Chapter 246: The Ripple
The change inside Red's heart became undeniable, making the balance within him break further. Fear no longer lingered beneath his anger as something hidden and suppressed. It rose fully to the surface and overtook everything else.
The certainty he had forced into himself began to crack further under the realization that his power was no longer untouchable. That it could be reached, cut, and weakened by something he could not fully understand or defend against.
That fear twisted violently within him, and instead of retreating, it exploded outward.
Red threw his head back and roared.
"HAAAAAHHH!!!"
The sound tore through the battlefield with raw force, carrying the full weight of his unstable power and defiance of his insecurity now as it burst from him without restraint.
The crimson bloody aura around his body flared wildly, expanding everywhere in a violent surge that shook the air and sent another wave of pressure rippling across the already shattered ground.
The roar did not just echo but pressed down on everything that heard it, forcing its presence into every corner of the battlefield.
That moment changed the battlefield again.
The clashes that had filled the area before began to fade fully now as fighters who had been locked in their own battles slowed, then stopped entirely. Weapons lowered and movements halted.
They all turned.
Every gaze shifted toward the center where Myles and Red stood.
Their eyes widened as their bodies remained tense, unable to look away as the two figures continued to radiate an overwhelming otherworldly energy that no longer felt like something they could comprehend.
The pressure alone made their muscles tighten and their breathing grow uneven as they stood there, watching instead of fighting.
Even George, Ethan, Kade, Samantha, and Victor remained completely still.
They no longer attempted to move forward or search for Rafe to kill him. The weight pressing down on them held their bodies in place as their attention stayed locked on the clash ahead.
Their expressions hardened, but beneath that tension and disbelief settled deeply in their mind as they realized that what they were witnessing had already gone far beyond anything they could understand. They realized that Myles still could go further with his power.
Not far from them, the elites of Red's group had also already gathered now.
They stood together in silence, their focus fixed entirely on the battle unfolding before them. None of them spoke. None of them moved.
The sight in front of them had already broken their expectations.
They had followed Red through countless battles. They had seen his strength rise and dominate everything in its path without resistance. They had believed there was no one within this world who could truly stand against him.
Yet now, that belief collapsed as they watched Myles meet him head-on, pushing him back, forcing him to struggle, and even reaching into the power that defined him.
Doubt spread through them for Red's strength.
The suffocating pressure that blanketed the battlefield did not loosen, but within it, after some time, Victor forced his body to respond.
His fingers twitched first, then his shoulders jerked as he pushed against the invisible weight pressing him down.
His breathing came out rough and uneven. But he managed to force himself upright step by step until he finally steadied himself, even though the strain remained visible in his movement.
He turned sharply toward the others, his expression tense and hardened.
"We need to move. Now. As far away from that fight as possible," Victor said.
Ethan let out a strained breath as he forced his body to rise, his muscles trembling under the lingering pressure.
"Yeah… no argument here," he said, his voice tight as he wiped the cold sweat from his face.
George gave a short nod without wasting words, already dragging his hammer free from the ground as he pushed himself forward.
Samantha and Kade followed, both shaking their heads as if trying to clear the lingering weight from their senses before forcing their bodies to move again.
They did not hesitate any longer. Together, they began to move, stepping through the battlefield as they passed between fighters who still stood frozen with their eyes locked onto the clash between Myles and Red.
The contrast became clear. While others remained trapped in awe and fear, they chose to retreat, forcing distance between themselves and something they could no longer face.
Not far away, the elites of Red's group stirred as well. The same oppressive realization settled over them and broke the paralysis that had held them in place.
Peter was the one who moved first. His expression was dark and focused as he turned away from the center of the battlefield.
Without needing to speak, the others followed, falling into motion behind him as they began to withdraw.
At the far edge of the battlefield, Rafe remained frozen.
His body stayed still, but not from pressure alone. His confidence had fractured making his feelings far less stable.
His gaze remained fixed on the distant clash where black and crimson continued to tear through the battlefield with unstoppable force.
"What the hell is this… how can they have power like that…?" His jaw tightened as the thought twisted further, unease creeping deeper into his mind. "Fuck this! those two… they're monsters. I don't think I can do anything to them."
—
Far beyond the shattered battlefield, beyond the fragile layer of the lower world where Myles and Red clashed, the disturbance of their battle spread with silent yet undeniable manners. It slipped through the unseen currents that connected realms across the vast structure of existence. Moreover now, when the Veil between worlds was shattered, the disturbance felt a lot more stronger.
In distant worlds that had never once turned their attention toward this insignificant point in the cosmos-Earth-something changed.
The flow of Ether faltered for a moment. It did not stop, yet it wavered enough for those attuned to it to notice. That single irregularity of Ether carried a weight far greater than its size suggested.
On a scorched world suspended beneath a fractured sky, a figure clad in shifting armor paused in the middle of his step as the energy around him bent unnaturally. His gaze lifted toward the void above, eyes narrowing as a faint distortion brushed against his perception.
In a realm where oceans of light replaced land and sky, ancient beings suspended within that brilliance stirred from their stillness.
Their awareness expanded outward, touching the ripple as it passed. For the first time in ages, worry surfaced within their collective consciousness.
Elsewhere, in a silent expanse filled with drifting ruins of civilizations long erased, a lone observer turned slowly. Her expression sharpened as the distant signal reached her.
The source was unclear. But the location itself wasn't important at all. And yet, the presence carried within that ripple felt strange.
Doubt spread among many of them. Concern followed close behind that. The sensation did not resemble the natural fluctuations of power that accompanied rising worlds or collapsing systems, even in this Etherfall. It felt heavier as if something that should have remained beyond reach had brushed against existence.
They had a feeling that this was the energy of the Voidheart. But some were denying it.
Some withdrew their awareness immediately, unwilling to linger on something they could not define.
Others remained, watching more carefully.
And then, there were those who reacted differently.
In hidden corners of higher realms, where ambition thrived and restraint held little meaning, interest sparked instead of fear because of the disturbance. The anomaly did not repel them. It drew them in.
Opportunity.
That single thought formed clearly as they traced the origin of the disturbance. Their attention locked onto that once unremarkable world that had now begun to stand out against the silence of the cosmos.
Something had awakened there. Something that should not have.
And for some, that meant danger. For others, it meant possibility.
—
Red's body hit the ground hard. The impact cracked the already shattered ground beneath him as his short sword slipped from its steady guard.
Blood poured freely from multiple wounds across his body, flowing from deep slashes and punctures that covered his chest, arms, and side.
The blood spread quickly across the broken ground, dark and heavy, marking the space where he had fallen.
His breathing faltered for a brief moment as his body lay there, motionless under the weight of the damage that had finally broken through his defense.
Then the heat returned.
It surged through him without warning, far more violently than before. The blood around his body reacted immediately and rose in thin streams as if pulled by an invisible force.
Steam lifted from his skin as the crimson energy burned through every wound. The open cuts began to close at a visible pace, flesh pulling itself back together as the power forced his recovery.
But that moment did not last long.
Before his body could fully stabilize, Myles was already there again. The black mantle surged forward with him as his blades descended once more without hesitation.
The next slash tore across Red's recovering body, reopening wounds that had barely closed, followed immediately by another strike that drove deeper, continuing the relentless assault without giving him a single chance to recover.
—