Awakening the Great Chapter 112

Chapter 112 – The One Who Takes Away

A dense darkness seeped across the midday plain.

In all directions, only a heavy silence remained.

The One Who Takes Away, Midra.

A being whose na had been taboo to even utter for hundreds of years was here, in this very place.

The mont it took a single step—

The ground, the air, even the color of the sky froze solid. The step had seed almost gentle, yet from beneath that foot, an icy ripple spread outward. Blades of grass soaked in blood and countless corpses were blanketed in pale ice crystals.

Crunch, crunch.

Calix sent Lunos away to the far edge of the battlefield before advancing toward the Legion Commander.

Crack— a faint tearing sound ca from the surface of his armor. The defensive runes were emitting a faint light, yet they already appeared to have reached their limit.

"……This isn't a battle. It's a calamity—a calamity."

Soone among the soldiers muttered as if whispering. The fear that stepping into this domain would cost one their life in an instant gripped the entire battlefield.

But there was no fleeing.

From here on, this was solely Calix's own fight.

Soon, Royce and Marik, Gregor, the dwarf Basim, Airien—and then Barakh and Adrian as well. The finest swordsn of the Mountain Rabbits and the allied forces squared off against Midra one by one.

Those who had been burning with fighting spirit until just monts ago now wore grave expressions and did not make a single sound.

The opponent possessed a power that transcended common sense.

Jet-black energy trailed long like a beast's tail. Its eyes were covered in frost-white ri, betraying not a single emotion.

Barakh ground his teeth and spoke.

"Is that the Legion Commander. We would need a miracle to win."

At that mont, Adrian's voice ca from behind.

"There is no need for despair. The truth is, ti is on our side."

Calix's gaze briefly shifted to him.

"My master is on the way."

"……I was told Latia's reinforcents had headed for the southern coast," Calix asked calmly.

An ill-fitting smile ca in return.

"Since when has Master ever moved according to others' wishes? He doesn't lead armies. He moves alone, and only when there is reason to."

At that, Calix unconsciously swept his gaze around, but no special presence could yet be felt. Whoever it was, they were too far away to enter the range of his Bloodline Ability.

‘There's nothing that changes.’

And so, for now, he had no choice but to rely entirely on his own will. Calix drew a long, deep breath, then t the eyes of his comrades. Isabela, a Rank 5 Cleric, was soone he had only just t, yet a single glance served as both greeting and encouragent.

All the while, the absolute domain Midra had created had already split the battlefield in two. Only a few more steps into it and the life-or-death struggle would begin.

"Let's go in."

There was no hesitation.

***

[Mortals, have you co seeking death?]

In an instant, a torrent of information flooded in. The chill pouring off the three-ter colossus placed a constraint on the Neural Accelerator's output. A malevolent force commanded the surroundings, and its mocking voice carried within it a note of carelessness.

Yet above all else—the speed was not lacking.

Calix studied his opponent's movents carefully and quickly recognized that he was neither too fast nor too slow.

‘Nearly equal.’

[Combat Acceleration Active, 3.3x]

[Insufficient Oxygen Warning. Neutralizing with core energy.]

Barakh and Adrian, too, exchanged a aningful look amid their tension. Perhaps, unexpectedly, this was a fight they could manage.

But before long, they would co to realize that it had been nothing more than a hollow illusion.

***

Without a mont's hesitation, everyone locked into their positions. Gregor stepped forward with his shield raised high, while Basim and Royce braced the center from either side. Adrian and Barakh fanned out to the flanks in a half-arc. Isabela and Ella took up position in the rear.

[This one shall bestow upon you rest—what shall you offer in return?]

Midra looked down upon the humans in silence. In its eyes, boredom and a flicker of interest were mixed together.

The opening strike belonged to Calix.

Whoosh!

Ten-odd ters of distance collapsed in an instant, and Falling Fire blazed up along his blade. He drove boldly into the enemy's attack range and aid for its flank.

A clean diagonal slash.

The tip of the sword grazed the crimson-black ice armor with a sizzle, and pale steam rose. At the end of it, he caught sight of energy scattering. The energy that had surged outward fiercely—the mont it t the enemy's cold—crumbled away without a trace, as if absorbed into a mound of earth.

……!

The force failed to reach the inside and vanished, dissolving quietly. A brief tremor spread from Calix's grip. It was not simply a single failure. The sensation of holding the sword, the pulsing of his muscles, the rhythm of divinity flowing out—an inexplicable emptiness spread from his arm all the way to his heart.

Yet the banner signaling the offensive had already been raised.

The Mountain Rabbits had once been rcenaries—n and won well-versed in dealing with anomalies. In an instant they read one another's movents and drove into the boundary of death.

The elf, Airien, was the first to charge.

Whoosh!

A cool silver blade aid for Midra's right wrist. The fierce Falling Fire looked as though it could sever that long arm at any mont—when suddenly crack— a bone shard burst through the skin.

Clang!

With the energy scattered in real ti, the blade, its fla extinguished, was knocked back helplessly.

‘I expected this much!’

She bit her lip hard and shook the frost from her blade. Just then, Gregor cleared a path with his shield at the fore.

The seasoned warrior aid for the enemy's knee. Layering energy over the surface of his silver shield, he struck hard and true. For the first ti, Midra's left foot was slowly pushed back.

"Hr-raaaah!!"

Basim filled the gap where effort fell short. The man who had charged recklessly out from behind Gregor brought a heavy two-handed axe crashing down with the raw strength unique to dwarves.

At that mont, cold air surged up from the ground to et it head-on.

The instant Basim felt his axe bouncing away, he clenched his teeth without realizing it. Not a single scream escaped him even as the chill drove into his shoulder.

"Son of a—!"

Crash-thud!

Instead, he flew back with a curse and tumbled several ters across the ground. In doing so, he bought his allies an opening to attack.

Slash!

Barakh kicked off the earth from the left and leapt upward, thrusting his spear powerfully toward the enemy's head. Compressed energy gathered and swirled at the tip of the spear. His Fire was like lightning scorching the earth.

And Midra raised one long finger and tap— touched the single point of the spear's tip.

Calix watched two different energies compress into a single space. The shaft, unable to withstand that pressure, split into dozens of fragnts, and then with a crack it shattered, releasing a massive shockwave.

Crackle, crackle— Cough—

"Barakh!"

The mont he landed, the desert warrior spat blood from the corner of his mouth. Even so, he imdiately drew his sword and made his will to fight abundantly clear.

[Is this all there is?]

Barakh ground his back teeth and charged at the cold voice. The Mountain Rabbits were moving without pause even amid all this.

Calix led the attack. The young swordsman latched onto the area where Midra's core resided, drawing all of the enemy's attention unto himself. Though the blade could not even graze it, he read the enemy's attacks in advance, evading and buying ti.

In that opening, Adrian Deconti charged from the rear. Royce and Marik seized the flanks, and Airien filled the gap left by the dwarf Basim.

Like the teeth of a gear turning—a near-perfect chain assault. For one brief, genuine mont, it seed as though Midra's shoulder, flank, legs, and more were receiving simultaneous strikes across multiple points.

That was when it happened.

A stillness like the deep sea flowed through Midra's eyes.

[A wretched struggle.]

With a single proclamation, every attack—every trace—

Was erased as if it had never existed to begin with. As cold air lashed out in every direction, the humans were pushed back dozens of paces each. The wounds on the ice armor were restored to their original state. Nothing remained. Not a minor cut, not a trace, nothing whatsoever.

In that instant, everyone felt the sa emotion.

"What in the……"

"……It's that unscathed?"

In the silence, bewildered glances were exchanged. A stunned, hushed shock. Calix was no exception.

‘This place……is Midra's domain. We are thrashing about within the rules it has set.’

It was different from when he had faced Master Imran Akran. The problem was not that attacks were being blocked. That—breaks the human spirit.

As if the outco of the battle has already been decided.

Even pouring the core's energy to its limit, even pushing and bearing down with a ‘Pressure Field’, not a single scratch appeared on Midra's dominance.

‘Anyone could die and it wouldn't be strange.’

He could see the color draining from Adrian and Barakh's faces. They were being eroded by the malevolent energy. If that was the case for top-ranked swordsn, there was no need to even ntion the others.

A dreadful sense of crisis drifted through the air like a foul odor.

Calix suddenly realized it.

In the end, only one possibility remained.

The Mind's Eye sensed warmth blooming from behind. At last, Ella's sacred incantation had neared completion.

"……On this cold earth, sweep away those who are impure. Even should my heart break, my will shall remain."

Over her clasped hands pressed to her chest, a single point of light gathered. It swelled in size as though hundreds of droplets were rging together, and a transparent Holy Chalice sprang upward into the sky.

"Darkness—this is not a place where you may dwell!"

Blooming—a flower of faith bearing conviction opened its petals.

The pure white petals spread in every direction like rain soaking into parched earth. The imnse pressure that had been bearing down on the battlefield retreated all at once. The Mountain Rabbits gasped for breath. The force that had been crushing their lungs vanished as if a thread had snapped.

Isabela, the Rank 5 Cleric, visibly let out a breath of relief as well.

‘The divinity is nearly depleted. This must end quickly now.’

Just then, it slowly raised its hand.

Snap.

Blade-sharp fingers t. Midra's crimson-dark eyes flashed, and a malevolent current cut across the center of the battlefield.

Soon, the contour of the Holy Chalice began to waver. The clear, transparent light gradually, slowly, grew dim. Before Calix could even move to counterattack, everything was racing toward catastrophe.

"……No!"

Ella pressed her hands together desperately, pouring the last of her remaining strength into the Holy Chalice.

At that, Midra spoke.

[Kriya—do you dare reach your hand into the place where even the sun freezes?]

A transcendent resonance. The halo of light wrapping the Holy Chalice shattered, and the petals that had been conveying warmth transford into ice crystals and ca pouring down.

The instant divinity collapsed, cold air and pressure surged in once more, bearing down on all living things. Breathing was choked off, and fear blanketed the air.

Ella coughed blood and crumpled to the ground. Isabela, losing even the dignity of an Archbishop, stood blankly—staring only at the malevolent beast.

"For light to be devoured by darkness. Kriya—this is……this is……"

Darkness that establishes order.

That, truly, was the true nature of the One Who Takes Away.

***

With the battlefield draped in shadow, everyone had gone rigid. At the center of it, only one person moved.

Calix.

Crisis is opportunity.

He aid for the brief opening imdiately after Midra had released its power. He drove straight forward, toward the enemy. The tal armor let out a grinding sound, and in his grip he felt the full weight of the sword.

[Have you still not realized?]

Crimson and blue—eyes of two different colors flashed. A three-ter-tall fra took one step forward. He was detected imdiately, yet even so, he did not stop.

‘If not now, there is no way to turn this around.’

Nothing more and nothing less—if he could land even a single decisive blow—it would beco the turning point. If not, he had no choice but to wither and die just like this.

[Output Rising, Currently '3.5'x]

[Physical tolerance range exceeded.]

[Physical Recovery, Limited Manifestation Active]

And so he gave everything.

Enduring the pain of every muscle in his body twisting, he read the enemy's reactions through the Mind's Eye. Soon, premonition and intuition rged together and yielded an answer.

A breakthrough was……nowhere to be found.

Wind's Scar was a force released as a line, Falling Fire was the stage of scattering points, and Geomhwa was the compression of a point to create a surface. And Midra had already reached the domain of 'space'.

[What a fierce tragedy this is.]

Cold air surged in. It swept forward without a single opening, crashing down upon him.

Calix pressed against it and kept moving. But three steps beca two, and two beca one, and in the end, his feet ca to a stop.

Geomhwa—that powerful conviction—wavered precariously. Even swinging his sword without pause, he was struggling rely to defend. Frost ford at his shoulder, and so of it burrowed into the gaps of his skin, leaving raw wounds.

Yet he endured, and endured again.

Amid the raging jet-black energy, a golden hue glead on the other side.

Adrian Deconti.

The Prince of Latia charged from behind Midra. While Calix drew every eye upon himself, Adrian approached with the caution of an assassin—yet with the boldness of the dwarf Basim.

Shing.

A sharp tallic scraping sound cut through the air. Adrian's blade—the stream of energy extending from his sword—ca pouring down toward the enemy's nape.

At that instant, Midra lightly swept one arm out. Its joint twisted grotesquely and drew a half-arc behind its own body.

Rip!

Ti stopped.

At the sound like shattering ice, Adrian instinctively looked down. He watched his own arm shatter to pieces from below the shoulder.

"……!"

Not even a scream ca out. There was no reality to it, and so he didn't even feel the pain. What ca before it was an unbelievable emptiness.

Crack—thud!

Only after being flung away and tumbling across the ground did the cold pain flood in. The one thing he had trusted and relied on had been cleaved away, chunk and all.

Adrian could not even properly rise from the ground and writhed in place.

The Mountain Rabbits swallowed their screams. No one cried out. No one fled. Only disbelief remained in that place.

Calix swung his sword desperately in resistance, but Midra, with an air of ease, picked up Adrian's sword.

Clang.

It cut off the blade's tip and drove it into its own back. A spoil of war belonging to the One Who Takes Away. The sword's owner was still alive—but it was a declaration that his end had already been decided.

"Everyone……pull yourselves together! We still……we do not end here like this!"

Just as Royce managed to cry out—

[Enough. Subside now.]

Midra's ice armor shifted to a crimson-dark color. Calix instinctively sensed that sothing was about to crash down upon them—but—

……There's no avoiding it.

Fwaaaash!!

And then, shadows spread outward in every direction. Centered on the spot where it had planted its feet, as if reality itself were warping, a dense darkness poured forth.

The heart was wrung tight. The lungs froze. Ti slowed, and pain, fear, and despair tangled together in ruin.

Yes.

The abyss had opened.