ONLINE: Blades of Eternity

The battlefield was devastated, the air thick with the lingering remnants of power clashes. At this moment, the three warriors—Kaelen, Kelvin, and Kent—were on the brink of collapse, yet none dared to falter. The arena, reinforced countless times over, shook violently, struggling to contain the sheer devastation their battle had unleashed.

"This will be your end!! Kaelen and Kelvin!!"

Kent, now fully engulfed in his sadism, radiated an almost unstoppable aura. His once-calculated composure had given way to unrelenting bloodlust, and the gleam in his eyes revealed his desire to break Kaelen and Kelvin, not just in body but in soul.

Kaelen gritted his teeth as another warning notification flashed before his eyes.

[System Warning: Mana Reserves Critically Low]

[Remaining Mana: 7%]

His breath was ragged, his body screaming at him to stop—but stopping wasn't an option. Not with Kelvin beside him, swaying, eyes unfocused as he fought against the backlash of the Orb of Chaos that had granted him unnatural power.

'If we don't finish this now… neither of us will walk out of here alive.' Kelvin thought with a grim look on his face.

And immediately after, Kent vanished from sight, his speed inhuman, and in the next instant, a torrential wave of multi-elemental destruction engulfed both Kaelen and Kelvin.

Fire and ice, wind and stone, light and darkness—all elements danced to Kent's will, their devastating fury tearing through the air with enough force to rupture the very fabric of the battlefield.

Kaelen barely managed to deflect an earth spear aimed at his chest, only to be met by a lightning-infused dagger, which he dodged at the last possible moment. Kelvin, meanwhile, had begun faltering, his movements sluggish as the chaotic energy within him began consuming his very essence.

'No! I refuse to give in now!'

But then, against all odds—Kelvin's darkened gaze sharpened. His body trembled, his very veins seemed to burn, but he lifted his scythe high, the darkness within him roaring to life one last time.

"Kaelen… this is it," Kelvin muttered hoarsely, his voice barely audible over the storm of magic surrounding them. But Kaelen was still able to hear him clearly.

At this moment though, Kent had fully unleashed his Mana Domain: Elementary Distortion, an ability that twisted the very laws of magic, making it impossible for Kaelen or Kelvin to use their abilities properly. The sheer presence of the domain threatened to crush them under its weight, and Kelvin knew that unless it was destroyed, Kaelen would never land the final blow.

Summoning every last drop of energy he had left, Kelvin raised his scythe high, his body visibly cracking apart from the sheer strain of overuse. The Orb of Chaos, embedded in his forehead, pulsed ominously as he uttered the final words that would end it all.

"Oblivion's Requiem."

A devastating shockwave of dark energy erupted, disintegrating Kent's Mana Domain in a single, cataclysmic strike. The very laws of mana around them collapsed, and for the first time since the battle had begun, Kent's unstoppable advantage was no more.

Kelvin's body buckled, his scythe shattered into dust, and with a final, gasping breath, he fell unconscious.

'He did it… he really did it…'

Kaelen stared at Kent, who, for the first time in this entire fight, looked… stunned.

'I won't allow this chance go to waste'

Kaelen couldn't feel his arms. His vision blurred. His body was at its limit, yet the moment he saw Kent stagger, he knew this was his only chance.

His grip tightened around the Blade of Eternity, and he tapped into the last ounce of his strength, summoning the final technique of the Divine Sword Series—

"Divine Sword Series, Final Technique: Zenith Slash."

A colossal surge of energy erupted from his blade, transforming into an ethereal blade of pure, unyielding power, taller than mountains, sharper than the heavens themselves. The very fabric of the arena seemed to tremble under its presence.

'Sh*t!'

Kent, finally sensing true danger, tried to counterattack—but it was too late.

Kaelen vanished in a blur, reappearing directly before Kent, his blade arcing down in a single, flawless motion.

SHHHHHRRRRRKKK!

The slash tore through everything—the air, the magic, the very reality of the battlefield.

Kent let out a guttural grunt as the sheer force of the impact sent him hurtling downward, crashing violently into the arena floor. The impact created an earth-shattering crater, dust and debris shooting up into the air as the entire coliseum shook from the force of his fall.

Silence.

For a long, agonizing moment, nothing moved.

Kaelen stood, his body trembling, his sword still raised in the aftermath of his final attack.

Kent lay motionless in the crater, completely unconscious.

'I.... Did it'

Kaelen took a single step forward—before his legs gave out beneath him.

[System Warning: Mana Depleted – Emergency Stasis Initiated]

'Damn it....'

His vision darkened. His consciousness faded.

And as the crowd in the coliseum erupted into chaos, the only thought in his mind was—

'It's over.'

In the next moment, the coliseum became deathly silent. The once-deafening roars of the spectators, the pulse-pounding cheers, the announcers' commentary—all had vanished in the face of what had just transpired.

Everyone had just witnessed the impossible.

Kaelen Dragonyx, the prodigy, the wielder of the Blade of Eternity, the one who had defied all odds and struck Kent down, now lay motionless on the cold, cracked arena floor. His once-radiant royal blue aura had dimmed, his body lifeless with exhaustion.

And just across from him, Kelvin lay still as well, his once frighteningly dark aura gone, his body battered from the immense backlash of using the Orb of Chaos beyond his limits.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

Even the officials, the royal dignitaries, the powerful figures watching from their private booths—not a single one dared to break the moment.

It was as if the world itself had paused, waiting to see what would happen next.

But just then—

"Kaelen!"

Lila was the first to react, her body blurring across the battlefield, a gust of wind left in her wake as she skidded to her knees beside Kaelen.

Morris was next, his expression unreadable yet his movements frantic as he dropped beside Kaelen, checking his pulse with trembling fingers.

Ethan arrived last, eyes sharp yet filled with an unusual mix of fear and urgency, his hands glowing faintly with mana as he attempted to infuse energy into Kaelen's depleted core.

At the same time—

A similar scene played out on the other side of the battlefield.

The Devouring King from Valen Military Academy and The Slime Harbinger, both of whom had been forced into retreat earlier, now rushed toward Kelvin's fallen form.

The Devouring King's expression, usually twisted in arrogance, was now clouded with tension as he knelt beside Kelvin, his aura flickering as he examined him.

The Slime Harbinger—his eerie, oozing form shifting unnaturally—remained silent, his body extending tendrils of slime as he tried to assess Kelvin's condition.

For a few moments, all focus was on them.

Then—

Lila and the others, after checking Kaelen, turned their heads simultaneously.

The Devouring King and the Slime Harbinger, after assessing Kelvin, did the same.

Both groups' gazes locked onto a singular point—

The Battle Crown.

It rested elusively in the distance, its golden edges catching the dim light, untouched, unclaimed, waiting.

The weight of reality crashed down on them all at once.

This was not over.

Despite everything—despite Kaelen's victory over Kent, despite Kelvin's sacrifice to break the Mana Domain, despite the fact that the two strongest warriors had collapsed—

The crown had yet to be taken.

The moment their eyes met, they all understood what was about to happen next.

This final battle had one last chapter left.

A moment of tense silence stretched between them, their bodies battered, their mana reserves nearly empty—

But none of them hesitated.

In the next breath—

They moved.

And as soon as Lila, Morris, and Ethan moved, the atmosphere shifted violently.

Lila's mana surged, her icy-blue eyes glinting sharply as she unleashed her domain without hesitation.

"Mana Domain: Ice World!"

Instantly, the entire battlefield transformed.

The ground beneath them cracked and froze over, turning the once-ravaged coliseum floor into a glacial landscape. Sharp, jagged spires of ice erupted from the ground like frozen fangs, spreading fast and mercilessly as Lila locked the terrain under her control.

The temperature plummeted, frost and mist coiling through the air, and the very mana in the environment slowed, hindered by the overwhelming force of Lila's ice.

But they weren't done.

Standing just behind her, Morris lifted his hand, his crimson eyes burning as his own mana intertwined with Lila's.

"Mana Reinforcement: Absolute Fortification."

A glimmering aura engulfed the ice, strengthening every shard, every glacier, every frozen piece of terrain to an unbreakable level.

This was not just ice.

This was an impenetrable battlefield of death.

Yet—

Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

The moment the ice had spread, he had disappeared like a phantom, his presence vanishing completely.

Lila smirked.

He was going for the crown.

But on the other side of the battlefield, Devouring King did not move.

He merely stood still, both his eyes and his expression eerily unreadable.

Instead—

A sickening squelch echoed as The Slime Harbinger stepped forward.

And then, in a deep, unnatural voice, he whispered:

"Mana Domain: Slime Chambers."

A viscous wave of blackish-purple slime erupted from beneath him.

It moved like a living organism, corrupting everything in its path.

Lila's frozen terrain? It began melting, dissolving as if being consumed.

The air turned thick, filled with a disgusting, suffocating presence.

And then—

The ground itself began to sink, turning into an amorphous, shifting abyss of sludge, tendrils, and traps.

Morris' fortification magic fought against it, but the slime corroded everything it touched.

In a matter of seconds, half of the battlefield was a grotesque swamp of oozing, devouring filth.

Lila narrowed her eyes.

They needed to move fast.

Because if Ethan didn't get the crown soon—

No one was making it out of this battlefield in one piece.