The sky was still trembling from the impact of the Voidrend Slash, the cut that had torn through dimensions and made the very air bleed crimson.Kairon, the Universal Emperor, remained standing. His once serenely disdainful expression had now hardened.
— Hm… — he muttered, brushing off a fragment of cosmic energy still sparking across his armor. — Enough wasting time.
He raised his right hand, and the very fabric of space seemed to kneel before him. The air lost its shape. Sound vanished. Even color began to drip away like paint dissolving off a canvas.
A sepulchral silence fell upon all.
Then, with a voice that needed no echo — for it was law itself — he declared:
— Emperor's Touch — Eternal Judgment.
Flashback: The Training
Before the power could consume him entirely, Inavy felt his mind plunge into a distant past.
He was only twelve, a boy barely able to hold a sword without his arms aching. Before him stood Ray Stormbreak, his father — a man who bore the weight of ages without ever bowing.
— Father… — Inavy gasped, breathless after falling for the tenth time during relentless training. — How do you do it? How do you fight without ever tiring? How are you… so strong?
Ray looked at his son with hard eyes, but beneath them burned silent pride.
— It's simple, boy. — He spun his sword and drove it into the ground. — If they show me a limit, I'll break through it. If they raise a wall, I'll tear it down. The impossible doesn't exist for someone born to fight until the very end.
He placed a hand on his son's shoulder.— And you, Inavy, were born never to bow.
The words etched themselves into the boy's soul.
The Judgment
When his consciousness returned, Inavy was no longer on the battlefield.
He stood before the Cosmic Throne.
A golden void surrounded him, as if the entire universe had been melted into liquid gold. No sound. No wind. Nothing — only the crushing presence of something that was neither god nor spirit, but Reality itself in its purest form.
A voice, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once, echoed inside his soul:
— Are you worthy to continue existing?
Inavy gasped. His body refused to move. His soul was laid bare, like an open book.
Images began to flash before him: his childhood; the battles of seventeen years past; the invasion he resisted even while bleeding; tender moments with Rose; laughter alongside Ethan and Saddie; and also his failures, his pain, his fear.
He was naked before the absolute concept.
— Hero… or just a fool delaying the inevitable? — the voice said.
The weight crushed his chest. It was impossible to resist Judgment. Anyone else would have been erased — not only from the world, but from all timelines.
The Counterstrike of Chaos
But Inavy was not "anyone else."
Within his essence flowed not only Stormbreak blood, but also Primordial Chaos — the antithesis of order, of destiny, of law itself.
Judgment thrived on rules. Chaos existed to shatter them.
When the Throne tried to sentence his soul, something fractured.
From Inavy erupted millions of distorted versions of himself:— One Inavy who died young.— Another who never became a hero.— One who destroyed the world with his own hands.— One who was never even born.
Eternal Judgment faltered, unable to align the infinite possibilities Chaos unleashed.
Golden walls cracked. The Cosmic Throne trembled.
Inavy roared, his voice booming like thunder:
— You will not erase me! I am the storm that rejects destiny, Kairon! I am the Chaos you fear!
His soul exploded in black and crimson energy, shattering the golden realm into countless fragments.
The Shattering of the Absolute
On the real battlefield, those watching through broadcasts saw only a golden flash consuming the sky. For a moment, the entire world believed Inavy had been erased from existence.
But then… a black rift tore open in the heavens, spewing distorted energy, and a colossal aura erupted.
Inavy emerged, cloaked in swirling black and crimson chaos, golden sparks still flickering around his body — remnants of a Judgment he had corrupted.
Kelvin Nox, watching from the ground, widened his eyes.— He… he broke Judgment. — he whispered. — That bastard truly is the only one who can face the Emperor.
Darius clenched his fists.Lorien, silent, knew he was witnessing something that should never have been possible.
Across the world, people fell to their knees, unsure if what they saw was hope — or terror.
Rivalry Declared
On the other side, Kairon still stood, wrapped in golden light. But for the first time, his expression had changed.
No arrogance. No indifference.
There was genuine respect.
He smiled — not as an emperor, but as a warrior.
— Interesting… — he said, raising the Spear of Destiny. — You escaped Judgment. No one had ever done that. This only confirms… you are my true rival.
Inavy, gasping, lifted the Blade of Chaos, his crimson eyes blazing.
— Then come, Kairon! Today, the world will witness the end of your Eternal Judgment!
The sky split in two. The Spear of Destiny shone like a sun. The Blade of Chaos roared like a thousand storms.
And the chapter ended at the exact moment they clashed, each strike carrying the weight of universes.
[END OF CHAPTER]