Chapter 21: The War of Two Sovereigns
Kael stood motionless, his silver eyes locked onto his reflection.
The Golden Kael mirrored him perfectly his posture, his smirk, even the way the air seemed to bend around him. But there was something else.
A presence.
A divinity.
"This is what you could have been," the Gate whispered. "A version of yourself that ascended without breaking the order of existence."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "And yet, here you are, standing in my way."
The Golden Kael chuckled, rolling his shoulders. "Only because the Gate demands a ruler, and it only allows one." His golden irises flared. "So tell me, Forsaken One are you truly the stronger version of us?"
Kael didn't hesitate.
"Let's find out."
The first blow came from the Golden Kael.
A single flick of his wrist and the entire battlefield warped.
Kael barely had time to react before the sky inverted, time reversed, and gravity folded in on itself. It wasn't just an attack it was absolute dominion over existence itself.
Kael broke through it.
His silver eyes burned as he ripped time apart, forcing reality to obey him instead. The sky restored itself. The laws of existence snapped back into place.
Golden Kael raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
Kael smirked. "You're going to have to do better than that."
Then he moved.
A burst of pure velocity, faster than light, faster than thought his fist colliding against his counterpart's jaw with a force that cracked the very dimension they stood in.
Golden Kael didn't fall.
Instead, he caught the force of the strike, twisting it, absorbing it then hurling it back with double the strength.
Kael's instincts screamed.
He barely managed to bend space in time, redirecting the attack into the void. The moment it landed, an entire section of the battlefield ceased to exist.
Golden Kael smirked. "Good. You've learned how to handle your own power."
Kael wiped the blood from his lip. "And you talk too much."
Then the real fight began.
They moved so fast that time itself struggled to keep up.
Punches collided, each blow sending shockwaves through the universe. Kicks shattered the air, their movements breaking and reforging the battlefield with every exchange.
Golden Kael warped probability itself, shifting outcomes to his favor.
Kael denied fate altogether, forcing the world to obey only his will.
For every move, there was a counter. For every strategy, an answer.
They were equals.
Or so it seemed until Kael began to push further.
Golden Kael's eyes narrowed. He could feel it.
Kael was evolving.
With every clash, with every exchange, the silver-eyed warrior was learning. Adapting.
He's breaking through his limits.
Golden Kael gritted his teeth.
"No."
He would not allow it.
Golden Kael's aura flared but this time, it was different.
A golden sun ignited behind him, blinding, consuming.
"This battle ends now!" he roared.
The sun collapsed inward not vanishing, but compressing.
It became a single point.
A singularity.
A weapon forged from the weight of an entire reality. A blow that not even time itself could undo.
He hurled it at Kael.
The universe screamed.
Kael didn't move.
He didn't run.
He didn't try to bend fate.
Instead, he simply smiled.
And then He caught it.
Golden Kael's eyes widened in disbelief.
Kael held the singularity in his bare hand.
The energy of a collapsed existence a force that should have erased him instantly was held in his grasp like a fragile flame.
Kael's silver eyes burned brighter than ever before.
"Not bad." He grinned. "But let me show you what happens when I stop holding back."
He crushed the singularity.
And at that moment kael transcended.
The battlefield shattered. The world bent. The Infinite Gate trembled.
Golden Kael staggered back.
For the first time, he felt it.
The difference.
Kael stepped forward. "Your mistake was thinking I wanted to be like you."
He raised his hand and Golden Kael vanished.
Not defeated.
Not killed.
Simply… erased.
As if he had never existed at all.
The battlefield fell silent.
The Infinite Gate, once still, now roared to life.
"You have proven yourself," it whispered. "You are not a mere ruler. You are a force beyond the gods."
The gate swung open.
Kael turned to his warriors the Forgotten Ones, the First Sovereign, the star-cloaked woman.
"The Tribunal is waiting." His smirk was sharp, dangerous.
"Let's go take their throne."