Chapter 284: Chapter 280 – The Sky Split Apart and the Symphony of Hell’s Chains
"From this point onward," Stacia’s voice rang out steady, though it trembled faintly beneath the hum of a quivering sky...
"I’ll push every buff layer to its maximum limit."
Her fingers danced rapidly through the air, weaving sigils of silver-blue light that spun around Sylvia, Alicia, and herself.
The air grew heavy dense with magic so pure it almost humd, yet warm and resonant, like a living heartbeat.
"Aether Overclock. Mana Circulation Boost. Temporal Resonance Acceleration. Arcane Recovery Loop."
The spells ca one after another without pause, their layered recitations blending into a sound that resembled an arcane symphony. Blue and violet light spiraled together, wrapping Sylvia’s body like a living aura.
She closed her eyes for a mont, feeling the sudden, powerful shift in her mana flow. The burning ache in her chest subsided; her overworked body relaxed, replaced by an unnerving calm that cut straight through her bones.
"Mana efficiency up by a hundred and twenty percent," Stacia reported quickly. "You can now use Nether Fla without draining too much energy."
Sylvia opened her eyes, her crimson irises glowing like embers fanned by wind.
"Good."
She raised her right hand, and from the empty air behind her, hundreds of chains appeared at once. from space ripping through fractured reality as if crawling out of cracks in the world.
Ching... ching... ching...
The tallic whisper filled the air. Each chain trembled in anticipation, exuding a faint black shine with a pulse of deep violet beneath it.
Above them, the silver heavens began to churn. Dozens of celestial entities, those living "stars" descended together, forming a luminous spiral across the mirrored sky.
Their combined voices echoed like a wordless choir soundless yet resonant, shaking the ground and air alike.
"Stacia," Sylvia commanded without looking, "lock the ti flow within a two-kiloter radius. Don’t let their gravity distort the field."
"Already locked."
"Good."
She slowly lifted both arms. The chains responded by tightening, linking ten by ten, rging into new, denser shapes.
Each strand coiled around another, fusing into long tallic shafts, the ends hardening into spearheads shaped like the spines of dragons.
Every ten chains beca one. From hundreds, fifty remained. And yet each of those fifty throbbed like a living organ, massive, heavy, radiating power so thick that Alicia had to lower her barrier slightly to avoid interference.
"The blood of the gods..." Alicia muttered under her breath. "Each one feels like a sentient entity."
Sylvia said nothing. She extended her hand, letting Nether Fla flow outward, engulfing the fifty chains. The black fire emitted no smoke, only heatless distortion, as though the air itself was lting.
"Nether Fla – Full Circulation."
Thick violet mist rose upward. A deep hum rolled through the heavens. The stellar beings above, sensing the danger swelling from below, descended lower.
Dozens of radiant orbs, each the size of a fortress, fell together like divine teors. The underworld sky beca a sea of descending stars.
Sylvia opened her eyes completely.
"Co," she said coldly. "Let’s see who falls first."
She thrust her hands forward. The fifty chain-spears launched all at once, spiraling upward like a vortex of black cots.
In an instant, sky and ground rged into a blinding storm of light and fla.
BOOM!! BOOM!! BOOMM!!!
The first impact struck. One spear pierced through the nearest stellar creature, its glowing body detonated in an explosion of golden-blue fire.
That blast set off a chain reaction. The star beside it ignited, colliding with the next spear.
BOOOOOM!!!BAAAAAAM!!!BOOOM!!!
The sky shattered into fragnts of radiance. One by one, the luminous entities fell, their bodies breaking apart but every explosion sent shockwaves of heat and gravity crashing back toward the ground.
Alicia slamd her staff down.
"Soul Shield – Infinity Pattern!"
A massive blue do ford around the three of them. Layer after layer expanded outward seven, eight, nine layers each pulsing softly to absorb the overwhelming impact.
The next explosion slamd into it. The do shook violently, its surface creaking like overheated glass.
"Stacia!" Alicia shouted. "Slow down the debris fall!"
"On it!"
Stacia’s silver eyes blazed.
"Temporal Split Field!"
The air rippled, and every fragnt of shattered star froze midair ti fractured around them, forcing their descent into multiple frozen monts. What should have been a deadly teor shower now hung suspended above, glowing, burning in place.
But the pressure of battle was imnse.
Sylvia stood amid the flas and storming chains, staring upward without fear. Only forty-three chains remained yet each one pulsed more fiercely, denser than before.
The celestial creatures slowed. For a heartbeat, silence reigned only the hiss of residual fire and the faint shimr of falling light.
But it wasn’t over.
The heavens throbbed once more. Light condensed, heavy and suffocating.
And from behind the remaining stars, shapes erged far greater than any before. Through the swirling silver mist descended colossal forms. Each motion sent ripples through the air, shaking the mirrored ground like a war drum.
These weren’t castle-sized anymore. One resembled a glowing mountain.
Another dragon of plasma and cosmic crystal.
Their auras didn’t just radiate heat; they warped space, bending gravity around their forms.
Alicia clenched her jaw. "They’re... enormous! Far stronger than before!" Stacia’s voice ca fast and cold. "Their energy readings are triple the last wave. If they descend together, even I won’t be able to stabilize the ti flow."
Sylvia’s breath was steady; her eyes unflinching.
"Then we strike before they reach the ground."
She extended her hands again. The remaining forty-three chains trembled violently, violet sparks flickering in the air.
But she wasn’t done. Her eyes focused then she pressed her palms together.
"rge... again."
The sound of grinding tal filled the air. The chains fused two by two, coiling tightly until they ford twin-linked titanic chains, thicker, heavier, and alive with black fire. The ends connected forming links so massive they resembled the limbs of so infernal tree.
From forty-three, twenty-one giant chains remained. The pressure that radiated from them was so imnse that the ground itself began to lift.
Alicia’s knees bent slightly under the surge of power. "You’re forcing your body again?"
"No choice," Sylvia replied sharply. "If they all fall together, there’ll be nothing left standing."
The sky rumbled. Three colossal star-beasts dived at once.
Sylvia crossed her arms. The twenty-one chains shot upward simultaneously, reversing gravity itself....
BOOM!!!
The first impact shook the heavens. Purple and golden-blue light clashed, sending shockwaves roaring across miles.
But Sylvia didn’t stop. She twisted her wrists and the chains swung back, striking the next two targets at once.
BOOOM!! BOOOM!!
The twin blasts tore the sky apart, breaking the underworld’s firmant into a sea of fla and light. The ground cracked, the air howled, and the shockwaves annihilated the silver pillars on the horizon.
It was an incarnate. Only the thirty-ter radius around them remained untouched, protected by Alicia’s shield.
Even that barrier now quivered violently, hairline cracks spidering across its glowing surface.
"The fifth defensive layer is almost gone!" Alicia shouted above the roar.
"Hold it a little longer!" Sylvia yelled back, her black aura pulsing ever brighter.
The final explosions faded, leaving only the hiss of molten tal and the whisper of dying flas. Out of forty-three chains, ten remained. They floated above Sylvia like wounded serpents, weak but still pulsing with dreadful strength.
But peace didn’t last.
The sky split.
A single figure descended through the lingering light not as large as a mountain, yet its presence dwarfed everything before it.
Its body was humanoid tall, lean, but every motion bent the air like a black hole’s pull. Its skin shone silver-white, and in its chest blazed a sigil shaped like a star’s eye, glowing orange at its core.
Stacia froze, color draining from her face. "That energy... that’s no ordinary being. That’s the core of this entire cluster!"
Sylvia clenched her fists, jaw tight. "So... you’re the leader."
The entity said nothing. Its eyes flickered then it raised its hand. The air roared as hundreds of stellar fragnts hovered around it, orbiting rapidly to form a gravitational field that rippled like liquid glass.
Alicia stepped back, sweat beading down her temple. "If that thing falls "
"It won’t," Sylvia cut her off.
Her gaze turned to the last ten chains. Dark aura spiraled from her chest, forming a vortex at her core.
"Just once more," she whispered. "Let’s end this."
The ten chains quivered violently then fused. One by one, each connection flared bright violet until the world around her seed to dissolve into light. The air howled. The ground cracked. A storm of uncontrolled mana engulfed the battlefield.
Alicia’s eyes widened. "Sylvia! Don’t...." Sylvia just smiled faintly. "If I stop now... there won’t be a sky left to fight under."
She raised her hand high.
"Enum... oh no, wait... better not, there might be a copyright issue."
"UNIFICATION!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!
The sky truly split apart. The explosion was not sound; it was the collapse of a miniature universe. Black-violet energy spread outward, consuming the colossal being and the entire battlefield in its wake.
Alicia scread as she poured everything into her final barrier, but cracks splintered one, two, three until the do nearly shattered.
"I... can’t hold it!"
The final shockwave rushed toward them... and then...
SHHHHHHH!
A shadow cut across the blinding light.
A tall man with silver-white hair appeared amidst the chaos, dressed in a high-collared butler’s uniform. With one motion of his hand, layers of transparent barriers materialized, absorbing the residual blast.
The air fell silent. Only Sylvia and Alicia’s ragged breathing remained, while Stacia stared wide-eyed at the stranger.
The man bowed slightly, voice calm and refined.
"Greetings."
He pressed a hand to his chest, lowering his head deeply.
"I am Decarabia, servant of Demon King Belial."
His deep crimson eyes lifted to et Sylvia’s respectful, but with a faint, knowing smile.
"Lady Seere sent
to ensure your safety, Queen of Death."
He bowed again, perfectly composed amidst the ruins.
"Her orders were simple," he continued smoothly.
"For the duration of your stay on this floor, I am to make certain..."
His gaze flicked upward toward the shattered sky, where the remnants of fallen stars still burned faintly.
"...that not a single one of them dares to fall toward you again."
Sylvia said nothing for several seconds. Her black hair fluttered in the dying wind, eyes narrowing in quiet suspicion.
"Servant... of Belial?" she murmured.
Decarabia smiled faintly. "Indeed, Your Majesty. And it seems..."
He glanced up again at the broken heavens.
"...you’ve just drawn the attention of sothing far greater."
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