than mountains, wrapped in cracked marble and old, whispering banners.

A sky of ash and swirling violet clouds loomed above.

The gate creaked open by itself.

Kael muttered, "This place wasn't on any map. It's… like it was removed."

Yu-ri stepped carefully, eyes narrowed. "No birds. No wind. Just… echoes."

> [You have entered Floor Four: The Hollow Citadel.] [Here, memory becomes substance. Illusions feed on truth.] [Warning: Those with unstable identity may fracture.]

Seo Joon took a breath—and stepped inside.

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The City That Pretends

They walked down silent streets.

Stone buildings leaned as if trying to listen.

Mirrors lined walls and corners, reflecting not their bodies… but moments from their pasts.

Kael saw a younger version of himself—holding hands with someone who no longer existed.

Yu-ri saw herself begging at a healer's door with her dying brother in her arms.

Seo Joon saw nothing.

Only a blank mirror.

He reached out to touch it—and for an instant—a chained eclipse flickered across its surface.

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A Whisper in the Stone

They reached what seemed like a plaza. A broken statue stood in the center—its plaque erased.

There, a voice called out.

Old. Familiar. Wrong.

"You climbed too fast, Seo Joon. You were supposed to die on Floor Two."

He turned slowly.

A figure stepped out of the fog.

It was... him.

But twisted—eyes hollow, chains wrapping his limbs in reverse, as if dragging him backward.

> [Memory Construct – "The Doubtful Flame" has appeared.]

Kael drew his weapons. "That's a fake, right?!"

"No," Yu-ri said quietly. "It's his shadow. The part of him that still believes he can't win."

The Construct attacked—wild, unpredictable, too familiar.

Seo Joon met it in combat—flame dancing, chains clashing.

Every strike it made was a fear he had once believed:

"You'll never be enough."

"They'll all leave you."

"You weren't meant to survive."

But as their weapons clashed for the final time, Seo Joon grabbed the Construct's chain and snapped it.

> "I'm not who I was."

The shadow vanished.

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New Trait Unlocked

> [You have conquered a Personal Construct.] [Trait Gained: Self-Forged Flame – +Resilience to Mental-type Floors.]

But the fight echoed through the city.

The Hollow Citadel had seen him.

And now, it remembered him.

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Far Away… in a Tower Archive

An ancient figure stood before a cracked mural—once vibrant, now gray.

The image showed a group in cloaks beneath a solar eclipse, chains bound to their arms and a single motto above:

> "We swear to remain, even if the stars fall."

He touched the wall gently.

"So… one of them is alive after all."

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