Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 636: Rule Imposition

Morthen’s figure appeared in the sky, his posture calm as though he had not just toyed with three Crownstar Life Rankers as though they were nothing, he simply stared at them with a smile as he spoke calmly as though he was not in a rush, his presence radiating a quiet, mocking confidence.

"You know, I’ve kind of missed this, the adrenaline, the anticipation of a strike, the dodging, the collision of weapons," Morthen stated with a smile on his face, "although I will not be killing you three today, I will at least have some fun with you, after all, it has been a few decades since I made a move," he stated as though he was talking to a mere group of children, his tone casual yet laced with an unmistakable edge.

Daniel, Gabriel, and Israel could not help but click their tongues in annoyance, their irritation evident despite their composure. This was why it was so difficult to battle the man named Morthen Wargrave, one moment he was a Swordmaster, the next he was a Martial Artist, how was one supposed to adapt within such a short amount of time, when he could simply switch roles at any given moment without warning.

The worst part was that the man was matching them with just his pure physical strength, no Astra energy augmentation whatsoever, while they themselves were actively augmenting their bodies to keep up, yet still found themselves unable to gain any advantage.

Amongst them, Israel was the most pitiful at this moment, he had taken two direct attacks, although the first attack from Excalibur had injured him, his bleeding had long since stopped and his regeneration had already begun, after all, the vitality, tenacity, and endurance of a Crownstar Life Ranker were nothing if not ridiculous in every sense of the word, allowing them to recover from injuries that would have ended lesser beings instantly.

"Time for round two, right?" Morthen spoke with a dangerous smile that seemed to send a warning of death into the air, his words light, yet carrying an oppressive weight that could not be ignored.

Daniel immediately acted, he too had received a few devastating punches to the gut earlier, although he was no stranger to pain and had long since learned to fight through it. His Astra energy boomed with ridiculous force as liquid metal immediately became reality around him, without missing a beat, it solidified into silver spears numbering in the millions, each one gleaming with lethal intent, and without hesitation, they shot forward like a cannon blast, tearing through the air with overwhelming speed.

Seeing the incoming attack racing to tear him to shreds, Morthen vanished from where he stood, his body accelerating into immense speed as he blurred through the air, but the spears followed immediately like guided missiles, refusing to lose track of him. The moment any of them closed in, he simply shifted to the side with effortless ease, dodging them before they could even come close to touching him.

The sky became filled with countless silver spears and a single blurring figure weaving through them with impossible precision, but the next moment, Daniel appeared near Morthen as though he had teleported directly to that location, and indeed, he had. Daniel possessed the ability to teleport to any of his metal constructs, as long as he could see them or at least sense their presence.

The moment he appeared, he slashed outward towards Morthen, but this time, he unleashed a million silver slashes in that single instant, the attack expanding outward as though he intended to reduce Morthen to nothing but minced meat.

Seeing the incoming barrage of slashes, Morthen did not panic, his thoughts remained calm and fluid as his soul-bound book began to flip its pages with incredible speed, responding instantly to the threat.

[Fictional Reality: Space Type: Spatial Drift]

The next moment, his body drifted out of that space as though he had never been there to begin with, seamlessly phasing away as he evaded Daniel’s devastating attacks, the land below them was immediately torn into a sundered apocalypse as millions of sword marks carved through the earth, massive chasms ripping open as though the blades sought to split Crymora itself in half.

The next moment, Morthen appeared behind Daniel, his foot collapsing downward as he kicked towards the back of the man’s skull with crushing force, but Daniel’s liquid metal seemed to possess a will of its own as, in the very next instant, it formed a massive silver shield behind him, and with a calamitous impact, Morthen’s foot slammed into it, an ear-splitting sound echoing outward followed by a violent burst of wind that swept across the sky.

The silver shield immediately reverted into its liquid form again, wrapping around Morthen’s foot, and without missing a beat, Daniel flung him downward towards Israel and Gabriel with tremendous force. Seeing the incoming Morthen, both of them reacted instantly, pouncing without even a moment of hesitation.

Gabriel’s ability was called Rule Imposition, he could impose rules onto reality itself with terrifying ease, as long as he had enough Astra energy to sustain it, bending the natural order to his will.

"Don’t move," Gabriel stated, his words instantly becoming an absolute rule as Morthen’s body paused midair and mid-swing, frozen within that imposed command, and in that precise moment, Gabriel and Israel launched their attacks with lethal intent, aiming to end the battle in a single decisive strike.

While Morthen was not fighting to kill them, they in turn were fighting with full intent to kill him, holding nothing back.

Israel’s ability was called Overclock, which allowed him to enhance and boost anything, or rather everything, to an immense degree, pushing his physical capabilities far beyond their natural limits.

But Morthen never needed to move to activate his abilities, a single thought was all it required, so Gabriel’s imposed rule was, in truth, rendered meaningless.

[Fictional Reality: Sound Type: Verse Of Blood]

His Astra energy erupted outward from his body as sound waves manifested into reality itself, they compressed tightly into one another before violently bursting outward like an overfilled vessel, the waves collapsing directly into Gabriel and Israel who were closest to him. The sound was maddening, a destructive vibration designed to tear through flesh and draw blood, perfectly embodying the name of the attack.

Morthen’s sound wave attack screamed upwards as well, racing towards Daniel as he assaulted all three of them simultaneously without even moving an inch.

Gabriel’s weakness lay in his need to speak, to impose a rule, he had to vocalize it, hence he could not impose a defensive rule in time to block Morthen’s attack, as it had been far too sudden and delivered at point-blank range. He knew it was futile to rely on an Astra energy barrier, so instead, he prepared to endure the attack with his own body and minimize the damage as much as possible.

But fortunately for him, he did not have to endure it alone, as Israel moved to his rescue. Israel used his Overclock ability to amplify his speed and defense simultaneously, and in a single motion, he scooped Gabriel and vanished from the attack’s range, crossing hundreds of kilometres within that fleeting instant, successfully evading the devastating wave.

As for Daniel, although he managed to raise his silver shield in defense, it proved insufficient, the attack still reached him, crashing violently into his body, the sound waves shaking his internal organs, his eyes reddening as he vomited blood, his body was hurled down from the sky under the overwhelming force of the impact.

And with that, the remaining sound waves tore outward across the land with terrain-altering devastation, erasing miles upon miles of the map as though the lands within the world of Crymora were infinite and without end, the destruction stretching endlessly into the horizon.