The air was unnervingly still after Alen's form was erased. Not slain, not shattered, not even torn apart—erased, as though his existence had been judged unworthy by something beyond comprehension. The afterimage of his last scream clung to the atmosphere, like a scar no one wanted to acknowledge.

And then… silence.

Every gaze turned to the figure who had done it. Aegon. The crimson dragon that had taken root in Christopher's body. His aura pulsed like an ancient heartbeat, slow but overwhelming, each thrum shaking the battlefield to its bones. His scales shimmered in blood-red luminance, his eyes void of mercy, yet filled with a dreadful sovereignty that made even the Celestials hesitate.

It was at that moment, standing before his terrible majesty, that the same thought gnawed at every single survivor's heart:

Friend… or foe?

The silence was broken only by the crackling of broken terrain beneath Aegon's talons. No one dared move, no one dared speak. Even Endless—the Eternal who had shown disdain for all living things—stood rigid, his expression betraying the smallest quiver of caution.

Kaelen, chest heaving from his earlier clash, felt sweat drip down his temples despite the icy madness surging in his veins. His hands tightened on his Blade of Eternity, his Avatar form thrumming with suppressed fury. He wanted to roar, to charge, to fight. But before the impulse could consume him, a voice rang inside his mind—cold, sharp, and utterly resolute.

"Kaelen."

"We need to leave. Now."

Kaelen's eyes narrowed, disbelief lacing his voice as he spoke inwardly.

"Leave? You want me to run? After everything we've faced, you're telling me to turn my back on this—on him?!"

There was a pause—then Eternity's tone hardened, dripping with a weight Kaelen had never felt before.

"You don't understand. That is not just another foe. That is me… twisted. The other side of what I am. My brother. My shadow. Call it what you will—but know this, Kaelen: Aegon is the evil version of me."

Kaelen froze. His draconic pupils dilated, his chest aching as though his very heart had clenched.

"Evil version… of you?"

Eternity's reply was like thunder across a void.

"Yes. Where I embody balance, he embodies dominion. Where I seek to preserve, he seeks only to unmake. You've seen what a fraction of my power does when wielded by you—now imagine that power corrupted, given fully to destruction without restraint. That is Aegon. And you—"

His voice faltered, not in weakness but in grim finality.

"—you are not strong enough to face him."

Kaelen's fists trembled. Rage burned inside him, shame mixing with his obsession, that tyrannical compulsion to never kneel. But alongside it, for the first time since this battle began, the fear inside him swelled beyond denial. His body wanted to fight, but his very soul knew—it wasn't a battle. It would be execution.

Aegon finally shifted, his crimson gaze settling not on Kaelen alone, but on all of them. It was not malice that radiated from him, nor was it mercy. It was worse. It was indifference.

And in that instant, Kaelen realized something.

They weren't asking the right question.

It didn't matter whether Aegon was friend or foe.

The true question was… how long would he let them live?

------

The battlefield— which is scarred, broken, soaked in magic and blood—fell into a silence so suffocating it was as if the world itself held its breath. The flames had died, the rubble no longer trembled. All eyes, from Lila's blazing seer's gaze to Guinevere's ember-lit irises, to Drake's steel-hard stare and even the Celestials peering from the heavens, fixed on one figure alone.

Aegon.

Standing within Christopher's frame yet radiating an immensity that dwarfed even Endless, his crimson scales shimmered faintly, each breath a quake across existence. And then—he spoke.

His voice was deep, sonorous, both majestic and dreadful. It was like hearing the hymn of creation warped into a funeral dirge.

"Aetheris…"

The single word reverberated through their bones, rattling hearts and bending knees.

"This land you cling to—this filthy, broken land—is a carcass draped in illusions. You speak of kingdoms, of power, of balance… but it is all rot. Every stone, every vein of mana, every so-called civilization reeks of corruption. Aetheris is not the miracle you think it to be. It is a mistake."

The warriors of Eldoria stiffened. Ethan gritted his teeth, sparks of lightning qi bristling across his frame as though to drown out the voice. Lila's eyes burned with defiance, ecause she knew what Aegon said implied at this moment.

Aegon's gaze swept over them, his eyes glowing like two collapsing stars.

"I have watched from the silence between worlds. I have seen the birth and decay of countless multiverses, yet none as pitifully desperate as this one. The so called Celestials call themselves guardians, the Twelve Concepts pretend to be order, the Eternals claim eternity… and yet you all cling to a cage. You are slaves to a decaying creation."

He raised one clawed hand, and the ground groaned beneath the weight of his presence.

"I will not destroy Aetheris… no. I will reform it. Break it down to its marrow and rebuild it into a realm without weakness, without lies. Aetheris will be purified through annihilation and born again beneath my dominion. Only then will it be worthy to exist."

Shock rippled across the gathered. Rodriguez stumbled back, clutching Velyrian's shoulder. Maeralyn bit her lip until it bled, her knuckles whitening on her sword. Even Drake's proud resolve cracked for an instant.

Kaelen, however, snarled from above, his Avatar of Eternity aura crackling violently. He wanted to attack Aegon right at that moment to try and prevent the worst, but knew too well that it's a suicide mission for him if he tried that.

But before anyone could respond, before the sheer enormity of Aegon's declaration could settle—

A sound like the rupture of reality itself split the skies.

CRACK!

From above, something streaked downward with such speed that even Eternity gasped within Kaelen. The air tore apart, fire and chaos clashing violently as a figure slammed into Aegon with a force so devastating the ground cratered for miles around. The shockwave threw warriors sprawling, tore fortresses to shambles, and dimmed even the lingering glow of celestial stars.

Dust and ruin clouded everything. For one, agonizing heartbeat, the battlefield was drowned in silence again.

And then—two figures rose from the debris.

On one side, crimson scales gleaming, Aegon straightened without so much as a scratch, his cold, detached expression unchanged.

On the other, standing opposite him with eyes burning in furious chaos, his mantle of black storms shredding reality at the edges, was Endless.

The Eternal's chest rose and fell heavily, his mouth twisted not in his usual mocking grin, but in something worse—pure, cold fury.

"Aegon."

He spat the name like venom.

"Your very existence… is a stain. A repulsive, festering wound upon the tapestry I have woven. Do you think I would allow it? Do you think I would let this mockery of eternity remain standing? No…"

His claws flexed, chaos energy writhing violently across his frame, bending the air and sky.

"You will be wiped out. Here. Now."

A hush fell over the battlefield. For the first time, the unstoppable predator of their nightmares, Endless, wasn't looking at Kaelen. He wasn't looking at the warriors of Eldoria. He wasn't even focused on his eternal war against the Celestials.

His fury, his intent, his entire being, was locked onto one target—Aegon.

And in that moment, even Kaelen felt a strange dissonance.

Endless, the godlike tyrant who had crushed them all beneath his hand, who had massacred millions, who had looked upon mortals as worms unworthy of notice—was suddenly fighting for the same thing as them.

Or was he simply trying to defend his dominion, threatened by a being that even he instinctively feared?

The battlefield trembled, reality itself straining. Two cataclysmic forces, two impossibilities incarnate, stood face to face.

And everyone else… could only watch in dread.

But just then, Aegon's voice, low and cutting, broke the silence like a guillotine.

"Endless…"

His eyes narrowed, gleaming with a contempt far older than words.

"I see it now. You are nothing but a fragment. A parasite carrying the faintest fraction of my half-brother's pitiful power. You wear it like armor, wield it like a weapon… but it is hollow. Useless."

Endless stiffened. For the first time since his banishment, raw uncertainty flickered in his gaze.

Aegon turned slowly, almost casually, until his gaze fell upon Kelvin. The Abyssal scythe wielder felt his blood turn to ice as those crimson eyes pierced into him.

"And you… heir of chaos. You are no different. Another scrap clinging to stolen fire. You, too, walk in the shadow of powers you cannot comprehend. Your scythe screams of the abyss, but in the end, it is just a shard. A fragment."

Kelvin's grip tightened around his weapon, knuckles white, his usual smirk absent. For the first time in years, fear rattled him.

Then, Aegon's gaze shifted again. The world seemed to slow, every warrior's heartbeat stuttering in their chest. His eyes locked with Kaelen's.

The Avatar of Eternity met his stare with a defiance burning brighter than the stars, yet something deep inside him quivered as if staring into an abyss that knew his soul.

Aegon studied him silently, their locked gaze stretching into an eternity. And then he spoke, each word reverberating like a tolling bell of doom.

"You… carry him. My brother."

Kaelen's eyes widened, his grip on his blade faltering for just an instant. Eternity within him stirred violently, as if desperate to speak yet unable to find the words.

Aegon's lips curled into something between a sneer and a smirk.

"I can feel him in you. His essence. His will. His naivety."

The ground cracked beneath his feet as his aura flared like a collapsing star.

"But that power—all of it—will return to me. For Aetheris. For its reformation. For its rebirth in my image. Every fragment, every stolen ember, every last spark… I will reclaim it."

The words fell upon them heavier than any mountain, a proclamation of inevitability.

Before anyone could move, before even Endless could react, Aegon's form blurred. There was no flash, no ripple, no warning—he simply ceased to be where he stood.

And then—

BOOM!

He reappeared in front of Kelvin, crimson scales gleaming, his claw already outstretched toward the heir of chaos.

Kelvin barely had time to widen his eyes.

The world froze.

The warriors of Eldoria screamed his name. Kaelen roared as Eternity flared inside him. Endless's fury spiked into into self doubt.

The crimson dragon's claw hovered a hair's breadth from Kelvin's chest as he spoke in finality—

"I will start with you"

But just then, everything went dark.