Chapter 244: Unknown Reason
The weight of that realization did not remain as a simple thought. It expanded quickly and pressed down on both of them with a severity that far exceeded the chaos unfolding below.
That was because what they sensed was not merely a surge of power or an anomaly within this broken world that usually appeared because some higher beings tried to play with this lower world, but the presence of something that existed far beyond it.
Something that had no place manifesting here under any circumstance.
The Voidheart was not an entity that could be measured or understood through the same lens as everything else they had faced until now. Seraphina and Lilian knew it.
It was an existence that stood on a scale so vast that even the concept of distance within the cosmos held little meaning before it.
It was a being that did not simply exist within reality but one that observed it from a position far removed from the flow of time, conflict, and consequence.
It had never been something that interfered directly. Across countless ages and conflicts that stretched through the higher realms, the Voidheart remained distant and unmoving. An observer that watched the rise and fall of forces that could shatter entire systems without ever choosing to intervene.
That detachment had always defined its nature, which made what followed even more unsettling. Because suddenly there had been a moment when that silence broke.
When the balance of the forces across the cosmos reached a critical point during one of the largest conflicts ever recorded, the Voidheart chose to act.
That single decision changed everything.
It aligned itself with the Luminal Star and the Shadow Moon, two other forces that existed beyond the comprehension of most beings, and together they tore through the Etherium Veil.
It was the barrier that once separated the flow of Ether from the lower realms. That veil had never been meant to be broken. It served as a boundary that maintained order, preventing the uncontrolled spread of power that could distort and destabilize the entire cosmos.
When it shattered, the result was immediate and irreversible.
The Etherfall began.
Ether flooded into places that had never been meant to contain it, warping reality and transforming existence to become unstable and violent.
Worlds collapsed, ecosystems changed beyond recognition, and civilizations either adapted or vanished entirely under the weight of that sudden evolution.
The balance that once held everything together ceased to exist, replaced by a fractured state where power dictated survival and nothing else held meaning.
And now, that same presence, the same signature that had triggered all of it, resonated from within Myles.
The implication of that alone carried a level of danger that extended far beyond the battlefield below, because it meant that something tied directly to the origin of the Etherfall had manifested again. Not in some distant realm or abstract plane but here, within this already unstable world.
It raised a question that neither Lilian nor Seraphina could ignore, one that settled deeply into their thoughts and refused to fade.
Why now?
The Voidheart had remained distant even during the most catastrophic events across existence, choosing observation over interference, and yet its energy now flowed through a single individual standing in the middle of a battlefield.
That contradiction alone suggested some unknown intent, and unknown intent from something like that could not be dismissed or taken lightly.
The uncertainty surrounding that intent only made it worse.
Whether this manifestation was deliberate or the result of something beyond their understanding. It introduced a variable that could not be predicted or controlled and the consequences of that were impossible to measure.
The thought lingered heavily between them as they continued to watch.
They both knew that whatever came next would no longer be confined to the scale of a single battle between lower worlds residents.
—
Below them, the battle did not slow but escalated instead.
Myles and Red collided again and again across the battlefield. Their movements tear through space in violent bursts as shockwaves continue to ripple to every direction without pause.
The ground beneath them no longer held its shape as every exchange carved deeper destruction into it, scattering debris and forcing anyone still nearby to retreat even farther.
Their forms blurred into streaks once more. Black and crimson crashing into each other relentlessly as neither side gave even a fraction of ground.
But as the clash dragged on, something began to shift within Red.
At first, he met every strike head-on, forcing his crimson aura to surge higher while he pushed his power forward with increasing intensity.
His sword moved faster, sharper, and carried more force behind each swing as he tried to match Myles' growing pressure.
Yet every time their weapons met, the impact did not favor him the way it should have. The force drove back into his arms. The recoil traveled through his body. It slowed him, even if only slightly.
And that slight difference began to accumulate.
Another clash sent him sliding back across the broken ground. His boots grinding against shattered stone as he forced himself to stabilize.
Before he could fully recover, Myles was already there again, closing the distance instantly.
The black, mantle-like darkness wrapped tightly around Myles' form surged forward with him, its shifting colors flaring as it reinforced every motion.
The next impact came harder.
Red felt it clearly this time as the force broke through his guard and slammed into his body, driving the air from his lungs as he was pushed back again.
"Guurgh!"
His aura flared violently in response, trying to compensate, trying to push back against that overwhelming pressure. But it wasn't enough.
"What the hell is this…?!" The thought snapped through his mind as frustration began to rise.
He swung again faster, putting more power into the attack. The crimson energy around his blade burned brighter as he tried to overpower Myles directly.
But Myles met it without hesitation.
Their weapons collided once more, yet instead of stopping him, Myles drove through the clash.
The darkness coiling around his body surged forward, wrapping over the contact point as if it swallowed the resistance.
The force behind his counterattack broke through and slammed into Red's side, sending him staggering.
"No… this is bullshit…!"
Red's teeth clenched tightly as anger surged through him, mixing with something far more unpleasant.
Humiliation.
In the past few minutes alone he had already begun fighting more seriously. He had stopped relying purely on instinct.
He had focused, adjusted, and tried to control his power more deliberately.
But it didn't matter.
Myles kept pushing him back again and again.
The black mantle-like energy did not just amplify Myles' attacks. It made them heavier, sharper, and more oppressive, as if every strike carried some unknown powerful force behind it. Each blow felt harder to block. Each clash chipped away at Red's control bit by bit.
Another strike came.
CLANG!
Red barely raised his blade in time as the impact crashed into him, forcing his body downward as cracks spread beneath his feet.
The force traveled through his arms, rattling his grip as pain flared briefly through his muscles.
"Damn it…!" His breathing grew harsher as his expression twisted further, his eyes burning with rising fury. "I'm not some weakling you can just toss around…!"
He forced himself forward again, pushing against the pressure, refusing to be driven back any further as his crimson aura flared even brighter in response to his anger.
But deep inside, beneath that rising rage, a single thought continued to press against him.
He was losing control of this fight. That realization only made the humiliation burn even deeper.
Momentum had already shifted, and Myles felt it with unmistakable clarity as control settled firmly in his hands. Every movement he made flowed without resistance and every strike carried intent without hesitation. The power coiling around him responded as if it had always belonged to him.
The darkness wrapped his body like a living mantle that shifted colors pulsing with each of his motion as it reinforced his dominance in the clash.
His eyes changed in that moment, the last trace of their former color fading until they turned completely black like polished obsidian, reflecting nothing and revealing even less.
There was no doubt left in him as he moved again. His two blades cut forward with sharper precision and far greater force, faster than before, pushing Red deeper into a defensive struggle that continued to break apart under the pressure.
Red felt it clearly as the gap widened. Each impact drove heavier into him, each exchange pushed him closer to the edge where his control began to falter.
The thought of death surfaced as a cold realization pressing against his mind.
However, in that exact moment, something ignited within Red.
Heat surged violently through his veins, spreading from his core to every part of his body as a new wave of power erupted from within. It burned hotter than before. It felt stronger, more unstable, and it forced its way outward without restraint.
Red's lips slowly curled into a grin as that surge took hold. His eyes sharpened again with strength and confidence.
—