The Sovereign Chronicles novel Chapter 48

"What do you need it for?" Kaelen forcefully peeled the hand off his arm.

"Lend it," the youth rasped, his voice impossibly weak yet desperate.

Kaelen's heart softened. He hesitated. "Just for a moment."

The youth took The Daevan Blade, examining it with obsessive detail. The blade was smooth and ancient, showing absolutely no chips or damage from violently striking the Umbral Shackles. His eyes trembled, a sudden gleam piercing through the hollow void in his gaze. He ran a fingertip along the flat of the blade. The metal hummed, emitting a crisp, resonant ring.

"What are you trying to do? These chains are—" Before Kaelen could finish, the youth suddenly spun around and darted into the dense brush. He was running off!

Kaelen froze, then nearly cursed out loud, sprinting frantically after him. "Stop! Did you borrow it or steal it!"

The youth moved with terrifying speed, vanishing from sight in the blink of an eye.

"Where did he go?" Kaelen gritted his teeth, scanning the forest in a panic. But suddenly, an apocalyptic surge of Aether erupted from the woods ahead. A heaven-piercing sword aura shattered the canopy, radiating a blinding light that swallowed the world. It was as if a hurricane of pure kinetic force had detonated, violently shredding the ancient forest. Accompanied by a deafening roar, the very earth quaked beneath Kaelen's feet.

The shockwave of sword aura tore outward like an ocean storm. A massive swath of the ancient forest was instantly vaporized.

Kaelen scrambled backward in sheer terror, diving for cover to escape the obliterating wave of pressure.

What just happened?!

Was that the true power of The Daevan Blade? Or was it...

*Clang!!*

The Daevan Blade fell from the sky like a meteor, burying itself halfway into a boulder right in front of Kaelen. It hummed violently, glowing with a blinding brilliance, thick strands of lethal sword aura coiling around its steel.

Kaelen's brow furrowed tightly. He kept his guard up against the sword, and against the decimated forest ahead.

It took a long time for the blade to finally calm down and retract its lethal aura.

But the youth never reappeared.

Kaelen retrieved his sword and cautiously moved forward. The forest ahead had been carved into a massive crater dozens of meters wide. Ash, splintered wood, and dust rained down from the sky, blinding his vision in a thick fog.

Forget it. Run!

An explosion of this magnitude would definitely attract every high-level threat in the vicinity. Staying was suicide.

Kaelen decisively retreated, resuming his sprint toward The Sacrificial Peaks.

He would just pretend this bizarre encounter never happened.

Besides, it really had nothing to do with him.

Kaelen crossed over a dozen treacherous mountains, evading countless lethal traps and narrowly avoiding a massive mercenary encirclement. Finally, on the afternoon of the second day, he crossed back into the designated boundaries of The Sacrificial Peaks.

"Kaelen? What are you doing out here?" A middle-aged patrol guard bumped into him. Why was he coming from *that* direction? Wait, the real question was: how was Kaelen still alive? The Grand Hunt had been underway for half a month. With Horace Vane and his elite squad hunting him down, Kaelen should have been a corpse weeks ago. Yet here he was, walking out of the death zone looking energized and perfectly clean.

"I just went out to hide for a bit." Kaelen gave a casual nod and walked past.

Realization dawned on the guard. Ah, he went to ground. Clever kid. Hide until Horace Vane loses his patience, then come back. Still, the kid had balls of steel to wander outside the boundaries. The Azure Sky Sanctum only used The Sacrificial Peaks for The Grand Hunt because they routinely purged the zone, driving out the apex Spirit Beasts to keep the fatality rate acceptable. Outside the zone was untamed wilderness, easily ten times deadlier. For a low-tier Initiate to survive out there for over a week unharmed was nothing short of miraculous.

On the very afternoon Kaelen safely returned, far away in the untamed Veilwood Forest, the squad of masked men finally caught up to their target: the fugitive youth.

However, there was no triumphant joy in their eyes. Only pure, unadulterated terror.

Amidst the shattered remains of the forest, the youth stood with his head bowed, his hair hanging wildly over his face, his arms limp at his sides. He looked incredibly frail, swaying as if a stiff breeze would knock him over. Yet, the elite death squad backed away from him as if looking at a god of death, their faces pale under their masks, screaming in horror.

"Where are your shackles! Where are your seals!"

"No, no, no! Who broke your seals?!"

"Impossible! No... no..."

The youth slowly raised his head. Beneath the tangled curtain of hair, his eyes glowed a vibrant, blood-drenched crimson.

"Your eyes... your power..."

"NO!!"

The squad scrambled backward, their composure shattering completely, screaming like men staring into the abyss.

*Swoosh!*

The youth vanished. In the next microsecond, he materialized dead in the center of their formation.

In that split second, the squad's faces contorted in absolute despair. There was no attempt to fight. No attempt to run. Only an all-consuming dread.

Because... there was no escape...

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