Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 247: Icicles

Doris, upon seeing the incoming thrust aimed for her underjaw, allowed her expression to harden into a frown. At once, Astra surged from her Astra veins, flooding her body with raw elemental force. She tapped into her ability, and in that instant, the world around her changed.

The temperature dropped so suddenly it was as though the heavens themselves had exhaled frost. Just as Asher’s rapier was about to pierce upward, an enormous cascade of ice exploded outward from Doris’s form, enveloping everything. The battlefield was instantly transformed into a desolate ice wasteland.

Debris suspended in the air froze mid-motion, twisting into jagged icicles that glistened with crystalline brilliance. Entire buildings, once standing proudly, solidified into massive frozen blocks. Trees stiffened, their bark and branches turning brittle under the invasive cold, frost racing over them like veins of death.

From above, delicate flakes of ice fell gently, descending like feathers from a heavenly choir. Though the battlefield had turned cruel and unwelcoming, there was nonetheless a strange beauty to it, a haunting spectacle where destruction and elegance coexisted.

The air froze. The very breath of existence seemed suspended in her presence. The earth beneath her feet paled into an unbroken blanket of white, an endless field of snow and ice, as though she had casually rewritten the battlefield with nothing more than a fleeting thought.

Her gaze, black and void-like, swept across the battlefield. But t the boy from earlier, the one she had meant to annihilate with her blizzard, was nowhere to be seen. She had expected him to be caught, crushed, and consumed within the storm, but her assumption had been wrong. Asher was already gone.

He had felt it, the moment Astra energy flared , his perception told him enough. He did not need to be informed; he did not need to hesitate. He withdrew his attack the moment before impact and escaped.

But even Asher, despite his foresight, had not left unscathed. Though he avoided the heart of her ability, the aftermath still reached him. His entire left arm had been caught, encased in a thick sheath of unmelting ice.

Asher frowned. Already he could see the frost racing upward, crawling slowly yet persistently toward his neck.

Without a heartbeat of hesitation, purple lightning burst violently from his arm, streaking along the surface of the ice like furious serpents. His affinity roared with ferocity, sparks scattering as the lightning shredded at its crystalline prison. With a deafening crack, the ice shattered explosively, shards scattering outward.

But his relief was short-lived. Though the block had been destroyed, fragments of it had already seeped into his body. He could feel it, slivers of enchanted frost embedding themselves in his bloodstream, freezing him from within. His hand was paling, the flesh taking on a ghostly blue hue.

’Just as I thought,’ he muttered inwardly, his gaze narrowing, ’her ability is tied to ice.’

He knew well enough that elemental manipulation was not exactly unique to anybody in particular. Across the world, hundreds wielded fire, water, or wind. But one truth always held: not all flames burned alike, not all waters flowed with the same strength. To possess the same element was not to possess the same power.

Doris was the proof.

And she was not the only one. Stravos, Wuthenya’s boyfriend, also possessed the power of ice manipulation. But there was no comparison between him and her. In Doris’s hands, ice was not merely a tool, it was a dominion.

Asher’s eyes flickered with the weight of realization. ’I might have to cut off my own arm,’ he thought, disturbingly calm. ’Only then can Virelass regenerate a new one.’

It was not that Virelass lacked the power to heal, she could mend flesh and restore vitality, but ice embedded into the bloodstream was another matter entirely. She had not yet evolved to cleanse such... corruption.

’If only I had trained my Star Energy more last month,’ Asher reflected calmly, ’I might have had another way to purge it.’ His mastery over that energy was insufficient, his control lacking.

But this was no time for hesitation. Pain was inevitable, and survival was absolute.

His decision came instantly. With no hesitation, his right hand blurred. Virelass flashed with cold, merciless efficiency, carving directly through the flesh of his shoulder. A crimson spray burst forth as his entire arm detached from his body, falling toward the frozen ground.

Before it touched the ice, however, Asher’s will clamped down. Astra surged outward, freezing the detached limb in midair. Then, with another surge of power, purple lightning erupted, disintegrating the arm into nothingness. He would not allow his severed arm to remain on this battlefield. He knew too well the dangers of unknown abilities. Who could say what horrors might arise if someone seized a part of him?

Almost immediately, Virelass responded on her own accord, as though she, too, had foreseen his choice. The Crimson Path activated, and Asher’s stump began to transform.

Flesh stretched outward, twisting and multiplying. Bones sprouted from within, ligaments knitting themselves together, tissues weaving in delicate layers. Skin crawled into place, pulled taut over the freshly born structure. Within moments, a perfectly formed arm, unmarred by the icy corruption, replaced the severed one.

Asher’s gaze snapped back to Doris, who now stood some five hundred meters away. Even without effort, her attack had carved devastation across such a range.

CRACKLE. SIZZLE. ZZZZIIIIZZZ.

Purple lightning flared across his body, blazing with violent brilliance. It coated him fully, encasing him in a body-shaped armor of lightning. His Astra reserves burned like oil in a raging fire, his Star Energy feeding the inferno. He pushed his lightning to the very threshold of his capacity. He became a radiant form, a violet sun birthed to challenge the world. Against the dull orange-red sun above, his brilliance burned defiantly, as though daring the heavens themselves.

Doris did not respond with words. Her silence was colder than her ice. She simply raised her katana skyward. At once, Astra surged like a tidal wave, roaring from her veins.

The temperature plummeted again. Above, enormous icicles began to form, each one larger than a ballista bolt, their numbers climbing into the thousands. They hovered in the sky like celestial spears, their tips gleaming with murderous promise beneath the sunlight. Each one carried weight, each one carried inevitability, a storm of death poised to rend flesh, steel, or even earth itself.

Her katana dropped.

The sky obeyed.

The icicles descended like loyal children responding to a mother’s command.

Asher did not even glance upward. He did not need to. His Omni Perception unveiled them all, each construct of Astra more vivid to him than the light of day. He could sense their mass, their velocity, their intent. He could feel them crowding above like a celestial guillotine.

And still, he did not flinch.

With a thunderous boom, he launched forward, the wind fracturing around him under seismic force. His body became a blur of purple light, his form indistinguishable from the lightning that cloaked him. He had but one destination, one unshakable purpose: Doris.

Crackles echoed around him, like the collective song of a billion birds, shrieking in harmony with his advance. His mind echoed with one command, one singular will.

KILL.

The sky wept death. The icicles plummeted with insane velocity, their weight tearing through air so violently it seemed the very fabric of space groaned under their descent. But Asher paid them no mind.

From his lightning armor, bolts erupted outward, purple lances striking in every direction. Each bolt struck an incoming icicle, detonating it into fragments. Shards rained down in a storm, but Asher’s advance never slowed. He cut through the chaos like inevitability incarnate.

Within moments, Virelass was there, her silver edge screaming toward Doris’s throat with precision so absolute that the battlefield itself seemed to pause in anticipation.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hey everyone, thanks for golden tickets and supported. Let’s go harder... MORE.