Chapter 67: A Blood Sword Without a Blade
Bai gripped the Knight’s longsword, holding it before her.
Beside her, Ara also raised her pure frost longsword, a gift from Bai, its tip aimed at Elthorp.
Her body was wreathed in a faint soul flame, a flickering light visible only to those with the soul vision.
It was only then that Elthorp truly saw her, saw the faint aura of the Abyssal Lord emanating from her.
Although, compared to Bai’s destructive power, Ara’s was a mere ember, it was still far stronger than the lingering power of destruction Ice Lily had possessed.
Because this power was from Bai’s own essence, a much higher level than the power the Ice Demons had extracted from the great destruction.
“It seems… I have two opponents today.”
Elthorp swung his Evil Blade, and the air around it seemed to shatter, a faint wisp of the void seeping through.
The Evil Blade Demons’ spells were not particularly impressive, but their unique innate Evil Blade amplified their power to an incredible degree. Their combat strength was almost entirely dependent on it.
Bai’s human swordsmanship, to other demons, was a strange, untouchable thing. They couldn’t learn it, and they didn’t need to. Their power was in their spells.
But to Elthorp, her swordsmanship was… a bit childish.
She used her superior physique to wield advanced techniques, and with her unheard-of [Word of Command] Authority, she could instantly kill any demon of the same rank. Even a World Ender would be wary of her.
But when her superior swordsmanship was no longer superior, her other advantages were not enough to threaten a World Ender, a being of Elthorp’s level.
He was confident in his victory. He was ready to send both Bai and Ara into an eternal slumber—on this, at least, he and Shaya agreed.
As long as he defeated them here, Shaya, in her sealed state, would surely act, to ensure their eternal silence.
So, he wasn’t in a hurry. They were the ones who were running out of time.
“But it’s not just two, Sir Elthorp,” Bai said, her dark-gold eyes, burning with a golden flame, fixed on him, a calm, yet intense, gaze that sent a shiver down his spine. “You must respect the heavy burden I carry.”
“From Vikarn Port—no, from Vikarn, all the way to now, I’ve grown tired. I never wanted to carry so many hopes, so many expectations. But I have to. Because this is my choice, the path I’ve chosen, the end I’m walking towards… everything I must experience.”
“And now, it’s time to bring this irretrievable tragedy to a close.”
With that, a crimson light flared, and she was gone, leaving only a faint, silver-white afterimage.
An aura of destruction filled the air, and the sealing ritual pulsed, the crimson chains shattering and reforming.
At the same time, Ara, beside her, unleashed all her Authorities, her emotional stability rapidly deteriorating.
But with this, she could now wield the forty-nine Authorities of the ancient empire.
Although Bai didn’t want to see her hurt, she knew this might be the last time they could fight side-by-side.
If she held her back now, if she let her watch as she fought to her last breath, it would be a regret she could never mend.
Ara’s expression turned grim, a torrent of phantom images and memories flooding her mind, her emotions on the verge of collapse.
But she held on, searching for a single, small, silver-white figure in the chaos.
“Bai, Bai… Ara can do it… Ara can do it…”
She reached out to the silver-white figure, and a storm of Authority erupted around her.
Countless Authorities, a chaotic, unstable maelstrom, tearing at the fabric of space.
But she managed to extract a few, and sent them hurtling towards Elthorp.
[Time Stop], [Time Pierce], [Lost], [Absolute Negation]… a combination of different Authorities, to hold him back.
The moment Bai had disappeared, Elthorp had reacted.
He swung his Evil Blade, a blur of motion, ready to intercept her attack, no matter where it came from.
But he hadn’t expected Ara’s Authorities to be so effective.
Normally, against a World Ender like him, her Calamity Class powers would have been useless.
And although her versatility made her a formidable opponent, she was not a master of any one Authority.
But the combination of these abilities had caught him off guard.
[Time Stop] had frozen him for a moment, leaving him vulnerable to the other Authorities.
[Time Pierce] had created a brief opening in his defenses.
[Lost] had disoriented him, making him misjudge his opponent’s position.
And [Absolute Negation], although it couldn’t completely negate his power, had weakened him for a crucial moment.
Although it had only been a fleeting opening, it was enough.
A silver-white figure appeared beside him, and a heavy, crimson blade, imbued with the aura of destruction, descended.
The force of the blow alone was enough to shatter the void, and the destructive flame it carried extended the brief moment of his vulnerability.
“…”
The sound of the blade cutting through the air came a moment after it had struck, a testament to its incredible speed. A spray of blood, and then, a scream.
