Alex and Kaelios stepped through the radiant veil of light, leaving their chamber behind and emerging into a vast corridor that stretched far ahead, seemingly without end.
The soft echo of their footsteps resonated faintly against the polished floor, their reflections shimmering in the faint glow that filled the passage.
This hallway, unlike anything they had seen recently, radiated an eerie calm.
It stretched forward into another luminous veil at the far end, a clear indication that something awaited beyond it.
Along the sides of the corridor were windows, each one framed in silver and glowing slightly, as if alive.
Alex turned to glance out one of them.
The view that met his eyes was a strange blend of the familiar and the unknown.
One window showed a desolate battlefield from [Universal Descent], a place Alex had once bled in.
Another showed the cityscape of Earth, its gray skyline smudged with pollution and memory.
But the next one showed a land unlike anything he recognized, with vast islands floating in a sea of shifting colors and towers twisting into impossible spirals.
Another one revealed a battlefield of swords in the sky, where massive beings clashed amid clouds of flame.
It was then he realized where he had seen something like this before.
“It’s just like the hallway in the [Palace of Destiny],” Alex thought, remembering the [Test of Speed], where he had sprinted down a corridor just like this one, windows on the side revealing worlds and possibilities as the GBlaster chased him mercilessly.
Those windows had displayed strange and distant spaces, much like these now.
But this time, there was no threat behind him.
No timer. No trap.
Only the weight of what was to come.
He looked away and continued forward.
There was no time to stand still and admire the views.
The final battle was right ahead, and it was a battle that could not be delayed any longer.
Beside him, Kaelios kept pace.
The ancient god occasionally glanced at the windows too, but far less intrigued than Alex.
His attention remained mostly ahead, eyes locked on the light waiting at the corridor’s end.
It pulsed faintly, as if sensing their approach, as if inviting them to step through and face whatever lay on the other side.
The silence between them finally broke.
“So,” Kaelios began, his voice calm but serious, “I know strategy is pretty much worthless now, but… what’s the plan?”
Alex exhaled, then grinned, “Don’t die.”
“That’s your plan?” Kaelios raised a brow.
“It’s the [God of Death] we’re up against,” Alex replied, his smile fading into something sharper, “Dying isn’t really a great option.”
“And the Chosen One?”
“Lich…” Alex muttered, eyes flashing, “He won’t get away with what he did. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll use my undead too.”
Kaelios nodded slowly.
“I can feel it already… something beyond that light,” he murmured, his voice lowering, “Death. Heavy and waiting. This might be the end, Alex. Just know… if I die here, it was good fighting beside you.”
“You too,” Alex said with a chuckle, “Even though you did try to kill me when we first met.”
Kaelios allowed himself a small grin, and the two of them exchanged a firm handshake as they neared the veil.
There was no fear in either of their eyes, only acceptance.
Whatever happened next, whether they walked out alive or fell, they would face it together.
Without hesitation, they stepped into the final light.
On the other side, they didn’t find an arena or a closed space.
Instead, they stepped into an open field, a boundless plain of emerald grass stretching endlessly in every direction beneath a calm, cloudless sky.
There were no walls, no barriers, no obstacles.
Only pure, untouched terrain and open air.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then, several glowing panels manifested before them, floating gently in midair.
[This is the final battlefield. It is a vast, flat space with nothing to obstruct combat. Victory will not be decided only by raw power.]
[The field is massive in scale. You may use any skill without restriction.]
[There will be no further guidance. No more panels. No more intervention. May the strongest survive.]
As the panels faded into nothingness, Alex and Kaelios looked ahead, and there they were.
Nocteron and Lich emerged from their own veil of light, stepping onto the field from the opposite end.
The moment their feet touched the ground, their portal closed behind them like a gate shutting tight.
All four of them were now inside the battlefield.
Ding!
[The “Final Fight” shall now… BEGIN!]
A deep bell rang across the sky, echoing like a divine signal.
The moment it did, Lich moved.
He raised his dark scepter, a twisted thing of bone and steel, and a mixture of green and violet aura began swirling around it.
The ground beneath his feet responded immediately, pulsing with corrupt energy.
“You cannot defeat us!” Lich declared, voice filled with manic glee.
He waved his scepter as his aura flooded the field.
“Death shall rule!”
Nocteron remained still, silent and unbothered, watching the scene unfold with the cold eyes of one who had seen countless ages pass.
Alex narrowed his gaze, using those few seconds to analyze his enemies one final time.
[Chosen One of Death – Lich]
[Skills: Undead Summoning, Grim Reaper, ???, ???]
He already knew Lich’s two visible skills, but the panel also confirmed that he likely only had two more hidden ones.
Four total. It wasn’t much, but Alex knew better than to underestimate them.
Lich still looked the same, pale, skeletal-thin, his white hair drifting in the breeze like mist.
He wore long black robes, and his scepter seemed almost alive with the deathly energy it contained.
There had also been rumors that he was a vampire, but Alex doubted that detail would matter much in a battle like this.
He shifted his focus to Nocteron next.
[God of Death – Nocteron]
[Skills: ???, ???, ???]
Only three question marks.
Nocteron had just three skills, but if a god of his level had so few, it only meant one thing, those abilities were devastating, carefully chosen, absolute.
The god’s appearance was unsettling, despite the sharp black suit he wore.
He had slicked-back black hair, pale white skin, and glowing red eyes that never blinked.
But what stood out most were his hands.
They were elongated, ink-black, veined with pulsing red lines, each throb releasing a subtle hum of power.
Just looking at them sent a chill down Alex’s spine.
He didn’t need to be told, getting touched by those hands meant certain death.
Before the battle could truly begin, Nocteron spoke.
“You know,” he began casually, as if talking to old friends, “most people who fight me eventually crumble when they learn one simple truth.”
He smiled faintly.
“But let’s change things up this time.”
“Shut up,” Kaelios snapped, “You’ll die just like all the others.”
Nocteron’s grin widened.
“That’s the problem. I can’t die.”
He said it so easily, so naturally, that it took Kaelios a moment to react.
His eyes widened.
Alex, however, remained calm.
“Just like how you can revive for a set amount of time,” Nocteron continued, nodding at Kaelios, “I can do the same but in a much larger scale. I’ve taken the lives of millions, absorbed their essence. My soul splits and stores in each one. You cannot kill me. None of your tricks will work.”
“We’ll see about that,” Alex muttered, his expression darkening, “I’ll enjoy watching you scream.”
“Ah… the denial phase.” Nocteron sighed, “Even when I tell them, they never believe me.”
He stepped back calmly, but deep in his mind, there was a flicker of unease.
Something in Alex’s gaze made him hesitate, if only for a moment.
“No,” he reassured himself, “We have millions of lives. We cannot lose.”
At that moment, Lich finished his incantation.
This time, it was quicker, less focused on summoning a god-tier creature and more on quantity.
“You will fall before my undead!” Lich roared, slamming his scepter against the ground.
The terrain trembled violently.
And then… it erupted.
Behind Lich and Nocteron, the earth split open in a thousand places.
Skeletal arms burst forth, clawing at the surface.
One after another, they rose, skeleton warriors with hollow eyes and rusted blades.
Hundreds. Thousands. Tens of thousands.
“My 100,000-man skeleton army,” Lich laughed, his voice echoing across the field, “They’re not the strongest, no. But they’ll keep you busy. Let’s see how long you last.”
Kaelios tensed, readying himself.
But Alex simply sighed.
In a single, fluid motion, he raised his arm.
A deep shadow spiraled around him, coiling like smoke, seeping into the ground as his own deathly aura surged.
“Your numbers mean nothing,” Alex said quietly.
Then, his voice rose.
“Arise… my undead.”
The command rippled with power.
He had prepared for this moment for longer than anyone knew.
For this exact battle. Against these exact enemies.
And now, he would show them what real death looked like.