Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 604: MAGNIFICENT

Asher’s eyes followed Debro as the man shot towards the sky, his plan to fry Debro to death failing just like his former plan to decapitate the man, the crackling lightning in his hand dying out as he stared at the man who now floated and stared down at him from above with hate- and anger-filled eyes, the air between them thick with killing intent and unspoken resolve.

As a Radiant Wavestar Life Ranker, Debro had his own pride, a pride forged through countless battles and victories. How could a mere Dust Swiftstar Life Ranker injure him? That was simply impossible, an outcome that defied everything he understood about strength and hierarchy.

His Friction Manipulation ability made it hardly possible for him to be injured in the first place. In fact, Debro could count the number of times he had been injured during a fight on one hand, that was how refined his Friction Manipulation ability was and how precise his timing had become over the years of endless combat.

But now, he had been injured and caught off guard by a mere child who awakened just over a year ago, a fact that gnawed at his pride like a persistent wound. Despite the child being a Wargrave, it should still be impossible, it should still be beyond reach. He was two Major Life Ranks and four sub-Life Ranks ahead of Asher... yet... yet... yet...

The thought boiled within him ever so slowly, bubbling beneath the surface like a suppressed eruption, but he didn’t allow it to cloud his judgment, for he knew anger could very well be his undoing in a battle of this magnitude.

Asher could understand what Debro was going through, the sensation was not unfamiliar to him. Him injuring the man was no different from a Faintstar Life Ranker injuring Asher himself, the situation would undoubtedly leave him stunned and extremely shocked, after all, that should be... impossible, a contradiction to everything he believed in regarding power.

Debro’s hand rose towards his bleeding neck and part of his face, and using his Friction Manipulation ability, the air resistance intensity and heat increased around the area of the injuries as he immediately cauterized it to stop the bleeding, the flesh sealing shut under the intense heat, the bleeding coming to an abrupt end as though it had never occurred.

Although he couldn’t exactly heal himself through Friction Manipulation, he could perform this much, a crude yet effective method of stabilizing himself mid-battle. Although he had tried increasing the friction between his blood cells to perform acts like limb regeneration, he always failed in that endeavor, unable to replicate true regeneration. But this wasn’t a discussion for now, it was for much later... if he survived this battle at all.

His black eyes shifted towards Asher as he spoke, "I’ve tried making you love me, but you reject me time and time again," he gritted his teeth as he spoke, the obsession in his eyes unmistakable, raw and unfiltered, "if I can’t have you, then you shall die to my blade, Asher Wargrave. At least that way, you can wait for me in the land of the dead a thousand years from now," he stated with chilling certainty, fully believing that he, Debro, would ascend to the Crownstar Life Rank and live for a thousand years without fail.

The moment those words left his lips, Debro sheathed his katana in one smooth, deliberate motion, and his entire demeanor changed instantly, as though a switch had been flipped within him. The air around him seemed to turn sharp, cutting, as though something was coming, something unseen, something untold, it was as though a reckoning long foretold was approaching, and nothing could stop its descent.

Asher felt a chill run down his spine as he stood still, his senses heightened to their utmost limit, every instinct screaming in anticipation. Although he had just over a minute left to maintain Star Form, it didn’t mean he would make reckless decisions, he hadn’t forgotten that he could always run away by teleporting to the Wargrave estate or his room at the Star Academy.

But that would only come after he had exhausted all his options, for he had wanted a life-and-death battle that would push him beyond his limits ever since he completed his one-month duration of training.

Now that he had it, running was the last thing on his list for this battle, the very last option he would consider.

And so, his battle intent boiled around him as he waited for the calamity that Debro was about to unleash, his Star Energy humming with even greater intensity as his purple Lightning Armour crackled with chaotic madness, making him look no different from a demon at this very moment, a being born for destruction.

He didn’t know what was coming, but he would respond the moment he saw it, his mind ready to adapt. The river under his feet trembled subtly as the air around Debro trembled even more violently, signaling the arrival of something beyond ordinary comprehension.

And with that, Debro unsheathed his katana as he spoke with a sky-freezing tone, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade itself;

[Eclipse Katana Technique: Fall Of The Sky]

The moment Asher heard those words, his entire body paused involuntarily, the chill he felt down his spine earlier and the trembling of the river from before seemed to vanish immediately as his purple eyes remained locked onto the sky, his focus absolute.

And in the sky, around Debro, the trembling air calmed, it was as though whatever was coming had decided to stay back and not descend anymore, creating a moment of eerie stillness. But then, in the very next moment, the sky changed, no, it transformed entirely, its beautiful blue color smeared out of existence as it was now dyed silver, an unnatural hue replacing the familiar.

Through the silver expanse of the sky, a single line of the same color appeared, then another, then another, then another, multiplying endlessly, then more, more, more, numerous beyond comprehension, countless beyond measure, uncountable in their totality. What seemed like quadrillions of silver sword lines filled the sky, blotting it out completely, turning the heavens into a canvas of blades.

When Debro had named this part of his ’Eclipse Katana Technique’ the ’Fall Of The Sky,’ he wasn’t being arrogant with his naming, no, at this moment, it truly seemed as though the sky itself had fallen under the command of a mere human, brought down by sheer mastery and overwhelming power.

Asher stood with an expressionless gaze as he stared at the transformed sky, taking in the sight before him. It was dazzling, to say the least, a spectacle of both beauty and terror intertwined. These silver sword lines were nothing like the ones Debro had been unleashing in waves during their earlier exchanges. These current silver sword lines seemed to encompass everything and all things he knew about the katana, every principle, every nuance, every ounce of skill, and his utmost love for the blade itself.

It seemed as though he was the embodiment of the blade, not merely a wielder but a manifestation of its essence. And the technique was the culmination and undeniable proof of this true embodiment, a declaration of his mastery.

Staring at what seemed to be a true Technique, far beyond what he had seen from assassins or the ones he had taken from Hillary the Knight, only a single word could come to Asher’s mind, a word that carried both awe and understanding... MAGNIFICENT.