Chương 313: Armagedon

The Pale Monarch shuddered. For the briefest instant, the divinity in her golden eyes faltered, replaced by something painfully mortal. The winds tearing through the fractured heavens slowed around her radiant form as she stared at the masked man standing amidst ruin and collapsing reality, and when she finally spoke, her voice no longer carried the authority of a god alone, but the trembling restraint of a wife standing before the man she loved.

"Kealix…" she whispered softly, her grip tightening around the blade of living law forming within her hand.

"Where is our son?" Silence answered her. The other Founders steadied themselves around Kealix, each preparing their own assault while reality trembled beneath the pressure of their existence. The Mother of Dragons coiled high above the heavens, crimson lightning crawling between her obsidian scales. The Cowardly Flame stood amidst burning frost, his body radiating heat capable of reducing worlds to ash. Unyielding Steel lowered his stance while endless weapons hovered behind him like stars awaiting command.

The Original Arcana watched in stillness, their countless eyes shifting through possibilities beyond mortal comprehension, while the Black Lion stood nearest of all, fists clenched tightly. And in the center of it all stood Kealix von Eskarion. Alone. The masked god remained quiet for several long moments, his black hair drifting through the dry winds of the broken realm while his cloak fluttered behind him. Then, slowly, a somber smile crept across his hidden face.

"He is safe," Kealix finally answered. Tired.

"Though it seems he shall live without family from this day onward." His gaze lifted toward the shattered heavens above them.

"Still… he will not perish. That much I shall ensure." The Pale Monarch's expression trembled violently. Conflict tore through her divine features as she stared at her husband. The man before her was still Kealix. She could hear it in his voice. Feel it in the hesitation beneath his words. Yet something vast and terrible now lingered beneath him like an abyss hidden beneath shallow water.

"I had hoped saving you was still possible," she admitted quietly, sorrow creeping into every syllable.

"But you have gone too far." Golden light erupted around her. A blade manifested within her grasp, forged from the very concept of rules themselves. Merely witnessing it caused the surrounding reality to stabilize instinctively, as though existence itself feared disobeying the weapon.

"It appears," she continued, lowering herself into stance, "that we shall have to subdue you while we search for our son." Her golden eyes softened.

"Do not worry, my love. I know this is not truly you speaking. They are corrupting your mind with their twisted desire for freedom." Her expression hardened once more, cold determination overtaking grief.

"But I will not lose you to them. Not now. Not ever." Then she moved. The heavens ruptured. All six Founders attacked simultaneously. The Cowardly Flame and the Mother of Dragons unleashed twin beams of annihilation, one forged from heat and frozen ruin, the other carrying pure draconic destruction capable of erasing entire conceptual planes.

The Black Lion and Unyielding Steel charged forward alongside the Pale Monarch herself while the Original Arcana manipulated the laws surrounding the battlefield, rewriting movement, distance, causality, and force with every passing heartbeat. Yet Kealix did not move. He stood amidst the center of their assault with a fading smile resting beneath his mask while his oldest friends came to destroy him. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. And then he spoke.

"Unseal." Atum erupted outward. Panic flashed across the Founders' faces as a wave of pure existence exploded from Kealix's body, distorting the flow of reality itself. The twin beams bent violently around the surge before vanishing into its current as though swallowed by a greater truth. Space fractured. Time distorted. Entire layers of the Tower groaned beneath the pressure of power no longer restrained. Kealix stood taller now. The seals binding his strength had loosened.

Long strands of black hair slid behind him while golden cracks spread across the mask covering his face. The very atmosphere screamed beneath his presence.

"This," he said calmly, "should suffice." The Black Lion moved first. With a violent shake of his head, the god abandoned his divine form entirely, returning to the body of a man. Yet no weakness followed the transformation. If anything, he became more terrifying.

"I will not let you do this to yourself, brother!" The Black lion roared as he crossed the distance instantly. The two collided. Their fists met with enough force to split the heavens. The impact alone shattered entire regions beneath them while waves of compressed Atum tore through the broken world like storms. Kealix smiled beneath his mask, excitement briefly surfacing through the madness consuming him.

"How long has it been?" he laughed, meeting The Black Lion's next strike head-on.

"Since we last exchanged blows like this?!" The Black Lion's expression tightened.

"Far too long." Atum gathered around his fist before he struck downward with overwhelming force. Kealix caught the punch, but even he buckled beneath the sheer weight behind it. The Black Lion grabbed him immediately afterward and hurled him upward through the fractured skies.

"But this is not how I wished it would happen!" Kealix twisted midair, allowing the momentum to carry him before stopping abruptly near the broken edge of reality itself. With a flick of his hand, dozens of colossal pillars formed around him, each forged entirely from condensed Atum. They descended instantly. Each pillar possessed enough power to sustain entire conceptual realities for eternity. The Black Lion roared and launched himself upward through the storm.

His body partially transformed as claws erupted from his arms while he bounded between the descending pillars like a beast hunting prey. Around them, the other Founders attacked relentlessly, tearing apart the structures before they could fully stabilize. One after another, the pillars shattered. Then The Black Lion reached him. The Black Lion leapt from the final pillar, fist drawn back, and Kealix kicked him downward with a single strike. Reality cracked.

A visible fracture spread through the Tower itself as The Black Lion plummeted toward the world below, but Kealix barely had time to breathe before two more attacks followed. Twin beams erupted toward him once more. Below, a single command echoed.

"Destroy." Kealix raised both hands instinctively. A barrier of distorted reality formed, and shattered immediately. The Original Arcana had changed its nature. The impossible shield crumbled like glass before the twin beams slammed directly into Kealix's body. Agony exploded through him as the attacks tore across his existence itself. He screamed, his body engulfed in ruinous light while blood scattered across the collapsing heavens. Then his eyes snapped open.

"ENOUGH!" Kealix thrust his hand outward violently as countless lights appeared behind him, entire constellations of condensed Atum illuminating the skies like artificial stars.

"Did you all forget?!" he screamed, fury and grief intertwining within every word.

"Who gave you these powers?!" The lights descended. Countless blades followed. The heavens drowned beneath a storm of divine weapons as Kealix's attacks intercepted the incoming beams and annihilated them completely.

"You would have died by their hands if not for me!" he roared.

"And now, when I try to save you again, with myself as the only price, you deny me the right to choose?!"

"No. I refuse." The attacks intensified.

"You shall be sealed beside me, but you shall live! I permit it!" A furious voice answered him.

"You think you are the only one who has suffered?!" Unyielding Steel appeared behind Kealix alongside the Pale Monarch herself. Countless weapons manifested around them before raining downward like judgment incarnate.

"Why do you think we are trying to stop you?!" Steel roared.

"We have lost too many already! We will not lose you as well!" Kealix turned sharply, striking aside dozens of blades, and then froze. Pain erupted through his side. He looked downward slowly. The Pale Monarch's blade had pierced straight through him. For a moment, silence overtook the battlefield. Then the rest of the weapons descended. Hundreds. Thousands. They tore into Kealix's body relentlessly, piercing even the conceptual armor surrounding him.

Crimson blood erupted outward in torrents, bathing both the Pale Monarch and Unyielding Steel in scarlet. Kealix staggered violently. Despite his armor being a concept itself, these weapons ignored all defenses. He waved his hand desperately, blasting both Founders away before forcibly erasing the weapons lodged within his body. Blood poured from countless wounds while his healing slowed visibly. His breathing became ragged. Weak.

"No…" he muttered quietly, staring at the crimson staining his chest. Then he screamed.

"NO! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND!" The heavens trembled beneath his voice.

"If I remain, then all of you shall perish in my place!" he roared, blood spilling from beneath his mask.

"Even if I am dear to you, even if you love me, you will doom everything we built!" His hands shook violently now.

"I will not allow it!" The world cracked further around him.

"I WILL NOT WATCH THIS REALITY DIE AGAIN!" His voice broke.

"They already took enough from us… enough suffering… enough death…" he whispered, anguish finally overwhelming rage.

"So why…" His gaze trembled as he stared at the Founders surrounding him.

"Why can none of you understand!?"