All Chapters of SHADOWS OF THE VEIL: Chapter 171
- Chapter 180
235 chapters
CHAPTER 174_THE RETURN TO ASHENFALL
Light swallowed everything.The crushing pressure of the Abyss vanished, replaced by a violent rush of wind—and suddenly Ethan and Rick were falling through a tear in the sky.“WAIT—ETHAN—!!” Rick shouted, flailing.“I KNOW—JUST—HOLD—ON!” Ethan yelled back.They crashed through branches, leaves, and a very unlucky tree trunk—WHAM.Rick groaned from the ground, one leg hanging over a broken branch. “I think… the tree won.”Ethan fell beside him face-first into the dirt. “…I hate portals.”They both lay still for a long moment.Rick turned his head. “Ethan?”“Yeah?”“Are we dead?”Ethan coughed. “Unfortunately, no.”Rick snorted.Then Ethan slowly pushed himself upright, brushing leaves off his hair. “Where are we?”Rick stood too, looking around.They weren’t in the Crimson Sanctum anymore.They were on a jagged cliff overlooking a valley glowing with dim violet mist. Strange stone monoliths jutted out of the ground, each carved with runes. A cold wind blew, carrying faint whispers.R
CHAPTER 175_THE CURSED VALLEY OF ASHENFALL
The moment Ethan and Rick crossed the glowing boundary, the temperature dropped instantly.A heavy fog rolled around their ankles, thick and cold enough to sting like dry ice. The air felt wet, stale, and old—older than any place Ethan had ever sensed. His Abyssal core pulsed uneasily.Rick rubbed his arms. “Why does it feel like the air is… watching us?”“Because it is.” Ethan tapped his chest. “The Veil King’s influence. He’s probing.”“Great,” Rick muttered. “We’ve been here five seconds and already I want to go home.”Ethan smirked faintly. “Too late. Our bond makes that impossible.”Rick groaned. “I’ll regret this later.”They followed the rune-lit path down the cliff, stepping between broken statues, shattered obelisks, and trees twisted into unnatural shapes. Some had grown into sharp spirals, others were bent like they were bowing.Rick pointed at one. “That tree is literally kneeling.”“That’s not kneeling,” Ethan said quietly. “That’s submission.”The wind carried faint whis
CHAPTER 176_THE MASKED SENTINEL
The armored figure stepped fully into view, the cracked silver plates creaking as if they hadn’t moved in centuries. The mask—smooth, emotionless, carved into an eerie smile—glowed with faint violet light leaking through its fractures.Rick immediately gripped his blade tighter.“Why does he look like the final boss of a horror game?”Ethan didn’t answer.He couldn’t.Because the moment the Sentinel appeared, Ethan felt something in the air shift—like gravity itself had changed direction. His Abyssal core pulsed hard, almost painfully.The Sentinel raised its head.“Vessel…”Its voice echoed like a hundred whispers layered together.“…your presence restores the chain.”Rick elbowed Ethan. “He’s talking to you. Congratulations, you’ve been upgraded to ‘creepy ancient treasure.’”Ethan didn’t smile.The Sentinel turned its masked gaze toward Rick.“And you… Anchor.”Rick blinked. “Okay, nope. I don’t like that title anymore.”The Sentinel stepped closer—and the ground responded. Runes i
Chapter 177_THE THREE VESSELS OF FATE
The storm over the Frostspire Mountains raged like an angry beast, lightning shredding the sky as Haleema and Remiel stood behind Caelum, each of them staring at the glowing crevice that had appeared at the heart of the frozen valley.A low hum echoed from the depths—ancient, powerful, and terrifyingly familiar.Caelum stiffened.That energy… it was the same he had felt in the Abyss Temple, the same presence that once tried to claim his soul.The Nexus Sovereign.But this time, the energy wasn’t trying to devour him.It was calling him.“Caelum,” Haleema whispered, her hand tightening around her frost dagger. “Something wants you to go inside.”Remiel’s golden wings flared.“Not something. Someone.”Suddenly—The frozen ground trembled.Three pillars of light erupted from the crevice, each a different color: blue, crimson, and white.A mechanical chime echoed inside Caelum’s mind.---[DING!]SYSTEM ALERT: THE THREE VESSELS OF FATE HAVE AWAKENEDRequirement: Chosen Heir must establish
Chapter 178_RICK’S REVELATION
The entire Frostspire Valley shook as Rick’s voice echoed through the storm.Haleema and Remiel stared at him in disbelief—his aura was different, impossibly deep, layered with forces that didn’t belong to the mortal realm.Caelum took a step forward, unable to hide his shock.“Rick… how did you survive the Abyss trial? You disappeared—your life signs vanished. Even the System marked you as unreachable.”Rick exhaled slowly, his breath misting in the cold wind.“I didn’t survive the trial,” he said. “I was pulled out of it.”Haleema frowned.“Pulled out? By who?”Rick raised his hand.Silver light swirled around his palm—Not magic.Not aura.Not the Nexus Force.Something else.Something alien.Something forbidden.---“By the Chrono-Watcher.”Even Remiel stumbled backward.Haleema drew her dagger instinctively.“Chrono-Watchers are myths. They’re older than the Nexus Sovereign himself—beings who watch timelines, not interfere with them.”Rick nodded slowly.“They’re not myths. They
Chapter 179_THE VESSEL THAT DEFIES DESTINY
The white light of the Paradox Vessel pulsed like a heartbeat—wild, unstable, alive. Each pulse distorted the air, bending the very rules of the world around Caelum.Rick, Haleema, and Remiel stepped back as cracks of raw reality split across the ground.Caelum took one deep breath.Then stepped into the light.---The Collision of WorldsThe moment Caelum’s foot crossed the threshold, the world shattered.Not metaphorically.Literally.The sky splintered like glass, revealing layers of different timelines flickering behind it—thousands of versions of himself, some weak, some monstrous, some unrecognizable. All of them mirrored his movement, stepping toward their own white pillar.Haleema gasped.“Is this… every possible Caelum?”Rick nodded grimly.“This is the nature of the Paradox Vessel. It merges potential futures with the present.”Time folded inward.Light spiraled.Reality twisted.Caelum felt everything and nothing.---Inside the VesselHe found himself suspended in a void m
Chapter 180_THE SOVEREIGN’S REACTION
The air trembled.Not from Caelum’s power—But from something far away.Something watching.Something furious.Far beyond Frostspire Valley, in a realm of shifting obsidian and burning time-waves, the Nexus Sovereign sat upon his throne of living shadow. His many eyes—scattered across his enormous form—snapped open at once.The Sovereign had not reacted with confusion.Nor fear.He reacted with rage.A cold, cosmic rage.---The Vision That Should Have Been ImpossibleHovering above his hand was a floating hologram of Caelum—freshly emerged from the Paradox Vessel.But the image flickered.Glitched.Distorted.The timeline had changed.“Impossible…” the Sovereign hissed, his voice sounding like the echo of a collapsing star.A dozen lesser entities fled from his throne room in terror.One was not fast enough.The Sovereign’s shadow lashed out—And erased the creature from existence as easily as a man crushing an ant.---“THE PARADOX VESSEL HAS CHOSEN HIM?”His voice shook the entire
Chapter 181_THE ENVOYS STRIKE
The valley shattered.The moment Caelum declared,“I bow to no timeline.”—everything exploded into motion.A shockwave split the ice beneath their feet.Rick stumbled backward as Haleema yanked him out of the blast zone.“Stay behind me!” she snapped.But Rick wasn’t looking at the ice.He was looking at Caelum.Because Caelum—calm, silent Caelum—had changed.His aura rippled like a living storm, shifting between colors no human eyes were meant to see.Rick whispered under his breath:“…What are you becoming?”---THE FIRST STRIKE — XYLENXylen moved first.The Whisper of Ruin blurred forward, his porcelain face cracking into something that resembled a mocking smile. His fingers extended into long shadow-blades.“Let us begin.”He flickered—And reappeared at Caelum’s side.Rick didn’t even see the movement.He only saw Xylen’s blade plunging toward Caelum’s neck.Haleema gasped.Remiel cursed.Rick froze.But Caelum…didn’t move.He raised one hand—two fingers only—and caught the
Chapter 182_THE MESSAGE OF THE SOVEREIGN
The battlefield fell silent.Not because the fighting stopped—but because Caelum’s words froze every Envoy in place.> “Tell the Sovereign…I’m coming for him.”Rick felt the temperature in the valley drop.Not because of the cold—but because of the weight behind that sentence.Haleema whispered,“…Caelum, what have you done?”Remiel’s eyes widened in shock.“Do you have any idea what those words mean?”Caelum did not answer.He just kept walking forward, each step steady, unhurried, too calm for the storm raging around him.---THE ENVOYS’ RETREATXylen rose from the cracked glacier, shadows leaking from the slashes in his mask.“You have… overstepped, anomaly.”Seraphis clutched her broken wings, her voice cracking with fear.“The Sovereign does not forgive… defiance.”Morvhal pushed himself to his feet, multiple jaws grinding with fury.“You have chosen your death, Draven.”Caelum didn’t slow.Didn’t blink.Didn’t react.He simply said:“Leave.”A ripple of power swept across the
Chapter 183_THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW ENEMIES
The ancient door of obsidian stone trembled as Leon placed his palm against it. The Nexus Ruins were unlike anything he had encountered before—older than the Abyssal Temples, older than the Celestial Thrones, even older than the Soul Epoch itself.The moment his hand touched the cold surface, a pulse of energy spread outward like ripples through water.BOOM—!The entire chamber lit up.Symbols—thousands of them—spiraled outward from the door, glowing in a golden radiance that seemed to respond to his inner force. Aria stepped back, shielding her eyes.“Leon… this isn’t normal ancient energy,” she whispered. “This is far beyond even the Old Gods’ remnants.”Rick, who had returned to the group in the previous chapters’ background journeys, narrowed his eyes.“This isn’t a ruin. This is a gateway.”Leon didn’t answer. His breathing slowed as the Core inside him hummed louder than ever before.The Eternal Origin Core was reacting—violently.Suddenly—CRACK!A fracture split across the gia