NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26: Shaun vs warden 1
Three days had passed since Shaun's audacious challenge, and the atmosphere hummed with tension. The chamber housing the Eye of Aethralis was no longer a sanctuary of shadows—it had transformed into a storm of raw, unbridled power.
Shaun arrived not with a whisper but with an echoing boom. A single feather, planted amidst the ruins, acted as a beacon, anchoring Umbra's intricate spatial manipulations. The chamber, once cloaked in oppressive darkness, now pulsed with an eerie crimson glow. At its heart stood the Warden, no longer merely an eye of disembodied malice but a fearsome presence incarnate. Gone was the vulnerable, floating form; in its place stood a figure swathed in crimson velvet, its humanoid shape exuding an aura of overwhelming menace. Razor-sharp gauntlets glinted ominously on its clawed hands, and its lower half, veiled in black velvet, seemed to merge with the very shadows around it. Only its eyes, demonic and piercing, burned with an icy, unrelenting fire.
"You return," the Warden intoned, its voice reverberating through the chamber, an echo of its former power. "I almost believed you had come to your senses and abandoned this folly. Yet here you stand—proving yourself the fool I suspected you to be." The sound of its claws scraping against the stone floor was enough to send a shiver down even the bravest spine.
Shaun spread his arms in mock welcome, his demeanor as casual as ever. "Disappointed to see me?" he teased, his voice dripping with amusement. "I told you I'd be back. Thought it'd be nice to talk terms."
The Warden snarled, its crimson aura erupting like an inferno. "Terms?" it growled, its voice a low rumble. "The only thing I'll be offering is your swift end."
Without warning, the Warden lunged. Its form blurred, a streak of crimson and shadow hurtling toward Shaun, its clawed hand aimed for his throat.
Shaun didn't flinch. "Tsk, tsk. Impatient as always," he said, sidestepping the strike with an almost languid grace. His smirk widened, eyes gleaming with unrestrained excitement. "And here I thought you'd have healed up by now. Or is this your idea of a handicap?"
The Warden sneered, its fiery gaze narrowing. "This form is more than sufficient to grind you into the dust. Consider it mercy that I even entertain this charade."
As the last word left Shaun's lips, the Warden appeared behind him in an instant, his movements silent and precise. Before Shaun could react, a powerful fist slammed into his back, sending a jolt of pain rippling through his body.
Shaun twisted instinctively, attempting to leap away, but the Warden was faster. His clawed hand shot out, snatching Shaun's leg mid-dodge. With a roar, the Warden swung him like a ragdoll, hurling him across the battlefield with enough force to shatter stone upon impact.
Shaun crashed through a crumbling pillar, the debris barely settling before the Warden surged forward again. His claws gleamed with an ominous light, cutting a devastating arc through the air. The strike carved through everything in its path—pillars, walls, even the earth itself—leaving a gaping scar across the battlefield.
Amidst the destruction, the Warden's claws cleaved through Shaun, bisecting him cleanly. Yet, as the pieces fell to the ground, they dissolved into a flicker of light and smoke.
The Warden halted, his piercing eyes scanning the battlefield. His aura flared, casting the ruins in a sinister red glow. "Now," he growled, his voice laced with menace, "will the real one show himself or not?"
A low chuckle echoed from the shadows. "Impressive," Shaun's voice rang out, smooth and unbothered. "you noticed this time huh?"
From behind the Warden, Shaun emerged, his aura shimmering faintly as he stepped forward with deliberate confidence. His eyes gleamed with a mix of caution and exhilaration, a predator sizing up his prey.
The Warden's lips curled into a sinister smile. "you think i will fall for same trick twice."
"Good," Shaun replied, flexing his fingers as a faint glow surrounded his hands. "I was hoping for a real challenge."
The Warden's sinister smile deepened. "A challenge, you say? Then let's see how long you last."
The ground beneath Shaun trembled violently as jagged earthen spires erupted, forming a throne of stone and shadow around the Warden. With a gesture, the spires splintered and launched toward Shaun from every direction, their razor-sharp tips gleaming ominously.
Shaun sprang into motion, his body weaving through the deadly barrage with agile precision. His feet barely touched the ground as he twisted and flipped, evading the relentless onslaught. Mid-air, he summoned his crimson-black sword, the blade materializing in his grip with a burst of fiery energy.
With a single, fluid slash, Shaun cleaved through the incoming spikes as though they were nothing more than paper. The massive formations crumbled around him, their remnants scattering into dust.
But the Warden wasn't finished. As Shaun landed, a prison of stone surged upward, encasing him in an unyielding cage. Before Shaun could react, flames erupted from all four corners, converging on him with deadly precision.
Shaun's aura flared instinctively, a protective shield barely deflecting the searing fire as he darted through the narrow gaps. His movements were a blur, but even he could feel the heat licking at his heels.
Then, the air turned icy.
A chilling wind swept through the battlefield as dark clouds gathered overhead, forming a spiraling storm. From the heart of the tempest, a massive beam of frosty energy descended, its icy touch freezing everything in its path.
Shaun gritted his teeth, raising his aura as a barrier against the onslaught. The frost bit through his defenses, the cold seeping into his bones despite the fiery energy radiating from him.
"Enough of this," Shaun growled.
He gripped his sword tighter, pouring his aura into the blade until it burned like a miniature inferno. Flames licked up the edges of the weapon as he swung it in a wide arc, launching a torrent of blazing energy toward the frosty beam.
The two forces collided with explosive fury. The icy beam hissed and cracked as the inferno consumed it, the fire's heat evaporating the storm itself. Clouds dissolved into steam, and the battlefield was left scorched and barren.
Shaun landed amidst the smoldering ground, his sword still glowing with residual heat. His aura blazed around him, untamed and unyielding.
The Warden stepped forward, his expression unreadable. "Impressive," he admitted, his voice carrying a hint of grudging respect.
The Warden raised his hand, and a sword materialized in his grip, forged from his overwhelming aura. It radiated a destructive crimson light, arcs of raw energy crackling along its edge. The air trembled with its sheer presence, and even the ground beneath him began to fracture.
"Let's see how good of a swordsman you really are," the Warden said, his voice cold and mocking. He pointed the blade at Shaun. "Don't worry—from this point onward, I'll deal with you personally."
Shaun's grip on his crimson-black sword tightened, and his aura flared in defiance, enveloping him in a fiery glow. "Good," he replied, his voice steady. "I was getting tired of your tricks."
The Warden moved first, closing the distance in a blink. His blade descended with a force that split the earth beneath their feet. Shaun met it head-on, his sword clashing against the Warden's with an explosive shockwave that flattened the surrounding landscape.
The two warriors became a blur of movement, their blades clashing in a symphony of sparks and shockwaves. Each strike from the Warden carried enough power to obliterate mountains, while Shaun countered with precise, skillful parries that deflected the devastating energy.
The Warden leapt into the air, unleashing a massive fire slash that ignited the sky itself. The blazing arc surged toward Shaun like a tidal wave. Shaun raised his sword, channeling his aura into a shimmering shield of fire and lightning. The impact sent him skidding backward, the ground beneath his feet scorched and molten.
"You'll need more than that to burn me," Shaun growled, his aura blazing even brighter.
The Warden landed with a smirk and vanished again, reappearing beside Shaun with a flurry of lightning-fast strikes. Shaun barely kept up, countering with a combination of earth spikes erupting from the ground and precise swordsmanship. Their blades clashed again, the force splitting a nearby mountain clean in half.
"Enough of this!" Shaun roared, slamming his blade into the dark aura pooling at his feet. The Oblivion Style Blade activated, sending slashes of dark energy shooting in every direction. The attacks tore through the battlefield with pinpoint accuracy, carving through the sea, forest, and mountain ranges indiscriminately.
The Warden dodged some, countered others with spatial rifts, and endured a few that left glowing scars across his armor of aura. "Clever," he admitted, his tone tinged with grudging respect. "But not clever enough."
With a burst of spatial manipulation, the Warden twisted reality itself, creating voids that swallowed Shaun's counterattacks. He retaliated with a space slash, his blade warping the air and unleashing a strike that tore through the battlefield, leaving gashes in the land and sea.
Shaun dodged, landing on a fractured cliffside. He took a deep breath, his aura spiraling around him like a hurricane. Then he lunged forward, faster than ever, his sword igniting with a storm of fire and lightning. The clash created a blinding explosion, forcing the Warden to stumble for the first time.
Taking advantage of the moment, Shaun pressed his palm against the Warden's chest and activated Attack Zone "With this technique,I've marked you. Any attack I launch, no matter where you run, will follow you until it hits. There's no escape." A faint circle of light appeared around the Warden as Shaun leapt back, his sword raised high. "Let's see you outrun this," Shaun said, a grin of defiance on his face.
With a sweep of his sword, Shaun unleashed miniature suns, each glowing with hyper-condensed energy. They orbited the Warden for a split second before homing in on him. The Warden darted away, slashing and evading, but the suns grew larger and faster the longer he resisted.
One finally connected, triggering a massive energy blast that consumed everything within its radius. The explosion tore through the battlefield, leaving nothing but scorched earth and a smoking crater in its wake.
As the smoke cleared, the Warden emerged, battered, half his body gone after taking multiple miniature sun but standing, his aura flickering wildly. "You're more formidable than I thought," he admitted, his tone begrudging.
Shaun, breathing heavily but still resolute, pointed his blade at the Warden. "don't fall so easily, i am not done yet."
The battlefield fell silent as the dust from the explosions settled. The Warden stood at the center of the devastation, his form radiating an oppressive, menacing energy that seemed to chill the very air. His aura flared with unnatural hostility, a pulsating force that pressed down on everything around him.
Half of his body, previously destroyed by Shaun's devastating attack, began to mend itself with eerie speed. Yet, even as he healed, the strain on his power was visible—a flicker of instability in the otherwise unrelenting force he emanated.
The Warden glanced at Shaun, his glowing eyes narrowing. A cruel smirk curled his lips as he raised his sword, which radiated destructive energy like a dying star. "Allow me now," he said, his voice low and resonant, each word dripping with malice.
As the final syllable left his mouth, the world seemed to freeze. Time itself bent to the Warden's will, and Shaun found himself unable to move. His body felt as if it were encased in an invisible vice, his muscles locked in place. He could only watch in growing horror as the ground beneath him darkened, transforming into a solid mass of shifting shadows.
The sky above mirrored the transformation, turning into an abyss of swirling blackness. From this void emerged chains forged from the same dark energy, their jagged edges dripping with an ominous glow.
The chains shot toward Shaun with terrifying speed, coiling around his limbs and torso. Each link that touched his skin sapped his energy, draining his strength with a painful intensity that felt like it was tearing his soul apart. Agonizing screams echoed in the silence, though Shaun's lips never moved. The pain was beyond the physical—eternal, unyielding, and cruel.
"Do you feel it?" the Warden asked, his tone almost casual as he walked closer. "This is the pain of eternity. The torment of a thousand lifetimes compressed into a single moment. Consider it a taste of your failure."
Shaun's vision blurred as the chains tightened, the agony threatening to overwhelm him. Yet, he refused to surrender, his aura flickering weakly against the crushing darkness.
The Warden stood over him, his towering form casting an even darker shadow. He raised his blade, the energy around it crackling like an unstable storm. Without hesitation, he plunged it into Shaun's chest.
The moment the blade made contact, it ignited. Flames of otherworldly intensity erupted from the wound, consuming Shaun's body in an instant. The fire was not natural—it was alive, feeding on his aura and essence, burning away his very being.
The Warden's laughter echoed through the void, cold and merciless. "You thought you could stand against me, mortal? You are nothing before the power of mine."
Shaun's body convulsed as the flames raged, his mind teetering on the edge of oblivion.