Chapter 245: Missed Me?

Chapter 245 – Missed Me?

The battle had begun.

The Originals weren’t expecting it, not truly. After all, in the whole universe, who would dare to invade their territory and start a war?

That was suicide.

Because in the Shadow Realm, their power wasn’t just intact, it was amplified. And the power of intruders were diminished in a certain way. Crushed under the very weight of the realm itself.

That’s why most didn’t start fights here.

Because the shadows protected their own.

So, you can imagine their surprise when, all of a sudden, they felt their territories being breached.

At first, they were shocked.

Then, some of them laughed.

Well... only one of them actually laughed.

Mortis.

He was the only one whose domain had been breached by beings who weren’t even World Dominators.

Mythic rank at best.

Laughable.

"Who are these fools?" Mortis said with mild amusement, but it didn’t last.

Someone dared to step into his domain.

And that meant one thing.

They would die.

"Tell all of my commanders, kill every intruder without an ounce of mercy. If any of them look like a leader, capture their soul and bring it to me," Mortis ordered calmly, eyes still closed.

"By your will, Lord Mortis," a voice replied before fading into silence.

Mortis didn’t move.

He wasn’t going to waste time on weaklings.

Not when he had better things to do, like dealing with the cursed shackles still binding him.

So, as chaos stirred beyond his chambers, Mortis ignored it all... diving once more into himself, trying again to free what should never have been caged.

...

And while Mortis shut himself away, his commanders moved.

Orders were orders.

Kill everything.

Among those commanders was Aerica.

But this Aerica wasn’t the same woman people knew.

She looked... empty.

Her eyes were tired, her presence dimmed. Her spirit, normally bright and defiant, was dulled.

You didn’t need to be a genius to understand, this was emotional pain. Not physical. Something deeper.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" a deep voice rumbled beside her.

Atreus.

One of Mortis’s Six Commanders.

He towered beside her, muscles bulging, white ash hair tumbling messily, his torso bare, only clad in black trousers. Black eyes, wild veins, raw strength in its purest form.

Aerica didn’t answer him.

She didn’t even glance his way.

Her gaze was fixed staring into the distance with wide, burning eyes.

And then, suddenly, her eyes lit up.

As if she had found purpose again. Like she had remembered how to breathe.

Atreus raised a brow and followed her gaze.

A group hovered in the air. They were a winged, horned beings, each one radiating a different type of power, similar yet not the same.

Intruders.

And at their front...

"Wait... isn’t that Duskworn?" Atreus muttered, tilting his head in disbelief. "Your champion? What the hell is he—?"

He stopped mid-sentence.

Realization struck.

His head snapped toward Aerica, and her eyes were already locked on him.

They were deep. Cold. Filled with a quiet promise of relentless death.

"Don’t say another word," she said flatly, her voice colder than the void.

Atreus blinked, then grinned.

"Ah. I see... He got you, huh? Tsk. You always acted so high and mighty, and yet... you still fell for a mortal."

"How laughable."

He laughed to himself, but didn’t press further. It wasn’t his problem.

No matter what happened to Aerica he wouldn’t interfere.

Soon enough, Eric, King Mbam, and the others landed.

They stood face to face with the Six Commanders and their armies.

No need for introductions. No trash talk.

They acted.

And the one who struck first was Aerica.

She vanished and then reappeared right in front of Eric in not even a second. No, time didn’t even pass.

A delicate, precise spin.

And then,

CRACK.

A devastating kick to the chest.

The very air vibrated, space itself undulating like disturbed water as Eric was launched backward at blinding speed—close to light itself.

BOOOOM!

He slammed into the ground, the black stone shattering beneath him, forming a massive crater.

"Cough. Cough..."

Blood spilled from his lips as pain bloomed in his chest. Just a little more force and it would’ve shattered.

He groaned, trying to move when he felt a presence above him.

He looked up.

Aerica stood there at the edge of the pit, her face hard and unreadable.

Eric laughed, even through the pain.

"Missed me?"

At those words, her expression crumbled instantly.

The coldness melted.

)

Worry, deep and raw, replaced it.

She vanished, then reappeared at his side, cradling him in her arms.

"Y-Yes... I missed you. Please don’t do that again. I... I can’t live without you," she whispered, her voice trembling.

Eric winced, not from pain, but guilt.

He hated doing this to her.

But it was necessary.

"Then answer me, Aerica. What’s your answer?"

And just like that... the drama began.

...

Meanwhile, in Sylphira’s domain, a single figure appeared in the sky.

He wasn’t overwhelming in presence, but his mere arrival was enough to shake the entire domain, forcing every being within to look upward.

Even Sylphira herself.

She materialized instantly, facing him with her eyes narrowed and smile twitching.

He was in his Elysiari form.

Beautiful. Deadly. A vision forged from pure concept—horns twisted with meaning, wings shimmering with power.

But his expression was cold and expressionless.

He stared at her in silence before calmly opening his mouth.

"I have a question, Sylphira."

He said her name like he’d known her for centuries.

Sylphira tilted her head, amusement glimmering in her shifting black eyes.

"Oh, please. Do tell," she said, voice playful and laced with mischief.

Noah didn’t wait.

"Would you mind if I obliterated your entire domain?"

He asked it politely. Almost sincerely.

There was a second of silence.

Then—

A laugh.

High. Soft. Creeping.

But then it stopped abruptly.

Her eyes turned sharp.

"You dare repeat that?" she said, voice stripped of all playfulness.

A thread of warning in every syllable.

Noah didn’t flinch.

He merely sighed, shaking his head.

"Well... at least I can tell her I tried, right?"

"But... I doubt she’d mind anyway."

He paused.

Then said,

"Void Manifestation."

Instantly—no delay, no buildup—

Everything changed.

Sylphira’s domain twisted and collapsed before dissolved into unfiltered, pure void.

A place where nothing remained.

Where everything was consumed.

Where existence itself forgot how to exist.

—End of Chapter 245—