Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 903: Beyond The Concept Of Understanding And Measurement

Arianna Haellight could be seen sitting upon a circular platform made of Astra energy. Standing beside her was a woman with long black hair and red eyes who stood with her eyes narrowed to slits as they both stared down at the battlefield below, or at least what was left of it.

At this moment, Arianna was no longer in her World Embodiment State, as Asher’s Dazzling Supernova rapier technique had shredded it to pieces, hence prompting the woman beside her to save her.

Arianna Haellight sat stunned and torn. This was her first true defeat since she was born and started fighting officially. From a young age, she had always known she was extremely talented because her father always made it known and boasted about it, while her mother always tried to keep her humble, not that her mother needed to, as she was humble by nature.

Nobody, to this day, had ever pushed her to the limits Asher had, making her even pull out Miniaturized Black Hole twice and still fail. Even the World Embodiment ability, her greatest secret known only to her father and mother, still hadn’t been enough.

She raised her hand and stared at it in thought. She couldn’t help but remember her younger days, how she had picked up everything easily, how she could use Astra energy even as a baby unconsciously, how she would train in her swordsmanship and surpass everyone before her.

People praised her, they adored her, they kissed her ass as they tried to establish connections with her because of her raw talent and her father’s personal reputation and power, but she never gave any of them time of the day as she wasn’t interested in fake and false relationships and friendships. Even throughout the entire battle, she bore the mindset that she would win; she knew she would. Although she knew that Asher had never shown his true power throughout the other fights, she wasn’t bothered.

But now, all that came crashing down… she had lost, and there was no two ways about it.

Her World Embodiment ability had been thoroughly crushed as though it was no different from a regular ability.

But… even if she lost, shouldn’t World Embodiment have kept up with Asher even just a little bit? Shouldn’t she at least have been able to dodge one attack or maybe block one attack without getting injured? But none of that had happened. She had been beaten up like a child, her face smashed against a wall and pushed forward.

The moment she had that thought, her hand rose towards her face as she touched her cheek. There was no injury there, but she remembered the injury and the pain.

Although they had talked twice, once at the front gate during the gala, and the other during the first round of the tournament, where she approached his tent thinking it was a Positive Zone, he had given her food then, given her water, and they had discussed random things. And now, the boy before her had made it known that he held nothing back just because she was a woman or because she was beautiful, well, not that she expected him to anyway.

Her mind couldn’t help but shift towards their final discussion. She had told him she looked forward to them having a battle, and she indeed looked forward to it, as she could tell that he was strong enough to keep up with her, even if it was just a bit. She remembered him saying that he would advise against that. She remembered herself asking why, and she remembered him saying she would lose. And her exact words at the time were, “That would be a first then.”

And it had happened; it finally became a reality.

She gazed down at the battlefield once more, her eyes narrowing. Throughout the entire battle, she had thought Asher was using Astra energy, but the moment Asher entered Star Form, that disguise had collapsed.

‘What is that energy?’ she couldn’t help but wonder to herself.

She knew about the First Sun’s Solar Energy and the Second Moon’s Lunar Energy, but this was the first time she was hearing that another Wargrave possessed another form of energy. Even she herself sort of possessed a unique energy, as the green energy that poured into her from the world during her World Embodiment State was a type of energy, but it wasn’t under her control.

‘He named it Star Form, and the last technique he used was called Dazzling Supernova, in which he created a literal Star… could it be an energy that comes directly from a Star?’ she analyzed as her thoughts spun.

But the moment she even had that thought, her eyes narrowed as it dawned on her that Asher had created a literal Star, something nobody had ever done. Although the known and unknown aspects of a Star remained unknown, as nobody had ever touched or studied a Star to its truest depth, she could recognize a Star when she saw one.

Although she could replicate the same attack through Astra energy manipulation by weaving Astra energy to take the shape of a Star, it would be a cheap copy. It would merely be a Star construct, and nothing else. It wouldn’t possess the erasing and ‘supernovic’ properties that a true Star possessed.

‘Should I have ended it the moment I used World Embodiment?’ she thought to herself.

After she had attacked Asher with a single finger upon entering World Embodiment, it had taken Asher five whole minutes to heal because every bone in his body, every organ, had collapsed. Even his brain bore injuries, and his heart was about to stop beating, but he lived.

Arianna couldn’t help but reason that if she hadn’t given Asher those five minutes, if she had ended things there and then, then it would have been her victory. But no, she had assumed her opponent had no more cards to play and had simply stood there watching him heal.

But the moment she had that thought, she killed it immediately. There were no ifs on a battlefield. Her thoughts hardened and solidified. Just because she lost didn’t mean she would make excuses. Yes, her loss had shocked her, it tore at her heart, but it didn’t mean she wouldn’t accept it and recognize reality.

‘This is a lesson,’ she thought to herself. ‘Never hold back, never show compassion, never waste time, end your opponent with every ticking split second,’ she told herself.

She closed her eyes. In the end, she didn’t lose because she showed mercy; she lost because she was arrogant enough to believe that her opponent had no trump card. And if this was a battle to the death, she would have been dead at the moment, not even her Genesis Archive ability would be able to save her.

She opened her amber-gold eyes once more, determination solidifying as she resolved to train harder and reclaim her loss. She would come back and challenge him; she wouldn’t take the loss lying down.

Although at the back of her mind, another thought crawled like the devil’s whisper; if she had broken through to the Dust Wavestar Life Rank, as she was still at the Radiant Firmstar Life Rank, would she have won?

Although she had accepted her loss, her mind spun with what-ifs endlessly on its own accord, as it wasn’t so easy for someone who had once stood at the top of the world to fall to rank two.

‘I will train World Embodiment even more,’ she thought to herself, realizing that her World Embodiment ability was the one she had neglected the most. Although she trained it once in a while, she hadn’t pushed it to the extreme simply because she believed the outrageous effects it already gave were enough.

But now, sitting here, she knew… it wasn’t.

But unfortunately for Arianna, anyone who had lost to Asher once was destined never to win.

Yes, she would improve. Yes, she would become even more ridiculous with time and age, especially after this battle, as she had already grown stronger than she was prior to her battle with Asher. But alas, the man who had defeated her was simply too outrageous; she was destined to remain number two.

After all, she wasn’t the only one who was improving, for when it came to pure talent, Asher remained an existence beyond the concept of understanding and measurement.

_____