Banished to the Abyss After Defying the Author-Chapter 9: When Kings Refuse the Crown

The sky darkened without warning.

No clouds gathered. No storm formed.

The Abyssal World simply... bowed.

Noah stood alone beneath it, staring upward as something unfamiliar pressed against his chest. Not fear. Not doubt.

Pressure settled against his chest—a weight he hadn’t felt since his crown was torn away. Hopelessness surfaced, brief and sharp, then curdled into something worse.

Anger leaked through the cracks.

The ground split open.

Mountains screamed as tectonic plates ground against one another. Valleys folded. The world shuddered as if shaken awake from a nightmare it couldn’t escape.

"Mórtatis," Noah said.

His voice didn’t echo. It didn’t need to.

"I will erase you from every worlds."

Reality recoiled.

The edges of the Abyssal World began to sink, dissolving into the void like ash brushed from a table.

A portal tore open.

Silver light spilled out, cutting through the red sky.

A woman stepped through—wings of gold and silver folded tight against her back. Time bent around her arrival, slowing not by force, but by instinctive deference.

The Abyssal World’s goddess.She dropped to one knee.

"King of Kings," she said urgently. "Please calm yourself. If you continue, this world will not survive."

The ground cracked again.

Noah looked at her.

Then at the world beneath his feet.

The tremors eased. The land held.

"...Very well," he said at last. "But when I kill Mortatis, no one interferes. Not you. Not any goddess."

Her wings shuddered.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "We will not intervene."

He studied her—really looked.

"Tell me where he is," Noah said. "And where your lover hides—the Abyssal King."

Her gaze lowered.

"I don’t know," she admitted. "But I know he’s being manipulated."

Noah’s jaw tightened.

"You already know what I’ll do," he said. "I’ll take his authority back."

She nodded. "All kings gained power through fragments of what was once yours. When your authority was stripped, it redistributed. It made the remaining kings... stronger."

Noah inhaled slowly.

"He’ll survive," he said. "I don’t need his death. I need what was stolen."

Silence stretched between them.

"I don’t have time," Noah continued. "I need Victoria. And the two kings."

He turned away.

As the goddess began to fade, he paused.

"Zelforna," he said. "If you still hear me—grant me access to the Ninth World Because if I enter with force it will collapse the ninth world fully."

The air rippled.

"I grant it," her voice answered.

A portal opened.

Green stretched endlessly beyond it.

Grassland without boundary. Without horizon. Wind rolled gently across it, carrying no threat. No intent.

Noah stepped through and looked down.

The Abyssal World hovered beneath him like a sealed book.

Paused.

Uncorrected.

"...So they’re not there," he murmured.

He reached out, tracing a finger across the world’s surface.

Restore environmental stability.

The words formed—

—and vanished.

New text burned in their place.

World state remains unchanged.

Noah exhaled through his nose.

"Dragonforce."

He walked forward.

Dragons tore through the sky—vast, armored, eyes burning with borrowed authority. The same taint. The same resonance.

He sidestepped the first without effort.

So you’ve aligned them all.

Time folded.

The creatures froze mid-flight, trapped inside their own moments.

Noah didn’t stop walking.

"...All kings against me," he said quietly. "So be it." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Something else stirred.

A presence.

Victoria.

A smile formed before he realized it had.

The sky tore open.

A dragon descended—three heads roaring, wings wide enough to blot out the world.

"Valactus," Noah said calmly. "Destroyer Dragon."

The creature collapsed midair, its form compressing into something humanoid, its strike already moving.

Noah slipped past it.

"Borrowing the Abyssal King’s authority," he noted. "And Mortatis’ as well."

Valactus flickered—glitching, displaced.

"Puppets," Noah said. "Even if I absorb you, I gain nothing."

Fire tore through dimensions.

Six layers of dimensions collapsed.

The seventh held—barely.

Noah raised a hand.

"It doesn’t matter where you stand," he said evenly. "But I’ll give you the chance to stop."

The final defense cracked.

Noah sighed.

"So you chose death."

Time stopped fully.

The world froze mid-breath.

Noah stepped forward and seized Valactus by the throat.

His voice carried—not loud, not furious—but absolute.

"Listen," he said. "I am reclaiming my authority. Yield yours willingly—or I will protect these worlds over your corpses."

The dragon imploded.

Time resumed.

The land remained intact.

Noah turned toward Victoria’s presence and began walking.

Noah moved toward Victoria’s presence—

—and struck something solid.

Invisible.

The impact rippled faintly through the air.

He stopped and studied it.

A barrier. Crude. Layered with intent rather than strength.

Mortal-made, he realized. Or something pretending to be.

Noah formed a fraction of his aura around his hand and pressed his fingers against it.

The barrier shattered instantly, collapsing into harmless motes.

He sighed.

"Weak mortals," he muttered. "Still thinking walls matter."

He continued forward.

Then—nothing.

The moment he reached the edge of a massive kingdom, Victoria’s presence vanished completely.

Text flickered in the air before him, pale and mocking.

Getting close, Noah? Let’s make this interesting.

The words faded.

Noah’s jaw clenched. "Dragonforce."

He drew in a slow breath, forcing the tension down.

"If I still had my authority," he said quietly, "I wouldn’t be chasing shadows like this."

Annoyance crept into his voice.

He looked out over the kingdom—vast, layered, humming with borrowed power.

Two names surfaced unbidden.

Devil King of Salvation.

Dark Ruler of Rejection.

Memory stirred.

Before time had begun. Before worlds existed. When meaning itself hadn’t learned how to persist.

There had only been them.

Noah—and the ten kings.

Mortatis,Nostradus and other kings.

He remembered his own hand shaping reality, assigning crowns not as gifts, but as necessities.

Mortatis—King of Hell,Nostradus—King of the Abyss and other Kings of other Worlds.

He had been harsh. Unyielding. Necessary.

"Is this Dragonforce’s lesson?" Noah wondered. "Dragging me through my own decisions?"

He shook his head once.

"No," he said to the empty air. "Right and wrong are situational. What I did was optimal."

He nodded, decision settling cleanly.

Then he stepped forward.

Into the kingdom.

To find answers.

To reclaim what was taken.

And to save the remaining worlds—before the cost became irreversible.

The crown could wait.

The consequences could not.