"You laugh now, voidborn… but your act ends here."
The words rang with finality, carried by the resonance of Seraphis's wings.
Ceyla Nox, leaning against a fractured stone pillar, forced herself upright. Her legs trembled, lungs burning from the weight of divinity and void colliding. She spat blood and muttered, voice sharp but bitter with awe:
"Tsk… how strong this guy is…"
Her storm affinity flared weakly around her like static sparks, but even that guttered in the wake of Rael's brilliance.
Kaen clenched his fist, nails digging into his palm until blood welled. His heart roared—not in envy, but in defiance.
It hit him once more, how wide the gap was.
But unlike before, there was no despair. Only fire.
"Damn it… Rael Eluron…" he whispered to himself, his jaw tight. "I'll surpass you. Just watch ."
Khael, standing slightly behind, caught that flicker in Kaen's eyes. He recognized it—
that sa fire that had carried their ancestors through wars against monsters and voidspawn.
He didn't interrupt. He didn't mock. He simply thought:
(Good. Let this burn inside you, Kaen. Use him not as your wall… but as your springboard.)
Androda Ban had no words left. His breath was ragged, his body battered from the earlier exchange. He simply sat, slouched against the rubble, eyes glazed over—
until his gaze fell on the small dog by his side.
Junjun, his Echo Beast, still stood. Tail wagging faintly, tongue lolling as though none of this chaos could touch it. The sight cracked a rare grin across Ban's bruised face.
"…heh. At least you're not scared, huh, Junjun?"
The little beast barked once, bright and sharp, as if to remind him that loyalty outweighed terror.
Matthew, anwhile, could barely comprehend what he was seeing. His breath quickened, panic in his wide eyes. The dog at his side licked his hand repeatedly, grounding him, reminding him that he was still alive.
"…that's… that's not even human anymore…" Matthew whispered. His voice cracked, watching the Judicator's light blaze against the Clown's warped void.
But Rael wasn't the only one studying the scene.
Khael's eyes locked on the enemy, the painted smile, the cracked porcelain mask, the eyes glowing with void's hollow delight.
He narrowed his gaze. His chest tightened.
(That mask… I know it. That bastard…)
For all of Rael's radiance, for all the brilliance of Seraphis's Phase Bloom, Khael felt the truth pounding in his gut.
(He hasn't used his full power. Not even close. We can't beat him. Not you, Rael. Not any of us here…)
The Clown's laughter echoed through the ruins, sharp and cutting. He didn't even look winded. His form oozed ichor, dripping void like a leech torn open—yet his steps were steady, unhurried.
Rael raised his blade again, unwilling to falter. But Khael's hand clenched tighter, sweat dampening his palm.
(Don't worry… I already called him. While no one was looking… I sent the signal.)
The dragon-blooded youth tilted his head slightly, eyes locked on the distance beyond the battlefield.
(Master will be here… soon.)
And when he cos… the curtain on this nightmare might finally fall.
The Clown tilted his head, the painted grin splitting wider across his mask.
"Okay…" his voice stretched like a knife through silk, cold and delighted.
"…ti to use my seventy percent."
Rael's erald eyes widened.
"…Seventy… percent?"
The oppressive aura hit him like a mountain. The air warped, bending as if the world itself rejected the void. Shadows crawled across the floor, reaching like claws, gnashing and twisting. The ruined hall shuddered as stone split apart beneath the pressure.
Rael spat blood, his Lun Blade flickering under the crushing weight.
"Cocky son of a bitch…" he growled through clenched teeth, forcing his stance to hold.
The mask glead faintly as void Shinrei surged outward. The survivors scattered back, their bodies screaming just from standing near it. The laughter deepened, gurgling, wrong sothing not quite human anymore.
Rael staggered. Even Seraphis's wings faltered, its body flickering like a half-burned star. The radiant spirit's eyes narrowed, straining to maintain form.
"Rugh—!!" Rael gasped, falling to one knee as cracks laced the marble floor beneath him. The divine glow of his Judicator form threatened to break apart.
The Clown stepped forward leisurely, each footfall louder than thunder in Rael's ears.
"Little boy with his mirror toy…" the painted man sang, voice a cruel lody, "Do you really think hope can silence despair?"
Rael's teeth grit so hard blood seeped between them. He slamd the butt of his Lun Blade into the ground, forcing himself upright.
"Seraphis…!"
The spirit's six wings opened wide, trembling with strain. Its divine voice echoed, layered over Rael's own:
"Authorization—Maximum Output."
"Limit Break: Verdant Judicator."
Rael roared, veins in his neck bulging.
"Seraphis—we use ONE HUNDRED PERCENT!!"
Light detonated outward, a flood of erald and gold bursting through the ruins. The sheer purity clashed with the Clown's void like two worlds colliding.
The survivors shielded their eyes, blinded by the sudden radiance. Even Ceyla flinched, her storm Shinrei recoiling like prey before a predator.
Ban muttered, voice weak but reverent:
"…That's… Rael at full bloom…"
For a heartbeat, Rael's blade burned like judgnt incarnate, his figure frad by Seraphis's colossal wings. The Clown paused mid-step, tilting his head.
Then, slowly… the mask creaked wider.
And he laughed.
A laugh so jagged and cruel it felt like the world itself was mocking Rael's resolve.
The ground quaked as two forces t Verdant Judicator against Void.
Rael's Lun Blade burned brighter than ever, arcs of erald lightning weaving around its edge as Seraphis roared in unison with him. Six colossal wings slamd down, forming radiant barriers that cut through the writhing tendrils of shadow.
The Clown only laughed, stepping into the light with jagged grace. His void Shinrei lashed outward like a hundred snapping chains. Each strike cracked reality's seams, black fissures spreading like broken glass through the air itself.
"Co, little saint!" the Clown howled. "Let's see how hope screams when it bleeds!"
Rael lunged, his blade swinging with divine judgnt. "Echo Art: Mirror Break!" The ground split in two as a wave of green-gold light erupted, cleaving through the void.
The Clown blurred forward, void Shinrei wrapping around his arms like claws. "Void Rend."
Their clash shattered the air. A shockwave blasted outward, hurling rubble, dust, and even the survivors against the walls.
Khael shielded Matthew with his body, his teeth grit. His chest rattled from the shock.
(a crazy fight… this isn't even human anymore…)
Blades of light and claws of shadow collided again, and again, and again—each strike faster than the last. Rael blinked through the battlefield using Echo Art: Mirror Shift, his afterimages weaving across the hall. The Clown followed with impossible precision, his mask never breaking its painted grin.
Erald beams rained from above as Seraphis opened its six wings fully, unleashing a barrage of judgnt. The void devoured them, tendrils twisting, absorbing, and exploding into geysers of black fla.
Rael's voice strained as he roared:
"Echo art: Judicator—Lun Sever!!"
His blade ignited into a single, flawless beam of judgnt. He struck—splitting the Clown in half—
But the body dissolved into shadows, reforming at Rael's flank.
"Behind you."
Rael barely had ti to twist before a clawed fist smashed into his ribs. His body bent around the impact, blood spraying from his mouth as he slamd into the wall hard enough to crater the stone.
"RAEL" Everyone shouting.
rubble, his blade still burning. His body shook violently, his arm trembling to even lift the weapon.
Seraphis's voice echoed, pained but resolute:
"Warning… vessel stability compromised."
Rael snarled, forcing himself forward. "I don't care… I will NOT fall to you!"
The Clown chuckled, his voice distorted, layered with whispers.
"Strong words… for prey already sinking."
They clashed again, Rael's strikes growing slower, heavier. Each swing of the Lun Blade was t and twisted aside by void claws, each judgnt beam drowned in black fire.
Khael's eyes narrowed, his gut twisting.
(Rael… you're losing. Even at a hundred percent, he's still dragging you down…)
The survivors all realized it. The air shifted, the hope Rael had ignited was being smothered, second by second, by the Clown's abyssal tide.
Kaen's fists clenched, his body shaking as he forced himself to his feet. His fla Shinrei flickered weakly across his arm.
He muttered under his breath, his eyes locked on Rael and the Clown.
"…No… not again. I won't just sit here."
The Clown backhanded Rael, sending him skidding across the floor, his blood trailing behind.
Kaen stepped forward, shoulders trembling, but his eyes burning brighter than they had in the entire fight.
To be continue
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