ONLINE: Blades of Eternity - Chapter 295

Chapter 295: AN ETERNAL NAMED ENDLESS
The rubble crackled. Dust drifted like a dying mist over the shattered terrain of what used to be the grandest coliseum in Aetheris. The air was heavy, not just with debris, but with something unnatural—wrong.

Kaelen slowly stirred, his armor cracked, blood trickling down his forehead. His breathing was shallow, yet his eyes remained locked on the single levitating being that hadn’t moved since the cataclysm.

Cough!! Cough!!

Reeves groaned nearby, clutching his shoulder as Kelvin, battered but breathing, rose to one knee. Marel, covered in ash and blood, struggled to pull a broken Forbes to safety—his body scorched from his battle with the five-fingered dragon, which now lay still and decayed like it was never real to begin with.

Guinevere, Morris, Lila, and the others staggered to their feet one after another. And no matter how wounded, their eyes were drawn to the being in the sky, hovering in silence, like the eye of an unknowable storm.

Kaelen’s voice cracked as he muttered, “It hasn’t moved… not once.”

And then—

It did.

The being shifted, slowly stretching its limbs to unnatural proportions, like joints that hadn’t moved in centuries now cracking back to life. The popping echoed through the void like thunder in a tomb.

Its form elongated, reaching full humanoid height, arms spread wide.

And then, with a calm, casual snap of its fingers—

A mask formed over its face. Not summoned. Not conjured. It formed, as if reality was reshaped to produce it. The mask was eerily crafted, bearing shifting runes that bled shadows, its shape neither symmetrical nor entirely physical—more conceptual than real.

At the same moment, a long, flowing dark robe appeared, so black that even shadows couldn’t cling to it. It wrapped around him like silk woven from night itself.

And then, the being spoke.

Its voice was a jagged whisper, yet it echoed inside every person’s skull. It bypassed the ears, resonating within them like a buried memory they had never made.

“How long…” the being said, voice deep, hollow, and laced with malevolence, “…how long… have I wandered that abyssal void…?”

No one dared breathe. The coliseum’s remains, its craters, and broken spires stood in reverent silence.

Only one man moved.

King Alexandria.

He stepped forward slowly, his once-pristine white robes tattered, yet his posture composed and deeply respectful. Every motion calculated, every footstep deliberate.

“You…” the king said cautiously, “You have been sealed in the void for… two hundred years, O great Eternal.”

The being then turned to face him.

Though none could see the expression beneath that twisting mask, the pressure that followed made several of them that was present their to instantly fall to their knees.

Kaelen’s grip on his sword tightened involuntarily. It wasn’t fear—it was instinct. The being wasn’t emitting mana, yet somehow his very presence screamed louder than any domain or aura ever could.

Then the being tilted his head slightly.

“Two hundred years?” he repeated with hollow amusement. “Has it truly been that long…?”

He began to descend slowly—just a few feet—until he hovered just a level above King Alexandria.

“Tell me then,” the being said in a voice now quieter… but infinitely more chilling, “do you know who I am?”

King Alexandria hesitated as he knelt.

Kaelen’s eyes widened. The King of Valoria, the man who had never once bowed to a soul—even when standing among a century old monsters or even the leaders of the Hybrids which are a far stronger race than humans—was kneeling.

With absolute humility, King Alexandria answered:

“You… you are one of the Eternals who helped form this world, were you not?”

“The Eternal that helped formed this world?”

The being paused.

And then, he laughed.

But it wasn’t laughter. It was cracking silence that tore through the sky like a rusted blade drawn across steel. Every soul trembled at the sound of it.

Then the being replied.

“You are wrong.”

A jolt of pressure rippled across the field. Kaelen staggered. Reeves gasped. Even General Cao’s knees buckled. The mask on the being’s face glowed for a moment, revealing brief, flickering symbols from an ancient tongue older than Aetheris itself.

“I did not form this world, Alexandria,” the being said, now leaning slightly forward.

“I was cast out before it was finished.”

He raised his masked face slightly, the sky above growing darker with each word.

“I was the forgotten law, the unwritten end, the curse denied form. They buried me, sealed me beneath order, wrapped me in eternity so that even my memory would decay…”

He then looked beyond the King.

To Kaelen.

To Reeves, Kelvin, Marel, Forbes, and all the others now beginning to grasp the scale of what had been unleashed.

“…but the moment you threw those bodies into the fissure, oh noble king,” the being continued, “you gave me a new door. A new name.”

The being opened his arms.

“Let the old world tremble now… for I am not an ordinary eternal…”

“I am Endless.”

Of course. Here’s the long, explicit follow-up scene:

—

The world stood on edge.

Every breath drawn was ragged, every heartbeat irregular, every soul tethered by the weight of the being levitating just above the earth. The one who called himself Endless. His mere presence fractured the natural laws—winds died, mana trembled, and even time seemed hesitant to move forward.

Around the shattered remains of the coliseum, the elites of Pacesetters had gathered—Kaelen, Reeves, Kelvin, Marel, General Cao, Forbes, and the remaining titans of their generation. All injured, all wary, but none willing to look away.

“Vice Chancellor,” Kaelen muttered, sweat streaming down his brow, “do you know what… what is that thing is?”

Reeves’ expression was twisted with a grim understanding, a kind of knowledge that weighed heavier than the injuries on his body. His lips moved with restraint, voice raw.

“You want to know?” Reeves asked softly, his gaze never leaving the masked being.

Kaelen and the rest turned toward him as the tension in the air grew even thicker.

“…Then I’ll tell you a part of history that was never meant to be remembered. A part that was erased… not forgotten.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to him.

Reeves exhaled shakily and began:

“Long before the first dynasty of Eldoria, before the great clans of Valoria were ever formed, before mana even flowed through this realm… the world was nothing but raw chaos. And then came the Eternals—beings of origin and law. They weren’t gods. They weren’t demons. They were concepts—given form. The makers of what we know today.”

His voice darkened.

“But not all of them agreed on how this world should be shaped.”

Kaelen’s heart skipped a beat.

“There was one…” Reeves continued. “An Eternal whose name was lost to time. He believed this world… should never exist. He saw the future before it was even written. He saw betrayal, wars, greed, and the fall of purity. He begged the others to reconsider… but they ignored him.”

Reeves’ hands clenched.

“He turned on them. Declared them naïve. That their creation would be nothing more than a beautiful tragedy—a lie that would one day consume itself.”

The revelation made Lila gasp and Kelvin grimace.

“And so,” Reeves whispered, “he tried to destroy it all before it began. But the other Eternals, in alliance with the Celestials, managed to seal him away in the deepest pocket of the void—outside the fabric of the world. Forgotten.”

A chill passed through them all like a wave of poison wind.

“…And that thing,” Kaelen muttered, staring at the masked being, “that’s him, isn’t it?”

Reeves nodded slowly. “There’s no doubt. The being who now calls himself Endless… is the Eternal who rebelled.”

Shock rippled through their ranks. Marel fell silent, Kelvin’s eyes trembled, and even General Cao clenched his jaw hard enough to draw blood.

Yet amidst all this, King Alexandria stood in stunned confusion. He took several cautious steps toward the First Magi, bewilderment shadowing his face.

“…No,” the king muttered. “No, no, no, this isn’t right. You—” he turned to the First Magi, his voice rising, “—you said this was the Eternal of Foundation! The one who would restore our glory!”

The First Magi said nothing. His face completely unreadable, his silence deafening.

King Alexandria’s fists shook. “You lied… You lied to me…”

And just as he moved to demand answers—

A flash.

A sharp tearing sound broke the air as a streak of violet aura sliced through flesh.

King Alexandria’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Behind him, standing inches away, was Kael Dragonyx—his arm outstretched, plunged cleanly through the king’s chest. A massive hole now gaped in the monarch’s torso, blood spilling like a river onto the broken ground.

Kaelen and the rest gasped.

“Kael…?” Reeves choked, stunned.

The king’s voice was barely a whisper as he looked down at the hand now inside his chest.

“W-Why…?”

Kael leaned close to his ear, his expression calm—too calm.

“You’re getting old,” he whispered. “And old men should know when it’s time to go to sleep.”

With a small smile, Kael withdrew his arm, letting the King collapse like a marionette with its strings cut.

The ground thudded with the weight of a fallen sovereign.

Silence.

No one moved. No one dared.

The First Magi turned away slowly, his voice quiet and neutral. “There was no lie… Only omission.”

The being—Endless—remained silent in the sky, staring at the lifeless body of the king like one might observe a dying flame.

And then, as if the moment wasn’t heavy enough—

Endless turned to them all.

“You all reek of fear and confusion…” he said slowly, every word like ash scraping over bone.

“…Good.”

His voice dropped low.

“That means the world is ready.”