"Eternal Blade!"
She swung midair, her sword releasing a blinding arc of light. The strike tore forward, splitting the sky itself.
Draven responded by conjuring a gigantic stone pillar, hurling it into the attack. The clash detonated in midair, the pillar splitting cleanly into two halves before crashing down in ruins. The light cut burned straight through, forcing Draven to shift back.
Ari landed, eyes blazing. Tracey and Dawn closed in from either side, pressing the attack.
Tracey charged, flames coating his claws as he slashed with beastly fury. Dawn struck in tandem, her rod glowing blue as she whipped up another torrent of water, spinning it into a spiraling lance.
Draven swept his hand outward, a wall of jagged stone erupting from the ground. Tracey's flames carved through it, Dawn's lance pierced it, but Draven was already moving—his arm swinging, earth and stone bending to his will as he launched shards the size of boulders at them both.
The battlefield quaked under the relentless exchange—Ari's light, Tracey's fire, and Dawn's water colliding against Draven's overwhelming control of stone and nullification.
And still—the Emperor stood unshaken.
The ground shook as Draven raised both arms. The earth itself obeyed, pillars of stone bursting upward in jagged waves, crashing forward like a tidal surge.
"Spread out!" Ari shouted, light flaring around her blade as she cut through the nearest pillar in a dazzling arc.
Tracey let out a feral roar, fire exploding from his beast form. He tore into the wave with blazing claws, smashing through the rock while hurling fireballs into the gaps. Each impact shattered stone into molten fragments.
Dawn leapt onto a stream of water she conjured beneath her feet, riding it like a tide. With a sweeping motion of her rod, the stream spiraled upward into another massive sea dragon, which roared and lunged at Draven again.
At the same time, Gray appeared at Draven's flank, his twin blades flashing. Mirrors materialized around the Emperor, reflecting every angle. Gray dashed between them, his strikes bouncing unpredictably, like a storm of blades coming from every direction at once.
Draven's eyes narrowed. He lifted one hand, and with a flick, the dragon's head shattered into mist. He twisted his other wrist, and Gray's mirrors cracked, one after another, before exploding into shards.
But that moment's distraction was all Ari needed. She shot forward, her Eternal Blade blazing brighter, and struck at his chest with a vertical slash.
Draven slammed his foot down. A colossal wall of obsidian stone erupted between them. Ari's blade carved straight through, light burning a path that nearly reached him—but he caught the final strike with his bare hand. The sheer force of her attack sent shockwaves blasting outward, but Draven's grip held firm.
Tracey roared from behind, leaping with claws ignited in searing flame. He slashed down—Draven spun, backhanding him with stone-coated knuckles. The impact sent Tracey skidding across the battlefield, crashing into a broken pillar.
"Tracey!!" Dawn cried, thrusting her rod forward. The ground beneath Draven burst open as geysers of water surged upward, twisting into chains that coiled tightly around his limbs.
For the first time, Draven's stance shifted. The water dragged, slowing his motion.
Gray appeared instantly, his twin blades crossing as he slashed. The cut mirrored itself through the shards around them, dozens of reflective strikes converging on Draven's form.
A blinding flash followed—Ari lunged again, her Eternal Blade glowing white-hot, combining with Gray's mirrored strikes. Together, they aimed for Draven's heart.
The Emperor's eyes finally hardened.
"Enough."
The ground detonated. A sphere of earthen force erupted outward from Draven, shattering Dawn's bindings, scattering Gray's mirrors, and hurling Ari back through the air. The forest of pillars rose again, encasing him in an unbreakable fortress of stone.
From inside the fortress, his voice boomed:
"You are strong… but still far beneath me."
The walls began to shift, rumbling, reshaping into titanic golems of rock, each one towering, their eyes glowing with the Emperor's magic.
Four against one had just become four against an army.
The battlefield thundered as the titanic golems pulled themselves fully free from the fortress walls. Their massive fists clenched, each step cracking the ground like a drumbeat of war. Smaller soldier-shaped statues marched between them in endless ranks.
Tracey snarled, flames bursting from his maw as his beast form expanded. "You stone freaks are mine!" He lunged forward, smashing into the nearest giant's leg. Fire and claws tore through rock, but the golem's sheer size dwarfed him. Its colossal arm swung down like a falling mountain, but Tracey met it head-on, claws blazing with fire, deflecting the strike in an explosion of molten shards.
Dawn raised her rod high, summoning a roaring surge of water beneath her. "Rise!" The water twisted into serpents that coiled up the legs of two smaller golems, dragging them down before bursting into jets that blasted through their rocky chests. She pivoted, sweeping her staff wide, and a tidal wave surged forward, crashing into a line of stone soldiers.
Gray moved like lightning, blades flashing in mirrored arcs. He darted between the ranks, leaving afterimages as his reflections cut where he could not. Every swing of his blade became ten strikes, each reflected from the shards hovering around him. Stone bodies split apart in geometric patterns, collapsing under the mirrored storm.
But for every giant they broke, more pulled themselves free. It was endless.
Meanwhile, Ari had eyes only for Draven. She landed in front of the fortress of stone, her Eternal Blade burning with white radiance. "Your walls won't protect you."
She shot forward, light trailing behind her like a comet. One swing—and a wall of stone split neatly in two. Another slash—and the path carved straight toward Draven.
He stood calmly inside, one hand resting at his side. As Ari's blade descended, he raised a single finger. The earth hardened, compressing into black diamond, blocking her strike with a ringing crack.
Ari gritted her teeth and pressed harder, light surging along the blade. The diamond block cracked—then shattered. She forced her way through, lunging directly for him.
Draven finally moved. His fist lashed out, sheathed in stone and force. Ari blocked with her glowing sword, the impact sending shockwaves that cracked the ground for dozens of meters.
The Emperor's voice was cold. "You dare think you can match the weight of an empire?"
Ari's eyes burned with light, her voice unshaken. "I don't need an empire. I just need my blade."
Their clash split the air—light against stone, speed against power. Every strike Ari unleashed carved glowing scars across Draven's fortress, while every counter he struck shook her to her bones.
Behind her, the battlefield raged—Tracey locked in savage combat with a golem twice his size, Dawn unleashing flood after flood against the stone army, and Gray carving precise mirrored slashes through the endless tide.
But Ari alone stood against the Emperor himself.
Ari's blade clashed against Draven's diamond-hardened fist, sparks of light and stone flying with every strike. The sheer force of his blows sent tremors up her arm, but her light cut deeper each time, cracking through the layers of his defenses.
Draven twisted his arm, reshaping stone into a colossal gauntlet that swung like a hammer. Ari sidestepped, light flashing from her feet as she reappeared at his flank, slashing upward in a radiant arc. The gauntlet shattered into fragments, but before she could press forward, spikes erupted from the ground beneath her. She leapt back, narrowly avoiding impalement.
"Impressive," Draven said, voice cold as the earth. His hand rose, and a forest of stone spears shot skyward. With a gesture, they rained down toward her like a storm.
Ari's blade gleamed brighter, and she spun in place. Eternal Blade: Spiral Radiance. Light whirled around her in a cyclone, cutting every spear into dust before they could touch her.
She dashed forward, each step glowing, her sword swinging in blinding sequences—slashes that left glowing trails across the battlefield. Draven countered with walls, spikes, and fists of earth, each block barely holding against her momentum.
Finally, she broke through his guard. Her blade grazed his shoulder, cutting through the stone armor and drawing blood.
Draven's eyes narrowed for the first time. The ground convulsed as he slammed both hands down. A colossal figure of stone erupted from the ground, a giant that mirrored his movements. He stepped inside it, merging with the titan.
The titan swung with earth-shaking force. Ari met it head-on, her blade blazing white. The clash split the sky in two—the giant's arm shattered, but the backlash hurled Ari back across the field.
She skidded, light sparking around her. Her hands trembled, but her gaze never wavered. She planted her sword into the ground, its glow intensifying until the battlefield was washed in white.
Draven's titan advanced, unstoppable, crushing everything in its path.
Ari lifted her blade, voice clear:
"Eternal Blade: Final Dawn."
She vanished.
A streak of white light shot forward faster than sight, piercing straight through the titan's chest. For a heartbeat, silence reigned. Then—
Shhhrrkk!
The titan split apart from head to toe, collapsing into rubble as Draven was forced out of it. He staggered, cracks of light spreading across his body as Ari's blade pressed against his chest.
Draven's lips curled faintly
And then his body shattered into countless fragments of stone, scattering into the wind like dust.
As Draven fell, the stone army crumbled instantly. The giants froze, cracks racing across their forms before collapsing into heaps of rubble.
Tracey roared in victory, breaking free from one last grip as the giant holding him dissolved. Dawn let her rod lower, the last of her water falling into harmless streams. Gray exhaled, his mirrors shattering into fading light.
All eyes turned to Ari.
She stood with her blade lowered, chest rising and falling heavily, light slowly dimming from its edge.
The battlefield was silent. The Emperor was gone—defeated, his legacy crumbling with him.
On the other side of the world—
In the Central Empire, chaos reigned. The capital burned red and gold, fire and lightning ripping through the skies.
High above, Emperor Lucian Alden, the legendary sovereign of the past, hovered in the air like a god of war. His overwhelming aura radiated through the battlefield, and already, countless imperial soldiers lay fallen at his feet. Entire squads had charged him, battalions of the empire's finest, yet not one had left so much as a scratch on him.
"He's unstoppable!" one soldier cried in despair. "He's the strongest Emperor in history! He even defeated two Emperors single-handedly back in his era!"
Another shook his head, trembling. "But why… why is he here? Why attack his own empire's people?"
Before they could answer, the sky tore open. A column of lightning, thick as a tower, descended from the heavens with crushing force. It struck the heart of the capital, drowning the city in a blinding white flash. The soldiers covered their eyes, certain everything was lost.
But then—
Crack! Spark!
The thunderous beam bent. Its force twisted, shattered, and—impossibly—was redirected back toward Lucian himself. The soldiers gasped, unable to comprehend.
And then they saw him.
A lone figure stood amidst the storm, standing firm against the legendary Emperor.
"It can't be…" one soldier whispered, eyes wide.
Another shouted, voice breaking in awe: "Look—! It's Emperor Kai Alden!"
The man of the present. The one they believed gone. The one who now stood face-to-face with the myth of the past.
Lucian's grin widened. "So… you've come."
Kai didn't speak. In a blur, his body vanished.
BOOM!
Lightning cracked across the battlefield as he reappeared in front of Lucian, driving his fist—wreathed in pitch-dark lightning—directly into the old Emperor's skull. The impact exploded with thunder, and Lucian staggered back, eyes flashing with surprise. He looked down, realizing one of his arms had been obliterated, dissolving into sparks.
Lucian only smiled wider. "Dark-lightning… a zone, is it? Hah. Interesting."
But Kai was already moving. His figure blurred in and out of sight, striking Lucian again and again. To the soldiers watching, it became impossible to follow—only a storm of endless flashes across the sky, as if lightning itself had come alive and chosen one man's form.
Lucian countered, summoning another pillar of lightning, thicker and brighter than before, tearing the heavens open as it roared down toward Kai. The entire capital was swallowed again in white.
The light consumed all—then faded.
The people squinted, vision returning.
And there, standing upon the ruined stone, Kai Alden walked forward, his body sparking but unbroken.
Above, the sky was empty. Lucian Alden—the legendary Emperor of the past—was gone. Shattered. Defeated.
Kai lowered his head, exhaling a slow breath. He had done the impossible. He had slain the ghost of history.
The Central Empire, for a single breath, was silent—
Then the cheers erupted.
Kai Alden had prevailed.
Aetheris Empire
The battlefield of Aetheris lay in ruins. Smoke drifted from shattered towers and scorched stone, the aftermath of a clash that shook the empire itself.
Four figures stood amidst the wreckage—Gravio and the other three members of the Elite Five. Each bore wounds from the struggle, cuts and burns marking their bodies. Yet they still stood.
And Gravio—he stood untouched.
His foot pressed firmly against the chest of the man beneath him: Emperor Darius Veyron, one of the most feared rulers of the past age. The once-immovable conqueror now lay broken, bloodied, and unconscious.
Gravio looked down with calm, merciless eyes.
"Gravity Magic," he intoned.
The words sealed Darius's fate. A crushing field erupted from Gravio's body, warping the very air around them. The weight grew unbearable—bones cracked, the ground shattered, and Darius's body was torn apart under an overwhelming gravitational force.
The Emperor of the past was no more.
Solaria Empire
Far across the lands, another clash reached its end. The skies above Solaria still blazed, the sun itself seeming to burn brighter in witness.
At the center of a vast arena of scorched earth stood Emperor Magnus, his golden armor gleaming beneath the light. Before him lay the crumpled remains of Emperor Caelan Thorne, the former sovereign of Solaria, his aura extinguished.
The current Emperor hadn't even broken a sweat. With only a fraction of his strength, he had toppled a man once hailed as invincible.
All around, the imperial army stood frozen in silence, their weapons lowered, their hearts caught between fear and awe.
One soldier whispered, trembling:
"Our Emperor… defeated Caelan Thorne… with barely an effort."
Another choked out:
"Is this… is this the true might of Solaria's ruler?"
Magnus raised his blade to the sky, the sun's radiance flaring behind him. To his people, he no longer seemed a man, but a blazing incarnation of Solaria itself.
The message was clear.
The past was gone.
The present reigned supreme.