CHAPTER 1508: STORY 1508: SHATTERED ETERNITY

The forest convulsed as the titan’s death-cry split the heavens. Thousands of voices shrieked in unison, a sound so piercing it rattled the marrow of every living thing for miles. The glowing sigil cracked under Kael’s blade, fissures of light spidering outward through the titan’s body. Each fracture sent shockwaves of white fire, bursting corpses into ash, unraveling the grotesque cathedral of flesh from within.

Kael clung to his sword, refusing to let go as the energy surged. The light burned his skin, searing through armor and cloth, yet still he pressed deeper, twisting the blade. “Break, damn you!” he roared, though his own voice was drowned beneath the cacophony of the dead.

On the ground, Elara staggered to her feet, shielding her eyes from the blinding light. Her fire dimmed, nearly extinguished, but she forced it to flare once more, weaving it around Kael’s blade. “Take it, Kael!” she cried. “Take all of it!”

The white flame poured into him, threading through his veins. His body convulsed under the torrent, his corrupted wound flaring with both agony and brilliance. Black veins writhed as if resisting, but the fire consumed them, turning corruption into light.

The sigil thrashed like a living heart, trying to repair itself, but Kael’s will was unyielding. With a final roar, he drove the sword fully into the core.

The sigil shattered.

The titan collapsed with it—its massive form disintegrating in a storm of ashes and bone fragments. The shockwave ripped through the forest, flattening trees and scattering embers into the sky. For a moment, night became day, the crimson fog torn apart by pure white brilliance.

Then silence.

Elara fell to her knees, her body trembling from exhaustion. She pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to steady her breath. Her eyes darted upward, searching. “Kael?”

From the raining ash, a figure stumbled free of the collapsing titan’s remains. Kael dropped to one knee, his sword still in hand, the once-black veins now burned away to pale scars. His face was ashen, his breaths shallow—but he was alive.

Elara rushed to him, dropping beside his side. Relief flooded her eyes, though tears streaked her soot-stained cheeks. “You did it... by the gods, you actually did it.”

Kael coughed, a weak smile twitching at his lips. “Don’t thank me yet.”

The ground beneath them rumbled. From the ashes of the titan, something remained—not a body, but a shard of the sigil, glowing faintly with malignant light. The forest seemed to recoil around it, the air thickening with whispers not their own.

Elara’s stomach turned cold. “It’s not gone.”

Kael’s eyes darkened. He forced himself upright, leaning heavily on his sword. “Then this was just the beginning.”

The shard pulsed once, sending ripples of crimson fog spreading outward into the night.

Far beyond the forest, unseen to them, the dead stirred again.

And somewhere in the distance, the master laughed.