Cosmic Ruler - Chapter 534

Chapter 533: Nihlus XIII
The air crackled with unfathomable power.

Aiden’s grip tightened around his sword, the weight of the moment pressing down on him like a mountain. Before him, the Herald of Annihilation floated above the battlefield, an ethereal presence that seemed to stretch across dimensions. The golden radiance of the Architects shimmered around them, warping the space itself.

This wasn’t just an enemy.

This was a judge, executioner, and enforcer of absolute order.

And they had come to erase him.

—𝘍𝘞𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏—!

Without a word, the Herald vanished.

Aiden’s instincts screamed.

He barely twisted his blade in time—

—𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘕𝘎—!

A massive shockwave erupted as Aiden parried a strike that came from nowhere. The Herald’s sword clashed against his own, divine and abyssal energy colliding in an explosion that sent tremors through the battlefield.

Faster than light. Faster than thought.

The Herald reappeared behind him.

—𝘚𝘓𝘐𝘊𝘌—!

Aiden barely twisted out of the way, but a searing cut opened across his arm. Blood—golden and black—spilled into the air, sizzling as it touched the ground.

“You are an anomaly.” The Herald’s voice was absolute, layered with countless tones, as if countless voices spoke in unison. “Correction is required.”

Aiden clenched his teeth. He raised his free hand—

—𝘍𝘞𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏—

A pillar of abyssal flames erupted, consuming the space around him. Black and gold energy swirled, distorting the battlefield itself. The Forsaken Army surged forward, their whispers rising into an eerie chant, their very existence defying the laws of reality.

But—

—𝘍𝘞𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘚𝘏—!

The flames were cleaved in half.

The Herald walked through them unscathed. Their armor gleamed, untouched by the abyssal corruption that should have devoured them.

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. So it’s like that, huh?

The Herald raised their blade. “Submission is required.”

—𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

A pillar of light descended from the heavens, aiming to obliterate Aiden where he stood.

But before it could land—

—𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘕𝘎—!

A black scythe intercepted the attack, slicing through the divine energy with an unearthly wail.

Aiden’s eyes widened.

“Myne—”

The scythe-wielding woman stood beside him, her smirk sharp as ever, her eyes glowing with a dark, unwavering resolve. “Like hell I’m letting you have all the fun,” she murmured, shadows writhing around her like living vipers.

A moment later—

Rick and Dren joined them.

Rick fired a barrage of energy blasts, forcing the Herald to shift their stance. Dren surged forward, his fist igniting with raw force as he struck the ground, sending shockwaves tearing through the battlefield.

Aiden was not alone.

And he would never be.

The Forsaken roared, and the battle truly began.

The Unraveling of Fate

The battlefield became a blur of chaos.

Aiden moved like lightning, his sword clashing against the Herald’s blade in a flurry of strikes faster than thought. Every time the Herald struck, it felt as if the very concept of resistance was being erased, as if their blade was not cutting his flesh, but his very existence.

But Aiden held his ground.

Not just because of his strength—

But because of his will.

The Architects sought to erase him?

Then he would become something they could never erase.

“RAAAAAH!”

His sword flared with abyssal-golden energy, his aura expanding as he pushed forward, slamming the Herald backward for the first time.

The Architect’s enforcer tilted their head, their expression unreadable. “Deviant energy increasing. Probability of collapse rising. Additional measures required.”

Then—

—𝘙𝘜𝘔𝘉𝘓𝘌—

Another tear in reality split open behind them.

Aiden’s heart sank.

More Architects were coming.

But just before they could emerge—

Veyros laughed.

Loud. Amused. Unshaken.

Aiden turned, and what he saw made his blood run cold.

The Forsaken General had not been standing idle.

He had been chanting.

The golden threads of fate around them—the very tapestry of reality—began to burn.

The Forsaken were severing fate itself.

“No more chains,” Veyros whispered, eyes gleaming. “If we are to be erased, then let us take the very foundation of reality with us.”

—𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

The battlefield shattered.

Reality itself began to collapse.

Aiden gritted his teeth.

This was spiraling out of control.

He wanted to defy the Architects.

He did not want to become what they feared most.

The battlefield was no longer just a place of war—it was a dying realm, unraveling at the seams.

Golden threads of fate snapped and burned as Veyros and the Forsaken performed their forbidden ritual. The Herald of Annihilation remained motionless, seemingly unaffected by the collapsing reality around them.

Aiden’s pulse thundered in his ears.

If this continued, this war wouldn’t just be between them and the Architects—it would consume everything.

“Veyros!” Aiden shouted, turning toward the Forsaken General. His golden-black aura flared wildly. “Stop this! If you tear the threads of fate, we don’t just defy the Architects—we unmake existence itself!”

Veyros chuckled, his eyes shimmering with a maddened glee. “And? Is that not what we were born for, Aiden?” His voice was eerily calm, as if he were simply discussing a change in strategy.

“You would burn reality to get your revenge?!”

“My revenge?” Veyros tilted his head. “No. Our freedom.”

The golden tapestry of fate trembled, distorting the sky into a spiraling void of infinite darkness and blinding light.

Aiden’s grip on his sword tightened.

He had always known that the Forsaken were warriors outside of fate, rebels against the divine order—but this?

This was madness.

“Then you’re no different from the Architects,” Aiden growled. “They erase what doesn’t fit their vision of perfection. And you would erase everything just because you were denied a future?”

Veyros grinned. “You finally understand, my successor.”

—𝘉𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘖𝘔—!

A celestial pillar of golden fire erupted from the Herald of Annihilation, consuming the battlefield in divine radiance. The ritual was interfering with their order, and they would not allow it to continue.

“Correction is mandatory,” the Herald spoke, lifting their sword high. Reality itself bent around them.

Aiden barely had time to react.

—𝘊𝘙𝘈𝘊𝘒—!

The sky shattered.

They were no longer in a battlefield.

They were in the very fabric of existence.

An infinite sea of gold and abyss, where laws meant nothing and time refused to flow. The war had transcended the physical—it had become a conflict waged on the very concept of reality itself.

Myne, Rick, and Dren reeled from the shift, their bodies struggling to adapt to the void of fate. But the Forsaken?

They thrived.

Aiden could feel it—his power growing.

The deeper he sank into this war, the less the world could contain him.

The question was: how much of himself would he lose?

The Herald moved.

—𝘚𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎—!

Aiden blocked just in time—

—𝘊𝘓𝘈𝘕𝘎—!

A force greater than anything he had ever felt slammed into him, sending him careening through the void. His arms trembled as he stabilized, his sword vibrating from the force.

The Herald’s form flickered, shifting into countless possibilities. They were no longer bound by a single existence—they were every version of themselves across all realities.