Read Novel Full Chapter 445: Blood and ashes
Chapter 445: Chapter 445: Blood and ashes
Chapter 445 – Blood and ashes
Kaden didn’t know how many of these beings he killed or how much time passed.
He truly didn’t. And he didn’t care to know either.
He simply killed, his soul sword able to wound and possibly kill the very soul of every being inside that strange place. At least, it was supposed to be so. But even that didn’t work.
That simple thing made him realize a chilling truth as he continued to slaughter his way through all of them.
’These...these are not real beings!’ Kaden mused inwardly, deflecting a blow from a panther shapeshifter with Reditha, twisting to one side and slamming an uppercut on its left jaw.
The jaw exploded completely, and Kaden used a wisp of his fire to burn everything inside the body of the beast.
However, he failed.
He cursed inwardly and used his two combined intents, finally succeeding in killing the shapeshifter.
At that instant others were already closing in from all sides.
He took a deep breath and continued on.
The only saving grace in all this was that the two factions didn’t stop their slaughter toward each other. But if they had decided to take him down first, Kaden was sure he would not have lasted this long.
Still, he was nearing his limit.
’They are not beings with flesh and bones.’ He realized as he continued his battles, bearing wounds here and there, but with his Death intent, blood skills, and fire, he was able to heal himself.
His stamina was not infinite though.
’No matter how real it feels to cut through them, they are not like us. Also—!’
His thoughts were interrupted as a woman, big and muscular with tattoos on her face, chopped his left arm cleanly.
Kaden groaned, eyes blazing. He ducked down and kicked with all his strength at the woman’s legs, making her resoundingly fall on the bloody ground on her back.
Blood whisked skyward.
She roared in both madness and anger, but Kaden was already above her, his left arm already healed.
"You bloody bitch." He growled, thrusting deep Reditha inside her stretched mouth. He left her there, then whirled around, coming face to face with six opponents — four shapeshifters, one blood controller and one death-cloaked figure — all coming down on him.
Kaden’s face didn’t waver as he dashed toward them, appearing in the middle of them.
He threw his soul sword upward. It paused in the air, then transformed into six soul swords. Kaden coated their edges with both his intents and his Will.
He sent them down at the same time, before stretching his arms on all sides like wings.
Then he clapped — his two palms glowing black, white and crimson before the impact — at the exact same time the soul swords reached their designated targets and Reditha behind him exploded the body of that gigantic woman.
A blasting sound exploded outward, followed by a wave of crimson-black-white energy that drowned all six opponents and even beyond.
Kaden, his face pale, lips dry, witnessed their shrieks of horror, and saw how their flesh melted completely, transforming into a strange mix of glue.
After that attack, his suspicion was confirmed. And even more, he discovered something he had not before.
"They..." his throat tightened like a fist, "they are made of intents." Kaden pulled a wyvern fang stuck on his left shoulder. "But also of Wills."
In other words, this bloody battlefield was nothing but remnants of intents and wills from an event long past.
An event that still persisted to this day.
That realization brought him fear. Because if monsters with this level of power were nothing but remnants...
’...then what were they at their peak?’
That thought sent him reeling, and Kaden decided to focus on the current situation before anything else.
He turned his head to look at the body of Rea, and instantly frowned. Her body... her body was shrouded by a grey light that was continuing to grow brighter and brighter.
At that light, Kaden felt something inside of him stirring. Something he had long forgotten...
A Divinity. The Divinity of Sorrow.
His face crunched even further, remembering the situation with Rea. He took a step toward her, only for half his body to explode into flames.
"Blood and ashes!" He cursed angrily, pain blooming through all his nerves. Instinctively, without even knowing the process, Kaden flicked his finger using his mana — more precisely his blood-fire mana.
Crimson-gold runes spawned on his burned body, siphoning all the power of the flames into them. Instantly, the fire disappeared.
But Kaden didn’t stop. He used those runes, sent them toward the blood controllers who attacked him, and killed them in lethal fireworks.
His face was pale like a sheet of ice, using too much energy at once. Intent, Will, mana, soul... all of them, while manipulating his body extensively, pushed Kaden to the edge of consciousness.
But he pushed on.
Time passed — or maybe not, it was hard to tell — Kaden was lost in the terror of war and battle. After a moment he no longer allowed himself to think nor pause.
He only pushed through, killing and killing, not even realizing that slowly...
...the numbers were going down.
Not because he was killing them all, but because the sky of the strange realm was slowly turning back to what it first was.
A realm of ashes, dust and smoke.
And indeed soon enough, Kaden kneeled on the ground, his body bloodied and filled with an uncountable number of wounds.
His lips were cracked, blood dripping down, his left eye slashed away. His back was ripped by the merciless claw of a wyvern, showing visibly his bones.
His head was ducked low, breathing audibly, trying to gather himself.
’How... how many times again before you can heal me, Blanche?’ He asked, unable to either use his blood affinity or any other power.
He was utterly spent. He didn’t even believe he could stand up at that instant.
’One hour, sweetie,’ Blanche’s pained and embarrassed voice reached him. ’I am truly sorry. But... could you hold on?’
Her voice was rotten with worry, her heart shredded seeing her master in such a state.
Reditha was the same, her pride wounded by the event just now.
She hadn’t felt this powerless since the battle with Shamsi, the Sun Empress. She had promised herself to never allow this again. And yet it did.
That made her angry at herself.
Kaden, meanwhile, smiled faintly before wincing at the pain of his face and lips. He spoke next,
"Well, I will have to." He attempted a shrug. He failed embarrassingly.
He looked around, seeing nothing of the previous nightmare. It was like what he had just lived was nothing but an illusion, but the current state of his body proved otherwise.
It was real. Yet nothing remained.
No blood, no corpses, no war-axes or shapeshifters... nothing at all.
It was unnerving, but what was even more unnerving right now was the scene appearing in front of him.
A couple of meters away from him, Kaden watched as the head of Rea completely reattached itself to her body.
Then he witnessed something he thought he alone possessed.
He saw Rea’s eyes burst wide open, causing brilliant grey light to bathe the strange realm.
"GASP!"
She gasped, and Kaden’s two hearts tightened.
"Blood and ashes..."
—End of Chapter 445—