CHAPTER 154: DISAPPEAR

Elius stood atop the floating shard of earth, his robes whispering in the air, shadowed by the lightless void between rising platforms. The two cubes hovered in his hand like precious relics, their light spinning in a silent rhythm. They didn’t shine like artificial tools anymore. They pulsed like living things—breathing, aware, old.

"These cubes are now refined," Elius said calmly, turning his head toward Keith who was still standing below him, panting, shaking with tension. "They just look different now... because their master is no longer you."

The glow from the cubes bathed Elius’s face in pale amber light. He stared into them, and for the first time since the battle began, his expression softened—not with mockery, not with contempt, but with real wonder. A quiet breath left his lips, carried by the wind like reverence.

"I have to admit," Elius said with a glimmer of sincerity, "human minds truly are fascinating. To make something like this... so intricate, so dense, so ahead of its time... It’s not just impressive. It’s awesome."

He said the last word with childlike appreciation.

Keith’s brow furrowed, eyes narrowing as he slowly stepped closer, craning his neck toward the floating shapes. Something about their geometry... the way the glow wasn’t symmetrical, the inscriptions etched into the surface like flowing circuits... And the faint humming, like their resonance was tuned to a new master.

His breath caught in his throat.

"Wait... that’s..." he whispered.

Elius turned to him slightly, smiling.

"Yes. These are your cubes."

Keith’s lips parted in shock.

"But... they don’t look like that—"

"This," Elius interrupted, raising the cubes gently, "is what they really look like. Not the corrupted, repurposed junk you all were playing with like toys. This is the real form—when properly refined. This is what they’re meant to be. What they were born to be."

The golden light brightened, throwing a gleam across the endless platforms around them.

"Now," Elius said, calmly turning the cubes with his fingers, "tell me, Keith... Can they still get out of my sand tombs?"

Keith’s eyes widened, rage flaring again as he clenched his fists.

And then—

BOOM!

He launched himself forward.

A punch arced through the air—WHAM!—but Elius tilted his head and slipped under it like mist on the wind.

Another punch—SWOOSH!—missed as Elius leaned back lazily, not even lifting his arms.

Keith roared, throwing everything into a rapid flurry of strikes—left, right, elbow, knee, rising uppercut, spin-kick—

But each time, Elius moved an inch.

One inch. Always enough.

"Still so predictable," Elius laughed, sidestepping a powerful blow and letting Keith stumble forward. "You’re like a wind-up toy. All fury, no direction."

Keith turned with another scream and leapt, feet spinning into a violent whirlwind. Elius vanished just as the kick came close.

Ghost Walk.

WHIFF.

Keith landed hard, cracking the stone.

"You don’t even understand your own body, Keith!" Elius called from behind him now. "Your fists? They’re just tantrums."

BAM! Another punch. Dodged.

BAM! A sweeping kick. Missed by inches.

"You punch like someone who’s only ever hit walls and regrets, you never learned anything, did you?" Elius mocked, easily gliding away from every strike. "That’s why you’re already tired."

Keith’s lungs burned. His arms shook. Sweat poured down his temples, sliding over his bruises. His feet were sluggish, heavy.

"Your footwork," Elius continued, now behind him again, "is unbalanced."

Keith turned and swung.

Too slow.

"Your shoulders tense up every time you swing."

He struck again.

Too late.

"And that rear-leg pivot? Absolutely disgraceful."

Another attempt. Another dodge.

Elius laughed now, joyfully, like he was in a dance and Keith was nothing more than a stumbling partner trying to keep pace. His form shimmered again—Ghost Walk—and he moved through Keith’s next punch as though it didn’t exist.

"You’re not a villain," Elius whispered beside his ear, "You’re just a little boy pretending he matters."

"SHUT UP!!"

Keith lunged, teeth bared, fury in his eyes.

BOOM!

He tackled the air.

Elius wasn’t there.

Ghost Walk.

Again.

"Give up being a villain, Keith," Elius called from high above him now, floating midair, arms crossed. "You were never meant to walk that path. You’re not ruthless. You’re not cruel. You’re just... lost."

Keith collapsed to one knee, panting. His arms hung limply at his sides, trembling. His vision swam from fatigue.

"Still trying to kill me?" Elius teased. "Still trying to break your limits? Or are you finally realizing... you’re not even close?"

Keith’s head slowly lifted. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip.

It was small. Subtle.

But it was there.

Elius’s eyes narrowed.

He sensed it.

Something was wrong.

His smile began to fade.

The cube pulsed once in Elius’s hand—and then, without warning, it vanished in a flicker of golden light.

Fssshhh.

A sharp gust of mana blew across the floating platforms as the air warped, and the cube reappeared—no longer in Elius’s palm, but now clenched tightly in Keith’s trembling hand.

Keith stepped back with wide eyes, the cube humming violently in his grasp like it recognized its true owner. His chest rose and fell, drenched in sweat, but now there was something else in his expression—hope.

"What...?" Elius muttered.

He snapped his head toward the horizon—and there, standing boldly atop a broken pillar of stone, was a man Elius did not recognize.

He was tall and thin, with brown skin and shoulder-length black hair, tied loosely at the back. A deep indigo cloak flared behind him, adorned with shifting golden runes. His magician’s outfit shimmered faintly, resisting the flickering pressure of Elius’s domain. In his hand was a crooked staff of blackened wood, and his eyes glowed with a tired, burning light—like a candle too determined to die.

Elius’s face darkened.

"You..." he growled, stepping forward, "You’re the one interfering."

The magician’s eyes didn’t blink. "Nice to meet you, too."

Elius’s form blurred into a ghostly silhouette—Ghost Walk—and he surged forward across the air, leaping from one floating platform to the next like a shadow returning to its source.

"Give it BACK!" Elius howled.

But before his hand could reach Keith’s shoulder, Keith vanished.

Whooomp.

A pulse of spatial magic scattered the floating rocks like leaves in a storm. Elius’s clawed hand grabbed nothing but air.

Then—

BOOOM!!!

The sand tombs he had shaped—three massive mountains of hardened earth sealing Zhark, Fraven, and Shania—suddenly began to implode.

Cracks webbed across their surfaces.

Dust hissed from their seams.

And then, in a glorious explosion of dirt and light, the tombs collapsed—and the three prisoners were gone.

Elius spun around.

They had reappeared beside the magician. All four of them—Keith, Zhark, Fraven, and Shania—stood in a half-circle formation around him, breathless, beaten, trembling, but alive.

Keith’s chest heaved. Fraven’s robes were torn. Shania’s illusionary makeup had faded, her eyes glaring defiantly. Zhark’s arms still crackled with erratic arcs of electricity, teeth clenched tight.

The magician dropped to one knee, gasping, sweat pouring from his forehead like a river.

"Damn it... I hate doing this," he panted, dragging himself back to his feet using his staff. "Time-step... recall-point... reverse cube tether... not fun."

He pointed his staff toward the group, his breathing still ragged.

"You all owe me. Big time."

Keith nodded.

"Yeah," he said between gasps. "We do."

Fraven gave a twitch of a smile. "You saved our asses."

Shania exhaled slowly, looking down, her voice soft. "Thanks."

Zhark groaned. "Next time, show up ten minutes earlier."

The magician smirked tiredly. "Next time, don’t pick fights you can’t win."

Then, he tapped his crooked staff against the concrete platform.

Clack.

A strange ringing spread out—like the sound was traveling across dimensions. The air folded inward around them, shimmering like heat waves above desert sand. Space twisted and warped around their bodies like a spinning mirror.

Elius lunged forward, eyes wide with fury.

"DON’T YOU DARE RUN—!"

WHOOMPH.

And then, in an instant—

They were gone.