Episode 328: Awakening (2)

Vahel’s face turned deadly serious as he locked eyes with Damian Haxen.

The moment family was mentioned, Damian’s demeanor shifted. It wasn’t just his demeanor; the ominous aura surrounding him intensified.

Instincts screamed a warning. Reason cautioned against recklessly confronting the enemy before him.

”…Hahaha!”

Yet Vahel ignored both instinct and reason, choosing instead to embrace a different emotion: pleasure.

The toy that had already piqued his interest was becoming even more entertaining, and the thrill of it was almost unbearable.

“You seem to care a lot about your family. In that case, I should be considerate. I’ll make sure to kill them right in front of you. I’ll show you every moment of their demise.”

Suddenly, Damian’s arm moved, swinging the longsword in his hand horizontally.

“Hmm?”

Vahel looked puzzled. The two were too far apart for the sword to hit anything but air.

“Why such a pointless move…?”

Abruptly, the world split diagonally, and half of his vision was swallowed by darkness.

”…!”

Agonizing pain surged from one of his eyes, as if it had been seared with a red-hot iron.

Vahel staggered back, clutching his eye. It had been sliced in half.

When? How?

Questions flooded his mind, chief among them: how had Damian cut through the power of isolation?

Vahel’s entire body was shielded by the power of isolation, his eyes especially so, as they were the most vulnerable.

Yet Damian’s strike had sliced through the power of isolation like paper, severing his eye.

In the midst of his confusion, Vahel saw Damian crouch.

He must be planning to charge. The realization sent a chill down Vahel’s spine.

Instinctively, Vahel unleashed the power of isolation, pouring all his strength and energy into it.

Until now, the crystals of isolation Vahel created were always angular shapes, allowing him to enjoy battles for longer.

But this time was different. Vahel envisioned a blade.

A blade, the thinner it is, the sharper it becomes. But to increase its strength, it must be made thicker.

Vahel was different. The blade created by the power of isolation, no matter how thin, would never break or dull.

Blades erupted from beneath Damian’s feet, thinner than a dragonfly’s wing, sharper than any metal in the world.

And it wasn’t just one or two. Dozens, hundreds, thousands of blades shot up like lightning.

The endless blades formed a small mountain. Vahel focused his remaining eye on the peak of the blade mountain.

Damian Haxen stood lightly atop the towering blades.

”…”

Vahel’s eye trembled violently.

As soon as Vahel unleashed his power, Damian leapt upward, stepping on the blades.

The blades of isolation didn’t even graze Damian’s clothes.

“Ha, this is really fun, isn’t it?”

Vahel twisted his lips into a grin as Damian leaned slightly forward.

Was he really going to charge in such an unstable position?

The ominous feeling became reality. Damian Haxen kicked off the blades.

The blades of isolation bent dramatically before snapping back, launching Damian forward.

Vahel hastily erected a wall of isolation, surrounding himself with thousands of barriers.

“Second Wheel.”

At that moment, Damian spoke softly, kicking off the air once more.

As Damian’s body accelerated, the walls of isolation Vahel had created shattered like glass.

As soon as he closed in on Vahel, Damian swung his sword down.

Vahel concentrated the power of isolation in his arms, crossing them to block the strike.

The vertical blade collided with Vahel’s forearms, slicing them clean off.

There was no sound, not even a crash. Vahel’s arms were severed as smoothly as a knife through cream.

“Argh!”

For the first time, a scream tore from Vahel’s lips.

Since mastering the power of isolation, Vahel had never suffered a proper wound.

In the past few centuries, no demon had managed to scratch Vahel’s body.

And now, his arms were gone. The long-forgotten pain felt like his mind was exploding.

But there was no time to dwell on the pain. Damian Haxen was already swinging his sword again.

“Ugh!”

Vahel once more unleashed the power of isolation.

A flower bloomed between them. Not a real flower, but a mass of isolation shards.

The flower exploded, sending shards flying at Damian Haxen with terrifying speed.

In that instant, countless lines were drawn in the air, obliterating every shard.

“You madman!”

Vahel couldn’t help but shout.

The number of shards that had just been unleashed easily exceeded ten thousand.

To cut through every single one without leaving a trace? Was that even possible?

“Fine, I’ll accept it! That you’re no easy opponent! That you’re my true rival!”

Vahel summoned all his strength, his body undergoing another transformation.

He grew larger, his muscles bulging, his teeth turning into those of a beast.

Coarse fur sprouted all over his body, his legs bending backward like a goat’s.

His eye and arms had already regenerated.

Vahel used his newly grown arms to pull out a rusty key, said to have been created by Ruin for the covenant.

-I will be free from the covenant.

Vahel turned the key in the air, releasing him from the covenant of the first emperor that had long tormented him.

The power that had been weakened returned, and Vahel’s aura grew even stronger.

-I will crush you!

Vahel extended his arms toward Damian. Blades rained down over Damian Haxen’s head.

Blades so massive they could split mountains, and not just one or two, but several.

The truly astonishing thing was their speed. Despite their size, they moved faster than the wind. Birds flying in the sky were sliced in half before they could escape.

Then, Damian Haxen spoke again.

“Third Wheel.”

Damian Haxen gripped his longsword with both hands. A colorless aura blade began to spin.

He swung the spinning aura blade wide. The storm unleashed from the blade clashed with the blades of isolation.

The blades of isolation shattered one by one, their fragments raining down to the ground.

-…

Vahel was momentarily stunned. To so easily destroy the power he had unleashed with all his might?

“Fourth Wheel.”

Damian Haxen vanished, reappearing behind Vahel.

Before Vahel could react, Damian swung his sword, severing Vahel’s forearm.

-Argh!

Vahel screamed again, retreating. He tried to use the power of isolation to block Damian’s advance.

But Damian was faster, kicking off the ground and driving his foot into Vahel’s abdomen.

The power of isolation protecting Vahel’s torso shattered, and Damian’s foot burst through Vahel’s insides.

-Kaaah!

With a scream, Vahel’s body was sent flying. He gritted his teeth, trying to regain his stance.

This was a battle. He couldn’t afford to lose focus because of the pain…

As soon as he lifted his head, he saw Damian Haxen. Vahel’s expression soured.

-When did you…?

Damian’s blade swung, severing Vahel’s other arm.

Vahel attempted to regenerate his arms again, but Damian was quicker, driving his fist into Vahel’s face.

The bones in his face shattered as his body was sent flying backward. Vahel suppressed the pain and unleashed his power.

But no blades or crystals of isolation formed.

The power Vahel activated affected not the external world, but Damian’s internal one.

-I will isolate your vision first!

Damian Haxen’s eyes turned black, his movements suddenly halting.

The true weapon of the power of isolation wasn’t creating objects.

It was the ability to stop and sever anything. That was the true power of isolation.

-I will isolate your hearing and smell!

-I will isolate the beating of your heart!

-I will isolate the flow of your blood!

-I will isolate the flow of your magic!

Vahel systematically paralyzed Damian Haxen’s senses and bodily functions.

-I will isolate your arms and legs last.

Just as he was about to activate the final power, Damian Haxen swung his sword through the air. A sharp sound rang out as if it had struck something.

-…What?

Vahel immediately realized what Damian Haxen had done.

He had cut through the power Vahel had unleashed.

But it was impossible. How could one cut through the very essence of power, not just the objects it created?

“What kind of nonsense is this…?”

Demian Haxen swung his sword through the air several times, each stroke accompanied by a sharp, resonant sound.

With every swing, Vahel’s face grew paler. The powers he had cast upon Demian were vanishing one by one.

Vahel could never have imagined it.

That Demian Haxen, in a past life, had mastered the art of the “Sword God,” a power capable of cutting through anything.

Until now, he hadn’t reached the level of a Grandmaster, so he couldn’t wield it skillfully.

But now, things were different.

As both a human and a Death Knight, he had ascended to the rank of Grandmaster. Demian had fully reclaimed the skills of his past life.

After slicing through the last of Vahel’s powers, Demian Haxen fixed his gaze on him. The murderous intent in Demian’s eyes made Vahel’s face harden with fear.

This time, he was going to die.

His tricks were all exposed, his techniques shattered. Vahel sensed death approaching.

Demian Haxen launched himself forward, closing the distance between them in an instant. He swung his blade right in front of Vahel.

In that moment of impending death, Vahel’s senses sharpened to an extreme. He could finally see Demian Haxen’s movements, which had been invisible to him before.

But seeing was all he could do; his body was too slow to react.

“Damn it.”

Vahel cursed under his breath.

“To think that I, the ruler of the underworld, would have to resort to this!”

His eyes took on a determined gleam as he lowered his voice.

“Stop.”

In that instant, the entire world froze.

Demian Haxen, the clouds drifting in the sky, the leaves rustling in the wind—all came to a halt.

“Ugh… Argh…!”

In the frozen world, Vahel let out a pained groan.

Suddenly, horns sprouted from his forehead, blazing with fire.

“Damn it… To waste a millennium’s worth of power like this.”

The three horns on Vahel’s forehead were no ordinary horns.

They were the culmination of his accumulated and condensed power.

To isolate time itself, Vahel had to expend all the power he had gathered.

“This is a huge loss.”

He grumbled as he approached Demian.

“I’ll make your family pay for this.”

Just as Vahel was about to tear into Demian Haxen’s throat—

Thud.

A sound echoed.

Thud.

At first, he thought he was hearing things.

Thud.

But the sound persisted, growing more frequent.

It was then that Vahel realized—Demian’s heart was beating.

“This can’t be…”

As Vahel muttered in disbelief, Demian Haxen’s body moved.

The blade of Erebus pierced Vahel’s heart.