Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)-Chapter 496: Bloody Crack and Time Stop (2)
Third Person’s POV
A few seconds earlier...
The moment Altheria finished her silent transmission to Isha, she did not wait for a reply.
And when she saw Dajjal’s gaze shift toward Isha with a hint of curiosity and almost confidence, as if he believed his threats and blackmail had successfully restrained her, she knew exactly what he was thinking.
Inwardly, she smirked as she knew that his line of reasoning might have been correct had she been alone in front of him, but she was not.
And this old dog had no idea what kind of existence he was truly dealing with.
But that thought vanished abruptly as her focus shifted inward, shifted toward the ’blood’.
In an instant, every living being within a radius of nearly ten kilometres entered her senses.
She could feel their emotions clearly—their fear, confusion, and despair.
She sensed the frantic racing of their blood, the violent pounding of their hearts, and the fragile rhythm of life pulsing through each of them.
And when her entire perception turned crimson, a crack slowly opened on her forehead.
The crack widened, and without hesitation, she directed its full power toward the dark emperor, Dajjal, who stood before her.
A bloody radiance erupted from it and surged forth towards him with terrifying precision.
At the exact moment she unleashed one of her strongest spells at full power, she also succeeded in drawing his complete attention onto herself.
It was a calculated move, laced with multiple layers of deception and carried without any hesitation.
And in doing so, she gave Isha complete freedom and the priceless element of surprise to deliver the most crucial blow and rescue Ethan from his dark grasp, which only she could deliver at this point and no one else.
Seeing Altheria’s gamble unfold before her so swiftly and decisively, which she executed without even a trace of hesitation or indecision despite the very real possibility that Ethan’s life could have ended in an instant, Isha’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A faint curve formed at the corners of her lips as she smiled, not in amusement, but in quiet approval and admiration for a peer.
There was no doubt or reproach in her expression, only trust in the choice that had been made as she brought her hands together calmly in front of her chest.
The instant she did, a colourless, star-shaped crystal materialised in the space between her collarbones.
It appeared without sound or flourish, its surface smooth and flawless, yet its presence alone felt absolute.
From that crystal, a mysterious but omnipresent wave erupted outward.
It was invisible yet undeniable as it swept across everything within a radius of one kilometre.
The wave expanded in less than a millisecond, and the effect it brought slowed down the world to a crawl.
Air froze mid-flow and dust particles hung suspended like scattered stars, while violent energies lost their momentum as if trapped in amber.
Time itself bent obediently under her authority, yet amid this frozen reality, Isha alone remained unaffected—supreme, unrestrained, and utterly free to move.
But she did not waste a single moment admiring this dominion.
She didn’t pause to observe the frozen expressions of Altheria or the dark emperor and showed no indulgence in the overwhelming control she held over the battlefield.
In the next instant, she moved, and her figure dissolved into a flowing stream of white light.
She was fluid and silent as she crossed the distance to Ethan in a microsecond.
To the world around her, it was as if she had vanished and reappeared at once.
As she reached the kneeling and unconscious figure of Ethan, she didn’t spare even the slightest glance toward Dajjal, his condition, his fury, or his halted power that was completely irrelevant at the moment as she placed one gentle hand upon Ethan’s head.
From her palm, the purest light of dawn began to flow.
It was soft and warm and carried neither force nor pain, yet it possessed an authority that no darkness could resist.
The light entered Ethan’s body and seeped directly into his mind space as it spread steadily and purposefully.
Inside that dark mental abyss, Ethan’s will had nearly burned out, and what remained of it flickered weakly, like a fragile candle on the verge of being extinguished.
Thousands of decaying, mottled hands dragged him relentlessly toward the depths of the black lake, their grip remaining unyielding and suffocating.
The foul water had already invaded his body in unknown quantities and had already numbed him from the inside out while his consciousness blurred under the combined weight of agony, thirst, and despair. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
And it was at that point that something changed as a faint flash of light appeared within his distorted vision.
At first, it was little more than a distant glow and was barely noticeable through the darkness and sludge clouding his senses.
But it soon grew rapidly and became brighter and brighter, until its radiance pierced through the murk of his mind.
The warmth it carried sent a tremor through his soul and reignited something within him.
A wave of strength that was still gentle yet undeniable returned inside his will.
With immense effort, his heavy eyes opened within that dark abyss, and he looked upward, but what he saw made his breath catch.
A colossal white hand was descending toward him from above.
Its size was so immense that he felt like a mere ant before it, simply insignificant and fragile to the extreme.
As it moved, countless bright white rays erupted from its surface and cascaded downward, illuminating the entire dark cave in brilliant light.
To his shock, the brilliant light wave caused the shadows to recoil instantly.
The gloom, the corruption, and the foul, oppressive evil that had clung to every corner of the cave began to dissolve under that radiance.
The walls, the lake, and even the air itself were cleansed as the light spread relentlessly, leaving no refuge for darkness to hide, while from every direction, screams erupted.
