Apocalypse: becoming the hidden Ruler[English]

Yehuda, you’ve got tricks. I’ll give you that. But that’s all you’ve got, Isos thought grimly. Suddenly Axel felt his body sink, as if gravity had multiplied.

“This,” Isos said with a wide grin, “is my B+ grade Original Instrument—Sand Lock.”

The pressure intensified. “Anyone who gets close to me suffers a drastic mobility reduction. Yehuda… you’re not escaping.”

Axel reinforced his body with Force, muscles tightening as he tried to move.

“Don’t bother,” Isos sneered. “Sand Lock isn’t physical restraint. It’s mental interference.”

He had chosen it deliberately. Melee Awakened were rarely strong in mental resistance. “Unless your Spirit Power is abnormally high for a Level Six—”

Axel vanished. At the same time, the mountain beneath Quinlan’s feet exploded.

“You’re more cautious than I thought,” Axel’s voice rang out from several steps away. “Managed to dodge.” The Soul Devouring Blade gleamed coldly in his hand.

Quinlan hovered midair, heart pounding. His boots shimmered faintly.

Riding the Wind—B-grade Original Instruments. As long as he supplied Force, he could move freely through the air. One of his greatest trump cards.

Isos’ fist slammed into the ground where Axel had stood a moment earlier, creating a massive crater.

“You’re a Mental Awakener?” Isos asked, suspicion creeping into his tone.

“Guess.” Axel wasn’t about to admit he carried over 30,000 points of Spirit Power.

Quinlan steadied himself in the air. Even if Axel had mental resistance, it didn’t matter. Quinlan maintained distance. And he possessed defensive Instruments capable of temporarily blocking mental attacks.

As long as I stall until Saka closes in—

His thought cut off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark cannon barrel aimed straight at him.

“Oh shit—”

A blinding beam of light erupted skyward.

Crack. Crack.

Something charred fell from the sky. Then more pieces. Burned flesh. Shattered Instruments. Severed limbs. They hit the ground one by one.

“Decent power,” Axel said calmly, lowering the smoking portable energy cannon in his hands.

The weapon had once been an A-grade portable energy cannon—modified by Kenneth, that mechanical lunatic. Its output had been dramatically enhanced. Against an airborne target at close range—

Overkill.

Isos stared at what remained of Quinlan without visible panic. Because Saka had already stepped to his side.

“Yehuda,” Isos said slowly, eyes narrowing, “you really do have a lot of tricks.”

“Saka… what the hell are you doing?” Axel’s face twisted—shock, anger, disbelief all colliding at once.

Isos burst out laughing. “Didn’t see that coming, did you? Your most trusted ally… is standing on my side.”

Saka, beside him, smiled faintly. “Sorry. I had my reasons.”

Isos opened his mouth to press the advantage—

And suddenly his body jerked forward. Like a cannonball, he shot through the air and slammed headfirst into the mountainside.

Rock shattered. Dust exploded outward.

“Saka, what do you mean?!” Isos tore himself free from the crater, eyes blazing. His gaze locked onto Saka—who now held a flaming longsword, embers licking along the blade.

Axel blinked. Then the anger on his face melted away, replaced by something almost amused. “Oh? Looks like that line just got returned to sender.”

Saka weighed the sword in one hand, the firelight flickering across his face. “Didn’t I tell you? I have my reasons.”

A pause.

“After all… my only family member is in this kid’s hands.”

Isos sneered. “That’s not funny. Do you really want your identity exposed?”

He expected tension. Threat. Panic. Instead—

Axel’s eyes turned… sympathetic.

And Saka started laughing. At first it was deep and hearty. Then higher. Sharper. Until— It was unmistakably a woman’s laughter.

Isos felt cold crawl up his spine. Saka’s face began to shift. Skin rippled like melted wax. Bone structure softened. Features rearranged.

In seconds, the rugged male commander was gone. In his place stood an astonishingly beautiful woman, her lips curved in mockery, eyes cold and amused.

“You…” Isos stared. “You’re not Saka?”

The absurdity hit him like a hammer. He knew Saka’s secret. Thought he had leverage. Thought he could manipulate him. But this— This wasn’t Saka at all.

“Want the truth?” Axel stepped beside Lilith, now fully restored to her original appearance. “Answer one question first.”

His gaze sharpened. “Why were you so determined to kill me?”

Isos narrowed his eyes. The earlier shock vanished, replaced by icy contempt. “Yehuda… you think you’ve already won?”

“It’s not him who’s winning.” Lilith’s smile turned razor-thin. “It’s us.”

Clang! The metallic shriek echoed violently through the valley.

No— Not one sound. Several overlapping at once.

Isos’ clothes exploded apart from the shoulders down. His neck, throat, collarbone—now visible—were covered in gray-white slash marks like intersecting blades.

“Space Killing Blade?” Isos rolled his shoulders, entirely unconcerned. “Interesting.”

“You’re quite a tough man,” Lilith murmured, hand lightly covering her lips.

The absurd durability of his so-called Immovable Vajra Body exceeded even her expectations. A direct strike to the throat—and nothing.

A flash. Axel moved. The Soul Devouring Blade carved through the air, a streak of cold light. It struck Isos’ shoulder—

Clang! Metal-on-metal. A deep gash split flesh to the bone. And then—

It healed. Right before their eyes.

“Interesting,” Axel muttered, licking his lips slightly as he watched muscle and skin knit together.

“Heh. So you’re definitely a melee Awakener,” Isos said with a sneer. “But physical damage won’t kill me.”

Axel didn’t reply. He simply attacked again. And again.

And again. The blade blurred, weaving into a radiant net of steel. Burning Fighting Spirit ignited. His attack speed skyrocketed.

The Soul Devouring Blade rained down in a relentless storm, locking Isos in place from every direction. Flesh shredded. Blood sprayed. Cloth tore apart. The scene turned grotesque—like watching someone butchered alive in slow motion.

But it was surface damage. Nothing fatal.

Axel counted silently. Stack after stack of Sunfire branding layered onto Isos’ body. Even the strongest defense would crack once the burn stacked high enough.

Isos felt it. That unseen pressure. That accumulating threat. He tried to disengage.

Lilith instantly understood Axel’s intent and synchronized with him. Her Space Killing Blade alone couldn’t break his defense—but paired with Axel’s relentless assault, it disrupted, interfered, limited escape angles. Then—

Axel’s pupils contracted. Something was wrong. The Sunfire marks—

He couldn’t feel them. All of them. Gone.

“…So that’s it.” Isos stopped retreating. He lifted his head slowly. His eyes blazed gold.

And for a split second, Axel felt as though his soul itself had been locked onto. That wasn’t the look of a cornered man. It was the look of someone about to kill.

Axel instinctively moved to retreat— Too late.

“DIE!”

“Vajra Wrath!” Golden light detonated from Isos’ body. Blinding. Violent.

Lilith shut her eyes as the explosion erupted—

BOOM!!!

The entire valley was swallowed in a pillar of golden destruction. It was like a miniature nuclear blast tearing the clearing apart. Rock vaporized. Shockwaves flattened the surrounding terrain. For several seconds—

Nothing but light. Nothing but annihilation.

.......

Outside Northern Spiritual Town, countless mutated beasts lay concealed among snow-covered peaks and frozen ridges, silently watching humanity’s northern bulwark. Then—

From the southern valley, a small team slipped into view. About a dozen figures. White cloaks. Silent. Efficient.

They moved like ghosts across the snow. Despite the dense hordes nearby, not a single mutated beast reacted. Only when they reached a region with slightly fewer beasts did they finally halt.

“…It’s worse than I thought.” Geoffrey exhaled slowly, staring at the sea of monsters with a chill running through him.

No wonder Mr. Zephyr chose to abandon the city. \

Geoffrey wasn’t afraid of dying. He was afraid of something worse— Northern defenses collapsing. Krythos left wide open. Civilians reduced to slaughter.

He couldn’t accept that fate. Wouldn’t accept it. So he had taken his most elite Brotherhood troops and slipped out to assess the true situation himself.

He turned to his men. “This is your last chance. If anyone regrets coming, I’ll personally escort you back to the pass.”

Silence. Then—

“Commander, we move forward!”

“No one from the Brotherhood backs down!” Geoffrey closed his eyes briefly. Then opened them.

“In that case…” His voice hardened. “Forward.”

“For Krythos.”

“For our people.”

Even if this was suicide— They would carve something meaningful out of it.