I Die to Rise: Resurrection System-Chapter 53: Silver Tail Attack : Rook vs Joshua!

Rook’s new form resisted the cutting power of Joshua’s threads, the material dense enough to withstand the pressure.

While the threads strained to sever his body into different parts, his arms shifted, matter flowing like liquid to reshape themselves into blades.

His elbows to his fingers were now long blades made from the same material as the threads and he sliced clean through them.

The threads snapped with sharp pinging sounds, unraveling around him, and Rook exploded forward, collapsing the distance between them in an instant, and he swung.

Joshua weaved backward, the blade missing his face by millimeters, but not quite. A thin line of blood appeared on his cheek, bright red against his skin. And in that moment Joshua’s bored expression vanished.

His eyes widened slightly, his hand moving to touch the blood, and when he pulled his fingers back and saw it, something changed. The air around him felt heavier now.

Rook, however, didn’t give him time to recover. His other arm reshaped mid-swing, expanding and solidifying into a massive hammer, and he brought it down with enough force to crack the earth.

BOOM!

The shockwave exploded outward, a wall of compressed air that tore through the workshop and sent Joshua flying backward. He crashed through the wall, through the exterior of the guild building, and tumbled into the street outside.

The few civilians still lingering near the warehouse scattered immediately, screaming as debris rained down around them. Joshua rolled to his feet, brushing dust from his shoulders, and looked up just in time to see Rook charging through the hole in the wall.

Rook closed the distance in a heartbeat, his fist already cocked back, but threads shot out from Joshua’s surroundings, wrapping around Rook’s wrist and stopping the punch inches from his face.

Unfortunately for Joshua, that trick could only work once. Rook’s arm shifted again, matter flowing and reshaping into a double-edged scissor blade that severed the threads instantly once he snapped it open.

As one would expect with a scissors, Rook snapped them closed again sharply in a decapitating motion that snipped locks of silver hair which drifted to the ground.

Joshua had jerked his head back, narrowly avoiding decapitation, and extended threads to the surrounding buildings. He reeled himself upward, gaining height rapidly, and when he was high enough, he stopped, standing on a web of threads stretched between two rooftops.

He looked down at Rook and frowned. "This is such a drag." Then he raised both hands.

Threads shot from his fingertips, wrapping around each other with blinding speed, layering and compressing until they formed solid constructs of spears, dozens of them, hovering in the air like a rain of death.

Joshua swung his arms down, and the spears fell.

The first wave descended, and then the second, and the third, but Rook dodged them all with surprising agility.

He caught one mid-air as he ran, and the moment his hand closed around it, the material absorbed into him, and his body expanded.

The extra mass flowed across his back, reshaping into massive, angular wings that spread wide, and he launched himself into the air.

The sound barrier shattered behind him, a sonic boom that rattled windows for blocks, and Rook rocketed upward. Joshua’s eyes widened as Rook closed the distance in less than a second, fist raised, ready to tear him apart.

Joshua swung his arm down and blue threads erupted from his fingertips this time, thinner, sharper, glowing faintly with essence.

They descended like guillotine blades, and Rook twisted mid-flight, crossing both wings in front of himself and crossing both arms beneath to shield himself as the threads slammed into him.

The blue threads sliced clean through it and the force of the attack sent him crashing back down. He hit the ground like a meteor, carving a crater fifty feet wide, and the impact sent cracks spiderwebbing outward through the street.

Buildings groaned as their foundations shifted, and several nearby structures collapsed entirely, their support beams severed by the threads.

Rook lay at the bottom of the crater, breathing hard, his left arm missing from the elbow down. But he didn’t stop.

He pressed his remaining hand against the ground and granite flowed up from the earth, reshaping his missing limb. When the stone receded, his arm was whole again.

He flexed his fingers, testing the regenerated limb, and looked up to see more blue threads were descending.

Joshua stood on his web high above, his expression tired and annoyed. "I didn’t even want to be here," he muttered.

The threads sliced through the air itself as they fell, carving invisible lines through oxygen molecules, and Rook pressed both hands against the ground.

Matter rushed into him, not just transforming his body but reshaping his right arm, which began to grow, expanding rapidly from constantly absorbing and pulling in the material of the earth.

The arm swelled to the size of a car, then a truck, then larger still, towering over Rook as it blocked the incoming threads.

The blue threads struck the massive arm and began cutting through it, but Rook was absorbing faster than they could sever.

Matter flowed in endless streams, regenerating the arm faster than it could be destroyed, and the limb continued to grow until it cast a shadow over Joshua.

Joshua looked up, his eyes widening slightly. "Oh—"

Rook brought the arm down.

The impact was cataclysmic. Joshua wrapped himself in layers of threads, forming a mesh armor around his body, but it didn’t matter. The massive hand slammed into him with so much force, and he was driven into the ground.

BOOM!

The shockwave rippled outward in a perfect circle, shattering windows for blocks, and the ground cratered beneath the impact.

When the dust settled, Joshua lay at the bottom of a seventy-foot-deep pit, his sweater torn away, his body covered in blood and bruises.

Emergency sirens wailed in the distance. Civilians screamed from every direction. The city was in chaos.

But Joshua didn’t really give it any thoughts. He coughed, blood splattering across his lips, and groaned. "Ow..." This time, he meant it.

Joshua didn’t move. Couldn’t move. His threads dissolved, and he lay there, staring up at the sky, defeated.

***

Inside the guild, Emma struggled against Eli’s knife at her throat while Cassandra’s hand moved toward her blade, but she hesitated, knowing any sudden movement could end Emma’s life.

Then the shockwave caused from when Rook slammed down with his mallet arm against Joshua, hit.

The entire warehouse trembled, debris raining from the ceiling, and Eli’s grip loosened for just a fraction of a second. A moment that was more than enough for Emma.

She grabbed Eli’s wrist, twisted, and flipped him over her shoulder with brutal efficiency. He hit the ground hard, and Emma rolled away, coming up beside Cassandra with her fists raised.

"Fucking vampire," Cassandra spat as she prepared herself for a fight.

Eli stood slowly, brushing dust from his vest, and smiled. "Nice to see you too, Cassandra. But I believe it’s time we said our fairwells."

Riley coughed from where she still lay against the support beam, blood dripping from her mouth. "Fuck that, Eli. I can still fight."

Eli walked over to her, scooped her up effortlessly, and slung her over his shoulder, prompting Cassandra to point her blade at them with a grin on her face. "You think we’ll just let you walk away?"

Emma cracked her neck. "Yeah. What she said."

Eli’s smile widened. "I think you’ll have your hands full soon enough."

He vanished in a crimson blur, red afterimages trailing behind him, and before either Emma or Cassandra could follow, they felt it.

A wave of essence pressure slammed into them like a physical force. It pressed down on their shoulders, made their knees buckle slightly, and filled the air with suffocating weight.

Beads of sweat formed on Emma’s forehead, and her breath came in short, controlled gasps. "I take it," Emma said slowly, "that’s what he meant by hands full?"

Cassandra’s eyes narrowed, her grip tightening on her blade. "Braun Ironside."

Several meters away from the guild, a massive figure approached.

Braun Ironside had arrived.