ONLINE: Blades of Eternity - Chapter 428

Chapter 428: BETWEEN ETERNITY AND AEGON

The wind screamed around them as the three figures faced the being who had once been Christopher.

Now, that same vessel floated serenely, half wrapped in gold, half shrouded in darkness — Aegon, the Sovereign Dragon, reborn with the mind of a mortal who had embraced eternity.

Kelvin’s chaotic aura bled into the skies like rivers of violet flame, clashing with Kaelen’s radiant, golden-white energy that pulsed with the calm infinity of Eternity itself.

Lila stood between them, her Seer’s mark glowing across her temple — a single tear of light streaming from her left eye as her foresight reached beyond the physical.

Kaelen’s voice came first, steady but aching.

“Christopher. I know you can hear me… It’s me.”

Aegon didn’t move at first. His expression was placid — too calm, too divine.

But beneath the calm, the faintest shimmer crossed his eyes. For a brief instant, gold and blue light — Christopher’s — flickered there.

Lila saw it immediately. “He’s in there,” she whispered. “But… it’s like he’s behind a veil. The dragon’s consciousness wraps around him like armor.”

Kaelen took a step forward, his aura rippling against the invisible pressure radiating from Aegon. “Then we break through the veil.”

Kelvin gritted his teeth, Chaos energy spiraling around him. “I’m with you. Let’s tear it apart.”

Aegon’s voice resonated, deep and layered. “How many times do I have to tell you this, you highly misunderstand boy. There is no veil.”

The clouds trembled as his gaze finally locked on Kaelen.

“Christopher isn’t trapped. He’s here, with me. By choice.”

That single statement nearly stopped Kaelen’s heart.

Lila’s bow hand trembled. “No… that’s impossible. He’d never—”

“I would,” said another voice — softer, but echoing through Aegon’s divine tone.

It was unmistakable.

“Christopher…” Kaelen whispered, disbelief clouding his voice.

Aegon’s body glowed faintly, and this time, the overlapping tone separated — Christopher’s consciousness flickered visibly beside Aegon’s form, transparent but alive.

His expression was calm, almost serene.

“You always saw me as someone to protect, Kaelen,” Christopher said. “But I was never meant to live in your shadow. I’ve seen what the world beyond gods looks like — what he sees.”

Kaelen’s jaw clenched. “So you just gave up your humanity? Your life? For this?”

Christopher smiled faintly. “For understanding. Aegon showed me what we could never reach alone — the truth of Eternity and the void that shaped it. I wanted to be part of that truth.”

Kelvin’s chaos flared violently. “That’s madness! You’re letting yourself vanish!”

“No,” Christopher replied softly, “I’m becoming something greater.”

Lila’s Seer’s mark burned brightly as she stepped forward, her voice trembling. “Greater? You think being one with destruction makes you divine? Look at yourself! You’re being erased!”

Aegon’s golden aura flared, silencing her words like a storm swallowing light.

But Kaelen’s presence burned through the distortion, the glow of Eternity forcing the divine chaos to still.

Kaelen’s tone was low, yet every word carried the weight of the cosmos.

“Then tell me, Christopher — if you’ve found peace in this, why do I still feel your sorrow?”

Aegon’s eyes flickered again — two souls warring, one towering, one trembling.

For a brief, fragile moment, Christopher’s voice cracked through.

“…Because I miss what we were.”

The silence that followed was unbearable.

Kaelen lowered his head, shoulders trembling, the light around him dimming. Lila’s bow fell to her side. Kelvin’s chaotic energy faltered like dying embers.

Aegon’s tone deepened once more, his divine echo reclaiming dominance. “Enough. The mortal bonds that once tied me here have been severed. I am whole, and I am free.”

Kaelen raised his eyes — not of despair, but quiet defiance. The air around him vibrated, fracturing under the expanding gravity of his power.

“If that’s what you believe,” he said slowly, “then I’ll shatter your freedom… to remind you who you are.”

Eternity itself seemed to respond. The very sky folded around Kaelen, forming rings of light — not of aggression, but of unyielding resolve.

Kelvin stepped up beside him, Chaos swirling anew, dark tendrils merging with Eternity’s light in spirals that tore through the heavens.

And behind them, Lila’s Seer light expanded into a vast sigil, binding their powers together.

Kaelen’s next words were both a vow and a lament.

“Then so be it. If you truly chose this path, brother… I’ll reach you through it — even if I have to burn through eternity itself.”

Aegon smiled faintly, the dual tones of his voice merging once more.

“Show me, then… Avatar of Eternity.”

The sky ignited.

Light met shadow. Chaos met order.

And amidst it all — the faint echo of Christopher’s voice whispered through the clash of gods:

“Don’t hate me for the choice I made… just understand me.”

At this moment, the sky had gone utterly still. Even the winds that howled moments ago now seemed to bow in reverence to what was about to unfold.

Kaelen stood poised — blade drawn, his golden aura flaring and bending the heavens around him. Across from him, Aegon hovered like a god draped in sunlight and storm, his wings stretched across the skyline.

Between them, Chaos simmered in Kelvin’s veins, and Lila’s Seer light shimmered faintly, reflecting a thousand timelines at once.

The world held its breath.

Then, as Kaelen was about to surge forward, a sound older than all of Aetheris vibrated through the sky.

A sound not made of voice — but of truth.

“Enough.”

It wasn’t a roar.

It wasn’t even loud.

But it ended the very concept of motion in that instant.

Kaelen froze mid-step. His pupils dilated. His aura dimmed.

Kelvin flinched, gripping his head, as he felt the words ripple through every strand of Chaos within him.

And Lila—her Seer’s mark flared so brightly that she gasped, the light from her eyes painting the heavens in silver threads.

Even Aegon, Sovereign Dragon of the multiverse, paused.

That voice…

He knew that voice.

“You speak so loudly of eternity,” the voice continued, now resonating through Kaelen’s chest, “yet you forget whose name it bears.”

Kaelen’s eyes widened, realization dawning. “E-Eternity…?”

Aegon’s golden eyes narrowed, tension flickering across his godlike expression. “Brother.”

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement — heavy, ancient, and laden with memory.

The divine essence in the air shifted instantly, as though every star that bore their shared legacy leaned closer to listen.

Kaelen’s body glowed faintly as Eternity, the consciousness within him, fully manifested through his host. His tone was calm, absolute — not commanding, but unchallengeable.

“Kaelen,” Eternity said softly, though every syllable echoed like a bell across creation, “do you even know what you were about to do?”

Kaelen lowered his gaze, the enormity of the being within him pressing down on his soul. “I was… trying to stop him.”

“By raising a blade against my brother?” Eternity’s tone sharpened. “Against the being who once shaped half of existence beside me? Without even seeking my will?”

Kaelen faltered. The guilt in his chest deepened like gravity itself.

Kelvin looked between them, his own chaos energy retreating in awe. “Wait… that’s—Eternity himself?”

Lila could only nod weakly. “And Aegon is… his sibling.”

The air pulsed — light and shadow intertwined in perfect silence as both divine forces faced each other.

Aegon’s gaze softened, but pride still lingered in his words. “You speak through a mortal now, brother? How… quaint. You, who once ruled over the essence of balance itself.”

Eternity chuckled faintly, the sound timeless yet filled with emotion.

“And you, who still cannot understand restraint. You wield dominion as though it grants you meaning. Tell me, Aegon — does your conquest ever fill the silence within you?”

Aegon’s expression hardened. “You speak of silence, yet you hid yourself within a fragile vessel. Do you call that wisdom?”

Eternity’s light deepened within Kaelen, radiating a calm so profound it silenced even Chaos itself.

“It is wisdom when you learn to share power rather than command it. You force, I guide. You devour, I nurture. That is why I am still remembered.”

Aegon’s golden aura flickered — a momentary lapse in his divine poise. For the first time since his rebirth, he looked… uncertain.

Kelvin glanced at Kaelen, then whispered to Lila, “They’re not just talking — they’re remembering.”

Lila nodded faintly, her Seer vision painting faint echoes of ancient stars — two cosmic beings forging Aetheris at the dawn of creation. The brothers who built eternity itself, now standing on opposite ends of its ruin.

Eternity’s tone softened, turning almost… human.

“Aegon, listen to me. You and I — we were never meant to dominate this world. We were meant to guide it. You sought avatars of power; I sought vessels of heart. Kaelen bears my will not because he is strong, but because he chooses compassion even when it weakens him.”

He paused, and Kaelen felt something stir in his heart — a warmth, like understanding.

“You, too, have your avatar now — Christopher. He did not lose himself to you, Aegon. He accepted you. Just as Kaelen accepted me.”

Aegon looked down, eyes flickering between the mortal faces before him. “To accept… is to yield.”

“No,” Eternity countered gently, “to accept is to become whole. You do not need to command him, brother. Let him live through you — not beneath you.”

The silence that followed was cosmic — deep, stretching beyond the skies into the fabric of the multiverse itself.

Aegon finally exhaled. A shimmer crossed his form — golden flame softening into light. The heavens, long frozen, began to breathe again. The tension that had bound even time itself began to ease.

“Perhaps…” Aegon murmured after a long pause, “there is truth in your words, old one. I have walked endless worlds, and none have spoken to me so.”

Kelvin whispered, “…He’s yielding.”

Eternity’s light faded slightly, his tone becoming distant — fatherly.

“Good. Then remember — dominion without mercy is only another form of emptiness.”

Aegon inclined his head, a faint, almost reluctant smile tugging at his lips. “And eternity without action is stagnation. It seems some things never change between us.”

Eternity chuckled, his voice warm now.

“Then perhaps… that is balance.”

The divine pressure broke — the air shimmered, stars pulsed faintly in the daytime sky, and for the first time since the battle began, the heavens relaxed.

Kaelen felt Eternity’s presence recede, his voice softening in his mind:

“There is no shame in standing still, my vessel. Sometimes peace is the loudest victory.”

Kaelen bowed his head slightly. “I understand.”

As Eternity’s essence dimmed, silence reclaimed the air.

Aegon gave one final look to Kaelen — and for the first time, not as an enemy or lesser being, but as an equal.

Then, without another word, his golden form dissolved into the high clouds, the faint trace of Christopher’s laughter echoing with him.

Kelvin and Lila both hovered quietly beside Kaelen, staring into the endless blue where Aegon vanished.

“Do you think… this is truly over?” Lila asked softly.

Kaelen looked down at his hands — Eternity’s glow fading into calm starlight.

“No,” he said, voice quiet but resolute. “But for now… even gods can rest.”