All Chapters of Rise of The Greatest Mage of all Times : Chapter 161
- Chapter 170
220 chapters
Chapter 161: Kael Ascends Again
The storm did not resist Kael’s approach. It welcomed him. As he crossed the final threshold into the heart of the Great Convergence, the world unraveled into layers—sky folding into memory, ground dissolving into light, time stretching thin like molten glass. Kael hovered at the center of it all, suspended between existence and annihilation, Phoenix-Aether blazing around him in burning arcs. Below him, Eldoria vanished. Above him, the stars bent inward. This was not a battlefield. It was a crucible. The convergence roared—not with sound, but with pressure. Every rift, every ley line, every forgotten shard of creation fed into the storm. Kael felt it all slam into him at once: divine residue from dead gods, raw star-forces from beyond the firmament, the wounded essence of the world itself crying out for structure. His knees buckled in midair. “Too much,” he gasped, blood blooming at the corner of his mouth. The Phoenix within him screamed—an ancient, incandescent fury demand
Chapter 162: The Riftborn Banished
The silence after the storm was unnatural. Not peace—absence. Where the Great Convergence had raged moments before, reality now trembled like a wounded beast holding its breath. The sky above the Northern Rift was stripped bare of color, bleached to a pale silver-gray, as if the world itself were stunned by what had just occurred. Kael hovered at the center of it all. Light still radiated from him—not the violent blaze of ascension, but a contained, sovereign glow. Phoenixfire traced slow, deliberate arcs around his form, tempered now by something deeper: control forged through choice rather than instinct. Beneath it all, time itself flowed differently near him, bending subtly, respectfully. Below, the Riftborn screamed. The creatures that had once poured endlessly from the rifts now convulsed as the storm sustaining them collapsed inward. Their bodies—stitched together from corrupted Aether and star-warped matter—began to unravel. Limbs dissolved into ash. Eyes dimmed. Their ho
Chapter 163: The Phoenix’s Shadow
The dream began with fire. Not the wild, consuming blaze Kael had known all his life—but a mirror flame. Perfect. Still. Watching him. Kael stood alone within the inner sanctum of the Arcane Spire, though he knew instantly this was not the physical tower. The air was too quiet. The Aether flowed too smoothly, like a river without ripples. This was his Aether-mindscape—the place where Phoenix, mortal will, and divine residue overlapped. “Show yourself,” Kael said calmly. The fire answered. Across the obsidian floor, Phoenixflame gathered, folding inward instead of outward. It condensed, shaped itself, and stepped forward. Kael stared. The figure was him. Same height. Same scar along the collarbone from the Mage Wars. Same Phoenix sigil burned faintly over the heart. But where Kael’s eyes burned gold and ember-red, this version’s gaze was darker—molten black edged with starfire. And he was smiling. “Well,” the other Kael said, voice smooth, amused. “You didn’t even try to deny
Chapter 164: The Wound Within
The pain did not come all at once. It crept. Kael first noticed it at dawn, when he attempted the simplest act of channeling—calling a thread of Phoenix-Aether to warm his hands against the morning chill. The flame answered late. Not weaker, but… hesitant. When it finally flared, it burned too hot, searing his palm before he could rein it back. Kael hissed and closed his fist, extinguishing the fire. Something was wrong. He stood alone on the upper terrace of the Arcane Spire, the city of Eldoria spreading below him—repaired walls, glowing wards, banners snapping in the wind. To anyone watching, he looked whole. Victorious. Ascended. Inside, his Aether churned like a wounded beast. He inhaled slowly, turning inward, slipping into the deep meditative state that had guided him since his earliest days as a mage. The world dimmed. The hum of the Spire faded. What remained was the familiar vastness of his inner Aether—once a blazing sun, now fractured by unseen fault lines. There.
Chapter 165: Eryn’s Fear
The training circle breathed with heat. Runes etched into the stone floor pulsed in steady rhythm, drawing excess Aether away from the combatants and into the wards above. Sunlight filtered through the high arches of the Academy’s upper yard, catching motes of Phoenix-ash still lingering in the air from earlier drills. Eryn Vale stood at the center of the circle, hands trembling despite her efforts to still them. “Again,” Kael said. His voice was calm. Too calm. Eryn nodded and raised her hands. Phoenix-Aether stirred within her chest, answering her call like a living thing—warm, eager, dangerous. She shaped it carefully, recalling every lesson, every correction Kael had drilled into her. Focus. Intent. Control. Flame bloomed—not wild, not explosive, but honed into a narrow arc that struck the target sigil dead center. The sigil flared gold, absorbing the impact cleanly. “Well done,” Kael said. Relief flickered through her. Then— The flame didn’t fade. It lingered in the ai
Chapter 166: The Rift’s Return
The Northern Ridge had grown quiet again, the scorched battlefield from weeks prior now scarred with blackened stone and smoldering craters. Fires burned low, casting long shadows across the broken valley. Eldoria’s forces had retreated to rest and regroup, but the uneasy calm weighed heavier than any battle. Eryn Vale sat on the edge of a cliff, Phoenix-Aether coiling lazily around her wrists, sparks hissing into the wind. She had spent hours meditating, attempting to synchronize with the energies of the rift she had helped seal—yet a gnawing unease tugged at her mind. Something wasn’t right. “Do you feel it?” she asked softly. Her voice carried over the distance to where Kael and Lira stood nearby, surveying the horizon. Kael’s eyes narrowed. The winds stirred unnaturally, carrying a faint hum that made his hair rise. “I do,” he said. “The rifts… they’re reopening.” Not with the chaotic pulse of the Riftborn, not with the alien malice of the Starbound. This energy was… different
Chapter 167: The Doppelgänger’s Echo
The storm hit Eldoria like a living thing. Wind tore across the cliffs of the Arcane Spire, carrying rain sharp as glass and lightning that fractured the sky in jagged streaks. The air hummed with unstable Aether, vibrating against the bones of every mage and soldier stationed along the northern defenses. Eryn stood at the edge of the upper balcony, Phoenix-Aether coiling around her arms for warmth and stability. Her senses were on high alert; ever since the rifts had begun to respond to human influence, subtle disturbances rippled across the land. Something in the storm felt… different. “Eryn,” Lira shouted over the gale, “stay back! There’s—” Before she could finish, a figure appeared across the courtyard below, illuminated briefly by a fork of lightning. Eryn’s breath caught. The man standing there was Kael—yet not Kael. His armor shimmered like molten gold, but his eyes were obsidian black, reflecting the storm. His staff, identical to Kael’s, pulsed with corrupted Aether that
Chapter 168: Lira’s Suspicion
The first rays of dawn had barely kissed the towers of the Arcane Academy when Lira found herself wandering the upper laboratories, alone. The corridors were quiet, the bustle of students and council members delayed until mid-morning, and the air hummed faintly with residual Aether from the night’s exercises. Yet even in this calm, Lira’s senses prickled. Something was wrong. She had spent the better part of the night reviewing the reports from Kael’s previous engagements—the counter-offensives against the Northern Rift, the skirmishes with the Starbound forces, and the aftermath of Eryn’s training sessions. On the surface, everything seemed… functional. Eldoria had survived, the rifts had been contained temporarily, and the Phoenix-Aether had held steady. But she could not shake the unease in her chest. Kael’s encounter with the doppelgänger—the shadow that mirrored his ascended self—haunted her. She had watched him return from that storm, his expression strained and distant, his
Chapter 169: Eryn’s Discovery
The forbidden archives were silent, save for the whisper of Eryn’s boots against the polished obsidian floor. Dust motes floated like tiny stars in the shafts of sunlight that pierced the tall, narrow windows. The smell of aged parchment, molten Aether residue, and ancient incense filled her senses. Every shelf, carved from blackened stone and reinforced with wards, held secrets older than the Arcane Academy itself—knowledge hidden from all but the council and those deemed ready. Eryn moved cautiously. Her Phoenix-Aether flickered around her arms, subdued but alert, reacting subtly to the traces of magical energy that lingered in the forbidden wing. The flames did not roar or hiss here; they curled and twined like protective serpents, aware that this place demanded respect. She had come alone, slipping past the morning lessons and Kael’s watchful supervision. The incident of the shadow fragment had weighed heavily on everyone, especially Kael. Even now, he remained distracted, his m
Chapter 170: The Masked Stranger
The evening air over the Arcane Academy was heavy with frost and the lingering hum of residual Aether. Fires burned in the spires and towers, casting long, quivering shadows over the stone courtyards. Inside Kael’s private chambers, the head of the Mage Guild sat hunched over a crystal-bound tome, hands trembling slightly as he traced intricate patterns of Phoenix-Aether that danced across the pages. Kael had been restless since the Northern Rift offensive. The Phoenix-Aether within him burned brighter than ever, but it flickered at times with a strange, obsidian undertone—the shadow he had glimpsed, the echo of his own power now whispered constantly in the corners of his mind. Even as he focused, he could feel it writhing beneath the surface, an awareness within him that was not entirely his own. The door to his chamber creaked open, though no one had called. Kael’s hand shot to his staff, but the figure that entered gave no immediate threat. A tall mage stepped forward, their face