The Masked Virtuoso-Chapter 95: The Corrupted Ones’ War

The Battlefield of the Forgotten

For the first time in history—Ethan Cross bled.

A single drop of golden blood shimmered in the air before hitting the cracked ground beneath him. The world around him seemed to hold its breath.

His team stood frozen.

Mia’s hands clenched around her daggers.

Selene’s spear pulsed with unsteady energy.

Orion’s visor glowed erratically, overloaded with unreadable data.

Kieran muttered, "No way."

Nefera’s flames wavered for the first time.

This wasn’t supposed to be possible.

Yet, the Old Riftborn stood before them—figures of golden distortion, paradoxes that had refused their own destruction.

They were beyond logic. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Beyond death.

Beyond existence itself.

And they had just wounded Ethan.

The leader of the Old Riftborn, the one who had cut him, tilted its flickering head. "Do you understand now?"

Ethan didn’t respond immediately. He stared at the wound on his chest, watching as his golden energy erased it effortlessly. But that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that it had happened in the first place.

His golden-shadow flames rippled. His golden eyes, deep and endless, locked onto the enemy.

And then—he exhaled.

"I see it now," he said softly.

The leader’s form flickered. "Then you know you cannot erase us."

Ethan’s expression remained unreadable. "Not yet."

The Old Riftborn shifted. They did not breathe. They did not exist. Yet, they could feel it—something about Ethan’s presence had changed.

And that’s when he spoke again.

"...But I can make you real."

A pulse of absolute authority surged from Ethan’s body.

The Old Riftborn froze.

For the first time—they felt bound by reality.

---

A Battle Against Forgotten Gods

The battlefield had never been more unstable.

Time fractured with every movement. The ground rippled like liquid, struggling to exist beneath the weight of powers beyond comprehension. The air itself had become razor-thin, unable to contain the sheer clash of forces.

And in the middle of it all—Ethan moved.

He did not teleport.

He did not need to.

His golden-shadow flames surged, bending reality itself as he appeared before the leader of the Old Riftborn. The world shattered in his wake.

BOOM!

Ethan’s fist collided with the enemy’s core.

The impact rippled across existence, sending a golden shockwave through every realm. The leader lurched backward, its once-untouchable form cracking.

It could be hurt.

It could be killed.

Mia was the next to move.

She disappeared from sight, reappearing behind another Old Riftborn in less than a blink. Her daggers, burning with golden energy, slashed downward—aiming for its neck.

A perfect strike.

But the moment her blades touched the entity—

SLASH!

The air itself rejected the attack.

Mia’s eyes widened as she was flung backward, her entire being distorting for a split second, as if reality itself had tried to erase her.

"Ethan—! These things aren’t playing fair!" she shouted.

Ethan’s golden flames surged. "They never did."

Selene followed immediately, her spear glowing with celestial radiance as she launched forward, meeting three of the entities at once.

Her weapon clashed against their paradox bodies—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Her silver eyes narrowed. She could feel it.

They weren’t fighting in a normal way.

It wasn’t strength.

It wasn’t speed.

It was denial.

They weren’t blocking attacks. They were rejecting them.

Selene gritted her teeth, pouring more energy into her spear. "You think that’s enough?"

The light of her spear pierced through one of the entities—this time, the hit landed.

The Old Riftborn lurched, golden-black fractures forming along its body.

They could be damaged.

Selene’s silver eyes gleamed.

Then they could be destroyed.

Orion took aim from the side. His rifle charged a shot faster than time itself, glowing with energy that could erase an entire dimension.

He fired.

A beam of pure annihilation erupted from his weapon, spiraling toward one of the Old Riftborn at impossible speed.

The entity did not dodge.

It did not react.

It simply existed somewhere else a moment later.

Orion’s eyes widened. "What the hell—?"

They weren’t moving.

They were rewriting their own position in reality.

Kieran, already charging forward, saw this happening. His armor shifted, adapting instantly. He didn’t hesitate.

If they could rewrite where they were...

Then all he had to do was hit everywhere at once.

BOOM!

Kieran’s entire form exploded into golden afterimages, each one attacking from every possible angle.

The moment the Old Riftborn tried to exist somewhere else—

THWACK!

A fist caught its face.

Kieran grinned. "Not so untouchable now, huh?"

The Old Riftborn lurched backward, its form flickering violently.

They could bleed.

Nefera’s golden flames roared as she thrust her hands forward, summoning a tsunami of fire that consumed the battlefield.

"I don’t care if they’re paradoxes!" she growled. "Fire still burns."

The flames engulfed one of the entities, searing through its unstable form.

The Old Riftborn screamed.

For the first time.

For the first time in countless millennia—

They were truly feeling pain.

They were losing.

But just as Ethan moved to end it completely—

The battlefield shuddered.

A deep pulse surged through reality.

And then—

The sky cracked apart.

---

The Rift’s True Curse

The leader of the Old Riftborn staggered. Its golden body cracked as it struggled to contain its newfound existence.

"This... is not how it was meant to be," it rasped.

Ethan’s flames flared violently. "You never should’ve existed in the first place."

The Old Riftborn’s flickering eyes locked onto him. And then—it did something unexpected.

It smiled.

"You think this is victory?"

The sky ripped apart.

Golden-black chains erupted from the air itself, wrapping around the Old Riftborn’s shattered forms.

But they weren’t restraints.

They were something else.

Mia’s eyes widened. "Wait—why does this feel like the Rift?"

Selene’s grip tightened on her spear. "No... this energy—"

Nefera’s expression darkened. "It’s not from the Rift. It’s from something worse."

Ethan’s golden eyes burned. He could feel it.

This was not just the remnants of the Old Riftborn.

This was something older.

Something that had been waiting.

A cold realization settled in Ethan’s mind.

The Old Riftborn weren’t the final threat.

They were just the heralds of something far worse.

And whatever it was—it had just awakened.

The golden-black chains tightened, pulling the Old Riftborn upward into the sky.

No—not the sky.

Into something beyond it.

Ethan’s golden flames surged as he reached out, trying to stop it.

But the moment his energy touched the chains—

A voice echoed through existence.

Not from the Rift.

Not from the Old Riftborn.

Not from anything Ethan had ever encountered before.

A voice that had been watching.

Waiting.

"You are not yet worthy, Riftborn."

Ethan’s golden flames froze.

Mia’s breath hitched. "Who—?"

The chains pulled.

And in a flash of golden-black light—

The Old Riftborn were gone.

A heavy silence fell upon the battlefield.

Ethan exhaled. His golden-shadow flames flickered.

Then—he clenched his fists.

This wasn’t over.

Not yet.

The real war... was about to begin.

---

To Be Continued...