Eclipse Online: The Final Descent-Chapter 54: SHATTERED ILLUSIONS

Ash and dust hung in the air, leftovers from the battlefield continuing to swirl around them. Crunched burnt earth beneath their feet, war echoes ringing out far in the distance like ghosts on the wind.

Kaito did not shift, his eyes locked on Nyra. Despite resolve in her voice, doubt gnawed at him. He had thought the Abyss was defeated, thought that the nightmare was finally over—but the words she spoke now weighed heavily on him.

"The Abyss lives within me?" he muttered, disbelief flickering in his eyes. "That’s impossible. I’ve faced it. I’ve destroyed it."

Nyra’s head shook, her eyes locked. "No, Kaito. The Abyss has consumed everything now. It’s no longer a force, a place, or a person. It’s an idea, a dark thought that lurks in the back of everyone’s mind. It feeds on fear, on regret, on despair. And right now, it’s feeding on you."

Kaito’s heart was racing. The wind that swirled around him grew cold, growing colder, the darkness closing in upon him.

He clenched his fists, fighting against the wave of fear that threatened to overwhelm him. He had pushed so hard. He had fought so long. And now, the one thing that he had thought to have overcome still clung to him, deep within his being, waiting to consume him whole.

"No," he replied firmly, the words spilling out of his mouth with more conviction than he had. "I won’t let it consume me. I won’t let it own me.".

Nyra moved closer, a softness in her expression.

"I know you won’t. But you have to understand what you’re getting yourself into. The Abyss doesn’t die when you destroy its physical form. It moves itself into the hearts of the vulnerable, the weak. It is aware of your fears, your weaknesses, and it will use them against you."

Kaito walked away, his eyes planted on the broken horizon. Sharp black rocks shot up into the air like broken teeth, all that was left of the polluted world the Abyss had sought to create.

"I’ve battled my fears. I’ve conquered my weaknesses. I won’t let this. this monstrosity get the better of me." Kaito exhaled confidently.

But Nyra’s eyes never left him, and she replied in a measured statement that merely served to heighten his unease.

"That is the problem, Kaito. The Abyss does not care about strength or weakness. It knows how to break you from the inside out. And right now, you are at its mercy."

Chills coursed through the back of Kaito as his stomach writhed in realization that Nyra wasn’t talking about some external force.

The Abyss was already inside him. It had been there all along, lurking in the darkest part of his mind. Every time he had faltered, every time he had felt guilt and doubt—it had witnessed it, waited patiently.

Standing there, frozen, the world around him began to twist. The still air suddenly started swirling and moving, the shadows drawing out long and unnatural, as if reality itself was bending.

His vision grew blurry, and he felt the crushing pressure of the Abyss closing in on him once more, its cold tendrils reaching into his mind, clutching at his thoughts.

No. he panted in retreat. "I won’t let it win."

And still, though he had spoken, the world around him seemed to mock him. The shadows twisted and writhed, coalescing into forms that burst in and out of existence. The earth around him began to unfold, like paint bleeding from a canvas, to reveal something older, deeper. He could hear murmurs now—whispery voices, just beyond his range of hearing, whispering things he did not want to hear. Names of the dead. His failures. All the lies he’d been telling himself in order to keep going.

The Abyss was back, and this time it was stronger than ever.

Somewhere in the distance, a figure was emerging from the shadows. It was familiar, yet other. A form, surrounded by the same black energy that had consumed the Master of the Abyss. But as the figure drew near, Kaito’s heart skipped a beat.

The figure’s eyes burned with the same golden flame that had defined the Master. And that was when he realized—the Abyss wasn’t just energy. It was something. A consciousness. And it dwelled within him.

"No!" Kaito shouted, drawing his sword, the blade trembling in his hand. "Away!"

The figure faltered, a scornful laugh issuing from its mouth. "You don’t understand yet, do you? The Abyss isn’t something you fight. It’s part of you, Kaito. Always part of you.".

The figure’s voice was familiar in a supernatural sort of way. It was the same cold, calculating tone that Kaito had heard parroted so many times before within the depths of his own mind.

The realization struck him with the force of a punch to the gut—this wasn’t merely the Master. This was him, or at least some fragment of him. A reflection of his own darkness, twisted and corrupted by the Abyss. freēwēbnovel.com

"No," Kaito panted, his head shaking. "I’m not like that. I’m not you."

The figure’s laughter grew lower, darker. "You are me. You always were. You believe you’ve been fighting for the light, but what you’ve been doing is fueling the Abyss. You were chosen from the start, Kaito. Chosen to carry its power, its darkness. And now, it’s time for you to take your true form.".

The sword in Kaito’s grip slipped as the words sunk into his head. Chills of fear took over him, and for the briefest of instances, he remained immobile at the thought that maybe it was true. Maybe he had been destined to fall into the Abyss all along. Maybe everything he had fought for had been a lie.

The shadows around him thickened, pressing close. Tendrils of black mist coiled at his feet, reaching toward his limbs. And yet, he couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

The world constricted, suffocating under the weight of truth—or illusion. The figure lifted a hand, and the tendrils rose like vipers, ready to strike.

But then, a voice broke through the storm in his mind—Nyra’s voice.

"You’re not alone, Kaito."

It was sharp and cool, a bell chiming in fog. He turned to look at her, noticing that she stood on the periphery of the battlefield, her eyes burning with conviction. She was not frightened. Neither should he be.

"You can beat this," she said to him, her voice unflappable. "You’ve always had the capacity to beat it. You just need to have faith in yourself.".

Kaito’s gaze grew harsher, his heart seething with a renewed sense of purpose. He was never alone. He never would be. And the Abyss, though it seemed so overwhelming, would not conquer him.

Memories swamped him—moments of happiness, of pain, of transformation. The faces of those he had rescued, and the faces of those he had lost.

His journey had been long and fraught with suffering, but it had tempered something in him that the Abyss would never be able to claim.

With a final surge of strength, Kaito brought his blade up, his hand closing harder around the hilt. The dark form before him growled, its form shaking with evil energy, but Kaito remained steadfast. He had fought his demons once before and would fight them again. The Abyss would not defeat him.

"You are not me," Kaito declared in a firm voice, shaking with rebellion. "I am Kaito, and I will never be your puppet.".

The figure’s eyes opened wide in anger, but it didn’t have time to act before Kaito rushed in, his sword cutting through the air with such force that it shattered the illusion.

The blade bit into something, though not flesh: something harder. Something older. The surrounding darkness screamed in pain, twisting and unraveling like a dream being torn to pieces.

The beast flinched, its form dissolving into threads of smoke and light. "You cannot deny what you are!" it bellowed, voice exploding with fury. "You contain the Abyss within you!"

"Maybe I do," Kaito spoke back, voice calm now. "But I choose what I am.".

A burst of light exploded from his sword, consuming the oncoming darkness. The battlefield trembled, and the sky above tore open, showing a sky of shattered starlight over the veil. The tendrils reeled back, shrieking, as though the Abyss was being thrust back.

And silence.

Shadows receded, pulling back from the world’s edges, leaving behind burned earth and broken memories. The figure was gone. The whispers ceased. Kaito stood alone in the middle of it all, gasping and resolute.

Nyra approached him, her eyes never once looking away from his. "You did it."

Kaito nodded, exhaustion spreading through his very bones. "No. we did."

She touched him, placing her hand on top of his. "Then let’s make sure it never comes back."

They stood there, their gazes sweeping out across the shattered horizon. The delusions had been smashed. The truth revealed. But even in the ruin, there was hope.

And that was something the Abyss could never take.