2026-03-06 22:02:12
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 245: Mother's Return
Jacob's mother looked exactly as he remembered but also completely different. Her form flickered between solid and translucent, like she existed in multiple states at once and could not decide which to commit to."Mother?" Jacob's voice cracked despite everything happening around them."Yes, Jacob. I am here. Or what remains of me after fifteen years in this place." She smiled and it was his mother's smile despite the strangeness of her appearance. "I have been waiting. Fighting. Keeping him weak."The First Betrayer recoiled from her. Actually stepped backward, and Jacob realized the creature was afraid. Not much, but enough to notice."You should be dead," it said. "Consumed by the void or by my servant. No mortal can survive here for fifteen years.""I am not mortal anymore. Not fully." Jacob's mother gestured at her flickering form. "The void changes you if you stay long enough. Takes parts away and replaces them with itself. I am as much void as I am human now."Anna was staring.
Chapter 244: Together Into Darkness
Jacob grabbed Anna's shoulders. "Then we both go. We seal it together from inside.""But the artifacts need someone outside to—""Marcus can maintain them. For the critical seconds we need." Jacob turned to the old man. "Can you do it? Channel just enough power to keep the gateway stable while we push the Betrayer through?"Marcus nodded slowly. "It will probably kill me. But yes. I can hold it for maybe thirty seconds before the power burns me out.""Thirty seconds is all we need." Jacob looked back at Anna. "We go in together. Use our combined strength to force the seal. If two guardians working together can create stronger barriers than one alone, maybe—""Maybe we can make it permanent," Anna finished. Understanding dawned on her face. "Your mother was alone in there. Could not generate enough power to fully close it. But if there are two of us...""We might actually succeed. Seal it so completely that the Betrayer never escapes again."The First Betrayer had stopped walking. It w
Chapter 243: Anna's Decision
Anna spoke before Jacob could. "I will do it. I will stay inside to seal the void.""No." Jacob's response was immediate and absolute. "Not happening. We find another way.""There is no other way." Anna was already gathering the artifacts, preparing to channel them. "Someone has to stay inside to maintain the seal. That someone is me.""We do not even know if this will work!" Jacob grabbed her arm, stopping her from channeling. "Marcus is guessing based on theory and what happened to my mother. This could kill you for nothing.""And if we do nothing, that thing kills everyone." Anna pulled free and gestured at the First Betrayer, which was watching their argument with obvious amusement. "Not just us. Everyone in Seron. Everyone the Darkness can reach. Millions of people."The creature was advancing again, having apparently decided their planning time was over. Behind them, the surviving fighters were regrouping but they looked broken. Maybe fifty people left out of hundreds who had en
Chapter 242: The Void Plan
The First Betrayer stopped advancing. Its attention shifted to Marcus with something that looked like interest rather than dismissal."The void," it said slowly. "You want to send me back to the prison I just escaped from. Bold. Suicidal, but bold."Jacob helped Anna stand. "Can it work? Opening a gateway?""In theory," Marcus said, wincing as he tried to move his broken arm. "Your mother did it fifteen years ago. Entered the void to attack the Darkness from inside while your father maintained the seals from outside.""But she got trapped," Anna said."Yes. Because opening the gateway is the easy part. Closing it again requires someone on both sides—one person pushing from this reality while another seals it from within the void."The First Betrayer laughed. "And whoever seals it from inside cannot return. They become part of the prison itself, using their own life force to maintain the barrier. Your mother understood this when she entered. She sacrificed herself knowing she would nev
Chapter 241: Desperate Strategies
Jacob forced himself to stand despite ribs that screamed protest with every breath. The First Betrayer was still advancing slowly, giving them time to recover because it knew recovery would not matter."Different approach," Jacob gasped to Anna. "The artifacts together are not working. We separate them. Hit it from five directions simultaneously."Anna nodded despite obvious pain. They split the artifacts between them—Jacob taking three, Anna taking two. Moved to opposite sides of the creature and attacked in coordination.Five different beams of energy struck the First Betrayer from multiple angles. Not a single concentrated force but five separate assaults that should have been impossible to defend against all at once.The creature grew larger.Actually expanded, its form swelling to encompass the space where the attacks landed. The energy was not hurting it but feeding it, making it more present in physical reality rather than less."Interesting try," it said, its voice deeper now
Chapter 240: First Assault
Jacob stopped listening. The First Betrayer was still talking, still explaining the depths of its manipulation, but Jacob could not hear it anymore over the rage building in his chest.Everything. His father's death. His mother's sacrifice. Fifteen years of training and preparing and hunting for vengeance. All of it had been following a script written by something that viewed human lives as tools to be used and discarded.The artifacts blazed in his hands. Not the creative light Anna had helped him discover but the old combat energy—raw destructive power channeled through weapons that had been designed to fight entities exactly like this."Jacob, wait—" Anna started to say, but he was already moving.He attacked with everything he had learned. Every technique his ancestors had passed down through the artifacts' memory. Every strategy that had defeated supernatural threats across millennia. The five artifacts blazed together, their combined power creating effects that would have levele
You may also like
The Least Common Denominator
MokouFriedChicken26.6K viewsThe Billionaire's Revenge
Unique13.8K viewsWHIT
VKBoy20.8K viewsAn Important Villain
P. Artim27.1K viewsRise of the Peerless God of War
Dep Flair3.0K viewsThe Renounced Drug lord
J.s.zalx1.0K views3:33
D.twister539 viewsThe Confessors Blade
Root of God450 views