CHAPTER 78: FINAL COUNT DOWN - 2

A powerful updraft of wind erupted from within Rhys’s domain. It pushed back against Kaelen’s gravity well, a storm fighting against a star.

The two forces met in a chaotic stalemate, the air between them screaming and tearing.

Rhys was on one knee, his body trembling with the strain. He was holding his own, but it was costing him an immense amount of energy. He was in a defensive battle, and he was losing.

"You see?" Kaelen’s voice echoed from above. "You can copy, you can adapt, but you can’t create! All you are doing is helping me. You are just a shadow of that man and me..."

Rhys gritted his teeth.

Kaelen was right. Everything he was doing was becoming power-fuel for Kaelen. Rhys wanted to do something else.

’Something that doesn’t become power-fuel for him, but rather, ends him.’

He thought of the Void Plume. The cut in reality. The power of erasure. He had the Void. He had the Flame. He could do it too.

This would be his final gamble.

[Burning 50 billion years of lifespan to create a new Origin Decree...]

He focused all his will, all his remaining power, into a single point. He pulled the concepts of the Void and the Flame together, weaving them into a weapon of absolute erasure.

"[Decree of Unmaking]!" he whispered.

A thin, black line, no wider than a hair, appeared on his fingertip. It was not a flame or a beam of energy. It was a sliver of pure nothingness. A cut in the fabric of his own domain.

Kaelen, seeing the new attack, felt a flicker of genuine fear. He dropped his gravity attack and formed a massive shield of blood and black rock in front of him, pouring all his power into this one defence.

Rhys curled his lips as he thrust his finger forward.

The black line shot out. It cut through Kaelen’s shield like tofu. It continued its journey and pierced through his chest.

Kaelen stared down. There was a small, black hole in the centre of his rock-hard chest. He looked up as his form slowly started to crumble.

"What did you do?"

The manic grin was gone. The confidence was gone. For the first time, Rhys saw terror in his cousin’s eyes.

The Decree of Unmaking wasn’t just a cut; it was a command inside his domain. It had told Kaelen’s body that it no longer existed, and the body copied the command.

He had used Kaelen’s own power against him.

Kaelen opened his mouth, but no sound came out. His form dissolved, turning into a shower of ash that was instantly absorbed into Rhys’s domain.

It was over.

Rhys fell to his knees, his body completely spent. The Epoch of Cinders wavered, then collapsed, leaving him alone in the silent, devastated plaza.

’Did he truly die?’

[As a mortal, yes. He ceased to exist.]

’As a mortal...’ Rhys turned towards the Titan. He was sure he could not kill it before it reached the centre.

The only way to not fail this Labyrinth challenge was by changing the direction of the Titan.

That, too, was impossible...

But to move the central island from the path of the Titan...

A smile graced his lips.

’System, I can evolve cores now, right?’

[Yes.]

Rhys took the empty skill core he had obtained from the caverns. It was an Ordinary skill core. In the mortal world, he could evolve a skill core up to Tyrant grade.

But with his domain, he could cheat this rule by making the world believe he was currently in a higher world.

[...]

’Behemoth...’

The ground trembled as a huge, four-legged form dashed in his direction. The domain of Rhys flared instantly, covering the Behemhemoth and Sera above it.

’Absorb it...’

He threw the Ordinary skill core. The Behemoth followed his instruction without a thought as the skill core was absorbed into its body, fixing itself on its forehead.

’Evolve...’

The skill core started to evolve. From Ordinary to Tyrant, then to Titan. The form of the Behemoth changed.

Its grey, ashen hide began to shimmer, taking on the deep, star-filled black of the Titan’s own body. Its size doubled, then tripled, until it was a true mountain of living starlight and shadow.

Two massive, curved horns of pure void energy sprouted from its head, and the single silver points of light that were its eyes expanded into swirling galaxies.

The foot of the Titan was above the central island. Everyone held their breath, waiting for their deaths as the newly evolved Behemoth finally opened its eyes.

’Move...’

That was the final command Rhys gave.

The Ashen Behemoth let out a roar that was not of a beast, but of a law. It stomped its own four feet, and its evolved Stellar Gravitas Trait activated.

It did not attack the Titan. It targeted the island itself.

The entire central island, a landmass the size of a city, groaned. It lifted from its place in the void, pushed by an invisible, irresistible force.

It slid sideways, moving out of the Titan’s direct path just as the Golem’s massive foot came down, crushing the empty space where the island had been a second before.

The Labyrinth’s message then sounded in everyone else’s mind.

[Congratulations for clearing the Labyrinth challenge: Protect the remnants of a forgotten civilisation.]

[The Stolen Golem was a protector of the forgotten civilisation. Its salvation can only be achieved by protecting the remnants of that civilisation. By stopping the Titan from destroying what it was supposed to protect, you have helped it reach its salvation...]

[Rewards will be calculated as per the contribution in the battle of salvation...]

Then Rhys heard a clear, female voice in his head. It was ancient, powerful, and filled with a profound sense of gratitude.

[Congratulations! As the sole contributor in the challenge, you have obtained....]

[The Legacy of Aethel.]

A small, glowing object materialised in the air before him. It was a perfect sphere of white crystal, no larger than his fist.

Inside it, a miniature galaxy swirled, containing tiny, shimmering replicas of the Ashen Plains, the Crystalline Hive, the Sunken City, and the Sanctum of floating islands.

[Legacy Item 1: World Core of Aethel]

[Description: The heart of the Labyrinth. This is not just a treasure; it is the seed of a nascent world. By bonding with this core, you become the master of this pocket dimension. It is your domain, your sanctuary, your personal world.]

The female voice, the Labyrinth’s will, spoke again in his mind.

[Legacy Item 2: Title - Sovereign of Aethel]

[Description: As the master of this world, you hold absolute authority over its laws. Your Origin Skill, Epoch of Cinders, is now permanently amplified ten times. You may expand its influence as you see fit, and all echoes within this realm now hear your commands. You can summon any creature here as part of your legion.]

’A title? And my Origin will be ten times more amplified! Not bad at all.’

Another object shimmered into existence beside the World Core. It was a simple, grey cloak, woven from what looked like solidified shadow and ash.

It seemed to absorb the light around it, giving off an aura of profound silence.