’Why won’t these guys leave alone?’ Baines seethed, recalling his dismissal of the old man’s overtures about the Ashen family. Now, one of their own stood before him, materialized in a misty realm of twin mountains.
’This feels like a domain,’ he thought, scanning the alien space, his senses sharp.
"Are you curious about this place?" the figure taunted, as if reading his thoughts. The figure had a feminine voice, aning it was a female.
Without hesitation, she lunged, her sword forcing Baines back with relentless strikes. "This is our ruin," she said, arms spread. "More like our domain, since we use neither mana nor aura."
Baines’s brows narrowed with a troubling sensation; his 6th-star aura had been reduced to 5th-star strength. ’What is this?’ The domain was sapping his power to boost hers. ’Is that possible?’ he wondered, parrying her attacks with practiced precision.
"Aren’t you curious why my abilities are boosted and yours diminished?" she pressed, her blade a blur.
Baines focused on blocking, her overwhelming force pushing him to his limits. Cuts appeared around his body as his mind raced to counter her advantage. The reason he wasn’t dead was that she was still speaking.
"Well, I’ll tell you," she sneered. "When we succeeded, what authority do you think the Ashen family gained?"
Baines’s eyes widened.
He’d treated Ashenfall as a secret technique, using it sparingly, but he’d never considered its deeper essence. Like the wind god’s authority over wind or Sol’zorath’s over the sun, Ashenfall should have its own authority.
Then what is it?
"After years of trials and thoughts, we nad it Extraction," she said. "Simple, isn’t it? Pulling, removal, extraction, excavation—that’s our authority."
’Extraction.’ Baines dodged her blade, the word sinking in. It explained the drain on his aura, her boosted strength. Just like Abysall Lotus, his control over aura was slipping out of his control; however, the difference was that Abysall Lotus totally stripped it off.
’So it removed it.’ It felt like he was finally understanding it. And the reason not all his aura was stripped from him was because their Ashenfall wasn’t complete.
"Now, do you know why I told you all these?" The figure sneered. "First off, to educate an ignorant person such as you, and second, to test you. Show what you’ve achieved so far." Then she smirked.
"Test ?" Baines suddenly halted his movents, his glare turning feral. "The fuck do you think you are to test ?" Blood surged, uncontainable, as his Blood Palace materialized, a crimson gazebo under a hanging blood moon, its rivers flowing around a stony path.
The figure froze, stunned.
Regaining her composure, she faced Baines, now draped in red robes, his hair blood-red.
Before she could utter another word,
BOOM!
He unleashed Ashenfall, its purple-black flas flaring. The figure’s eyes widened. ’Wait, Purple?’ She realized instantly. The Ashen family couldn’t re-enter the ruins because of this boy.
Bang!
She blocked his black fla-wreathed sword, reeling.
’Is that the true Ashenfla?’ It felt authentic, potent. Before she could react, blood chains, swords, and spears materialized, hurtling toward her.
"Shit!" She deflected the blood weapons, abandoning her defense against the flas. The situation had reversed in an instant.
Baines pressed his assault, blending Ashenfla with Whirlwind to block her paths. Black flas spiraled across the figure’s ruin, spreading and tearing through its misty landscape.
The figure countered, her grey aura igniting. "Void Rend!" she shouted, her Ashenfla forming arcs that multiplied, clashing with Baines’s blood weapons.
Void rend was another technique of the Ashen family.
Unfazed, Baines raised his hand. From the blood moon, a massive spear ford, compressing blood into a dark red point.
BOOOOOM!
He launched it, the explosion drowning her cry. Relentless, he conjured four more, each shaking and damaging her ruin further. As the fifth struck, his Blood Palace began to collapse.
"Haa... haa..." The figure staggered, her body riddled with holes, yet she survived, sustained by another Ashen technique. Baines wasn’t surprised; their family had lots of techniques that could help in troubled situations like this.
Baines also exhaled. In seconds, he had expended his blood energy, and ashenfall. Thankfully, his 6th-star aura surged back as the ruin’s effect waned, restoring his strength.
Without hesitation, he charged, his sword crashing against hers.
"Gurgh!" she grunted, her arm trembling under his pressure. "What... have you been hiding from the family?" she demanded.
Baines ignored her, his expression cold, his strikes unrelenting. She’d co to kill him, called it a test, and now invoked family? His sword feinted, then shifted mid-swing, a Changing Sword Style technique that pierced her heart.
Blood sprayed.
"You... stabbed , a family mber," she gasped, disbelief in her eyes. "Can you handle it?" Those were her final words as she collapsed, lifeless.
As she fell, the ruin dissolved, revealing Baines’s untouched room.
"Withering Touch," he muttered, a potent drop of decay fell on her, scattering her body into dust. He exhaled once more as he ruminated on this recent battle.
The figure was a 7th star, and if his blood palace didn’t breach the gap domain created, and ashenfla breached the gap of astral energy, he would’ve been at her rcy instead. That wasn’t all, as he had long realized, Ashenfla could bypass casualty.
’So I can survive against a 7th star,’ He muttered to himself. He rembered his fight against the previous dawnless leader, but that couldn’t really be called a victory, as he had to strip his control over his domain.
But this was his full power. No tricks, no pills, just his abilities. Though if he wanted to use only aura, he would’ve been at her rcy instead.
’So, Ashenfall has this much potential.’ Imagine being able to strip soone of their rank. The thoughts thrilled him, but he held himself.
All that was still in the future. For now, he had to move on, and eventually, one day, he would reach that stage.
"Wick, take care of the rest," he said, lying on his bed as if nothing had happened. "Eye, now."
He wouldn’t let this derail his progress. Eye induced sleep, transferring a month’s worth of knowledge, techniques, and magic into his mind.
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