Chapter 55 — Chains That Defy Eternity

The cathedral groaned under their presence. Cracks webbed across its foundations as if reality itself feared the collision to come.

The Sovereign lowered her hand. The air stilled. Then— BOOM.

Her form blurred. In an instant, she was before Kael, her palm aimed for his heart. The girl barely saw it happen; only the aftershock reached her ears, a detonation of force that threw her against the fractured altar.

But Kael did not move.

Chains erupted from his chest, intercepting the strike. Metal shrieked against nothingness. Sparks of black flame hissed where they touched.

The Sovereign leaned closer, her lips curling into a grin. “You are a shadow, boy. A phantom that should never have been. Do you truly think your stolen existence can defy me?”

Kael’s eyes gleamed crimson in the darkness.
“I don’t think.” He pulled the chains tighter, wrapping them around her arm.
“I decide.”

With a twist, the chains snapped downward, slamming the Sovereign into the ground. The cathedral shook. Dust erupted in choking waves.

But her laughter rose from beneath the rubble. Low. Mocking. Endless.

“Good,” she hissed, rising through the cracks, her veil now torn, revealing a face carved from nightmare beauty. “Show me more, forgotten one. Show me if your despair is enough to match eternity.”

She raised her arm again—and the entire sky above them blackened. Not clouds. Not nightfall. A dome of crushing void, swallowing the stars.

The girl gasped, her body trembling. This was no battle. This was apocalypse.

Kael only tightened his grip on the chains, his breath steady. His reply was almost a whisper.
“Then I’ll rewrite eternity, too.”

The clash of Sovereign and shadow consumed the world.