Dimensional Keeper: All My Skills Are at Level 100

Chapter 1313  Eve of the Final Battle

Max and Lucien arrived back in Acaris, and at that moment it felt as though the world itself had been emptied. Every city, every battlefield, every hidden corner of the planet was silent. All living beings had already been stored away, leaving only the two of them standing beneath the vast sky of a dying world.

They flew out from the secret chamber of the Four God Nation and rose into the open heavens. The moment they did, they felt it.

A familiar yet suffocating presence waiting without impatience. Ahead of them stood Mark. His figure hovered calmly in the air, his expression composed and almost serene. Behind him stretched an army of Ascendants, their auras layered together like a wall of pressure that distorted the space around them.

Maxʼs eyes narrowed when he recognized one of the figures among them. Cain. The same Cain he had met back in the Lower Domain when the Ascendants first descended to recruit him. Time had passed, yet the cold arrogance in Cainʼs gaze remained unchanged.

Mark slowly raised his hand and pointed toward the distant horizon. ”Can you see that?” he asked in a low voice.

Max and Lucien turned in the direction Mark indicated. What they saw made even Maxʼs expression tighten.

A massive dark red cloud was advancing across the sky like a living calamity. It churned and pulsed as it moved, devouring everything in its path. Entire regions of the Middle Domain had already vanished beneath it, erased without leaving behind even ruins. From the speed at which it was spreading, it would not take more than a few days before the entire Middle Domain was consumed.

”This world is doomed,” Mark said slowly, his tone carrying neither anger nor sorrow. ”Neither you nor I can stop it in our current state.”

Max looked back at him, his gaze sharp. ”Even with your full power, you are saying you are useless here?”

Mark let out a quiet chuckle, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes. ”No. With my full strength, there is a chance I can fight it and force that red cloud to retreat. A chance,” he emphasized. ”But that only happens if I am complete.”

He then looked directly at Max. ”So tell me. Are you willing to hand over the last two parts of my soul?”

Max did not answer immediately. His silence stretched for a moment before he spoke. ”How do I trust you?”

Mark smiled, genuinely this time, as if he found the question amusing. ”That is the interesting part, Max. You cannot.”

His smile widened slightly as he continued. ”You have no choice. Either you give me the remaining fragments of my soul, or this world is devoured by that foolish spirit. Those are the only outcomes.”

He gestured casually toward the sky. ”The ascension tunnel is destroyed. You cannot leave this world. You cannot escape to another realm. Every being you care about is bound here just as much as I am. So make your decision.”

Markʼs eyes locked onto Maxʼs. ”Choose wisely.”

Max looked at Mark and let out a light laugh, one that carried no mockery and no triumph. ”You know, I used to hate you from the bottom of my heart,” he said calmly. ”For a long time, that hatred kept me moving forward. But recently, I realized something. I cannot bring myself to hate you anymore. The only thing I feel now is pity. You were meant to be the one who saved this world from every catastrophe it might face, and yet you stand here as the very opposite of that destiny.”

He looked at Mark steadily, his voice lowering. ”Do you even remember what happened to you? Do you understand what led you down this path, or has the corruption of that blood wiped everything away?”

”I know. I know!” Markʼs voice exploded with rage, as if Maxʼs words had struck something deep and raw within him. His composure shattered, his aura surging violently around him. ”I fought for this world countless times. I died for it more times than I can remember. And what did I get in return? I was ambushed by those four beasts, betrayed by the very existence I was trying to protect, and turned into this monster.”

His eyes burned as he continued. ”I wanted revenge. I wanted to kill those four beasts with my own hands. But they vanished. They hid themselves so well that I could not find them no matter how hard I searched.”

Markʼs voice dropped into something darker. ”That was when I realized the truth. Everything that happened to me happened because I tried to protect these worthless humans. The moment that realization settled in, something inside me broke. Ten thousand years ago, I started a massacre. Millions died. Ascendants slaughtered cities. Nulls erased entire regions. People screamed, begged, cursed the heavens. And you know what?” His lips twisted into a cruel smile. ”Watching them die gave me fulfillment. It made me feel alive again.”

He clenched his fists as memories surged through him. ”But it did not last. Not long after that, a being from the Divine Realm descended and nearly killed me. If I were not immortal, I would have died that day. That only deepened my hatred for humans. They were weak. They were fragile. They brought nothing but disaster.”

Mark fixed his gaze on Max, his eyes filled with violent resolve. ”So do not pity me. Do not ever think that I am merely the result of some cursed blood. This is who I am now. I chose this path. I embraced it. This is not because of that blood alone. This is me. I am an immortal, I am a god. The god of this world.”

Max studied Mark in silence for a long moment, his gaze deep and unwavering, as if he were looking past the madness and into whatever fragments of the man still remained beneath it.

Then, without hesitation, he raised his hand and brought out the remaining two fragments of Markʼs soul. The air around them trembled faintly, responding to the resonance of something that was never meant to be separated in the first place.

”Take them,” Max said quietly, his voice steady.

The moment the soul fragments appeared, the scene changed. The sword that had once been embedded deep within the heart, along with the blade floating beside the corrupted crown, suddenly dissolved. They did not shatter violently.

Instead, they broke apart into countless golden fragments that shimmered like shards of sunlight. Those fragments did not scatter aimlessly. They were drawn toward the evil sword in Maxʼs possession, flowing into it as if returning to their rightful place.

As the fragments merged, the sword erupted with a brilliant golden radiance. The dark and malevolent aura clinging to it was erased completely, washed away by overwhelming purity.

In that instant, the infernal and evil energies that had tainted the blade for so long vanished, and what remained was its true form, a divine sword restored to its original glory, radiant and calm, as if it had never known corruption.

Mark did not spare the slightest glance at the transformation. The reborn divine sword, the fading darkness, even Max standing before him, none of it mattered. His eyes were locked onto the crown and the heart, his expression intense and almost reverent.

He could feel it clearly. The two missing fragments of his soul were there, sealed within those vessels, calling out to him with an undeniable pull. The hunger, the incompleteness that had plagued him for ages, surged violently within his chest.

In that moment, the entire world seemed to narrow to a single point for Mark, the promise of wholeness burning brighter than anything else before him.