Episode 247: The Fallen Woman (3)
Sla’s face hardened in an instant, overwhelmed by the sheer force emanating from Damian Haxen. For a brief moment, she, the one known as the Great Evil, felt threatened by a mere youngster who hadn’t even lived three decades.
Her fists clenched involuntarily, her pride as the Great Evil shaken.
“Impressive, but…”
Sla focused her dark magic on her wounds, watching as they bubbled and healed completely. Her limp arm regained its strength, and she flexed her fingers.
“If the connection is severed, I just need to reconnect it.”
It was the first time her undead body had been destroyed. Shocking, yes, but nothing had truly changed. The magic circuits of her undead form were incredibly complex, requiring Damian Haxen’s full concentration to sever them. In other words, it wasn’t a technique he could use easily.
“You’ll regret laying a hand on a woman.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t see you as a woman at all.”
Sla couldn’t help but chuckle at that. She lunged at Damian Haxen, reaching him in the blink of an eye, her fist aimed to shatter his jaw. Her punch tore through the air, but Damian ducked, slicing through her forearm with his sword.
The blade cut through her arm, severing the magic circuit and preventing regeneration. Sla stared in disbelief at her missing forearm.
“How…?”
How could he sever the magic circuit so easily? It was impossible, something even she couldn’t do.
“I told you, I found it.”
With that, Damian Haxen moved again. There was no time to reattach her severed arm. Sla concentrated her flesh on the stump, growing a new arm from the severed part.
“Stay back!”
Sla threw a punch, but Damian twisted his body, dodging the attack. Her fist sliced through the air, creating shockwaves that rippled outward. She attacked again, each punch accompanied by a thunderous boom that shook the buildings and ground.
Yet none of her attacks landed on Damian Haxen. He evaded every strike, countering with his sword to slice through her body. Her forearm was severed multiple times, once even taking her shoulder with it. A moment’s lapse in focus, and her knee was cut. She narrowly avoided having her waist severed.
“This can’t be happening!”
The parts of her body cut by Damian Haxen didn’t regenerate, forcing Sla to use her flesh reserves to ‘regenerate’ her body. But her flesh wasn’t infinite. Each time Damian severed a part of her, her reserves dwindled. If this continued, she would be at a disadvantage. She had to resort to her last option.
“Damian Haxen! This is your final warning!”
She shouted as she attacked him.
“From now on, I’m going to become hideous. I never let anyone who sees this form live! So drop your weapon and surrender!”
Damian Haxen responded with a mocking laugh.
“You’re full of it.”
”…I figured you’d say that.”
Sla muttered regretfully. She released the final seal, unleashing a surge of dark magic from deep within her.
The black mages of the Frenzy School could manipulate human bodies like clay, which is why they often had monstrous appearances. But Sla insisted on maintaining a human form, believing it was the path to ultimate power. Humans ruled this world, and among them, the strongest were the master class. To become powerful, one had to study and emulate humans, the master class.
Sla’s body was crafted after studying over a hundred master class individuals and more than a thousand with special bloodlines. How could she move swiftly? How could she unleash destructive power? Her body was the result of decades of meticulous research.
Yet, she restrained this carefully crafted body for one simple reason: it was too hideous. Under the sky, beauty was the highest value. Everyone desired a beautiful partner, and those with exceptional looks were respected. Even as a member of the Frenzy School, Sla pursued beauty.
But now, she abandoned that pursuit, reshaping her body solely to kill Damian Haxen. Her body swelled, monstrous muscles forming on her limbs. Her spine protruded, and spikes jutted from her back.
-I really didn’t want to show this form.
Her voice changed, deepening to a masculine tone.
”…”
Damian Haxen said nothing, perhaps shocked. Sla’s anger flared at his silence.
-Stop staring at me! It makes me want to kill you right now!
Her shout reverberated through the entire building. Suddenly, Damian Haxen did something strange. He withdrew all his magic, the resonant hum vanishing instantly, and the aura blade surrounding his sword disappeared.
-What are you doing?
Sla frowned.
-It doesn’t matter. I won’t let you live anyway.
Having shown this form, Sla had no intention of letting Damian Haxen live. That was why she had given her final warning.
“Now I see.”
Damian Haxen lowered his sword.
“Now I can cut it.”
-What do you mean, cut…?
A strange pressure began to emanate from Damian Haxen. At first, Sla thought she was imagining it, but the pressure grew stronger with each passing moment.
An unguarded body. An unguarded stance. Yet Sla found herself stepping back, an instinctive fear gripping her.
-Crack.
But she ignored her instincts for one reason: she couldn’t let anyone who saw this hideous form live. She had to kill him here and erase him.
Sla clenched her fist, her forearm swelling to twice its size.
-Damian Haxen, it’s a shame it ends like this.
“Enough talk. Come at me.”
Sla swung her swollen fist. The air rushed out, ruffling Damian Haxen’s hair and clothes. He swung his lowered sword, the blade meeting her fist.
A smile spread across Sla’s lips. Her full-force punch against a sword without even an aura blade. The outcome was obvious. Soon, Damian Haxen would be crushed along with his sword…
In the next moment, Sla’s fist split apart. Damian Haxen’s sword sliced through her fist and forearm, advancing relentlessly.
-…What?
Sla was momentarily stunned.
Damian Haxen’s sword cleaved through her torso.
To reach the master class, one needed to attain a ‘realm.’ Yet, as a death knight, Damian Haxen had reached the master class without possessing a unique realm. Perhaps it was because he could mimic other master class realms, or maybe it was because he was a slave to Dorgo. Damian himself didn’t know the exact reason.
What was certain was that Damian Haxen had reached the master class without a unique realm and only acquired his own much later.
Sword God.
A realm Damian created by unifying the realms he had mimicked. He forged the Sword God realm because there was someone he had to kill.
Dorgo.
A lich hides its soul in a life vessel, a phylactery. As long as the phylactery exists, the lich cannot die. Even if its body is obliterated, it will resurrect. The problem was that Damian, under Dorgo’s control, had no way to find the phylactery.
Thus, Damian created the Sword God realm, a realm to kill Dorgo without finding the phylactery.
Cut.
No matter what it is, what form it takes, or where it is. The realm created with the sole purpose of cutting Dorgo’s soul was the Sword God.
But the Sword God was a realm created as a death knight. It couldn’t be fully realized with magic instead of dark magic. So Damian kept slicing away at Sla’s flesh, stripping away the layers to ensure he could cut her soul.
And now, the result was before him.
Damian infused the dawn into his sword. Sla was still alive, but it was only a matter of time.
“Ah, ah…”
Dark magic began to pour from her severed body. Her soul was being destroyed, releasing the dark magic.
“This can’t be… This can’t…”
Along with the dark magic, her life force spilled out. Sla’s body shriveled rapidly, her skin wrinkling as she aged into an old woman in mere seconds.
“Stop… Stop…! I can’t accept being this hideous!”
Sla clutched her body, screaming in despair.
“Pl-please, I’m begging you. Kill me. So I don’t have to see myself like this… Please…!”
Sla tried to move toward Demian, but with a shattered soul, controlling her body was nearly impossible.
“Please…!”
She crawled across the ground, using her arms to drag herself to Demian’s feet.
“Kill me…!”
Demian opened a pocket of space and pulled out a spear. It was the same spear Blanca Roche had once wielded. Before rushing here, Demian had made sure to bring it along—not for battle, but for another purpose entirely.
He drove the spear into the ground in front of Sla. Her reflection shimmered on the smooth blade.
“Aaaah! Nooo!” Sla screamed, clawing at her face.
“This isn’t me! This isn’t my face! Aaaah! Nooo!”
Her cries pierced the sky, a final, desperate wail. With that, Sla’s soul was utterly destroyed. The light vanished from her eyes.
Her body froze, turning to stone where she lay.