The Beginning After The End Chapter 521: Peace In Your Own

The dim, gray radiance of the pocket dimension was suddenly devoured by an all-encompassing shadow.

Mana flooded through the ink-black void, clogging my Realmheart senses like a thick miasma, until every trace of Kezess and Agrona disappeared from my perception.

I heard the roar of wind in my ears. Aether—originating from a source other than myself—pressed heavily against my frame, numbing my physical form. For a fleeting second, I felt transported back to the formless abyss of my initial descent into the Relictombs, as if my body had ceased to exist. Only the sharp, foul stench and taste of rot clung to my senses.

A sudden impact slammed into my chest, launching me backward. The strike was so violent and instantaneous that I was already crashing through distant barricades before my nerves could register the agony. Amidst the suffocating dark, bursts of light exploded across my vision.

Dragging my focus back, I triggered God Step. The intricate web of aetheric pathways within the dimension shimmered into view. I tumbled through one junction only to emerge spinning from another. I manifested a ring of aetheric blades around me, lashing out in every direction. These swords acted as extensions of my will, widening my sensory reach until I felt them bite into flesh. The metallic scent of blood soon filled the air.

The howling wind intensified, and I dropped to one knee. Despite the numbing pressure of the ambient aether, I felt the cold brush of death pass just above me, the sensation of strands of hair being clipped from my head. My own blades spun in a protective whirlwind. Through the floor, I sensed a massive, trembling weight drawing near. Leaning into the motion, I slipped back into the aetheric folds.

The glowing nodes of God Step were vivid and easy to navigate, even if their placement seemed disconnected from the physical layout of the pocket dimension. I could just barely discern the far edges of the magical sphere containing us, which provided a meager sense of orientation in a place where traditional distance meant nothing.

I blinked through the aetheric paths repeatedly, jumping between specific points to buy myself a few precious seconds of contemplation.

Both Agrona and Kezess had finally reached the same conclusion I had arrived at weeks ago. I had become too great a risk to them both. Just as Seris had once intended, the two monarchs had viewed one another as the primary obstacle, pushing themselves to the brink to secure a swift victory.

But the variables had changed. Kezess and Agrona now understood that if they continued their duel, I would simply execute the survivor. It was an inevitability. I could never ensure the safety of Dicathen, Alacrya, or Epheotus while either of them drew breath. Consequently, they had formed a silent pact to eliminate me first, each believing they could finish the other once I was gone.

Only one of us three could ultimately be correct.

God Step deposited me at the exact heart of the spherical dimension. Within the obscuring fog of darkness and mana, a complex magical lattice existed. During my rapid movements, I had been analyzing the flow of their spells, hunting for the source. Kezess, specifically, lacked the subtlety to remain truly hidden; his heavy-handed aetheric control left obvious trails in the murky air.

Using aether with the precision of a blade, I attempted to sever the magical threads to unravel their techniques. Agrona reacted instantly, countering my interference by shifting the oppressive mana. His spell evaded my touch like water flowing over stone. I repositioned, and his magic mirrored me, though the shadows wavered under the strain. For a heartbeat, a silver-white dragon loomed over me, and the air itself turned into a storm of cutting edges.

I used God Step to retreat, but Regis stayed behind. Our mental bond flared as he ignited with the power of Destruction. He wove through the dragon’s strikes without retaliating. Instead, he began venting Destruction across the floor and into the atmosphere, acting as a corrosive fire at the center of their spellwork.

Tracing the magical weave through the aetheric paths, I struck at the foundations of Agrona’s power. I evaded blooming spikes of blood iron, surges of raw mana, and gales of void wind that pursued me relentlessly. With every jump, Agrona recalibrated, yet his grip on the darkness was failing. The roar of the storm faded with each God Step, and the pitch-black void thinned into a pale gray mist.

“I am finished with this shadow!” Kezess bellowed, followed by a sickening tearing sound. The remaining gray fog was ripped apart like old fabric, sinking into the floorboards like oily soot.

Destruction was now surging outward from the center of the arena. Everything from stone and air to mana and aether began to incinerate as Regis poured his entire being into the violet flames. With no darkness left to burn, the fire roared toward the ceiling and surged into the lower chambers. Large sections of the stronghold began to disintegrate.

Suddenly, the edge of the inferno froze. Like grass caught in a shifting breeze, the purple flames flickered back toward me, hardening into a frozen wave aimed at my position.

I reached out with my own aether, driving it into his power in an attempt to shatter the hold.

A dark blur flashed before my eyes, and agonizing needles pierced my skull. My mind went blank as the activated King’s Gambit amplified the pain a thousandfold. Time itself seemed to tighten around me like a metal vice.

My aether became stagnant in my meridians. I was paralyzed, unable to resist the aetheric art binding me.

The world seemed to skip forward, leaving my head spinning.

Agrona was standing inches away, a blade of blood iron buried in my chest. I regained clarity just as the weapon’s tip ground against the reinforced surface of my core. Behind him, the violet fire of Destruction threatened to consume the entire pocket dimension, which shuddered against my mind.

I seized his wrist with my manifested left hand and delivered a crushing blow to his throat. Stepping in, I smashed my elbow into his face, tripped him, and threw him to the floor, snapping his arm at a grotesque angle. His grip failed, releasing the dagger. I snatched the weapon and drove it toward the back of his skull.

The blood iron dissolved before it could strike, but his head still hit the stone with a sickening crack. I raised my arm again, forming a short aetheric blade designed for killing. As I lunged, a clawed limb made of shadow and wind erupted from Agrona’s shoulder, catching my strike.

I twisted the sword to carve through the spectral arm, but reality shifted. Suddenly, I was on my back, pinned by a three-armed Agrona. One hand held my sword arm while his forearm crushed my windpipe; the shadowy third limb plunged deep into the hole in my chest.

A searing, internal heat erupted in my lungs. I countered with a Point Blank Burst Strike aimed at his midsection. The resulting explosion of power threw him off me. I retreated into a God Step, reappearing at the center of the hall next to Regis as a poisonous, burning agony gripped my core.

My regeneration had halted, and my core had sustained a direct hit.

Feeling my alarm, Regis gave one final surge of Destruction before turning incorporeal and diving through my chest into my core.

‘God, that’s disgusting,’ he grumbled before flaring his power within me, incinerating the corruption and allowing my aether to begin the healing process. ‘The core is intact, though.’

A thunderous crash drew my eyes upward. The fortress was finally giving way, unable to support itself after being hollowed out by Destruction. Winds laced with black mana tore at the masonry, hurling debris toward me.

I wrapped myself in a layer of aether as half of Taegrin Caelum collapsed on top of me. The sound was a deafening roar of falling stone. Grime and dust choked my breath and blinded me. Holding my aetheric arm over my head, I opened my core’s reserves, fueling a massive barrier as countless tons of rock buried me. I waited, searching for an opening—then God Stepped away, emerging atop the heap of ruins.

A sickly tremor shook my body. The earlier waves of Destruction were still moving, now eating into the very boundaries of the pocket dimension. For a moment, I feared the fire would consume everything, taking Agrona and Kezess with it, but the grim truth followed: Destruction would rupture the walls of this reality, spilling the battle into the actual Taegrin Caelum in a tide of purple fire.

Regis halted the flow. Around us, the hungry violet light flickered and died.

The destruction ceased. I stood on solid ground once more, though the air was a thick curtain of dust. The mana signatures of Agrona and Kezess burned like twin suns in the sudden quiet.

The dust swirled, pushed aside by great silver-white wings. I realized the fortress had reconstructed itself around me just as I entered the aetheric paths. I flickered behind Kezess but jumped again instantly, appearing in front of him even as he turned, a shimmering gold blade in his hand.

I lunged with an aetheric sword toward his ribs, but the asura lord was incredibly swift. His sword pierced the air I had just occupied, while his free hand swept back, striking my weapon.

My sword shattered as my connection to it was severed. Stumbling in shock, I watched as his golden blade jumped from his right hand to his left with a crackle of aether. I parried the follow-up with my left arm, but a second blade bit into my hip from behind. Agrona’s murderous intent suddenly flared at my back.

I formed a new sword in my right hand, holding it in a reverse grip. I swung it behind me as Regis wreathed it in the flames of Destruction.

The blade met only empty air.

My manifested left fist closed around Kezess’s golden sword, but he twisted the hilt, and my arm shattered just like my weapon had. He dropped into a duelist’s stance, and as he lunged, his draconic avatar lunged with him, its massive talons swiping down.

I reached for God Step. Kezess tried to lock me in place by compressing time and space. Prepared for the trick, I forced my way through with a snarl, vanishing into the pathways and reappearing across the room, wreathed in aetheric lightning.

I was being forced onto the back foot. I had expected Kezess’s power, but his ability to dismantle my aetheric constructs was a new complication. If I could avoid his time-stop abilities, I could negate his greatest edge. Neither of them had a perfect defense against Destruction, provided Regis stayed within my blade or body to conserve his limited aether reserves.

It was also becoming obvious that the two monarchs could not coordinate. Whether due to pride, fundamental differences in their magic, or a lack of trust, their failure to work together was my only advantage. I needed King’s Gambit to stay focused on their rhythm, looking for a way to exploit their mutual friction.

As I moved back into the fray, my hip throbbed. A gash had been torn in my armor, and black flames flickered within the wound. I tried to reach for it with a new aetheric arm, but there was no time to purge the soulfire.

The silver-white dragon was waiting, exhaling a torrent of pure mana. I met the attack head-on, turning Kezess’s own logic against him. If he could dispel my aether, I could do the same to his mana. At the core of the blast, I felt the intent of the spell. Using aether like a physical tool, I tore the foundation of his magic apart and remolded it.

I drew in the atmospheric mana and shaped four floating swords around me: one of fire, one of wind, one of earth, and one of lightning.

Sensing Decay-type mana rising beneath me, I injected aether into it, severing the link between Agrona’s influence and the mana. Instead of the black spikes he intended, a massive stone wall erupted to shield my back.

I swung the flaming blade behind the wall. A curved edge of wind sliced toward Kezess’s hip while an obsidian longsword lunged for his throat. The lightning blade detonated in a yellow flash, searing my retinas even with my eyelids shut.

Kezess dodged the first strike, his golden sword shattering my earthen blade. The sword of fire swung around like a scythe toward his neck, but when he parried, the flames were drawn into his own weapon.

The dragon manifestation, its own breath weapon turned against its master, dissolved into light and returned to Kezess. He absorbed the energy, his presence becoming even more concentrated and formidable.

The stone wall crumbled, and I spun to catch Agrona’s wrist as he tried to repeat his earlier flanking move. His dagger was inches from my side. I struck with an aether-wrapped fist, but he slipped away like oil. He seemed to move in multiple directions at once, leaving echoing phantoms in his wake.

I felt Kezess’s physical power peaking as he funneled mana and aether into his muscles. He was shifting tactics, likely realizing that a physical duel would be more efficient than casting massive spells that risked destroying the pocket dimension.

I invoked the spatium rune, hardening the air into a solid barrier to cut Agrona off from Kezess. There was a violent shudder in space, and for a second, two versions of Agrona appeared on either side of me, both off-balance. I prepared to drive a Destruction-laced blade through both, but the soulfire in my hip flared with agonizing heat. Regis pulled back from the sword, flowing into my body to neutralize the corruption.

I thrust my aetheric sword into the spatial network, and two blades emerged from the twin Agronas as they merged back into one. Reality seemed to snap back into place as Agrona stood where he had begun. Blood leaked from fresh cuts on his armor at his side and shoulder.

With a snarl, he opened his mouth. No sound emerged, but a wave of disorienting pain hit my ears, and my vision blurred. My throat felt as if it were being garroted. My legs buckled.

As my consciousness wavered, I sensed the mana waves coming from him and tore the Decay out by the root. The air erupted with yellow lightning. As the spatial wall cracked under Kezess’s golden blade, I directed the lightning over my head to strike him down.

The connection to the soulfire broke as Regis purged the last of it with Destruction. Black fire cauterized Agrona’s wounds even as they bled.

Kezess advanced with measured steps. He was likely waiting for me to further exhaust Agrona, I guessed. Agrona paced like a trapped predator, his face twisted into a bestial mask as his body repaired itself.

I took a breath, reconsidering my strategy regarding aetheric weapons.

Kezess had proven he could unmake my conjured swords at will. I couldn’t rely on a weapon that could be dismissed by my enemy. Though I hadn’t used mana manipulation since gaining my aether core, the lessons from my past life and my mentors—my parents, Virion, the Xyrus professors, the Lances, and the Elders—were still part of me. By deconstructing their spells, I could create distractions and compensate for the fact that I couldn't use Destruction continuously.

Nonetheless, a weapon was a necessity.

I triggered the spatium godrune, manifesting a shard of solidified space in my hand. It was an impenetrable, pitch-black void that felt weightless. I used my grip only to guide the shape, which was maintained solely by my will and the rune.

Agrona’s hands blurred as he formed twin daggers of blood iron. With a burst of mana, he became a shadow. I met him, using my two-handed spatial blade to parry one dagger and deflect the next. I lunged with a short strike at his throat, dodged his counter, then blocked a thrust from Kezess, redirecting the asura lord’s attack into Agrona’s path.

However, the mental strain of maintaining the spatial blade was immense. The spatium unraveled. Agrona threw two black daggers that curved through the air toward me. I countered with an aetheric pulse, blowing the weapons apart, then seized the lingering mana to fire a volley of granite shards in a wide arc.

Disarmed, I lunged forward as if to strike with my fists, but God Stepped behind them. I reappeared with a fresh spatium sword, bringing it down toward Kezess’s shoulder. He raised a brilliant white mana shield, but the spatial blade cut through it like paper. Kezess barely twisted away in time, his composure breaking as a look of genuine fear crossed his face.