The air inside the Seal Chamber of Iron-Hold didn't just feel cold; it felt dead. The presence of the Void General, a towering monstrosity of shifting shadows and jagged obsidian armor, made the very stone walls of the fortress groan in protest.
Kaelen Vance stood his ground, his hand tightly clutching Liora's. The Mana-Link was active, and he could feel her warmth, her fear, and her pure life-force flowing into his fractured mana core. It was a golden river of energy meeting his silver ocean, creating a turbulent, unstoppable storm.
"Kaelen... it hurts..." Liora whispered, her face pale as snow.
"Hold on just a little longer, Liora," Kaelen growled, his eyes burning with a blinding silver light. "I won't let him touch you. Not again."
The Return of the General
The Void General, known as Malphas the Soul-Eater, let out a sound that was less of a voice and more of a psychic vibration. "The Silver Lion... you are but a cub in this era. Why struggle? The Void is inevitable. Your soul is already marked."
Malphas raised a massive, four-fingered hand. A sphere of violet-black energy formed, crackling with the screams of a thousand trapped souls. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the sphere hurtling toward Kaelen.
Kaelen didn't dodge. He couldn't. Behind him was Liora, and behind her was the weakened seal of the Frost-Giants. If he moved, the world would end tonight.
"Sovereign's Art: Aegis of the Fallen!"
Kaelen slammed Ghost-Biter into the ground. A hexagonal shield of silver energy erupted, meeting the violet sphere head-on. The impact was like a mountain collapsing. The floor beneath Kaelen's feet shattered, and he was driven to one knee, blood coughing from his throat.
"Is that all?" Kaelen spat, wiping the crimson from his lip. "In my time, I used your brother's skull as a footstool, Malphas!"
The General roared, enraged by the mention of a future that hadn't happened yet. He lunged forward, his movement blurring. His obsidian blade clashed against Ghost-Biter with a force that sent shockwaves through the entire mountain.
The Forbidden Technique
Kaelen knew he was losing. His body was reaching its limit. The Mana-Link was draining Liora too fast. He had to end this in one strike, but his current mana pool wasn't enough.
I have to go deeper, Kaelen thought. I have to tap into the 'Chronos Residue'.
The Chronos Residue was the leftover energy from the time-travel rite Elara had performed. It was located at the very center of his soul, guarded by chains of destiny. To break those chains meant risking his existence, but Malphas was already preparing his finishing move—the Void-Vacuum, a spell that would erase everything in a hundred-yard radius.
"Liora, let go!" Kaelen shouted.
"No! I'm staying with you!" she cried, her stubbornness outshining her pain.
Kaelen looked at her and saw the same fire he had seen in the future. "Then give me everything!"
He closed his eyes and reached into the darkness of his own soul. He grabbed the chains of time and pulled.
Crrr-ack!
A sound like the breaking of the world echoed inside Kaelen's head. His hair, already light, turned into a shimmering, ethereal silver that flowed like liquid starlight. His skin glowed with ancient runes that had never been seen in this era.
"Sovereign's Transformation: The Echo of the Future!"
Kaelen's presence changed. He no longer looked like a seventeen-year-old boy. For a fleeting moment, he stood with the height and authority of the man who had led the last stand of humanity.
Malphas hesitated, a flicker of genuine fear appearing in his violet eyes. "This... this power... it shouldn't be here yet!"
"You're right," Kaelen's voice sounded like two voices speaking at once—the boy and the legend. "It's ten years too early for you. But it's just in time for me."
Kaelen stepped forward. He didn't run. With every step, the ground beneath his feet turned into silver glass. He raised Ghost-Biter, and the rusted iron blade transformed. It grew longer, sharper, and began to radiate a heat that rivaled the sun.
The Final Strike
Malphas gathered all his dark essence into a single, desperate thrust. The air itself began to tear apart as the Void General poured his very existence into the attack.
Kaelen took a deep breath. He remembered Elara's face as she sacrificed herself. He remembered Liora's screams in the burning academy. He remembered every friend he had buried.
"Silver Lion Style: Forbidden Form — Star-Shatter Zenith!"
Kaelen swung his blade. It wasn't a physical strike. It was a tear in reality. A line of pure, white-hot silver light sliced through the chamber. It cut through Malphas's obsidian sword. It cut through his armor. It cut through the Void General's soul.
The explosion of light was so bright it could be seen from the capital, hundreds of miles away. The dark hand of the Void was incinerated, and the portal began to collapse inward, sucked into the vacuum Kaelen's strike had created.
"You... have only... delayed... the inevitable..." Malphas hissed as his body dissolved into stardust. "The Prophet... will find... the girl..."
The Fall of the Fortress
The General was gone. The seal was stabilized. But the cost was heavy.
Kaelen's transformation vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He fell forward, his body limp and cold. His mana core was silent—totally empty.
Liora caught him, her own strength nearly gone. "Kaelen! Stay with me! Don't you dare close your eyes!"
She dragged him away from the center of the room just as the ceiling began to crumble. The battle had destabilized the mountain itself. With the last of her energy, she dragged him into a small side-alcove, shielding him with her body as the Great Hall collapsed in a heap of iron and stone.
Morning After the Storm
Hours later, the sun rose over the ruins of Iron-Hold. The 'Ice-Statues' in the courtyard had begun to melt, the curse broken by the General's death. The soldiers were waking up, confused and shivering, but alive.
Commander Valen was found dead among the rubble, his body consumed by the same Void he had worshipped.
Deep in the alcove, Kaelen opened his eyes. He couldn't move his arms. He couldn't feel his legs. But he was breathing. Liora was asleep next to him, her head on his chest, her breath steady.
He looked up at the shattered ceiling, seeing the blue sky for the first time in days. He had survived. He had saved Liora. He had stopped the first invasion.
But Malphas's final words haunted him. 'The Prophet will find the girl.'
He knew they weren't talking about Liora. They were talking about Elara.
The Messenger
A shadow fell over the entrance of the alcove. Kaelen reached for a sword that wasn't there, but stopped.
It was an owl—a royal messenger owl with a gold ribbon tied to its leg. It flew down and dropped a small scroll onto Kaelen's chest before flying away.
With trembling fingers, Kaelen opened it. The handwriting was Elara's, but it was rushed, the ink smudged with what looked like tears.
"Kaelen, The Palace is no longer safe. Julian has awakened, but he is not himself. The King has been poisoned, and the High Council has declared you a criminal of the state. They are coming for you in the North. But more importantly... they are forcing me to marry the 'Prophet's representative' to seal an alliance. Please... don't come back. Stay hidden. Live. — Elara."
Kaelen crushed the scroll in his hand. A single spark of silver lightning flickered in his eyes.
"Don't come back?" Kaelen whispered, a dark, dangerous smile appearing on his face. "You should know by now, Elara... I never follow the rules."
He looked at Liora, who was just waking up. "Liora, get up. We have to go."
"Where?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "We just finished the mission."
"The mission just changed," Kaelen said, standing up with a newfound resolve that defied his injuries. "We're not going back to the Academy as students. We're going back as conquerors."
The Silver Lion had been pushed too far. The North had tempered him. The Void had tested him. And now, the Kingdom of Astrum was about to realize that you cannot exile a King and expect your throne to remain.