Rebirth of the Disgraced Noble-Chapter 59: Daren?
Elara’s pupils contracted, but her expression did not falter. "I wonder who told you that."
The Entity chuckled, his hands deteriorating the barrier as he unnervingly caressed it. "I know everything, Princess. From my birth to your death."
A look of disgust flashed across her face at his words. "Then you know you shall fall here."
Her eyes flitted to Vane, who used his sword as an anchor, before returning back to the Entity.
The silver embroidery lining her divine white dress began to glow with a muted resonance, as though each thread hummed with a different note searching for harmony.
The Entity’s smile faltered for a split second before he spat a large amount of black liquid at the dome with a rueful expression.
The brittle grey intensified at the point of contact between the black contents and the dome, but suddenly, it halted.
Then reversed.
The cracks didn’t disappear nor mend themselves; they simply rearranged and merged into one large crack directly underneath the Princess’s feet.
The green barrier thickened into a deeper emerald shade. Small swirls appeared on its surface, drawing in small amounts of Resonance in the air.
"Quite an impressive control of Resonance," the Entity clenched his fists. "Let’s see how far you can go!"
His fist descended on the barrier, but contrary to the Princess’s expectations, his arm passed through it.
For the first time, the Princess’s face showed shock.
The Dome regained its structural integrity after the passage, but it had failed in its most primary function.
A testament to that fact was the mercury-coated fist that wrapped around the Princess’s neck.
An evil smile formed on the Entity’s face as he looked deep into the eyes of the Princess.
"Fooled by mere words. You’re definitely not as smart as I estimated."
The Entity stood comfortably in the position where the Princess was originally and watched with derision as she struggled and flailed mid-air in an effort to escape his grip.
Despite the Entity strangling her, all of her attacks — no matter the scale — passed through him.
It was no different from fighting a ghost.
’I saw this coming... but the countermeasures I prepared gravely underestimated the limit of this ghost form,’ Elara thought grimly.
’Will I fall here?’
Strained gasps left the Princess’s lips as the gauntlet fist restricted her airways just enough to let her have a close brush with Death but still remain in the land of the Living.
"How dare you?!"
A loud battle cry shattered the ominous atmosphere, followed by an oppressive energy that turned the very air into a crushing area of density.
The Dome shattered like glass. The force caused Aden’s feet to dive deep into the ground, but somehow, it didn’t affect the Princess.
Vane stood behind the Entity, an overflowing darkness spilling from the sides of his eyes.
The black-iron blade had grown into nothing less than a colossal weapon that ground everything beneath him into fine powder by the sheer force of its expanded gravity field.
"Release her." Vane’s hand gripped the hilt of the blade and pulled it upwards. "Now!"
The Entity didn’t even turn his head. He kept his hand tightened around Elara’s throat, watching the light in her eyes flicker in and out of existence.
"You’re late, watchdog," the Entity whispered. "And you’re leaking. Your core is cracked from that last ’Movement’ I gave you. Every second you hold that sword, you’re shortening your life by a year. Is she worth that much?"
Vane didn’t answer. Instead, the blade fell forward with a ferocious roar.
The Perfect Phase that allowed the Entity to pass through any attack faltered. The air became too heavy for a frequency to pass through as the blade descended.
A silver shine in Aden’s obsidian eyes flickered.
Elara used that fleeting moment of vulnerability to release a purple shockwave that destabilized his grip on her neck.
With a vicious stomp on his chest, she freed herself and nearly got pinned to the ground due to the sheer thickness of gravity.
She fell to her knees while gasping for air, the purple bruises on her neck already beginning to shine with a faint white light as her divine dress fought to heal her.
The Entity frowned. He reluctantly turned to face the incoming blade that wielded enough force to split a mountain and extended his palms.
"How annoying."
The blade collided with the Entity’s palms, and the impact sent a shockwave of black and silver lightning screaming across the crater. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
"Haaarghh!!"
With an intensified roar, the veins on Vane’s neck and arms bulged terrifyingly while the Entity finally began to show signs of struggle.
’Damn it! Not now!’ the Entity cursed internally.
Despite the façade of absolutism he was showing off, Aden’s body, in actuality, couldn’t handle any more stress.
Just holding the blade was more than enough to shorten the estimated time he had left while he was in the pilot seat.
’If I don’t end this now, this body will disintegrate before I can do what I actually came here for.’
The Entity clicked its tongue. ’Might as well go out with a bang.’
"Princess, run!" Vane warned as the blade was mere inches from the Entity’s face.
"I’ve had enough of your games. Run? She can’t go anywhere, not in the state her foolishness led her to."
The Entity’s hands clamped tighter around the blade as he leaned backwards despite his feet being buried deeper into the ground.
A look of surprise plastered on Vane’s face before it morphed into pure terror as he predicted the path he was being pulled toward.
Right behind the Entity, roughly where Elara was.
"Damn you!!" Vane roared.
The Entity let out a low groan as he channeled the momentum and slowly pulled Vane upwards.
Vane struggled to plant his feet into the ground, but the strength the Entity boasted promised inevitability.
By leaning back and using the depth of his buried feet as a pivot point, he turned Vane’s own massive weight and gravity-enhanced momentum into a physical lever.
"Gravity is such a heavy burden, isn’t it, Vane?" the Entity mocked.
With a sudden, violent jerk, the Entity heaved. Vane’s boots were ripped from the earth, the Absolute Anchor law he had invoked now working against him.
Since he had fixed his frequency to the ground, pulling him up was like tearing a literal chunk of the tectonic plate out with him.
Vane sailed through the air, a screaming comet of black iron, headed directly for the kneeling Princess.
"Vane, stop!" Elara cried out, her eyes widening as the massive shadow of her protector loomed over her.
Vane twisted mid-air, his muscles tearing as he forced his black-iron blade to swing wide, desperately trying to bleed off the kinetic energy before he crushed the Heir to the throne.
He slammed into the ground inches from her, the impact creating a secondary crater that sent Elara tumbling back.
The Entity stood alone in the center of the primary crater, his body steaming with silver vapor.
[USER STATUS: REAWAKENING — 62%]
[INTERNAL CONFLICT: SEVERE]
Aden’s left eye flickered from obsidian back to silver. His hand began to shake uncontrollably.
"Stop..." Aden’s voice was a jagged rasp, forcing its way through his own throat. "I told you... she’s... mine."
The Entity’s face contorted, one half grinning with divine malice, the other twisted in Aden’s raw, human agony. "You... stubborn... worm! I am saving... your life!"
"I don’t... want it... from you!"
Aden took a staggering step toward Elara. The silver shards in his skin were half-melted, half-solid, vibrating so fast they were blurring his physical outline.
He collapsed to one knee ten feet away from her. Vane was struggling to rise from the rubble, his armor cracked and his Soul-Eater blade dull and exhausted.
Elara stared at Aden. Not the monster, but the man. She saw the sweat, the blood, and the terrifyingly human fear in his one silver eye.
Their eyes locked far longer than needed, and Elara finally noticed it.
Outgrown silver hair, deep blue eyes, what would have been a handsome face if not for all the black oozing out from it.
And the last symbol that shattered every form of resistance toward this newfound discovery.
The ring that rested on his index finger.
"Daren?" she breathed, the name causing her heart to skip a beat, her stoic expression shattering to expose genuine shock and a hint of something unnamed.
Aden blinked twice, a single tear of silver mercury tracking down his cheek.
"I guess?"
