All Chapters of Avid Gamer In The Apocalypse : Chapter 71
- Chapter 80
162 chapters
Chapter 71
The ground split beneath them. Fire roared outward, bright and wild, but it no longer burned alone. Crystal shards spun through the blaze, sharp and steady, weaving with the flames until they became one.Everett staggered as the surge burst from his chest. His chains blazed white-hot, wrapping around Kael’s small frame. But instead of binding him down, they lifted him. Together, boy and man stood at the storm’s center, fire and crystal spiraling around them like a living shield.Kael’s glowing eyes widened, his small lips parting. “Everett… we… we’re not fighting each other anymore. It’s us. Together.”Everett’s breath came ragged, his face soaked with sweat and tears. He nodded, his voice rough. “Yes. You’re not alone. Not ever again.”The blast expanded. Soldiers screamed as crystal fire tore through their lines, weapons melting, armor shattering. The Shroud’s laughter turned to shrieks as their twisted bodies burned and broke apart, their leader clawing the air before vanishing
Chapter 72
The battlefield lay in ruins. Smoke rose in thick black pillars. Shattered weapons littered the cracked ground. The cries of the dying had gone quiet, replaced by a heavy silence that pressed on every breath.At the center stood Everett and Kael, chained together, their glow dim but steady. Everett’s chest heaved, his skin split with burns, his fire flickering faint. Kael leaned against him, his small frame trembling, his shards dull as broken glass, and through the ruin walked Varik.His coat hung in tatters, his pale face smeared with blood, but his calm never faltered. His cracked blade gleamed faint, and his eyes glowed with quiet certainty.Everett raised his chains weakly, his voice hoarse but fierce. “Stay away from him.”Varik stopped a few paces away, studying them with the patience of a teacher watching children stumble. His voice was low, smooth, almost gentle.“Even now you resist. Even now you cling to defiance. But you feel it, don’t you? Every time you pull on the bon
Chapter 73
The chains screamed like living things. Everett clutched Kael tight, his fire blazing uncontrolled, sparks bursting from every link. Kael cried against his chest, his shards flaring sharp, his small body twisting with pain. Varik’s cracked blade pressed deeper into the bond, its crystal edge humming like a predator’s song. Everett roared, his voice breaking. “Stop! You’ll kill him!”Varik’s calm voice answered, steady as stone. “Not kill. Reveal.”The light burst. Everett’s sight shattered. The battlefield vanished. Smoke, soldiers, and screams dissolved into white fire and crystal storm. He staggered, Kael still in his arms, but when he blinked, they were somewhere else. A cavern of endless black stone. Shards hung from the ceiling like frozen stars. A fire burned in the center, too bright to look at. And bound in chains before it was a figure. Not a boy. Not Everett. Not Kael. A woman.Her body glowed faint like Kael’s, her chest burning with fire, her arms wrapped in crystal bi
Chapter 74
Everett gasped awake. The battlefield’s smoke stung his lungs. His chest heaved, the chains rattling weakly with each breath. His arms held Kael tight, the boy trembling, his glow faint as candlelight. Kael’s small hands clutched Everett’s shirt. His eyes, bright and scared, looked up, wide with tears. “Everett… we saw it. Both of us. Chained… broken… swallowed.”Everett’s heart cracked. He pressed Kael’s forehead to his own, his voice breaking. “That was just a vision. A lie meant to scare us.”But deep inside, he felt the truth pressing sharp: it hadn’t been only fear. It had been memory. History. The same fate others had suffered before them. Kael’s lips trembled. “What if it happens to us too?”Everett shut his eyes tight, his tears hot against his burned skin. “Then I’ll fight it until my last breath. I swear, Kael. I won’t let it happen.”A calm voice drifted through the smoke. “Swear all you want. It changes nothing.”Varik walked closer, his steps slow, his coat torn, his cr
Chapter 75
Varik’s cracked blade hovered over Kael’s small chest, its crystal edge humming faintly. The boy trembled in Everett’s arms, his glow almost gone, his breathing shallow.Everett’s whole body shook. His fire sputtered, his chains rattled weak. His eyes locked on the blade above Kael’s heart, and he felt his own chest ache as if it were already pierced. “Stop,” Everett whispered, his voice broken. “Please…”Varik’s pale face stayed calm. His voice was soft, patient. “I don’t want to kill him. I want to save him from what’s coming, but it requires your choice, Everett. Give me the bond. Surrender it willingly. Bind yourselves to me, and he lives.”Everett’s tears blurred his vision. His arms wrapped tighter around Kael. His voice cracked louder. “You’re lying! You only want to own him! To own us!”Varik tilted his head, his calm eyes narrowing just slightly. “And if that is true, what does it matter? He breathes. He lives. Is that not enough for you?”Kael stirred weakly, his trembling h
Chapter 76
The light faded slowly, leaving the battlefield scorched and broken. Everett knelt in the center, Kael in his arms, both trembling, their glow dimming to a faint pulse. The chains rattled weakly, no longer roaring with power but humming low, as though catching their breath.Varik stood across from them. His weapon was broken, the crystal blade lying in fragments at his feet. But his pale eyes gleamed sharp, and his faint smile lingered. He didn’t look defeated. He looked patient.Everett forced himself to rise, holding Kael against his chest. His fire flickered faint, his chains cracked and glowing uneven. “It’s over,” he rasped. “You can’t break us.”Varik tilted his head slightly, calm as ever. “No blade can cut that bond. You’ve shown me as much. Which means the answer is simple.”He raised his empty hand. Crystal light flickered from his fingertips, glowing brighter. His calm voice fell colder. “If I cannot break the chain from outside… then I’ll step inside.”Everett’s eyes wid
Chapter 77
Everett screamed into the void. Kael was dissolving in his arms, his small body glowing faint, breaking apart into drifting fragments of light. Each shard that left him pulled tighter on the chains wrapped around Everett’s chest, carving pain deep into his heart.“No! Stay with me!” Everett clutched the boy tighter, his fire flaring wild, sparks bursting from every link. “Don’t you dare leave me!”Kael’s glowing eyes flickered open, wet with tears. His lips trembled. “I… I don’t want to. But it hurts… Everett… it hurts so much.”Everett pressed his forehead to Kael’s, sobbing hard. “Then let it hurt me. Not you. I’ll take it all, I swear, I’ll take it all.”The chains pulsed, their light flaring brighter for a heartbeat. Fire and crystal surged, pulling Kael’s fading glow back together, but only just. His form flickered, still weak, still breaking.Varik stood across the broken plain, his jagged blade humming with calm menace. He didn’t rush. He didn’t strike. He simply watched, pale
Chapter 78
Everett fell. The pull of the heart dragged him and Kael through the chains, through the shattered plain, through fire and crystal and endless dark. The world spun around them until there was nothing left but light. Not warm light. Not a kind light. It was blinding, searing, endless light.Everett gasped, clutching Kael as tight as he could. The boy’s small body flickered in his arms, half-formed, half-vanished. “Hold on!” Everett cried, his throat raw.Kael whimpered, his eyes wide and glowing. “Everett, I don’t know if I can.”“Don’t say that.” Everett pressed his forehead against the boy’s, his chains wrapping them both. “You’re not going anywhere. Not while I’m here.”When Everett opened his eyes, he was standing on solid ground again, but it wasn’t real ground. It was made of crystal and flame, woven together in spirals, stretching in all directions without end. Above them, there was no sky, only the endless throb of the heart, an enormous sphere of pulsing light. Each beat s
Chapter 79
The light pressed in from every side. Everett held Kael in his arms, the boy’s small frame flickering, half-there and half-vanished, as if the heart itself were trying to tear him apart. Chains rattled violently inside Everett’s chest, searing him with each beat. The voice of the heart boomed again, vast and cold. “Choose. Fire or light. One will bind. One will break.”Everett shook his head furiously, clutching Kael tighter until his arms trembled. “No! I told you, I’m not choosing! You can’t make me!”Kael stirred weakly, glowing eyes wet with tears. His voice came soft, frightened. “Everett… if you give yourself, maybe I’ll stay. If you give me up, maybe you’ll live. Either way…” His voice cracked. “One of us goes.”“Stop it.” Everett pressed his forehead against Kael’s, his voice breaking. “Don’t even think that. I’m not letting you go, and I’m not leaving you. We both stay. Do you hear me? We both stay.”Kael’s lips quivered. He nodded, though his glow flickered weakly. “Both.”
Chapter 80
Everett fell to his knees. The jagged blade still burned in his chest, its glow sinking into the chains inside him. Each heartbeat sent a wave of fire and pain through his body, making his vision blur. He gasped, choking on blood, his arms trembling as he tried to keep hold of Kael.Kael flickered in his arms, half-solid, half-light, his small hands desperately clutching Everett’s shirt. His voice cracked, raw with fear. “Everett! Don’t let go!”Everett coughed, blood staining his lips, but his arms stayed firm. “Never… never letting go.”The chains within him shattered one by one, the sound like iron screaming. Fragments burst from his chest, glowing pieces spinning into the void. With each break, Kael’s glow dimmed further.The boy sobbed, his body trembling, his shards scattering. “You’re breaking us… both of us.”Everett shook his head violently, fire blazing even as it sputtered. “No… no, I’ll hold you together… I promise…”Varik pulled his blade free, stepping back with calm pr