Kharos's expression shifted.
A twitch.
Barely noticeable.
But enough.
He felt it.
A presence behind them.
A presence so heavy.
So suffocating.
So drenched in killing intent that even the Celestials, beings who could erase nations, felt their instincts scream.
A presence that radiated bloodlust so dense it warped the air.
A presence that made the ground tremble.
A presence that overwhelmed even them.
Kharos slowly turned his head.
"…No," he muttered.
Umbrael's shadow‑coat flickered violently.
Seraphyx's white mantle dimmed, gold trim losing its glow.
Elyndra's blue‑white robes rippled as her time field destabilized.
Vael'Torin's armored plates and orbiting metal shards collapsed to the ground.
Even Kharos, wrapped in jagged red war‑armor, felt his heart skip.
Because standing behind them…
Unmoving.
Unbothered.
Unimpressed.
Was Eiden.
His blade was already unsheathed.
A thin line of blood dripped from its edge... Solmara's blood, which was still warm.
Eiden's cloak fluttered behind him, a long black mantle lined with white sigils, shifting as if the world itself trembled around him.
His white hair glowed faintly.
His eyes were half‑lidded.
Calm.
Cold.
Ancient.
The First Divinity had returned.
And he looked bored.
"Six of you," Eiden said quietly.
His voice was soft, too soft.
The kind of softness that made the Celestials' skin crawl.
"Attacking two of my people."
He tilted his head.
"That's sloppy."
The Celestials didn't move.
They couldn't.
The pressure was too much.
Eiden lifted his blade slightly, letting the moonlight slide across its edge.
"Let's begin."
Kharos roared first.
Instinct
Pride
Fury.
He lunged, fist coated in intense aura, strong enough to shatter mountains.
Eiden didn't move.
He simply shifted his wrist.
Kharos's fist met Eiden's blade.
The shockwave tore the ground apart, ripping trenches through the forest floor.
Trees exploded into splinters.
The air cracked like thunder.
Kharos staggered back, clutching his bleeding knuckles, his jagged red war‑armor dented from the impact.
"What… what the hell IS this pressure?!"
Eiden didn't answer.
He vanished.
A flicker.
A blur.
A whisper of movement.
He reappeared behind Umbrael.
Umbrael reacted instantly, shadows swirling around him like a vortex, his drifting black coat whipping violently.
"Tch, damn elf. Don't think you can!-"
Eiden's blade cut through the shadows like mist.
Umbrael's eyes widened.
He barely dodged.
Barely
Losing a chunk of his shoulder as Eiden's blade grazed him.
Shadow‑blood splattered across the ground, sizzling like acid.
Umbrael hissed, clutching the wound.
"You… you shouldn't even be alive!"
Eiden didn't respond.
He was already gone again.
A blinding flash erupted.
Seraphyx unleashed a beam of pure light, a beam that could erase matter at the photon level.
Her white mantle with gold trim flared as she poured everything into the attack.
The beam swallowed Eiden whole.
The forest turned white.
Iris shielded her eyes, her red robe and cloak snapping in the wind.
Vaelus gritted his teeth, his green robe glowing with runes as he braced himself.
The beam carved a canyon through the earth, vaporizing everything in its path.
When the light faded.
Eiden stood there.
Untouched.
Not a scratch.
Seraphyx froze, her glowing rapier trembling at her hip.
"That's… impossible…"
Eiden raised a hand.
A small gesture.
Barely anything.
But the air around Seraphyx shattered like glass.
Light exploded outward as she was blasted back, crashing through trees, skidding across the ground, coughing blood.
A massive hole tore through her side, dripping endlessly.
Eiden lowered his hand.
"Next."
Time froze.
Everything stopped.
Leaves hung motionless in the air.
Blood droplets paused mid‑fall.
Even sound died.
Elyndra stepped forward, her blue‑white robes rippling unnaturally, eyes glowing with rotating temporal runes.
"Eiden… you should have stayed dead!"
She raised her hand, preparing to erase him from the timeline.
Eiden turned his head.
In frozen time.
Elyndra's eyes widened.
"No… no, that's not…"
Eiden appeared in front of her.
Still in frozen time.
"You're too slow," he whispered.
His blade moved.
A single cut.
Time resumed.
Elyndra screamed as a deep slash tore across her abdomen, blood spraying across the ground.
She collapsed, clutching the wound, trembling violently.
"How… how the hell can you move in MY time field?!"
Eiden didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
Gravity surged.
The entire battlefield bent inward, crushing pressure slamming down like a collapsing star.
Iris and Vaelus dropped to their knees, gasping for air.
Iris's red cloak pinned to the ground, Vaelus's green runes flickering violently.
The remaining Celestials collapsed with them.
The ground cracked.
Rocks liquefied.
The air itself screamed.
Vael'Torin floated above them, his dark armor groaning under the gravitational force, metal shards orbiting him like dying moons.
"Let's see you withstand THIS!"
Eiden didn't move.
The gravity intensified.
The forest floor cratered beneath him.
But Eiden stood perfectly still.
Unbothered.
Unmoved.
Unimpressed.
He lifted his blade.
And cut the gravity.
Literally cut it.
The pressure vanished instantly.
Vael'Torin's eyes widened in horror.
"That… that shouldn't be possible!"
Eiden appeared in front of him.
He embedded his blade in Vael'Torin's stomach and kicked.
The impact launched the Celestial of Gravity across the forest, smashing him through boulders, trees, and entire ridgelines until he vanished into the distance, a long streak of blood marking his path.
Kharos, Umbrael, Seraphyx, and Elyndra regrouped.
Panting
Bleeding
Trembling.
Their armor cracked.
Their robes torn.
Their weapons shaking in their hands.
Iris and Vaelus stared in disbelief.
Eiden stood alone.
Blade dripping with starlight blood.
Expression calm.
Aura monstrous.
Kharos gritted his teeth.
"This… this isn't possible…" Umbrael's voice cracked.
"He's not the same Eiden from nineteen years ago…" Seraphyx whispered, clutching her side.
They wondered.
What happened to the Eiden who couldn't easily counter attacks?
What happened to the Eiden who always had that playful smirk?
What happened to the Eiden who had excitement in his eyes in any fight?
These very questions rambled through their heads...
"He's evolved."
Elyndra trembled, her blue‑white robes soaked in blood.
"He's… transcended."
It's clear to them.
Whatever Eiden has done.
It's clear.
He's changed a lot.
Eiden raised his blade.
"Are you done?"
The Celestials froze.
Because they finally understood.
They hadn't come to hunt.
They hadn't come to intimidate.
They hadn't come to capture.
They had walked into a slaughter.
Eiden stepped forward.
"Good."
"Because I'm not."
Eiden vanished.
Not a step.
Not a blur.
Not a teleport.
He simply ceased to exist where he stood and reappeared behind them.
Kharos felt it first.
A cold breath on the back of his neck.
A presence so overwhelming it crushed his aura flat.
A killing intent so sharp it felt like a blade pressed to his spine.
"…Behind us," Kharos whispered.
Umbrael's shadows recoiled.
Seraphyx's light flickered.
Elyndra's time field cracked.
Vael'Torin's distant gravity pressure imploded.
They all turned.
Slowly.
Terrified.
And there he was.
Eiden.
Standing behind them with his blade already drawn, still dripping with Solmara's blood.
His long black cloak fluttered in a wind that didn't exist.
His white hair glowed faintly.
His eyes were half‑lit
Bored
Ancient
Merciless.
The First Divinity.
Returned.
Alive.
And hunting.
Eiden tilted his head.
"Five of you," he said quietly. "That's generous."
His blade lowered slightly.
"Let's fix that."
Kharos roared, aura erupting around him like a volcanic explosion.
His jagged red war‑armor cracked under the pressure of his own power.
He charged.
He had no choice.
He was the Celestial of War.
Retreat was not in his nature.
"EIDEN!"
His fist swung with enough force to shatter continents.
Eiden didn't move.
He simply stepped past him.
A whisper of motion.
A flicker of steel.
A breath of death.
Kharos froze.
His eyes widened.
He looked down.
A thin red line appeared across his chest.
Then another.
Then another.
Then dozens.
Eiden had cut him so fast the wounds hadn't opened yet.
Kharos tried to speak.
"W‑wait-"
His body fell apart.
Literally.
Dozens of clean slices separated him into pieces.
Torso.
Arms.
Legs.
Head.
All falling in different directions, blood erupting like a fountain.
The ground shook as the pieces hit the dirt.
Silence.
A silence so heavy it suffocated the forest.
Eiden flicked the blood off his blade.
"Two down, four to go."
Umbrael stumbled back.
Seraphyx's jaw trembled.
Elyndra clutched her wound, shaking violently.
Vael'Torin, crawling out of the rubble in the distance, froze mid‑step.
They had just watched Eiden kill two Celestials in under a minute.
Solmara.
Kharos.
Gone.
Effortlessly.
Eiden stepped forward.
"Who's next?"
Iris and Vaelus Regain Their Resolve
Iris stared at Kharos's remains.
Her breath hitched.
Her hands trembled.
But not from fear.
From adrenaline.
From rage.
From the realization that Eiden, their Eiden, was truly back.
She wiped her eyes, blood swirling around her palms like crimson blades.
Her red robe and cloak fluttered behind her, glowing with her rising aura.
"…Eiden," she whispered, voice steadying, "I'm not letting you fight alone."
Vaelus stepped beside her, gripping his curved blade, the green runes on his robe blazing to life.
"Neither am I," he said. "I've waited nineteen years to stand alongside you again in battle."
Eiden didn't turn around.
He didn't need to.
He felt their resolve.
He felt their mana rising.
He felt their killing intent sharpening.
"Good," Eiden said quietly. "Then stand."
Iris stepped forward, blood magic swirling around her like a crimson storm.
Vaelus stepped beside her, time distortion warping the air around his blade.
The three of them stood together.
The mixture of their intense auras twisted the air itself.
The First Divinity.
The Bloodmage.
The Chronomage.
A trio that once shook the world.
A trio the Celestials had prayed would never reunite.
Umbrael hissed, shadows writhing around his torn coat.
"You… you monsters…"
Seraphyx's light flared in panic, her white mantle trembling.
"Stay back!"
Elyndra staggered, clutching her bleeding abdomen, her blue‑white robes soaked.
"This… this can't be happening…"
Eiden raised his blade.
Iris raised her blood‑claws.
Vaelus raised his time‑warped sword.
"Let's finish this," Eiden said.
The air tightened.
Iris's blood surged.
Vaelus's time runes flared.
The four remaining Celestials braced themselves.
And then...
A voice cut through the battlefield.
Cold.
Calm.
Detached.
"Enough."
The word didn't echo.
It reverberated.
Reality itself seemed to flinch.
A ripple of distortion spread through the forest, bending the moonlight, warping the air, making the world feel suddenly… unreal.
Eiden's eyes narrowed.
Iris froze mid‑breath.
Vaelus's blade trembled.
Seraphyx, Umbrael, Elyndra, and Vael'Torin all turned toward the sky with a mixture of relief and dread.
Because they knew that voice.
Everyone did.
A figure descended from above, floating effortlessly, arms crossed, cloak billowing like a living shadow.
His presence was suffocating.
His aura was cold enough to numb the soul.
His eyes...
Seven red pupils in each eye, arranged like constellations, shifting slowly, hypnotically, impossibly.
This wasn't just any Celestial.
This was something far worse…
Zephyron, The Celestial of Dreams.
The Sleepless God.
The Mindbreaker.
The One Who Walks Between Realities.
He hovered above them, his black and grey robe swaying with the wind, the fabric shifting like smoke and starlight woven together. His expression was blank, gaze unreadable, seven‑pupiled eyes drifting in slow, impossible patterns.
"Your incompetence," Zephyron said quietly, "is exhausting."
Umbrael bowed his head.
Seraphyx stepped back.
Elyndra's wound pulsed in fear.
Vael'Torin swallowed hard.
Zephyron's gaze shifted to Eiden.
"You should have stayed dead."
Eiden didn't respond.
He didn't need to.
Zephyron raised a hand.
No aura.
No glow.
No warning.
Just a whisper of intent.
"Moph'ei."
And Eiden was gone.
An invisible force slammed into him with the weight of a collapsing dreamscape, launching him through the forest like a meteor.
Trees shattered.
Mountains cracked.
The earth split open as Eiden's body tore through the landscape, carving a trench miles long.
Before Iris or Vaelus could react...
"Yamicoura."
A pillar of blinding light erupted from Zephyron's fingertip.
It shot downward like divine judgment, striking Eiden's distant location.
A massive explosion swallowed the forest, vaporizing acres of land, sending shockwaves that flattened everything in sight.
The sky lit up like a second sun.
The ground trembled.
The Celestials shielded their faces.
"EIDEN!" Iris screamed.
Vaelus clenched his teeth, time magic spiraling out of control.
Zephyron lowered his hand.
Expression unchanged.
Emotionless.
Cold.
He floated above them, arms still crossed, seven‑pupiled eyes glowing faintly.
"Pathetic," he said. "All of you."
Umbrael stepped forward, voice shaking.
"Z‑Zephyron… you've changed. Your domain—"
Zephyron didn't look at him.
"I evolved."
His gaze remained fixed on the smoking crater where Eiden had been blasted.
"He is no longer the strongest among us."
The Celestials stared in disbelief.
Iris trembled with rage.
Vaelus's time aura crackled violently.
Zephyron's voice dropped to a whisper.
"I am."
The words left Zephyron's mouth like a verdict.
Words said with such confidence, he forgot about the absolute power Eiden rarely uses.
He raised his palm toward the two remaining figures on the battlefield.
"Now… let's get rid of these other two-"
Mana gathered in his hand, but he froze.
Something was wrong.
Their aura had changed.
"Damn it," he muttered.
He hadn't expected to arrive and see these two stand together like this.
Or rather… these three.
"These two could've wiped out everyone here," he thought, jaw tightening.
"But they let Eiden handle it himself… But more importantly… how the hell is he even alive?"
But something else was wrong...
He knew he hit Eiden with those spells.
He felt the impact.
He felt Eiden's physical body break under it.
So why did something feel off?
Why did his instincts scream that something was wrong?
"What's wrong? Something bothering you?"
A voice echoed behind him.
Zephyron turned.
Eiden stood there.
But not the Eiden he knew.
Not the calm, relaxed warrior, not even the composed fighter he was moments ago.
This Eiden radiated white.
His hair glowed.
His blade glowed.
His eyes glowed.
A pure, blinding white aura poured off him in waves.
He had finally used the power every Celestial on the battlefield feared he would eventually use...
The magic he was born into.
The magic he was taught since infancy.
The magic of the Whitecrest Clan.
Zephyron's hands trembled.
"Just how much more powerful does this elf get…?" he whispered.
He searched his entire arsenal.
Every spell
Every counter
Every forbidden technique.
What could stop Eiden now?
The truth was simple.
Nothing.
Neither of the Celestials had the power to fight against him now.
"Zephyron, while you can still live, teleport us out of here!" Umbrael shouted. "We CAN'T win against him!"
"I'm aware," Zephyron answered, voice low and steady.
Eiden stepped forward, white aura humming.
"Hmph. So you know you have no way of countering anything I unleash. At least you understand that."
He glanced down at the other Celestials that were broken, exhausted, and unable to fight.
"I will let you all go," Eiden said.
"Why would we?!" Seraphyx snapped. "You hunted our leader for centuries! For what? Hatred?! We can't let you live any longer! Not after you killed him!"
The battlefield fell silent, though the crushing weight of Eiden's aura remained.
"Is that what he told you? That I did it out of hatred?" Eiden asked.
"No," Zephyron said. "But it's what we assumed."
"It was random," Seraphyx continued. "You hunted him without warning. You didn't just attack him, you attacked US. The day you came to our village and used Jvua'lo, you evaporated every Celestial except the ten of us who escaped. You made an enemy of us. You killed hundreds, no thousands of women, children, fathers, and elders of our people, who most couldn't even cast a healing spell."
Eiden's white aura dimmed.
His killing intent faded.
"I see… But I had my reasons. It was revenge."
A long silence stretched.
"You know your leader was responsible for the annihilation of the Ironcrest Clan, right?"
The Celestials nodded.
"Uzak'me was enemies with their Chief. But instead of fighting him in a duel as they both agreed to, he wiped out the entire clan," Zephyron said.
Eiden exhaled slowly.
"Exactly. And in that clan… I had a friend."
His voice lowered, not soft, but restrained.
"She helped forge my sword. She was kind. Brilliant. Someone I trusted for years."
A breath.
Not shaky, measured.
"And your leader killed her. Killed her entire clan. Not in battle. Not in honor. He slaughtered them because he refused a fair duel."
Eiden's eyes hardened, the warmth draining from them.
"So I answered him the only way he understood."
A pause.
Cold. Final.
"I did to his people what he did to hers.
But I did it for revenge."
"I may have attacked your people first. I may have killed your leader and two others from your ranks. But understand this."
Eiden's tone didn't rise. It didn't waver.
It simply pressed into the air, steady and immovable.
"My target was Uzak'me, and only Uzak'me.
I had no quarrel with the remaining nine of you."
The Celestials felt the shift.
Not anger.
Not pride.
Just truth.
"I never intended to hunt the rest of you," he continued.
"But when I learned you attacked a member of my group… and then came after me and the others here…"
A slow exhale.
"I assumed your side had declared an official war.
So I responded as someone at war would.
I believed eliminating the ones who stood here was necessary."
Silence fell.
A heavy, suffocating silence.
The Celestials stood frozen, the truth sinking in like a blade sliding between ribs... not fast, not cruel, just inevitable.
They had spent years believing this elf hated them.
Believing he hunted them out of malice.
Believing he was the monster Uzak'me painted him to be.
But no.
Their leader had started this.
Uzak'me had broken a duel he agreed to.
Uzak'me had slaughtered an entire clan out of spite.
Uzak'me had ignited a war that never needed to exist.
The Celestials were silent.
The Great Sages were silent.
Finally, Zephyron broke the stillness.
"…I see."
He descended slowly, boots touching the ground with a muted thud.
He extended a hand, and a portal spiraled open behind him... quiet, controlled, almost respectful.
"Let's go. All four of you."
Zephyron stepped through first, vanishing into the swirling light.
The remaining Celestials limped after him, one by one, until the last figure crossed the threshold.
The portal sealed with a sharp zip, leaving the battlefield swallowed in utter quiet.