ONLINE: Blades of Eternity-Chapter 325: A LIMELIGHT

Kaelen stood alone at the edge of the crater where the cave once stood, his breathing ragged, his hands trembling. The air was still thick with the scent of scorched wood, evaporated mist, and divine energy, yet all of it faded into background noise.

All he could see...

Was the blade.

The Blade of Eternity, his eternal companion, forged by the greatest minds and talented mages and has bathed in countless memories—of battles, victories, sacrifices—now lay in his hands in two lifeless halves. The once vibrant arcane runes on its obsidian-blue surface had dimmed, flickering weakly like dying embers before fading entirely.

"No..." Kaelen murmured, his voice barely a whisper, but heavy with disbelief.

"No no no—this isn’t—this shouldn’t be possible..."

His knuckles whitened around the hilt and broken shaft. He slowly lowered himself to his knees, the wind curling around him like a silent witness to his despair. The sacred armor that still glowed faintly on his form did little to offer comfort. The power of the Eternal Guardian, the Nullcarvers’ golden Qi, the liquid mana—all of it—had led to this moment... and his sword had broken.

The world blurred. Kaelen wasn’t sure if it was the leftover glow of mana as both his Eternal Guardian armor and his liquid mana were fading or the tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Kaelen," Lila whispered behind him, hesitant. She took a step forward. "Are you—"

"Don’t," Kaelen growled. His voice was hoarse, frayed at the edges.

"Please don’t come closer."

His shoulders trembled, and his aura began to fray. The blue liquid mana that had encased him started to leak erratically, rising in arcs of unstable energy. The ground beneath him cracked, scorched from the sheer pressure of the emotions boiling inside him.

Morris, Kelvin, Guinevere, Ethan, and Lila all stood a few paces behind, their faces painted with equal parts concern and helplessness.

"Kaelen, listen, we can—" Ethan started.

"Shut up!" Kaelen barked, his voice rising sharply, cracked with raw fury and disbelief.

"You don’t understand! None of you do!"

He lifted the two halves of the Blade of Eternity, holding them out in front of him. The jagged ends shimmered faintly, the remnants of divine power still sparking between the broken edges.

"This sword... it was never supposed to break. It can’t break. It’s not just a weapon—it’s a part of me! It’s... it’s my bond with everything I’ve fought for!"

He slammed the shattered pieces into the ground in front of him with a guttural yell. The energy from the strike shattered a boulder nearby, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered.

Silence. Deafening silence.

The forest around them, stripped of the Leech’s mist, remained eerily still. Even the wind dared not disturb the moment.

’Wait, my system might have a way’

Kaelen suddenly clutched his chest as he thought, summoning his system interface with a desperate thought.

"Online: Blades of Eternity"

"Online: Blades of Eternity"

"System, respond. Give me answers—now. Tell me what happened to the Blade. Tell me how to fix it!"

But tragically, Nothing.

Not even a flicker. Not a sound. Not a loading bar.

Just an empty void where the system prompt should have appeared.

Kaelen’s eyes widened. His system—his guiding light, his companion through everything—was silent.

"No... no no no..." he whispered, staring into the void only he could see.

"Don’t go quiet on me now. Not now..."

He fell forward, supporting himself with one arm as his breath grew erratic. The silence of the system wasn’t just an absence of information. It was abandonment. Cold. Absolute. Final.

"I did everything right," he thought. "I gave everything. So why... why is it all falling apart now?"

His vision dimmed for a moment, the storm of despair wrapping itself around his mind.

And then...

A warm hand pressed gently against his shoulder.

"You’re not abandoned, Kaelen."

His eyes widened as he turned his head.

There, limping slightly but holding herself upright with quiet dignity, stood Naena—the elder of the Nullcarvers. Her long, silver-streaked hair flowed in the wind, and her eyes—clouded from injury—still carried that ancient wisdom.

"You..." Kaelen choked out. "How did you—"

"I’ve been listening," Naena interrupted softly. "Even when you couldn’t hear me."

She looked down at the shattered blade and nodded slowly, gravely.

"I strangely felt it when the Blade of Eternity broke. Its resonance echoed across the ley lines which apparently am quite familiar with. You’ve pushed it past its limit. That weapon was never meant to handle so many fused powers at once. It was meant to grow on its own power, not to rely on external powers to fight"

Kaelen blinked rapidly, rage and hope clashing in his heart. "So... it’s gone?"

Naena shook her head.

"Not gone. But... lost. And it will remain that way unless you go where few have ever dared. There may be a way to remake the Blade. Not just restore it—but evolve it."

The others all turned toward her, hanging on every word.

"Where?" Kaelen asked, rising shakily to his feet.

Naena’s lips pressed into a thin line. "The Aether Crucible. It’s an ancient and long forgotten forge hidden deep beneath the World’s Core. It’s where the first divine artifacts were born. But... to reach it, you must pass through the trials of the Celestial Vault. It’s guarded by beings even the Eternals feared when they were around."

Kaelen’s fingers curled tightly into a fist.

"I don’t care. If there’s even a sliver of a chance... I’ll do it."

Naena stepped closer and placed something into his hand—a silver shard, glowing faintly with ethereal light.

"Take this. It’s the Heart Fragment of your blade, I saw it flew off as soon as you cleaved into the Leech. As long as it pulses, your bond with the Blade of Eternity endures. It will guide you to the Crucible... and maybe, just maybe... to something far greater."

Kaelen stared down at the fragment, the smallest spark of hope flickering back to life within him.

"Then I’ll go," he said, his voice steeled with resolve. "Whatever it takes... I’ll reclaim my blade. Even if I have to face the heavens themselves."

"That’s good to hear but you are not even close to ready to take on the Celestial Vault much less to reach the Aether Crucible" Neana quickly replied with a serious look on her face which poured a bucket of cold water on Kaelen.

"What do you mean?" Kaelen asked with a creased brows, but Naena wasn’t swayed by that as she continued.

"You’re close," she said, her tone solemn but hopeful. "All of you. You’ve already touched the threshold of what few outsiders ever have... but it’s not enough. If you go to the Aether Crucible now, you’ll die. All of you will."

Everyone turned toward her, the weight of her warning crashing over them.

"What do you mean?" Kelvin asked, stepping forward, his red Qi still flickering faintly around him. "We just fought something that nearly warped an entire forest into a fog-ridden wasteland. And we won."

Naena’s sharp eyes met his.

"You survived, boy. There’s a difference."

She turned to face Kaelen directly, her expression softening. "You’ve both learned the first two techniques. But there are seven sacred arts in total—each building upon the previous, each unlocking a deeper resonance between the body, the soul, and the flow of Qi. Only when you learn all seven will you be worthy to step into the Crucible of Aether and not be annihilated by its divine heat."

"Qi?"

"Secret techniques?" freёnovelkiss.com

"What are you guys talking about?"

The others looked toward Kaelen, their expressions ranging from hesitant to confusion.

Lila took a step forward, her icy domain still faintly resonating around her.

"Kaelen, I don’t really understand what she is saying, but if we delay now, the remnants of the Leech’s corruption might resurface due to the mist still lingering at other region of the forest. We all felt that horror. We can’t afford to waste time."

Guinevere nodded. "And you’re not the only one who lost something. We’ve fought for everything just to stand beside you. Are we... sure this is the right path?"

Morris frowned deeply. "If we stay here to train, we risk missing our window to reach the Crucible before another force tries to claim it—or worse, something else seals it entirely. And you know exactly who am talking about"

A heavy silence fell over them again. The mist had receded, but its echoes haunted the destroyed forest.

And then, Kaelen finally spoke.

He lifted the broken halves of the Blade of Eternity, his expression hard, his voice low but unwavering.

"This isn’t just about me. It’s about all of us—but if I’m not at my strongest when we reach that forge... I’ll break again. And not just my sword. Me."

His voice cracked slightly, but he didn’t turn away.

"If I don’t fix this, I might go back to who I was. Someone lost, driven by rage... with no anchor and hope to achieve my dream. I can’t be that person again."

He looked to Naena and nodded. "We’ll learn them. All seven. No matter how long it takes."

Naena gave a rare smile—small, almost sorrowful. "Then prepare yourselves. The path will test more than your strength. It will test your truth, your lies... your essence."

Meanwhile, unseen, far above in the tangle of blackwood trees, two figures observed the group from the high canopy.

Aron, blood still drying across the left side of his face, narrowed his dark eyes. His once-sleek and vibrant cloak has been torn to shreds and blackened by Guinevere’s flames. He winced as he moved, his wounds fresh and deep.

Beside him, Selene crouched low, cradling her ribs. Her silver-white hair was a tangled mess, her breath ragged. The frost Lila had unleashed earlier had pierced her core, and it hadn’t fully healed.

"They’re all still alive," Selene spat bitterly. "I can’t believe those brats pushed back the Leech... and still had enough power left to obliterate this place."

Aron gritted his teeth. "If we attack now, we’ll die. We’re not in any shape to face even half of them."

Selene growled, her voice low and venomous. "So we run? Tuck our tails between our legs and—"

"We wait," Aron said coldly. "We heal. We let them think they’re safe. Then when they step into the Crucible—when they’re spent, when they’re blind to what’s coming—we strike. And this time... we take the blade’s core for ourselves along with Kaelen."

Selene narrowed her eyes, reluctantly nodding. "Fine. But next time, I’m not holding back."

They turned to retreat into the treetops, but before either could leap, a low, steely hum stopped them in their tracks.

A silver gleam danced through the mist.

"You’re not leaving."

They froze.

From the base of a nearby scorched branch, Eirana stepped forward, her face partially shadowed beneath her Nullcarver hood. Her silver sword was drawn, already glowing faintly with mirror-like Qi that reflected the light around them. Her presence was calm—controlled—but the threat in her eyes was absolute.

"I’ve let you two crawl around for long enough. You’ve stalked my people. You watched us bleed, hoping to pick apart what remained. That ends now."

Aron’s eyes narrowed. "Eirana. Nullcarver’s princess. I see you survived the Leech’s wave of mist. Pity."

Eirana’s sword arm twitched ever so slightly, just enough to reflect the starlight.

"I survived, and now I’m stronger. You two, however..."

She took a step forward, each movement laced with quiet power.

"You’re wounded. You’re desperate. And you’re not getting past me."

Selene’s lips curled in a snarl. "You think you can stop both of us? You’re alone, girl."

"Alone?" Eirana’s smirk was slow, dangerous.

A second later, more shadows dropped from the trees—Nullcarvers in sleek black battlewear, each holding thin crystalline blades. The treetops were no longer safe.

"You’re not the only ones watching from the dark," she said.

Eirana raised her blade toward the duo.

"We’ve let you interfere for long enough. Either surrender quietly... or bleed where you stand."

Aron’s eyes darted to Selene’s. He grit his teeth.

"Damn it... Not now."

Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only