Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 444

Chapter 444: War XVII

The team regrouped at the extraction point, their minds still reeling from the encounter. The teleportation rune hummed beneath them, its energy surging as it prepared to activate.

“One thing’s for sure,” Rick muttered, shaking his head. “Whoever that was, they weren’t some random passerby.”

Dren grunted. “No kidding. They made the Herald run. That’s not normal.”

Aiden remained quiet, replaying the battle in his mind. The way the newcomer had unraveled the abyssal energy so effortlessly… it was unlike anything he’d ever seen. It wasn’t just raw power. It was precision, control, something beyond the usual light-versus-dark conflict.

As the rune flared to life, Myne spoke, her voice low. “We need to report this. The war council has to know.”

Aiden nodded. There was no arguing with that. The team vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind the shattered battlefield.

The War Council Chamber

The room was vast, its domed ceiling covered in intricate carvings depicting ancient battles. A massive round table sat at the center, surrounded by figures of immense power—leaders, generals, and strategists, all gathered to determine the course of the war.

Aiden and his team stood before them, recounting the battle. The atmosphere was tense, each revelation drawing sharp glances and murmured discussions.

“You’re certain the Herald fled?” one of the council members, a silver-haired elf named Vaelith, asked, her piercing blue eyes locked onto Aiden.

“Yes,” Aiden confirmed. “And not because it was losing. It was afraid.”

The murmurs grew louder. The Heralds were relentless entities of the Abyss, commanders of destruction. Fear was not in their nature.

“And the one who interfered?” another councilor, a war-forged named Magnus, leaned forward. His mechanical voice held a hint of curiosity. “You said they wielded an unknown force?”

Aiden nodded. “They didn’t just counter the Herald’s energy. They unraveled it, like pulling a thread from a tapestry.”

Vaelith’s gaze darkened. “That kind of power doesn’t come without cost. If they have such control over fundamental forces, we need to know who they are and what their goals are.”

Magnus hummed thoughtfully. “A third faction, perhaps? Neither aligned with us nor the Abyss?”

The room fell silent at that possibility. A third power in this already devastating war could change everything.

“Their energy felt… unbound,” Myne finally spoke, her voice measured. “Not tied to any known laws of light or darkness. It was something else entirely.”

The council deliberated, their hushed conversations filled with concern.

Then, an aged voice cut through the tension. “There is a legend,” an old sage, Master Orlan, murmured from his seat at the far end of the table. His eyes, clouded with age but still sharp with wisdom, met Aiden’s. “A force that exists outside the war of light and darkness. A force that watches, intervening only when the balance is at risk.”

The room’s attention snapped to him.

“You believe this stranger is one of them?” Vaelith asked.

Orlan exhaled. “If they are, then we must be cautious. Because if they have chosen to step onto the battlefield…” His gaze hardened. “Then something far worse than the Abyss is coming.”

A heavy silence fell over the chamber.

Aiden clenched his fists. The war had already pushed them to their limits. But if what Orlan suggested was true, then they weren’t just fighting the Abyss anymore.

They were fighting against something even greater.

And they had no idea what it was.

The council chamber remained silent, each leader lost in their own thoughts. The weight of Orlan’s words pressed upon them like an unseen force. If a new power had chosen to reveal itself now, it meant the war was no longer a two-sided conflict.

Aiden glanced at his team. Rick’s expression was unreadable, though his fingers tapped anxiously against his arm. Myne’s crimson eyes were sharp with thought, and Dren, usually unfazed, was unusually tense.

Finally, Vaelith broke the silence. “We need to confirm this entity’s allegiance. If they stand against the Abyss, we might gain an ally. But if they have their own agenda…” She trailed off, her meaning clear.

“We prepare for the worst,” Magnus finished for her. His metallic fingers curled into a fist. “If they are neither friend nor foe, we must assume they are a wildcard.”

Aiden stepped forward. “Then let me find them.”

The room turned toward him.

“They didn’t try to kill us. They could have, but they didn’t. That means there’s a chance to understand their motives,” Aiden continued, his voice firm. “If we wait, we’ll be reacting to their moves instead of taking the initiative.”

Magnus nodded. “A sound strategy.”

Vaelith exhaled. “Do you have a lead?”

“Only the battlefield they appeared on. If they were able to suppress abyssal energy so effortlessly, there may be remnants of their power still lingering.” Aiden’s eyes flickered with determination. “I’ll start there.”

Orlan studied him for a long moment before nodding. “Then time is of the essence. You should leave immediately.”

Aiden felt a surge of purpose. He didn’t know who—or what—this new player was, but he would find them. Because if Orlan was right, then this war was about to escalate into something far beyond what any of them had prepared for.

And if that happened, they needed to be ready.

Hours later, Aiden and his team arrived at the site of their last battle. The once chaotic warzone was now eerily quiet. The remnants of abyssal forces had long since faded, but a strange energy still lingered in the air.

“Feel that?” Myne murmured, her shadows pulsing in response to the unseen force.

“Yeah,” Rick said. “It’s subtle, but it’s definitely there.”

Dren knelt, pressing a hand against the cracked earth. “Residual energy… It’s like the space here hasn’t fully healed.”

Aiden reached out with his spirit sense. And then—

A whisper. A pull.

It wasn’t abyssal. It wasn’t light.

It was something else entirely.

Without hesitation, he followed the sensation, his team close behind. The energy led them deeper into the ruined landscape, toward a jagged chasm that hadn’t been there before.

Aiden stopped at the edge, peering down.

A figure stood within the shadows below. Cloaked, unmoving, as if waiting.

As Aiden met their unseen gaze, a voice, neither male nor female, echoed in his mind.

“You seek answers. But are you prepared for the truth?”

Aiden’s grip tightened on his sword.

This was it.

The unknown force had been waiting for him.

Aiden took a steady breath, his grip on his sword firm but not aggressive. “Who are you?” he called down. His voice carried through the chasm, but the figure didn’t move.

Rick and Myne flanked him, ready for any sudden attack, while Dren’s sharp gaze analyzed the terrain, searching for potential threats.

Then, the figure finally moved. A slow, deliberate step forward, their presence radiating an unnatural calm. The energy around them pulsed, neither hostile nor welcoming—simply watching.

“You stand on the precipice of revelation,” the voice echoed once more, this time clearer, as if it came from everywhere and nowhere at once. “But answers come at a cost. Are you willing to pay it?”

Aiden narrowed his eyes. “That depends on what you’re offering.”

The figure chuckled—a sound like the shifting of reality itself. “A bold response. You were chosen well.”

Aiden tensed. Chosen?

Before he could press further, the figure raised a hand. The air around them warped, and suddenly, the battlefield around them shifted—no longer the broken wasteland they stood in, but a vast, endless void, filled with swirling stars and shadows.

Aiden’s team reacted instantly. Myne’s shadows coiled protectively, Rick generated a sphere of energy, and Dren’s aura crackled with latent power.

But Aiden held up a hand, stopping them.

“We’re not being attacked,” he said, keeping his focus on the mysterious figure. “This is something else.”

The figure nodded approvingly. “Perception beyond sight. That will serve you well in the trials to come.”

“Enough riddles,” Aiden said. “If you have something to say, say it.”

Silence stretched for a moment before the figure finally spoke again.

“The Abyss is only the beginning,” they said. “You fight against it, believing it to be the greatest darkness. But there are forces beyond your comprehension—entities that see both light and abyss as mere pawns in a much greater game.”

Aiden felt a chill run through him. He had always known there was more to the war than what they had seen, but to hear it spoken so plainly…

“What are you saying?” Rick asked, his usual confidence laced with unease.

The figure’s hooded head tilted slightly. “That you are not just fighting a war. You are standing at the edge of a cosmic conflict that has raged since before your kind even had words to describe it.”

Aiden’s mind raced. A conflict older than the Abyss itself?

“And you,” the figure continued, turning directly to Aiden, “have already been marked by it.”

Aiden’s breath hitched. His instincts screamed that this was more than just cryptic prophecy. This was personal.

His team turned to him, eyes questioning, but Aiden’s focus remained locked on the figure. “Who marked me?”

The figure stepped closer, the void swirling around them like a living entity.

“You will find out soon enough,” they said. “But be warned—once you uncover the truth, you will have only two choices: to embrace your fate… or to defy it.”

And with those words, the void shattered.

Aiden and his team gasped as reality snapped back into place. They were once again standing on the ruined battlefield, as if nothing had happened.