Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 898: Apocalyptic Ruin [Magic Castle Bonus Chapter]

From the sky, Asher shot down like a missile, his feet meeting the earth in a thunderous blast as he landed firmly, sending debris and dust booming backwards in every direction. His eyes shifted towards the sinkhole where Arianna had landed. He could still sense her presence, and it hadn’t even wavered or diminished in the slightest, showing that she was still in this battle at full power.

Through the swirling haze of dust covering the battlefield, Arianna could be seen. The back of her skull had caved in slightly as numerous injuries covered her body. Several of her bones were broken, one hand was twisted in the wrong direction, while the other was missing entirely. Yet Arianna’s battle intent only continued to swell, as though her injuries merely fed her insatiable hunger for battle.

Her right eye shone as Genesis activated once more, restoring her body to its perfect state within a matter of seconds. Her twin short swords appeared within her hands once again as Astra Energy erupted from her body in violent waves unlike ever before, her control over Astra increasing in real time as she unconsciously learned from Asher’s own manipulation from the past, before he had switched over to Star Energy.

Her Astra Energy now resembled a broken dam, as though something that had restrained its flow for countless years had suddenly given way.

She immediately shifted into a stance, her twin short swords positioned on opposite sides of her body as they pointed towards the ground. Her lips slowly parted as she spoke in an icy tone capable of freezing the world itself.

[World Sword Technique: Apocalyptic Ruin]

The very moment she unleashed the technique, blue flames burst forth from her body to a maddening degree as the surrounding temperature continued rising higher and higher without any discernible upper limit. Her twin short swords, which had been pointed towards the ground, immediately swept upwards and outwards in one smooth, elegant motion.

With that single movement came literal apocalyptic ruin as everything before her was instantly consumed beneath rampaging blue flames, burning everything without mercy as the devastating sword technique surged relentlessly towards Asher.

But Asher didn’t take a single step backwards. Instead, he calmly lowered himself into a stance. His Star Energy surged violently as blazing white flames immediately bloomed across his body before spreading over Virelass as the purple Lightning surrounding her disappeared entirely. Without the slightest hesitation, he unleashed the very same technique he had once used against Xal’Thar.

[Song Of Virelass: StellarFlame Stanza: Illuminating Star]

Back then, Asher had used this technique against Xal’Thar while it had been fueled by Astra Energy. But now, it was being empowered by its true source, Star Energy itself.

Asher immediately slashed downward with every ounce of physical strength he could possibly muster. The instant he moved, staggering heat capable of melting space itself erupted forward to meet Arianna’s incoming attack head-on.

The moment both sword techniques collided, time itself seemed to halt momentarily, as though even the particles composing time had begun to burn. After all, if the StellarFlame possessed the power to burn space itself, then why shouldn’t it also possess the ability to burn time?

The very next instant, time violently snapped back into place as an indescribable impact ballooned across the world, as though countless hydrogen bombs had been unleashed upon existence itself. No… it resembled the very moment a Star had fallen from the heavens once again, as everything within a three-hundred-kilometer radius was instantly vaporized out of existence.

But alas, Arianna had made one enormous mistake by choosing to use a flame-based technique against Asher, a man who possessed the StellarFlame, granting him absolute authority over all flames. Worse still, her own flames had dared to clash directly against the StellarFlame itself, one empowered by its original source, Star Energy. They stood absolutely no chance. Asher’s sword technique devoured them whole without the slightest resistance as titanic explosions echoed endlessly throughout the battlefield.

Arianna experienced it in real time. The white flames consumed her body relentlessly, burning through her clothes, flesh, and muscles as her body rapidly blackened into charred ruin. Astra Energy roared violently around her as Genesis activated once more. Her right eye shone brilliantly while she pushed her healing ability to its absolute limit, yet her injuries regenerated at an unusually slow pace, as though the StellarFlame possessed some mysterious property that even Asher himself had yet to discover.

Arianna immediately understood that remaining in one place while continuously healing herself would be nothing short of suicide. So she moved while constantly restoring her body. At this moment, she was effectively fighting with only one fully functional hand, yet she didn’t care in the slightest.

Her Genesis Archive Ability, particularly the Genesis section, it didn’t restrict her to using only one skill at a time. On the contrary, she could freely activate multiple abilities simultaneously, provided she possessed sufficient control over them alongside her Astra Energy manipulation.

Tapping into yet another ability stored within Genesis, she immediately erased every trace of her own existence. Every sound she produced vanished completely. Every scent she emitted disappeared entirely. Even her visible form faded from reality itself as she layered each concealment ability together to create the perfect camouflage before immediately closing the distance separating herself from Asher. Her invisible figure burst through the swirling smoke before appearing merely a meter away from him.

Although she had rendered herself invisible, Asher’s eyes instantly snapped towards her position. He was currently utilizing Star Eyes, making her invisibility completely useless before them, as Star Energy effortlessly tore through the Astra Energy sustaining the concealment as though slicing through a banana.

The moment she appeared, Arianna’s lips parted into a wide grin as she activated yet another ability.

Endless Seal Of The Damned.

Before Asher could so much as utter a single word, an unfamiliar circle resembling an ancient rune formation appeared beneath his feet before instantly illuminating with brilliant light. Before Asher could teleport or even rely upon his speed to escape, countless chains erupted from the formation, binding all four of his limbs before wrapping themselves tightly around his waist and neck. They violently pulled downward, forcing him to kneel as both of his knees slammed heavily into the ground.

Asher immediately frowned. Even with his current strength, those chains had successfully forced him to kneel. But that wasn’t all. He could clearly sense another property hidden within them, Energy Sealing.

The next moment, four towering walls rose from the outer edges of the rune formation as though they intended to imprison him completely. The instant those walls snapped together, sealing him within a perfect cube, space itself became completely locked down, rendering both teleportation and phasing entirely impossible.

But at the end of the day, those chains couldn’t seal Star Energy.

Asher simply activated a Light movement technique he had learned from Malrik after witnessing him use it only once. His body flickered brilliantly before transferring itself into a nearby ray of sunlight outside the prison, effortlessly freeing himself from the seal.

The very instant he escaped, his eyes immediately locked onto Arianna, who still stood there, stunned and only halfway healed. Without wasting a single moment, Asher slowly raised one finger, preparing to unleash a concentrated beam of pure Star Energy.

But before he could fire, Arianna teleported. Her figure appeared directly before him, and without the slightest hesitation, she wrapped herself around him, both legs locking firmly around his waist while her two arms circled around his neck.

Asher froze for the briefest instant, wondering why this insane woman had suddenly chosen to hug him in the middle of a life-and-death battle. Before he could even process her intentions, Arianna released her arms that were wrapped around his neck while her legs remained firmly locked around his waist. Leaning backwards, she shaped her fingers into the form of a gun as an intensely concentrated beam of pure Light rapidly gathered at the tip of her fingertip, aimed directly at his forehead.

But Asher wasn’t someone who would become flustered simply because some random woman had embraced him during a battlefield. He wasn’t a naive virgin. To him, this was merely another combat tactic.

With nothing more than a single thought, he instantly switched places with a slab of broken concrete.

With a deafening boom, Arianna’s Light beam tore through the slab with crushing ease and sizzling force. But before she could even blink, a colossal maelstrom of thunderous purple Lightning descended from the heavens. She hadn’t even seen Asher prepare the attack, nor had she sensed it, for he had secretly completed its preparation during the very instant she had suddenly wrapped herself around him.

But Arianna wasn’t helpless. Her right eye shone once again as Astra Energy surged violently into Genesis. She calmly raised one hand before placing it against space itself as though it had become a tangible surface. Then she pulled sideways as though tugging upon a piece of cloth. With that single motion, the sky and space themselves distorted, causing the descending Lightning to abruptly change direction.

But the very instant she redirected the attack, Asher appeared directly behind her. His hand surged towards her back with lethal intent as he moved to finally bring the battle to its conclusion.

But in the next moment, Asher suddenly froze as the entire battlefield warped and transformed around him, as though someone had tampered with the Worldshaper’s Relic itself.

______

Chapter sponsored by Sluggish_Slug