ONLINE: Blades of Eternity - Chapter 282

Chapter 282: AWAKENING IN THE VOID
The air stood still.

The moment Kent gripped his scepter, the entire coliseum froze.

And then—

BOOM!

The world exploded into chaos.

Kent moved like a god among mortals.

He twirled his scepter once—a simple, effortless motion—

And reality warped.

Dozens of advanced spells hurtled toward Kaelen—

At thrice the speed of what should have been humanly possible.

A storm of fire, lightning, wind, and raw mana energy spiraled toward him like a raging tsunami.

The audience gasped.

This speed—this insanity—

‘Am pretty sure no one in history had ever wielded magic like this at his age.’ Marel cried out in disbelief as soon as he witnessed what Kent just pulled, but Castenada didn’t respond to him as his eyes were glued on the arena with his hands still clenched.

But despite the predicament he is currently in—

Kaelen didn’t move.

His eyes were closed.

His grip on the Blade of Eternity was firm—

Yet relaxed.

He stood in the center of devastation.

Unshaken.

His mind was elsewhere.

‘How… did I do that earlier?’

The instant burst of speed…

The way his body reacted before his mind did…

‘It wasn’t just my dragon mana…’

And then—

It clicked.

The moment he realized it—

Kaelen’s eyes snapped open.

And then—

He was gone.

The spells collided with the ground—

BOOOOOOOOM!

A crater the size of a small battlefield formed where he had been.

But Kaelen was no longer there.

A shadow loomed over Kent.

Kent’s eyes flickered upward.

And—

SWOOSH!

Kaelen appeared above him—

Blade raised high.

He swung down.

With everything he had.

But—

Kent smirked.

He twirled his scepter, redirecting mana into his arms, and—

CLAAAANG!

He blocked it.

The collision sent a shockwave so violent—

CRACK!

The barrier protecting the arena fractured.

The officials in the coliseum immediately reinforced it.

‘This battle… was already exceeding limits.’ one of the officials muttered in awe.

And then—

They moved.

Kaelen and Kent vanished.

What followed—

Was something beyond the realm of humans.

They clashed.

Again.

And again.

Each strike sending deafening explosions across the coliseum.

Kaelen’s sword glowed with primal dragon energy—

Kent’s scepter radiated a terrifying fusion of elemental mastery.

They weaved through the battlefield—

Their blows breaking the very ground beneath them.

The world blurred around them.

For the audience—

It was impossible to keep up.

But for them—

This was the true battle.

Meanwhile, Just as Kaelen and Kent’s battle raged on, filling the coliseum with deafening explosions and blinding flashes of magic—

Kelvin lay motionless on the cold arena floor.

His body twitched slightly, his fingers flexing in a subtle spasm—

But his mind was elsewhere.

—Drifting.

Darkness surrounded him.

A pitch-black void.

Endless.

Cold.

His consciousness floated, weightless, suspended in the abyss.

A deep, consuming irritation filled his very soul.

‘Weak… I was too weak.’

The battle…

‘I was useless.’

Even with his Blood Void Domain…

Even with everything he had…

‘I couldn’t even touch him.’

His teeth clenched in frustration.

And then—

“Kelvin.”

A voice.

It echoed through the void.

His eyes snapped open.

Someone was here.

Kelvin’s gaze darted around the darkness, searching—

And then, he saw it.

A shadowed figure materialized before him.

A man draped in a tattered hooded cloak.

His face—hidden.

Kelvin stiffened.

“Who…?”

The void felt heavier around this figure.

A suffocating pressure oozed from his presence.

Kelvin’s instincts screamed.

Something was wrong.

But before he could react—

The figure moved.

His hand—black as the abyss itself—

Shot forward—

And plunged straight into Kelvin’s chest.

Kelvin’s eyes went wide.

He felt it—

His very soul trembled.

The chaos within him—

The Orb of Chaos, the source of his forbidden power—

Was in the figure’s grasp.

A sharp, burning pain exploded through Kelvin’s entire being.

His mouth opened in a silent scream—

But no sound came out.

And then, the figure spoke.

His voice—low, ominous, dripping with something ancient and terrible.

“Seems like it’s time.”

And then—

The void around Kelvin cracked.

–––––

The arena trembled under the sheer force of Kaelen and Kent’s battle.

Every clash of their weapons sent shockwaves rippling through the air, rattling the enchanted barriers protecting the audience.

Kent’s scepter spun with eerie precision, flinging out blistering torrents of mana at an inhuman speed.

Kaelen, however—

Was changing.

His Dragon Mana surged through his body, intertwining with his very being.

He could feel it.

The raw, primal force of the dragons.

The strength, the speed, the power…

It was overwhelming at first—too much.

But now—

Kaelen was adapting.

His movements became sharper.

His instincts honed.

Every attack he delivered forced Kent further back, making him rely more on defensive maneuvers.

The audience, nobles and warriors alike, gasped as the battle’s tide began to shift.

Kaelen was pressurizing Kent.

And yet—

Kent smiled.

A smirk of amusement.

Of…excitement.

There was something in his expression—something that sent a chill down Kaelen’s spine as he thought.

‘Why does he look… ecstatic?’

But Kaelen didn’t have time to dwell on that.

Because in that moment—

Something clicked in his mind.

An epiphany.

A realization so profound that his very breath hitched.

‘What if I merge my Formless Swordplay…’

‘With my Dragon Mana?’

It was a gamble—an untested fusion of styles.

But something told him—this was the key.

His grip tightened on the Blade of Eternity.

His stance shifted—perfectly balanced.

And then—

Kaelen vanished.

A blur of motion—beyond sight.

Kent’s smirk faltered—his eyes widening slightly.

And then—

Kaelen struck.

With all the speed and precision of his Formless Swordplay—

With all the unrelenting might of his Dragon Mana—

He unleashed his second Divine Sword Technique.

“Divine Sword Style: Second Form—Piercing Dragon Fang!”

The air howled as Kaelen’s blade pierced through space itself.

A devastating, concentrated strike exploded forward, carving a path of raw destruction.

Kent’s eyes flickered with brief surprise.

And then—

BOOM!

Kent’s body shot backward like a meteor, crashing through layers of reinforced stone.

A massive shockwave followed, shaking the very foundations of the coliseum.

The dust cleared—revealing Kent embedded deep in the arena wall.

Kaelen’s chest heaved.

He stared at the crater, his blade still pulsing with power.

A single thought filled his mind—

‘Did that… finish him?’

A tense silence gripped the coliseum.

The dust was still settling from Kaelen’s devastating attack.

He watched the crater where Kent lay motionless.

‘Is it over…?’

The thought lingered in Kaelen’s mind as he cautiously stepped forward.

The air felt heavy.

But he had to confirm it himself.

He approached carefully, sword gripped tightly—

Until suddenly—

The arena floor beneath him melted.

Kaelen’s instincts screamed at him—

MOVE!

With a surge of his Dragon Mana, he propelled himself backward, escaping just before the liquefied ground could consume him.

And then—

A roar of power erupted.

BOOM!

Kent shot into the air in an explosive display of mana.

Levitating above the arena, his aura flared wildly, distorting the very space around him.

His once amused expression had shifted—

His emerald eyes now glowed with an ice-cold intensity.

“Exciting… This has been truly exciting, Kaelen.”

His voice carried through the arena, filled with genuine exhilaration.

But then—

His smile vanished.

A chilling aura spread from him like a wave of absolute dominance.

“But playtime is over.”

“It’s time to end this.”

Kaelen tensed, readying himself—

But then—

A strange shift in the atmosphere made both of them stop.

Their instincts flared, warning them.

They turned their gaze—

Toward Kelvin.

He still lay motionless on the cold floor.

And yet—

The oppressive pressure came from him.

Confusion flickered in Kaelen and Kent’s eyes.

‘What is this feeling…?’

Then, in a single split second—

Kelvin vanished.

No warning.

No movement.

Just gone.

And then—

BANG!

Kent’s body jerked violently mid-air as a foot slammed into his skull from above.

A brutal overhead kick.

A kick so fast—

Even Kent didn’t react in time.

His body crashed into the arena floor like a meteor, splitting the ground open with its force.

Kaelen’s eyes darkened.

He could see it.

He could feel it.

The colossal pressure that now radiated from Kelvin.

Kelvin stood still, his posture relaxed—

Yet an oppressive, terrifying aura rolled off him in waves.

His eyes—pitch black.

A glowing gem embedded on his forehead.

Kaelen’s grip tightened on his sword.

This Kelvin—

Wasn’t the same.

A deep silence quickly fell over the coliseum right after.

The dust had barely settled from Kent’s violent crash—

When suddenly—

ROOOOAAARRR!!!

Kelvin unleashed a monstrous roar.

The very air trembled at the sound—

And then—

The atmosphere shifted again.

But this time—

It was wrong.

A distortion spread through the arena as Kelvin’s very presence began to change.

His mana twisted.

His magic warped.

His aura—once fierce—was now a cold abyss of chaos.

It was no longer human.

No longer normal.

Kaelen took a step back, his body instinctively reacting to the sheer wrongness before him.

‘What the hell is happening to him?’

Kelvin’s body trembled violently before settling—

And then—

His scythe changed.

Kaelen’s pupils shrank the moment he saw it.

The blackened weapon pulsed with something sinister.

Its blade elongated, its once sleek form now grotesquely jagged, almost as if it were alive.

A dark mist curled off it, seeping into the very air like poison.

Even Kent, still recovering, narrowed his eyes.

Something about that scythe—

Something about Kelvin—

Was terrifying.

And then—

Kelvin lifted his head.

His pitch-black eyes locked onto Kaelen and Kent.

And in an unnatural voice, his tone devoid of anything human, he muttered—

“Let’s end this.”