Chapter 131 – The Valoran Subjugation (5)

A surreal landscape.

Earth and sky, inverted.

The Cartia mainland, a desolate wasteland. The sky, a fractured, bleeding mess.

And now…painted crimson.

A blood-red moon, darker than any I’d ever seen.

Reflected in Valoran’s greatsword.

CLANG!

The oppressive weight of the blade tore through space.

“Why aren’t you swinging your sword?”

Viscous dark magic oozed from Valoran, enveloping him.

“What are you waiting for?”

The destructive energy intensified. The balance of power shifted. My knees buckled.

“Do you think I’m different from the beasts you’ve faced?”

Cracks spread across the ground beneath me.

“Do you think…I’m not a beast?”

The earth crumbled, threatening to swallow me whole.

“Raise your sword. Don’t hesitate. I am Valoran, Beast of the End.”

Memories flooded my mind. Carpeng. Tylant.

“I am the harbinger of calamity. I will take…everything you hold dear.”

Cartia.

“So rise. Take your sword. And kill me. Or…”

GONG!
A deafening chime. Hundreds of eyes opened behind Valoran, fixing their gaze on a single point.

“…I will kill the Priestess. I will tear her soul to shreds and scatter it across the land. Her broken body…will be a trophy, displayed at the end of the world.”

A wave of dark magic erupted, more powerful than anything before.

[Noah.] My bloodlust surged.

[What you’re seeing…is the past.] The icy chill from the necklace spread, biting into the air.

[A past that never was. A world lost to time. A meaningless nightmare that will vanish when you wake.] Frey thrummed in my hand, yearning for release.

[So don’t hesitate.]

The torrent of dark magic crashed down. Spikes rained from the sky. Orbs exploded, filling the air with choking mist. The crimson greatsword descended.

[That bastard’s all talk.]

“Pfft…”

[It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you came from. Your name is Noah. Master of Frey. My companion. Shin Noah.]

“Yes…”

[So let’s go. Your way.]

I nodded, adjusting my grip on Frey. Heavier now, but the weight felt…right.

I breathed, painting the battlefield in my mind. Time slowed, every detail crystal clear.

I moved. Light, fluid, precise.

Thorns of bloodlust pierced the spikes, deflected the orbs. Icy chill twisted the magic’s trajectory, disrupting its flow.

One long stride. I raised my arm.

Frey, aligned with the sky.

I swung upwards, intercepting the crimson greatsword.

Slice!

Its trajectory shifted. Frey’s mark, etched onto Valoran’s Will.

“Hm.” He smirked.

Time resumed its normal flow. The magic receded. The spikes and orbs detonated, creating a thick mist.

I swung Frey, scattering the mist, and charged.

An upward slash, familiar and comforting. The power flowed seamlessly from my feet, through my body, into the blade.

Valoran’s counter was predictable. A tilted blade, twisting upwards.

Flowing Water.

I channeled Tylant’s chill, freezing Valoran’s movements. Carpeng’s ferocity surged into my arms, twisting his muscles.

He faltered. Frey’s trajectory shifted, aiming for his arm instead of his waist.

BOOM!

The impact staggered him. I drove Frey downwards, using it as leverage to launch myself into the air.

Spikes erupted from the ground. I wrapped myself in bloodlust, pulling myself back down, twisting mid-air, swinging Frey.

CLANG!

Valoran’s greatsword was deflected.

Dozens of eyes opened behind him, firing orbs of dark magic. They twisted and turned, homing in on me.

I charged towards Valoran’s feet.

Crack!

I redirected his greatsword with Flowing Water, freezing him with icy energy. Then, using a burst of bloodlust, I launched myself away.

BOOM!

The orbs struck Valoran.

He stumbled. I pressed the attack, striking at his exposed side.

Crunch!
Bone shattered. I raised my knee, aiming for his abdomen.

A sudden compression of dark magic around Valoran.

The 0.2-second counterattack.

Instantaneous.

Crack!

The unseen force slammed into me, sending me sprawling. My limbs went numb.

I gritted my teeth, driving thorns of bloodlust into my nerves. The searing pain cleared the fog.

I smashed a potion against my skin, then scrambled to my feet, swinging Frey.

The blade moved silently, slicing through Valoran’s magic.

I hurled four daggers, disrupting the runes on the ground. Cloaked in frost, I charged.

A massive fist loomed.

I twisted, narrowly avoiding the blow, and swung Frey upwards.

Slash!
A deep gash appeared on Valoran’s arm.

A massive rune materialized beneath us.

Too close to dodge.

I would cut through it.

Focusing my senses, I ignored Valoran’s attacks, trusting my bloodlust to deflect them. I visualized the rune’s core formula, recalling Sirin’s teachings.

There.

I hurled a dagger, striking the core.

I didn’t wait to see the result. Sirin’s methods never failed.

I charged at Valoran.

“Hah!” He laughed, a sound of pure, savage joy.

“That old wretch! She set this in motion!”

He grinned, spreading his wings.

The instant-death combo.

First strike: above, left.

Clang!
Clang!

Deflected. My turn.

I twisted, carving a deep wound into Valoran’s exposed abdomen.

Next: diagonal right, down.

CLANG!

Undeflectable. I retreated, bracing myself. A long thrust followed. I angled Frey, deflecting it, then ducked, closing the distance.

I slashed at his ankle, leaping to avoid a low sweep.

I landed, bloodlust cushioning the impact. Valoran’s greatsword whistled past my hair. I threw myself back.

CLANG!
The blade slammed into the ground where I’d been standing. A wave of dark magic erupted, consuming everything.

I steadied myself, aiming Frey at the wave’s core.

CRASH!

A small gap opened within the chaotic energy. I threw myself through it, the wave’s killing intent brushing past me.

Ignoring the explosions behind me, I scrambled to my feet.

Valoran’s wings spread wide, dark energy coalescing on his greatsword. The massive orb of magic condensed, shrinking to the size of a fist, then a bead.

It fell to the ground.

I charged.

Into the eye of the storm, the heart of the chaos.

And then—

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

An earth-shattering explosion. The world screamed.

I stumbled to my feet, chewing painkillers. My balance was off. My ankle, twisted. My fingernails, gone. The skin on my side, flayed.

I let my bloodlust guide my movements, pouring potions over my wounds.

It was done. The attack was neutralized.

My wounds closed. I gripped Frey.

My turn.

I grinned, swinging with all my might.

BOOM!
The impact was solid, but Valoran didn’t resist.

Just like in the game, the massive attack left him vulnerable.

Chains, radiating a power unlike dark magic, descended from the sky, binding him.

But he was still smiling.

“Perhaps…it
is
…possible…”

I ignored him, swinging Frey again and again, unleashing my bloodlust, my icy chill, all my unsealed power surging into the blade.

Each strike tore at the sky.

Each blow cracked the earth.

Tylant’s rage, Carpeng’s sorrow, Cartia’s light—it all poured into my attacks.

“But…not enough.” His wings, tattered and torn, reformed, now a vibrant crimson.

“That…will not kill…the First Beast.” A broken halo appeared above his head.

“That…will not stop…the End.” Crimson karma seeped from cracks in the shattered moon, staining the world.

“Show me…everything. And kill me.”

Phase 4.

I swallowed the last of my painkillers and downed an elixir.

Casting aside every burden, every doubt…

I emptied my mind.

And filled my heart.

I gripped Frey.

“Watch closely,” Valoran’s voice boomed, echoing across the shattered landscape. “This…is the path…of my failures.”

“Fallen Heaven.”

The world turned upside down.