CHAPTER 128: CHAPTER 128 | PRELUDE TO FINALITY

Venedix subtly raised both of her swords, her arms steady as the blades began to whirr louder and louder, the sound like a pair of storms cracking against each other.

Crimson lightning coiled across the metal, twisting like serpents as each current wrapped tightly around the blades.

The ground beneath her feet started to tremble, soft at first but growing stronger.

The very air around her felt heavier—charged with the weight of something ancient and wrathful, like a storm building before the downpour.

The lightning didn’t stop.

It grew, pulsing with intensity as if the swords themselves were alive, feeding off Venedix’s will.

They weren’t just weapons anymore.

They were conduits for something far greater.

Malgareth didn’t wait to find out what.

He charged.

His armored form tore through the air like a black arrow, aiming straight at Venedix before she could complete her transformation.

His sword was raised high, dark eidra boiling around it like smoke ready to strike her down in one decisive blow.

But he was already too late.

"Comfort, Kirin," Venedix said calmly, her voice clear despite the growing storm around her.

The moment her words left her lips, both of her swords cracked violently, their structures breaking apart into threads of pure eidra.

Crimson light flashed out from their edges, and in a single motion, the two swords merged into one.

The transformation happened in less than a blink.

Where two swords once were, there now stood a single glaive—long, elegant, and jagged like the stem of a monstrous thorn.

The weapon radiated with raw crimson eidra, so intense that the ground beneath it began to disintegrate in slow pulses, as if the earth itself could not handle the glaive’s presence.

*BOOOM!

A violent burst of lightning exploded outward from Venedix, sweeping across the ground like a wave of pressure.

The winds screamed, lashing at everyone around the battlefield.

Even from far behind, Jinn and the others were forced to brace themselves as the wind whipped at their clothes and the earth cracked beneath their feet.

Malgareth, despite being mid-charge, had to leap backward.

His body reacted before his mind could think—pure survival instinct.

He landed a fair distance away, his feet skidding against the stone as he raised his weapon—not out of fear, but because he had to.

Something about Venedix’s surge of power pushed him to react, pushed him to defend without even thinking.

The storm around her grew thicker, crackling, swirling with power as crimson bolts of lightning zipped through the sky above.

Her glaive was now fully formed, glowing in her grip, the weapon thrumming with her heartbeat.

Venedix’s hair flowed with the energy, her cloak rippling, her eyes locked on her enemy with a coldness that made even the air feel sharp.

She took a step forward.

Just one.

The stone beneath her foot cracked into spiderwebs.

She pointed the glaive, its jagged tip humming with rage, straight at Malgareth.

"Prepare yourself," she said, her voice quiet but sharp like a blade pressed to the throat.

"I shall tear you asunder."

Just as she spoke those words, Venedix vanished.

No sound, no wind-up—just a blur, like reality itself skipped a beat.

She didn’t dash—she teleported, reappearing right behind Malgareth in a single blink.

Her glaive struck without hesitation, piercing straight through the back of his right leg with a clean, sharp

*crack!

as crimson lightning exploded from the point of impact.

"GRKH!" Malgareth grunted, his leg faltering beneath him.

It was too fast.

Too sudden.

He didn’t even have time to react.

Still, he swung his massive blade backward in a wide arc, attempting a blind counter to catch her.

But Venedix was already gone again.

Before the blade could even finish its arc, she reappeared right in front of him, her movement just as smooth, just as seamless.

Her glaive was already primed—

*THRUST!

piercing deep into his armored chest, the same location she had stabbed before.

But this time, it wasn’t just a strike.

This time... she followed through.

Venedix pushed her other hand onto the glaive’s shaft and shoved upward with brutal strength, cleaving the armor from chest to helmet in one clean, tearing line.

The weapon screamed with crimson eidra as sparks flew, mist-like energy pouring from the growing wound.

*CRAAACK!

The armor split with a high-pitched shriek, and the dark interior revealed something unnatural—no flesh, no bone, only swirling black mist writhing like smoke trapped inside.

"Foolishness," Malgareth muttered, even as his helmet cracked and fell apart.

His voice still rang with arrogance, but it trembled slightly now.

"You cannot kill me using pitiful eidra such as thi—"

He stopped.

Mid-sentence.

His eyes—or whatever lay behind the mist—widened.

His arm jerked slightly.

Then again.

The mist in his body flickered.

For a moment, his entire right hand vanished.

Then reappeared.

Then vanished again, like a faulty flame struggling to stay lit.

"What is this...?" Malgareth looked down, his hands raised in confusion.

His voice had a hitch now, a panic he didn’t even try to hide.

"What... is this...!?"

Troy took a step forward, hands calmly resting on his staff, his eyes fixed on Malgareth as if studying him.

"Sunder Surge," he said simply, his tone composed.

The others turned to look at him, confused, yet intrigued.

Troy kept his gaze forward.

"The power to temporarily halt one’s eidra. To cut its flow with a violent jolt. Like an electric surge to a beating heart." He then turned slightly, his eyes meeting Jinn’s.

"And you possess it as well, Jinn."

Jinn’s eyes widened, a soft gasp escaping him as he glanced at Troy, then turned his focus back on Venedix—who now stood tall before the staggering form of Malgareth—and then back to the flickering mist that made up Malgareth’s form.

His brows furrowed.

There was understanding in his stare, or at least the start of it.

He was watching carefully, trying to memorize every movement, every detail.

Trying to learn.

By eyesight alone.

What Jinn saw... was a truly one-sided fight.

Malgareth could barely keep up.

Venedix’s strikes were sharp and calculated, each one delivered with perfect timing—right at the moment his eidra flickered, right when he was most vulnerable.

It was like watching lightning strike the same spot over and over, and Malgareth had no way to stop it.

The crimson glaive jolted him from within, and his body responded by convulsing—his mist-like eidra stuttering in uneven bursts.

His form flickered, parts of him fading and returning like a dying ember struggling to stay lit.

And every time that happened, every single time his eidra waned, Venedix was already there.

*Slash!

*Crack!

*Pierce!

One strike after another, merciless, unstoppable.

Malgareth stumbled, his stance broken, unable to keep a proper defense.

Seconds passed, but they felt like a slow, painful eternity for him.

He tried to swing.

Tried to defend.

But none of it mattered.

Then suddenly—

*BOOM!

A burst of black eidra exploded from Malgareth’s body, erupting violently from within him.

The sheer force of it was wild, chaotic, desperate.

It wasn’t controlled—it was an outburst.

Caused by the strain, by the pain Venedix inflicted with every passing second.

He was losing control.

"N-NO!" Malgareth shouted, staggering backward.

His hands trembled as he tried to grip his sword.

His whole body shook, his mist-like form becoming thinner, weaker—his very being starting to evaporate in front of their eyes.

"I-I... Cannot fail!" he bellowed again, forcing himself to stand tall despite everything, his voice filled with desperation more than defiance.

He raised his sword for one final attack, his form charging forward like a last, pathetic surge.

But Venedix didn’t flinch.

She moved before he could even blink.

Her glaive slashed once more, this time towards his legs—

*CRACK!

striking both knees in one swift blow, dropping him to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.

*THUD!

He knelt before her.

Powerless.

Defeated.

"You have the eidra," Venedix spoke, her voice cold, sharp like the wind in the middle of winter, "but you lack the experience to wield it well."

Malgareth gritted, but couldn’t speak.

His body continued to flicker, parts of him fading in and out.

"You are nothing more than a child," Venedix said again, her eyes like ice as she looked down at him, "a child who swings his sword with no purpose. No discipline. No control. Just brute force... and blind rage."

Her words pierced deeper than any blade.

But she wasn’t finished.

She raised her weapon high above her head, the twin blades of the glaive glowing with a mixture of crimson and golden eidra.

The air around her twisted, the ground beneath her feet cracking from the force building within the weapon.

The glaive trembled, vibrating like it was holding back a storm.

"Now die," she said without emotion.

No shout.

No anger.

Just the final judgment.

Venedix snapped her weapon forward, aiming straight at Malgareth’s head—ready to end it.

The final execution.

But before the glaive could reach him, a violent black burst erupted from Malgareth’s body.

*BOOM!

It was sudden, wild—stronger than anything he had released before.

The force of the blast shocked even Venedix, making her stumble back slightly, her feet skidding along the ground.

She gritted her teeth as she steadied herself, her eyes narrowing.

And then... there it was.

The figure.

The same eerie figure that had once given Malgareth that strange, pure dark eidra.

The power that had made him nearly invincible to her strikes.

It stood there now, not a blur, not a shadow—but a presence.

Solid.

Real.

Its dark form appeared directly in front of Malgareth, who was still kneeling, his body trembling and broken.

"No... I still have time!" Malgareth shouted with desperation, his voice cracked and filled with hatred.

The figure raised its hand slowly, and from the air, a black sword materialized—formed from the very shadows themselves, as if it was born from the void.

"YOU WILL NOT TAKE AWAY MY REVEN—" Malgareth howled and swung his own sword upward toward the figure in defiance.

But he never finished his words.

*Shhhlk!

The dark sword pierced him clean through the chest before he could even move an inch closer.

"G-Guhk...!" Malgareth gasped as his whole body jerked.

His hands dropped his weapon.

The sword didn’t just stab him.

It injected something into him.

More eidra.

But it wasn’t his own.

It was powerful.

Pure.

Wrong.

His entire body began to convulse violently as the dark sword glowed and cracked, pumping even more power into him, corrupting even more what was left of his essence.

His armor groaned loudly, the metal twisting unnaturally as deep cracks split across it.

His form... it began to shift.

Grow.

Transform.

Everyone around stared, frozen.

And then... the figure finally spoke.

Its voice was not heard with ears—but through the mind.

Each word slammed into their heads like it was echoing from deep within.

"I shall grant your wish," the figure said coldly. "Your revenge... shall be given. Yet you have failed me... failed my order... failed my god..."

The words were terrifying, empty and full at the same time.

Jinn’s eyes widened.

He looked around.

Everyone else was confused, their faces twisting.

They didn’t understand what was just said.

They heard the sound—but not the meaning.

Only Jinn understood.

The words were clear in his mind.

As if the figure had spoken directly to him and no one else.

He clenched his fist, heart pounding.

But there was no time.

Malgareth was no longer Malgareth.

His transformation was complete.

The armor remained, but his body had changed into something else—something monstrous.

A massive, writhing creature now stood in his place.

Black flesh covered his body like a second skin, twisted and unnatural.

From within the armor, deep violet eyes stared outward—each one crying thick, black tears that streamed endlessly down his grotesque face.

And then—

*ROAAAARRR!!!

A guttural, bestial roar exploded from the creature’s mouth.

It wasn’t just a sound—it was a pressure wave.

A blast of pure force that pushed violently against the group.

*WHOOOOSH!

Everyone braced themselves as the gust slammed into them like a crashing wave.

Jinn narrowed his eyes, shielding his friends as best he could.

His thoughts raced.

That creature... it wasn’t Malgareth anymore.

It was something worse.

A vessel.

A mistake.

A monster.

And then he saw it.

The figure—still standing silently just ahead.

It tilted its head slightly.

And its void-black eyes, deep beneath the shadow of its hood, locked with Jinn’s.

For a second, time stopped.

The gaze was chilling.

Cold.

Empty.

Jinn held his breath.

But the figure didn’t move.

It only watched him.

And then—

*Fwwshhh...

Its form crumbled.

Ashes.

The figure faded into the air like smoke caught in the wind, leaving nothing behind but dread.

"Shit..." Jinn muttered under his breath.

The final battle wasn’t just near.

It had already begun.