Chapter 108 – Messy Event [7]

The two swords clashed with a thunderous impact. Cassius’s eyes went wide immediately, Emrys’s golden sword cut through his own like a knife through butter, with ridiculous ease.

His instincts flared, sensing lethal danger, goosebumps racing across his entire body as the golden sword narrowed to an inch from his face.

The sizzling lightning almost licked his skin.

His red eyes snapped fully open. Cassius opened his mouth and released a wide, blistering wave of crimson fire directly at Emrys.

The attack startled the Chosen One, making him jerk his head to the left — barely dodging the wave — but his sword arm wavered for a moment.

Cassius acted on that instant, dropping onto his back, letting the blade miss its target and slash nothing but the air above him.

Still on the ground, he twisted and tackled with everything he had — his strength at the very limit of Mortal Rank — driving his legs, blazing with fire, into Emrys’s.

The sound of cracking bone echoed eerily through the realm, followed by a hard, bestial grunt from Emrys.

His footing faltered for a moment — just a moment — before he steadied himself as if nothing had happened, his eyes already calculating his next attack.

Cassius used that heartbeat to propel himself backward, gaining a significant distance.

All around, the Heirs watched in silent disbelief, unable to reconcile the fact that not only was Cassius Desdemona not the talentless waste they had assumed...he was this strong?

Instinctively, they had begun to forget about the recent, horrific terrorist attack that had nearly taken their lives.

The only thing in any of their minds now was the fight unfolding before them. A fight most of them still didn’t fully understand the reason for.

None of that was Cassius’s concern. He looked at his hands and accepted that his weapon had been completely destroyed.

’Queen’s breath. His sword cut right through mine. How is that fair?’ He complained inwardly, watching Emrys’s golden blade shine brighter and brighter, as if feeding from its master’s fury.

Fighting Emrys without a Soulblade was a losing endeavour. Emrys’s sword was, after all, a Soulblade itself, or rather, something eerily similar. A weapon he had been born with but needed to keep sealed because he lacked the control to wield it properly.

In fact, it was stronger than most Soulblades, possessing more than one Manifestation.

’And he will obtain a second Soulblade at Third Rank too, making him the first and only wielder of two Soulblades in the history of Sunu Gaal. At least, in the first game.’

Cassius didn’t know how to feel about that. But it was useless to think about now.

Emrys was attacking again.

The Chosen One activated his First Skill: Lightning Body, turning his legs into literal lightning.

In a fraction of a second he was on Cassius again. With his Innate working overtime, Emrys’s overall strength was amplified to a harrowing degree.

At that point, Cassius was not fighting a Mortal Rank being. He was fighting someone who could stand toe to toe with an Exalted.

The gap between their power was glaring, making the Last Born of the Desdemona understand, with painful clarity, just how far away he still was from the Chosen One.

But Cassius was not the kind to give up.

Without a weapon, he did the only thing available to him to push his power to a new level.

[Cassius! No—!]

Too late.

Just as the sword came slashing down toward his left shoulder, Cassius’s body underwent a series of continuous explosions, his whole frame erupting in crimson fire again and again and again.

The detonating fire and its shockwaves tore the sword from Emrys’s grip. He froze, the scorching crimson fire slamming against him, burning him, suffocating his breathing.

He narrowed his teary eyes and staggered back a couple of steps, taking in the sight of Cassius.

Emrys’s heart — and every heir watching — went immediately cold.

Cassius’s body was blazing continuously, turning crimson as if his insides were literally on fire.

Which they were.

He had activated his skill; slowly and with controlled precision burning the blood inside his own body, internal and external, to amplify his strength.

He had succeeded. But Cassius knew he didn’t have much time.

So with a wide, bloody smile, face going paler, his body flickered like a flame blown by a sudden wind.

He reached Emrys before the sound of the explosion even had time to echo through the realm. His fist — constantly detonating, hotter than anything Emrys had felt — landed square on Emrys’s left jaw.

Flesh sizzled and burned. The jaw cracked inward, bones shattering, sending Emrys flying with the force of a cannon.

Cassius followed behind like a straight red streak, giving him no respite, seizing Emrys’s right hand where the sword rested and driving his flaming knee into the elbow.

It bent outward. The sword fell from his grasp.

Emrys bellowed with harrowing fury, activated his First Skill across his entire body at once, spun and drove a lightning kick into Cassius’s temple faster than he could react.

Cassius’s body hit the ground with a crushing impact. All precious air was knocked from his lungs.

Emrys’s lightning travelled into his brain. His heart went cold at the realisation of what it meant.

Decisively, he detonated the blood he had deliberately left behind earlier on Emrys’s jaw and elbow where he had struck.

Emrys’s face and right elbow erupted in radiant crimson, forcing him down to one knee in pain for a moment.

That was the time Cassius needed. He used his own essence to neutralise the lightning inside his brain and pushed himself upright.

But the action cost far more than he had budgeted for. His essence was draining faster than expected, the technique untrained and wild, and his blood was disappearing.

At this rate, he would die from blood loss.

His head was growing dizzy. His body going cold, as if ice were replacing the blood inside him.

He cursed, knowing he didn’t have much time before he had to stop burning his own blood...or die.

He turned his attention to Emrys, who was struggling to rise.

The Chosen One had spent more energy than Cassius, first with Lightning’s Breath and now through this fight.

But Emrys Stormblessed was the protagonist for a reason.

And as he pulled himself off the ground, his body swaying, his right arm broken and half his face burned down to near-bone, Cassius’s heart skipped a beat.

Golden lightning was rising from Emrys’s body, slithering upward and upward still.

Cassius slowly cocked his head overhead.

An enormous figure made entirely of lightning stood there: a man, holding a spear at least nine feet long.

The whole realm of Red Moon shook. And it shook further when the Lightning Man assumed a throwing stance, the spear in its hand blazing brighter and brighter with each second.

"An Ultimate Skill..." Klaus whispered, aghast. His feeling was shared by every heir in the realm.

This was completely abnormal.

Ultimate Skills could only be obtained at Exalted rank, by combining the First Skill from Mortal rank and the Second Skill from Imbued rank.

They were abilities people used only in the most desperate moments, consuming far too much energy, leaving the user drained and vulnerable afterward.

Still, they were called Ultimate for a reason. They could end a fight in an instant.

And what they were witnessing left no doubt. The power radiating from what Emrys was preparing carried that undeniable essence.

Every heir began to step back, trying to put as much distance between themselves and the coming impact as possible. Inside their hearts, fear of Emrys Stormblessed reached a new height.

Raven and Esmeray’s eyes went dead cold, watching someone try to harm their family. Without hesitation, they began to activate their skills.

It would be useless against the overwhelming power of Emrys. But neither of them would accept standing by and doing nothing.

Meadow’s heart was shaking, her eyes fixed on her Editor, unable to see how he could possibly take this attack.

Anesthesia’s face was dark, her fists clenched. She had known something like this would happen. Part of her had wanted Cassius to pay for everything he had done, but she also understood, clearly, that Emrys doing it here would cause more problems than it solved.

She needed to stop it. But she had no strength to.

When Emrys was this angry, he listened to nothing and no one.

Klaus, Keisha and Natalia were already preparing to move, their faces carrying the same clear determination: protect their childhood friend.

Every heir had their own thoughts about the situation, but all of them understood one thing:

Cassius could not block this attack in his current state.

"Queen’s blessing." Cassius cursed, then laughed like a madman.

He knew better than anyone he couldn’t block this.

Not yet.

But he would be damned if he didn’t try.

So with a wide, fearless smile, he raised his index finger and pointed it at the Lightning Man preparing to throw.

[Cassius...] Ananke said, worried.

’Ah, Queen, just watch.’ He laughed harder. ’I can’t disappoint you, can I? I can’t shame my family by giving up either. So watch. I’ve learned a new trick.’

And he had.

During this fight, he had grasped something more within his Bloodflame. Something minimal. Something that had been obvious all along.

His Skill — Bloodflame — could burn both blood and fire. It could explode his own blood into flames and burn everything around it.

But Cassius had realised it had also given him a sensitivity to the fire around him, allowing him to influence it, albeit with harrowing difficulty.

Which made him think: if he could influence fire...why not blood itself?

It turned out to be easier than he expected. His Skill, at its core, belonged to the Blood Path.

Blood was its foundation.

And at that instant — as Emrys finally finished gathering his power and prepared to release — Cassius manipulated some the remaining blood inside his body and drew it to the tip of his finger.

His face went harrowingly pale.

Yet he continued, condensing it. Again and again and again.

Until the red blood turned black, the air around him wavering, stained crimson, as if bowed down under the sheer weight of it.

Cassius’s red eyes met Emrys’s blue ones. The Chosen One had been waiting. He had noticed Cassius preparing.

Cassius laughed. "You can’t go against your own heart, Emrys! Truly, you can’t! You are honorable, I’ll give you that at least!"

Emrys smiled coldly. "It won’t change the outcome, Cassius. I don’t need to cheat. I am Emrys Stormblessed."

With no further words, both Heirs of Tier One families launched their attacks simultaneously.

The lightning spear cracked and tore through the air, burning it completely, leaving a wound in the very fabric of the Red Moon realm behind it.

Cassius’s blood erupted — the sound like a cannon being fired — hissing as it transformed into a thin but piercing line of blood that split the air apart.

The watching Heirs drew a collective sharp breath, struck speechless by what they were witnessing.

Because as the two attacks collided — red against golden — the earthshaking impact first cracked the Red Moon realm itself, sending every single heir flying regardless of their resistance.

The realm was momentarily split into two colours: red and gold.

The two attacks fought for dominance, sending crimson fire and golden lightning raining down on the ground as if the heavens themselves were falling, bringing annihilation with them.

But at the end, Emrys’s lightning spear was stronger. It shattered the Line of Blood apart, and continued straight toward the man kneeling on the ground, head lowered, exhausted beyond measure.

The poison from the Tier Five monster had now reached a critical level. Cassius could barely move.

To everyone watching, the fight was over.

And then...

"Ultimate Skill: Decay of All."

A flat, emotionless voice echoed through the entire realm.

And in one terrifying instant, everything — the realm itself, the fire, the lightning, the spear — decayed and turned to grey dust.

The Heirs found themselves back in the Hall of Welcomes, a suffocating silence pressing down on all of them.

They raised their heads.

There, hovering above them like a goddess of death, the Head Maid — Persephone — looked down at them with impassive eyes.

She slowly turned her gaze and let it settle on Cassius, staring back at her in his wretched state.

He immediately smiled crookedly, lips shaking, consciousness about to fade. "...w-well. Shit happened."

He was about to fall face-first onto the floor, but Persephone was already beside him, holding him tightly.

"Shit always happens with you." She said, in a tone like a mother scolding her most troublesome child.

Cassius coughed, then looked at Emrys, also on his knees, his body in a desolate state, burning and bleeding.

Their eyes met. Cassius managed a grin.

"Bastard. I won. Again."

Emrys’s eyes flashed.

"You—!"

He stopped abruptly, then coughed blood in his fury.

—End of Chapter 108—