Rivers of the Night

Chapter 831 831: Slipping Away

Nothing happened.

The two continued to stand there, and slowly, Ameridia began to realize that something was very, very wrong.

Why was Theron still alive?

On instinct, Ameridia leapt back. She reached out a hand, her spear slapping into her palm from her spatial device. But Theron didn't rush after her.

"Confused?" Theron asked. "Well, maybe not. I did take such a long time to explain to you the intricacies of Dwarf Star, so a woman as intelligent as you has probably pieced it together by now. But I don't mind bridging the rest of the gap for you.

"You see, Dwarf Star is so incredibly dense that it has a very strong effect on gravity. And gravity is just the effects we see from spacetime.

"You probably already know this. When you killed your clan member earlier, you felt the resistance, but you're so powerful that you can just push right past it.

"The trouble is that Dwarf Star Mana Ore is practically a black hole in physical form. The only thing stopping it from collapsing in on itself is its obscene amount of Mana. This Mana, as you might expect, has to be quite special if it's able to keep something that should be so volatile so stable.

"And I just released a bunch of it in the air just now. What you're sensing as Space Mana is actually Spacetime Mana. You have no control over that sort, now do you? And worse than that, you've sealed this place so perfectly that there's no Mana being exchanged from the outside world at all.

"If you want to kill me, you're going to have to use that spear there. But I probably wouldn't advise it. Without the ability to use atmospheric Mana, you don't really stand a chance against me."

Theron explained everything quite calmly.

He had actually never come across Dwarf Star Mana Ore before. However, the moment he saw it, he was able to cross-reference it with the ores he had studied across countless geology books. Then, he took it a step further and built a working theory for how it was formed and existed in the world.

And, of course… he was correct in the end.

SHIIIIIIING.

Theron slowly unsheathed his father's sword.

"But if you'd like, we can test it out."

Theron's smile faded, leaving an ice-cold expression. The air grew chilling, fluctuations of something much deeper and heavier pooling in denser and denser currents.

"I will ask you one more time. Why did you come here?" Ameridia asked in a calm, even voice.

"I told you," Theron replied as though he was too lazy to say more.

"That is not the truth."

"No. It is the truth. The embellishment and lie is that I came here to kill you. In fact, I was tasked with doing exactly that. It was a mission personally handed to me by a Demon Prince. But if I wanted to kill you, there would be no better opportunity—"

Ameridia's spear appeared before Theron's throat, moving with such swift speed it seemed to have teleported there. A glow of something sharp and unrelenting danced on its tip.

SHIIIING.

Theron's blade appeared before it in an instant, his short sword in a reverse grip, his blade pointed to the ground and his hilt hovering just above his head.

He twisted his wrist and Ameridia's spear passed through the gap between his bicep and forearm, the triangle that formed between his head and his bent arm becoming a gate to another world for it.

It whistled by Theron's ears, nicking it and drawing blood, but Theron didn't even flinch. Instead, he took a strong step forward, his lead foot landing right adjacent to Ameridia's own.

Their cold gazes met across the air, sparks practically flying.

Then Theron suddenly brought his forearm down, trapping the spear between his shoulder and forearm.

Ameridia twisted and pulled on instinct. With such an awkward hold, there was no way Theron could do much of anything to stop her from taking his whole arm.

However, just as she moved, her spear became incredibly heavy, and time seemed to slow while Theron accelerated.

Theron drove a fist into her gut, and somehow that single punch carried the weight of a world with it.

Ameridia didn't even notice when the world around them had been layered with a projection of Theron's Primordial Earth.

Spacetime Mana was the hidden fabric of the world, and Theron's Primordial Earth was a world in his control. When it layered over this perfectly sealed space without exchange of Mana with the outside world…

Theron could force it into obedience much the same as everything else.

Ameridia had truly created the perfect environment for her own assassination.

The blow shook her, and yet she couldn't fly back to disperse the impact. She crumbled, feeling as though every bone in her body had been shattered.

Theron caught her by her waist before she fell, and slowly, the Space Mana covering her face began to falter.

She had been able to maintain it because it relied on Space Mana inside of her as opposed to atmospheric Mana. It would have taken too much stamina to do it with atmospheric Mana, though it would be a more effective distortion.

But now… she couldn't maintain it. Not only was it a waste of Mana considering the current situation, but that fist had disrupted her internal flow of Mana a great deal.

Theron was in quite a serious mode of battle right now, but his gaze flickered when he saw the face she hid beneath.

Too beautiful.

Silver hair scattered across her face, piercing blue eyes trying to regain their clarity, struggling beneath their strands.

"If I wanted to kill you, you would be dead," Theron said calmly, looking down at her. Her legs still didn't seem to be working properly, so though she tried to stand, she couldn't manage to push away.

How had she not seen this coming? How had she lost like this?

What she didn't know was that Theron hadn't had a plan at all. He came up with it on the fly based on his environment.

That wasn't the sort of monster just anyone could deal with.

But it hardly mattered as Ameridia felt her Undefeatable Spirit slipping away.