Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 581: Merge

Number Six felt her life vanish before her very eyes. She had once felt invincible with the abilities granted by her golden boxes. Through them, she could teleport effortlessly between locations, rebound incoming force, and render herself almost untouchable whenever she entered them. In truth, even she had not been fully aware of the subtle weakness that existed against non-contact forces, and when Asher had discovered that flaw and exploited it so mercilessly, the realization had come as a profound and terrifying shock to her.

Her head slid slowly from her neck, blood splattering outward in a violent arc. But before her corpse could even collapse fully upon the earth, Asher had already shifted. His body twisted with lethal precision, shoulder turning, foot planting, and attack tearing forward toward Number Five as he aimed to eliminate him as well, as though he intended to end the three of them within the span of a single terrifying minute.

Number Five had been on the verge of being saved by Number Six. A golden box had already formed beneath his feet prior to that moment, ready to swallow him and transport him away from danger. But with Number Six’s sudden death, every golden box scattered throughout the battlefield shattered instantly into countless motes of shimmering golden particles, dissolving into the air like fading stardust.

However, Number Five possessed the best and fastest battle reaction and combat acumen among the three of them. The instant Number Six had died, he reacted without hesitation. His body vanished from where he stood, leaving yet another tamed beast in his place as a substitute. Without any form of resistance whatsoever, Asher’s rapier tore through the creature as though it had been made of nothing more than soft tofu.

Number Five’s body reappeared far in the distance. Previously, he had been hesitant to activate a final skill granted by his beast-taming ability. The reason was simple: the particular skill required him to sacrifice his lifespan from the moment he activated it until the moment he deactivated it. Although the cost seemed abstract, it was in truth an outrageous price to pay, for no one willingly burned through their own lifespan, no matter how small the portion might appear to be.

But now he no longer had the luxury of hesitation. Two of his teammates had already been wiped out with terrifying efficiency. If he did not act immediately, he would undoubtedly be next.

With a sharp clap of his hands, his beast storage portal tore open in front of him. Through it emerged three massive Mark-class monsters. One was an enormous wolf that radiated intense heat simply by standing still. The second was a massive bird-type monster with powerful wings and razor-sharp talons. The last was another serpentine creature, a colossal snake whose scales gleamed ominously. Every one of them stood firmly at Rank Five within the monster classification hierarchy.

Without the slightest hesitation, Number Five’s voice echoed across the battlefield with grim finality.

Merge

In the very next moment, the three monsters compressed violently, their enormous forms collapsing inward until they resembled spheres no larger than lawn-tennis balls. Those glowing spheres shot forward and slammed directly into Number Five’s chest.

Number Five roared at the top of his lungs as he felt overwhelming power and Astra energy surge violently through his entire body. Physical changes began almost instantly. His body bulged grotesquely as silver fur erupted across his skin, the feral features of the wolf beginning to manifest across his face. Massive claws extended from his fingers, each one appearing capable of tearing flesh apart as though it were delicate ribbons. Sharp fangs followed, lengthening within his mouth.

But the transformation did not stop there. His height expanded rapidly until he towered nearly three meters tall. Then came the influence of the bird-type fusion.

In the next moment, enormous wings burst violently from Number Five’s broad back, spreading outward with terrifying majesty. At the same time, a long tail, clearly belonging to the serpent, emerged from behind him. Green scales began covering large portions of his body, overlapping with the wolf’s fur. The wolf’s fangs now gleamed with venom as the snake’s poisonous nature merged seamlessly with them.

RRROOOOAAAARRRR!!!

Number Five unleashed a deafening roar filled with apocalyptic fury and madness. With the merging of the three creatures, it was as though he had lost his sanity entirely. And indeed, that was the terrible trade-off of the ability. With three separate minds and consciousnesses colliding within a single body, each possessing instincts and desires that did not align, his mind fractured under the pressure, plunging him into madness and a terrifying crisis of identity.

Number Five’s blood-red eyes snapped toward Asher’s position. His thermal vision immediately locked onto his target. Without wasting even a single moment, and like a starving beast driven by primal madness, Number Five stepped forward.

But with that single step, he achieved a speed he had never possessed before. The wolf’s natural swiftness and the bird’s wing-propelled momentum overlapped perfectly, pushing his movement speed to a terrifying extreme.

Asher did not pause to admire the monstrous transformation. Light affinity surged through his legs, gathering power within his foot. In the next instant, he blurred forward, his body launching ahead like an arrow released from a divine bow. His rapier flashed forward toward an incoming downward claw strike.

And with a cataclysmic crescendo, a burst of screeching metal and feral madness erupted outward as rapier met claw. Without missing a beat, both combatants accelerated into absurd speeds. The tempo of the battle climbed rapidly with every passing second. In the very next moment, they left the ground entirely and soared into the sky.

Number Five’s wings beat powerfully through the air, while Asher flew and maneuvered with casual defiance of gravity, meeting every incoming attack as though they were nothing more than trivial noise.

Seeing this, Number Five’s claws suddenly ignited with blazing flames. He slashed violently through the air, unleashing burning waves of claw attacks that screamed across the sky toward Asher.

Asher simply shot sideways, effortlessly dodging the attack. Without missing a beat, he unleashed a torrent of wind-formed sword arcs, utilizing Hillary’s rapier technique with flawless execution. Yet Number Five’s speed had drastically increased. With a powerful beat of his wings, the monstrous tribrid vanished from where he had been standing, his massive form transforming into a barely visible blur.

Asher immediately pursued him, but Number Five refused to allow the distance between them to close. His wings flapped again, and in the next instant the feathers along those wings shot outward like deadly projectiles, each carrying enormous weight and force.

Asher zigzagged through the sky, dodging with fluid grace as though the skies themselves were just as much his domain as the battlefield below. Within the blink of an eye, he appeared directly before the monstrous Number Five once again, his rapier already traveling along a lethal path meant for decapitation.

Number Five’s wolf instincts screamed in warning. With a deafening roar, he slashed outward with his flaming claws. But before the claw strike and the rapier could collide, Asher vanished once more, his body reappeared behind the monstrous Number Five in a flash of spatial distortion.

Previously, Number Five had the ability to sense the faint ripples of spatial displacement whenever Asher teleported or manipulate space. But now he was no longer truly himself, his fractured consciousness prevented him from reacting properly or even sensing Asher’s teleportation.

Even so, the monstrous body and instincts attempted to react, but it was already too late.

Golden light enveloped Asher’s rapier as it descended in a flawless arc. With effortless elegance and terrifying ease, the blade sliced cleanly through Number Five’s head, the body split apart as the head separated from the torso, and in the next moment the corpse began to fall from the sky. Midway through the descent, the fused body separated back into four forms, human, wolf, bird, and snake, each sharing the exact same fate of mutual decapitation.

With a thunderous boom, their bodies crashed into the earth below, their blood spilling out and soaking into the ground as it mingled together in a grotesque crimson mixture, resembling the aftermath of some sinister ritual.

And with that, Asher remained the only one still alive upon the battlefield, floating high above the carnage, he stared down at his fallen opponent with a calm and indifferent pair of purple eyes.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Hope y’all loved it.