The Chaos System – Chapter 18: The Final Mind
The shattered expanse of the battlefield sprawled endlessly before them — a wasteland of fractured terrain and mirror-like dust that floated in suspended air. Shards of glowing crystal jutted from the ground like skeletal remains of a fallen world. An eerie, vibrating hum danced on the wind, crawling into their ears and refusing to let go.
The six warriors stood still: Sylvan, Alex, Selene, Kyle, Eric, and Koba. The final signal from the system pulsed just ahead, radiating like a beacon of quiet dread. The final criminal. The last test.
"Something's wrong with the terrain," Alex muttered. His voice came out slightly delayed, distorted.
"It's not the terrain," Selene said, her eyes narrowing. "It's our minds."
Just then, the air shimmered and twisted like rippling water. With a barely audible snap, the world around them exploded into a fragmented illusion.
Sylvan blinked.
Suddenly, he stood alone.
The others were gone.
All around him was a nightmarish landscape — a maze of twisting corridors built from moments that never happened but he wished he could forget. A younger version of himself, weeping in a burning village. A vision of his father lying lifeless. A mirror image of himself holding the Fiery Sword, stained with the blood of innocents.
He clutched his head, heart thundering. "No... this isn't real. This isn't real."
Elsewhere, Selene stared at Kyle's limp form, drenched in blood. "Kyle! No, no, you can't die here!"
Kyle, meanwhile, found himself battling his own shadow beasts, each with glowing red eyes, accusing him. "Why do you summon us? Only to use and discard us?"
Eric stood helpless in a storm of surging energy he could no longer control. Koba was trapped in a memory of his failed combat ranking test, watching the judges laugh as he fell.
Only one mind remained steady.
Sylvan.
He pressed his palm against the ground. World Force: Disrupt. A wave of silver energy surged out, bending the false terrain. Chaos State: Layer One, activated. His Chaos Mark glowed bright.
[DRAGON BLOODLINE MASTERY 4% → 6%]
Reality cracked
With a roar, Sylvan shattered the illusions binding the others.
One by one, they returned to their senses, gasping as if surfacing from deep water.
"That was..." Kyle breathed, shaking. "That wasn't just illusion. That was truth, twisted."
Then the sky split open.
Hovering above them, cross-legged and serene, floated the final criminal. His silver hair billowed without wind. His eyes were pupil-less, glowing white. Rings of light rotated behind his head like halos of distorted thought.
"Welcome, Chaos Heir. I am Velar, the Dreambinder. The last gatekeeper."
His voice echoed directly in their heads. No lips moved. No sound touched the air.
"You have proven your strength. But this is not a battle of strength. This is a battle of perception."
He raised his hand
Velar unleashed a mental shockwave. Alex stumbled as thousands of whispers clawed at his brain.
"Protect your minds!" Sylvan shouted, igniting his Chaos Blade.
Selene summoned a blazing orb of solar flame, fusing it with her body in a burning armor called Sunheart Shell.
Kyle's shadow beasts surged from his arms, wrapping around him and acting as a mental buffer.
Velar stretched out both hands, and the ground itself lifted into the sky. Gravity shifted sideways. Time became elastic.
Sylvan flickered out of sight, reappearing midair. Fiery Sword Art – Tenth Form: Infernal Cyclone.
A spiral of flame and chaos tore through the levitating terrain, disorienting Velar briefly. Alex followed, encasing Velar's left arm in an Ice Lock Sigil.
"Try reading this," Eric growled, blasting mental constructs with Plasma Seeker Spears.
But Velar smirked.
"You're only delaying the inevitable."
With a pulse of his halo rings, he forced them all into a shared hallucination — a space of utter white.
Each of them was now a child. Powerless. Alone.
"Let me go..." Koba whimpered.
"No! We are not pawns in your illusions!" Sylvan roared, unleashing Chaos State: Layer Two.
His aura exploded, tearing through the white fog. Cracks formed. Flames and shadow surged.
Selene appeared beside him, striking with Solar Lance. Kyle followed with Shadow Rain — a barrage of piercing darkness.
The illusion cracked completely.
Sylvan dashed toward Velar as the others restrained him with power combinations. Eric bound his limbs with plasma. Alex froze his path. Selene scorched his aura.
"This ends now!" Sylvan cried, slicing through Velar's chest with a chaos-fueled slash.
Velar gasped.
"You are... beyond me. Chaos... will consume... all."
His body dissolved into fragments of thought and light.
Sylvan reached down, pressing his hand over Velar's heart.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE: MIND THREAD BLOODLINE ACQUIRED]
[DRAGON BLOODLINE MASTERY 6% → 7%]
[15 ATTRIBUTE POINTS GAINED]
[CHAOS STATE DEACTIVATED]
The battlefield returned to silence. The last signal faded.
"That power of yours..." Kyle muttered, chuckling. "You gain new abilities every single day."
Sylvan grinned. "What can I say? I'm versatile. But seriously... don't tell anyone. It'd be dangerous if people found out I could absorb bloodlines."
Alex gave him a knowing look. "Your secret's safe. For now."
The system chimed:
[ALL TARGETS NEUTRALIZED – CHAOS SYSTEM CORE REBOOTING]
[REWARD SEQUENCE INCOMING – PLEASE STAND BY]
The earth trembled.
And above them, a colossal ring of light cracked open in the sky.
[TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 19]