CHAPTER 101: CHECKMATE

Kaelen turned slowly. The insane smile on his face froze. The arrogant confidence in his eyes was replaced by a flicker of satisfaction.

It was like a cat watching its prey fall into the trap. Rhys frowned, stepping from the shadows of the trees.

He was not wearing a mask. His face was calm, his posture relaxed, but his pitch-black eyes were fixed on Kaelen with an intensity that was colder than the ocean wind.

Anya Sterling gasped, her own dagger forgotten in her hand. Hope, a feeling she thought had died, surged through her. It was him. He had come for her.

Kaelen recovered quickly, his satisfied face melting back into a wide, manic grin.

"Well, well, well," he purred, his voice dripping with amusement.

"Look what the cat dragged in. My dear, pathetic cousin. I was wondering when you would show up. Did you come to beg for your life? Or perhaps to offer yourself as a new puppet for my collection?"

Rhys did not answer with words. He answered with action.

There was no warning, no build-up of energy. One moment he was standing at the edge of the forest, and the next he was directly in front of Kaelen.

His movement was not just fast; it was a violation of space, a perfect execution of Shadowed Dive that made it look like he had teleported.

His fist, glowing with the black and silver fire of the Voidheart Flame, slammed into Kaelen’s chest.

The impact was silent but absolute. Kaelen’s eyes widened in a pained grimace. He had not even had time to raise a defence.

The Voidheart Flame was not a normal fire. It did not burn with heat; it burned with the concept of erasure.

Kaelen’s chest, his entire torso, simply vanished. It turned into a fine, black dust that was scattered by the wind. His head, arms, and legs fell to the rocky ground with a wet, messy sound.

It was over in less than a second.

Anya stared, her mind unable to process the speed and finality of the attack. Kaelen, the monster who had terrorised her for days, the abomination who had conquered the entire province, was dead. Just like that.

She felt a wave of relief so powerful it almost made her knees buckle.

But the relief was short-lived.

The scattered pieces of Kaelen’s body on the ground began to bubble. The blood that pooled on the rocks moved on its own.

It slithered together, pulling the severed limbs and the head with it. The pieces merged, flesh and bone knitting back together at a visible, horrifying rate.

In less than ten seconds, Kaelen stood before them again, completely whole. The manic smile was back on his face, wider and more insane than ever.

"Oh, yes!" he cackled, his voice full of a joyful madness. "That was wonderful! That little fire of yours, it tickles! Do it again!"

Rhys’s face was a mask of cold stone. He had expected this. He had known it would not be that easy. His gaze was fixed on the blood that had reformed his cousin.

"You really are a cockroach," Rhys said, his voice flat.

"A cockroach?" Kaelen laughed. "No, cousin. I am a god. I am eternal. You cannot kill me."

[Something is wrong with him... System analysing...]

For the first time after his reincarnation, Rhys decided to mute the system in his mind. If it had not been for the system, he would’ve killed this demon the moment he appeared that day.

"Let me show you a trick, cousin..." Kaelen curled his lips.

As he spoke, a huge, dark shape flew out from the forest behind him. It was a giant bird, larger than any eagle.

Its feathers were the colour of dried blood, and its eyes were glowing red points of light. It let out a piercing shriek and swooped down, its sharp talons aimed at Rhys.

Rhys moved to dodge, but Kaelen was on him in an instant. The demon was faster now, his body infused with the power he had stolen from the province.

A tendril of blood shot from his shoulder, wrapping around Rhys’s leg and holding him in place.

The blood-red bird slammed into Rhys. Its talons tore through his defensive formations and his flesh, lifting him off the ground. It carried him high into the air, its grip like iron.

Kaelen watched from the ground, his arms crossed, a look of pure amusement on his face.

High above the cliff, the bird opened its beak and let out another shriek. Then, it simply dissolved.

Its entire body turned into a rain of thick, red blood that poured down over Rhys. The blood was corrosive. It burned his skin and ate at his clothes.

As he fell through the shower of blood, he saw Kaelen’s form leap from it. The demon appeared in mid-air in front of him, his fist swinging in a powerful arc.

The blow connected with Rhys’s jaw, sending him crashing back down onto the cliff with the force of a meteor.

He hit the ground hard, the impact shattering the rock beneath him and creating a small crater. Pain flared through his body.

His flawless regeneration immediately began to heal his wounds, but the attack had been powerful.

Kaelen landed softly a few feet away. He walked over to the crater and looked down at Rhys, his red eyes glowing with triumph.

"You see, cousin? It’s useless," Kaelen said, his voice calm.

"My blood is everywhere. It is in the beasts of the forest. It is in the soil of this province. I sacrificed my own clansmen, my own family, to become this.

Every drop of their blood is now a part of me. As long as a single drop of my blood remains in this world, I can never truly die. And you... how can you possibly hope to erase me when an entire province is my blood bank?"

He laughed, a long, mocking sound that was carried away by the wind.

"You cannot win. This world is mine. And soon, you will be mine too."

Rhys slowly pushed himself up from the crater. His clothes were in tatters, and his body was covered in burns and bruises, but his eyes were clear.

He looked at Kaelen, and for the first time, there was a flicker of something in his expression.

It was not fear. It was not anger. It was a cold, hard resignation.

He finally understood. Kaelen was right. He could not win this fight with normal methods. He could kill Kaelen’s physical body a thousand times, but the demon would just keep coming back.

He was in a checkmate.

There was only one way...

Rhys slowly raised his head and glanced towards Anya. The green in her eyes slowly dissipated as she took a few steps back, looking at him in horror.

"No... don’t do it. Please... PLEASE!" she cried out in horror. Kaelen glanced back at her, the demon’s red pupils turned confused for a fleeting moment.

Then, his expression shattered like glass into countless pieces. He turned around, pure terror on his face.

"What. The. Fuck. Are. You. Going. To. Do?"

Rhys said nothing as the darkness in his pupils swirled together. His gaze swept past Kaelen, seemingly travelling hundreds of miles, all the way back to the floating city of the Eon Emporium.

"Seduction..."