Chapter 70 – Eclipse of Resolve

The battlefield lay in eerie silence after the fall of the Crimson General. Smoke curled into the sky, carrying the stench of blood and ash. The world itself seemed to hold its breath.

Kael stood amidst the ruins, his blade dripping with shadows that refused to fade. His chest rose and fell heavily, but his eyes were cold, sharpened by something deeper than victory—resolve forged in suffering.

The survivors, soldiers and civilians alike, stared at him. Some whispered in awe, others in fear.

“That man… he’s not human anymore.”
“No, he’s something worse… or greater.”

The voices blended into a distant murmur. Kael did not look at them. His gaze was fixed on the horizon where the sun was sinking, its golden light swallowed by a rising veil of darkness. The eclipse had begun.

“Is this what you wanted, fate?” he muttered. “To test how far I’d go?”

The shadows around him rippled in answer, restless, eager, as though the abyss itself demanded more blood. He clenched his fist. He would not let them rule him—not yet.

From behind him, Aria staggered forward, her robes scorched but her eyes unbroken.
“You defeated him,” she whispered, voice trembling with both relief and dread. “But Kael… what did you sacrifice?”

Kael turned, his face half-lit by the dying sun, half-consumed by shadow. “Enough to keep moving. Not enough to stop.”

The eclipse deepened, and with it, the ground began to tremble. A vast rift tore across the battlefield. From the abyss below, a pulse of energy surged—darker and more ancient than anything Kael had ever felt. The true enemy was stirring.

For a heartbeat, silence reigned again. Then, the world itself screamed.

Kael lifted his sword, shadows coiling like serpents around the steel. His voice cut through the chaos:

“If the abyss demands a vessel… it will find me waiting.”

The eclipse swallowed the last of the light. The war for existence was no longer in shadows. It had stepped into the open.