CHAPTER 371: LIVE ON, MY CHILD

A terrible stillness fell across the battlefield. The winds that once howled through the torn plains of Aetheris now held their breath.

Endless, the Eternal who defied the laws and order of the Twelve Concepts, floated midair like an obsidian god—a jagged silhouette against the backdrop of the shattering sky. He had withstood god-slaying spells from the Ancient Elves. He had reduced such legends to silence. And now, his cold, eldritch gaze turned toward the withered form of the King of Elves, blood trailing from the corners of the monarch’s lips, his emerald armor cracked and dull with age and exhaustion.

"Is that all?" Endless sneered, a cruel smirk tugging at his jagged features as he watches the King of Elves pull on the bowstring that is back by the entirety of the Elves Kingdom. "Then perish as dust."

But then—

The King of Elves closed his eyes.

And his body glowed.

From his chest, his veins, and his very breath, light erupted—not the light of mana, but something deeper, older. A final string. A final tether between body and spirit, soul and earth.

Not long after, his hair turned into a white-gold color which flared wildly, his once-ravaged armor now mended by sheer will and life force. The air trembled as all mana in the vicinity responded to him. Even the natural elements—earth, fire, wind, and water—circled like children around a dying father, awaiting his final lullaby.

"Now... be gone, Endless."

With arms outstretched, the King of Elves channeled the entirety of his life, every second of his centuries-old reign, every triumph, every regret, every heartbeat he had left—and wove it into an arrow of light. Pure, divine, devastating.

The string of his soul burned in his grasp—so radiant it blinded even Velyrian, whose eyes had seen countless blinding prophecies.

And then, he released it.

And the world... changed.

The shot tore through the very laws of nature. It exploded into the sky like a second sun. Winds across the world shifted. Storms stopped. Forests knelt. Oceans rose, then froze. Seasons collapsed into one another. The flora around the battlefield bloomed and died in rapid succession.

Endless had no time to react. The attack collided with his core.

For the first time in all of existence, Endless was sent flying.

He screamed—a terrible, unnatural wail as he was swallowed by the blinding arrow. His body spiraled through space, ripping through clouds, tearing through mountains miles away, until he was lost in the golden brilliance that ruptured the entire horizon.

The world went silent again, this time... in awe.

But Maeralyn didn’t smile.

Because she saw it.

Her father’s light, his glow, was fading. Rapidly.

"No..." she whispered. "No, not yet... please not yet—!"

She took a step forward, but Velyrian gripped her shoulder.

"Maeralyn! We must leave. His work is done!"

"No! I can still—he’s still—" Her voice cracked, tears burning her cheeks.

The King of Elves turned toward her slowly.

Even as his form faded into glimmers, even as his legs had already become translucent, even as time seemed to betray him—he smiled.

That same, gentle smile she remembered as a little elf.

When he used to swing her on the vines of their secret garden.

When he used to braid her hair under the glow of starblossoms.

When he held her tightly the night her mother died.

The smile of a father who had always loved her.

"...Father..." she whimpered, reaching out with trembling fingers. But that didn’t do much as his lips suddenly moved with a strand of relief in it.

"Live on, my child."

And then, what happened next shattered her world.

The rest of his body dispersed into fragments of light, particles so fine that even mana couldn’t detect them. They drifted into the air, a million stardust motes rising like fireflies before the fall.

"FATHER!!!" Maeralyn screamed, her knees giving out as she collapsed onto the rubble.

But there was no body.

No blood.

Just silence.

And stars.

Velyrian stood beside her, fists clenched, gaze lowered. His lips quivered, but he said nothing—for there were no words powerful enough to soothe what had just been broken.

Maeralyn clutched the empty space where her father once stood. Her sobs were raw, unrestrained, echoing through the broken land, carried by the wind as if the entire world wept with her.

And still...

She felt it.

A gentle warmth, lingering in her chest.

Her father’s final wish.

His final love.

His final command.

Live on.

And she would.

But first, she would remember.

Every second.

Every word.

Every smile.

And someday, she would make sure Endless never forgot the price he paid for crossing the King of Elves.

-----

At this moment, the battle-scarred forest was drenched in silence, a silence so heavy it felt sacred. Winds that once howled with fury now stilled, almost as if nature itself paused to mourn. The golden-leafed canopy overhead still shimmered with remnants of the King of Elves’ final outpouring of life force—a radiant wave that had distorted the skies, bent space itself, and momentarily defied Endless.

Kael Dragonyx, who was still in his draconic battle form, stood frozen beside the Chaos Twins—Selene and Aron. Their expressions, so often painted with cynicism and cruelty, now reflected something they rarely showed: awe.

Smoke trailed from the scorched earth. The barrier of mana that had once shielded the Divine Seed now flickered weakly like a dying ember.

"...He really gave it all," Kael murmured. "He actually... shook Endless."

"He burned his entire soul into that one arrow," Selene whispered, her voice low and hesitant.

Aron sneered faintly, trying to regain composure. "And still, it wasn’t enough."

Their eyes then shifted to Maeralyn and Velyrian—still kneeling amidst the smoldering roots where the King of Elves had given his final smile.

Tears streaked Maeralyn’s pale cheeks, and her lips trembled. Her father’s words—"Live on, my child"—echoed relentlessly in her head like a chant of mourning.

"Capture them," Kael finally ordered. "Before they recover. We can’t let the legacy of that man linger."

But before the Chaos Twins could even lift a finger, the air shifted.

A faint glimmer of azure light surrounded Velyrian. His eyes, previously dim with grief, now gleamed with ancient power—his ancestral heritage surging forth. In an instant, the boy gripped Maeralyn’s trembling hand.

"What...?" Selene blinked.

Velyrian uttered a phrase in an elven tongue so old that even the trees shuddered to hear it.

The world around them bent.

A pulse like a heartbeat rippled through the air—then a dome of mystic runes formed around Velyrian and Maeralyn, twisting space and severing them from the world.

"Stop them!" Kael shouted.

Aron lunged forward—but his hand passed through nothingness. It was like they were staring into another realm, one completely inaccessible.

Within the light, Maeralyn whispered through clenched teeth, "I didn’t even say goodbye..."

Velyrian pulled her closer, voice strained. "Your father gave his life for yours. So live, Maeralyn. We’ll honor him... I swear it."

And with that, they vanished, leaving behind only sparks of silver and blue that danced for a moment in the air—then disappeared like snow in the sun.

Meanwhile....

Above, in the sky’s endless expanse...

Far away from the ruined battlefield, where even the clouds dared not remain, Endless drifted in the skies like a comet thrown from the heavens. His form was still smoking—an unnatural black smoke that hissed and peeled away from his wounded flesh.

He hadn’t just been struck—he had been wounded. Something that hadn’t happened in eons.

His chest heaved with quiet rage as he looked down at his torn cloak, where elven light still sizzled like a brand.

"That elf..." he muttered, his eyes dimming to pitch black. "He dared..."

He floated in silence for a moment, arms spread as if welcoming the void around him. Then, from deep within his core, he began to glow—not with light, but with anti-light.

Dark tendrils of Void Magic began to pour from his body, coiling around his limbs like sentient shadows.

The world beneath his feet cracked, even though he hovered miles above it. Reality itself seemed to reject his presence as he began to reconstruct his torn form.

His voice echoed, hollow and layered with a thousand tones.

"Foolish King. You merely delayed the inevitable."

He pulled the remnants of elven light from his chest and crushed it between his fingers, scattering it into nothingness.

Then, with a gesture, the winds obeyed him once more. His torn mantle repaired itself in a flutter of black mist. The sky resumed its eerie silence. Even time felt like it began to move again.

Back at the ruins of the battlefield...

Kael cursed under his breath. "They escaped. Velyrian... that little runt."

Selene remained quiet, eyes still locked on where the King of Elves had faded. "He didn’t just buy time. He left a scar... on Endless."

Aron kicked at the dust. "Scar or not, the seed is still here. And now there’s no one to stop us from taking it."

Kael then turned to look at the seed as he replied "Absolutely."