Chapter 300
“Aillet.”
“Why.”
“Aren’t you cold?”
The scent of sulfur mingled with the air she inhaled through her nose. The system warned Aillet of danger. [
Whoosh!
As if a crater had formed, hellish sulfur flames erupted from the ground.
The flames surged fiercely along the contours of the earth, instantly vaporizing the ice.
Normally, water would be considered the opposing attribute to fire. However, Aillet’s choice was different. [
To control fire with fire, Aillet burned her ninth-tier divine power as fuel.
Soon, the flames ignited from both sides collided like vast armies clashing at a border.
Crimson flames and blue flames fiercely tried to consume each other. After repeated mingling, the flames lost their nature, turning into murky heat and fading away.
It was a perfect neutralization created by a balance of power.
Aillet provoked Reed.
“Will a mere Ultimate Skill be enough?”
“It depends on how you use an Ultimate Skill.”
As if not caring, he gently pulled the air with one hand.
The handsome man’s elegant command activated two Ultimate Skills simultaneously. [
[
Raising specters to hold a carnival. This was a simple numbers offensive that couldn’t possibly work on Aillet. However, when another skill was added to this, the situation changed. [
Reed unleashed a skill more befitting a being revered by myriad demons.
A wide-area dark-attribute magic was cast, burning ninth-tier magic power. Originally, it was a skill that bestowed ferocity upon shadows, making them run wild.
Therefore, it would be difficult for it to unleash its full power on a snow-covered mountain where shadows were almost nonexistent.
However, by first drawing out specters to increase their numbers and then spreading the darkness of the waning moon to amplify their power, the environment had changed.
Devouring the two skills as nourishment, the shadows transformed into powerful predators, engulfing Aillet from all sides like a tidal wave.
Aillet responded immediately. [
A halo unfolded behind her, and sacred moonlight drove away the shadows.
A clash of Ultimate and Transcendent Skills. Yet, Aillet was not pushed back.
Currently, her body was laden with all sorts of buffs. The number of skills running even when she simply breathed was in the double digits.
What made this madness possible was the divine authority of Divine Descent and her immense ninth-tier divine power.
It was when Aillet’s Requiem covered Reed’s Carnival.
“Right? It depends on how you use an Ultimate Skill,” Reed said, as if praising Aillet for blocking a Transcendent Skill with an Ultimate Skill.
“Ha.”
At that moment, she realized.
Just as she wasn’t angered by anything Reed said, any provocation from her would have the same effect on him.
Closing her mouth, she decided to focus on the battle.
First, she needed to change the combat dynamic where Reed attacked and she defended.
‘I have to press him.’
It was the moment light shimmered over her golden eyes.
Kwakwakwang!
A rain of lightning poured down from the sky above, which was closer to space than just atmosphere.
Powerful thunderbolts continuously struck a much wider area than before.
Simultaneously, she unleashed aura blades, encircling Reed, and, like a lightning rod, drew the lightning to attack him from all directions.
“Hmm.”
A low, dry groan indicated a meaningless situation.
Of course, Aillet didn’t expect to scratch Reed. Merely disrupting his concentration for a moment was enough.
So, just as she judged that the punishing lightning and light blades were playing their meager part.
“Reed, don’t move.” [
The activation phrase restricted Reed’s body. Of course, it didn’t work with just one.
“Stay put. Remain still.” [
[
“…I feel like a dog.”
Only after stacking King’s Order three times did she finally succeed in sealing Reed’s movements, if only for a moment.
Perhaps a bewildered Reed had allowed himself to be hit once, but in any case, Aillet didn’t miss that opportunity.
“Bind him!” [
White thorny vines, grown from the snow-covered mountain, wrapped around Reed’s body.
Though it was merely an Advanced Skill, the tree, nurtured by the divine authority of Divine Descent, grew to form a veritable forest.
A giant thorny cage with a radius of 10 meters imprisoned Reed.
Aillet didn’t stop there and extended her hand.
Whirrr.
A dozen wires wrapped around Reed and fastened him among the thorny vines.
“…Ah.”
The handsome man examined his plight, like a butterfly caught in a spiderweb, and then smiled.
“You tried hard. But it’s meaningless.”
Ting, ting-!
The Spirit King’s Harp Strings binding him snapped one by one, producing progressively higher notes.
Even amidst the clear screams created by the dying wires, Aillet did not despair.
Because the situation had unfolded as she intended.
“No, it is meaningful. I bought time.”
She recited the activation phrase to his questioning red eyes.
“Gate of the Pantheon. Open.” [
The sound of horn trumpets echoed from the pure white triumphal arch, embossed with angels. The gates swung wide open, and dazzling holy light poured out.
It was the same light that had previously pushed Reed’s spirit and flesh to the brink of collapse.
“Oh dear.”
He expressed his misfortune verbally, but his tone was exceedingly artificial.
Indeed, Reed seemed to feel little sense of crisis.
“You’re using the same trick. I suppose I did get a rough beating back then. But it’s not like there’s no counter for the Gate of the Pantheon.”
Just as he finished snapping all the Spirit King’s Harp Strings, Reed quietly uttered an activation phrase.
“Gate of Pandemonium. Open.” [
The shadow beneath his feet swelled instantly and materialized into a colossal triumphal arch.
It was the color of pitch-black darkness, with embossed demons. It was perfectly antithetical to the Gate of the Pantheon.
“I’ve only held back until now because of the influence the Gate of the Otherworld would have on the present world. But if the goal is to cancel each other out, there’s no need to hold back either.”
From the gates, torn open on both sides, countless shadows stretched out long.
They looked like the hands of craving devils, or the flickering tongues of snakes.
Swaaaah.
Shweeeek.
The light of heaven and the darkness of the abyss collided. It was like the recreation of the first day of creation. Light and darkness repeated mixing and separating, eventually destroying each other.
What remained was the flattened summit of the snow-covered mountain, like a rolling hill, and the two gates, transformed into ruins.
The Gates of the Pantheon and Pandemonium, having lost the power to exist in the material realm, fragmented into particles and scattered.
Taking advantage of the light disturbing their vision, Aillet pushed off the ground with both feet.
“Right, I actually didn’t expect it!” [
[
In a single stride, the distance between Aillet and Reed narrowed. As soon as she entered range, Aillet resummoned her Holy Scythe and imbued it with divine aura, slashing horizontally at Reed.
A powerful gust of wind raged in the spot he barely moved out of. With his black hair wildly fluttering, Reed also re-gripped his demonic sword.
Aura, resembling pure darkness, traveled up from the tip of the blade, enveloping the entire sword.
The two began to unleash destructive light again. They demonstrated their martial prowess, aiming to land attacks on each other’s bodies.
“As expected, I should settle it with you, Reed, in close combat.”
“You’re welcome.”
Even with Foresight of an Instant revealing all attack trajectories and Dance of the Heavens Beyond Heavens allowing her to perform a peak sword dance, he was not an easy opponent.
A battle that seemed unable to reach a conclusion continued.
And that, in turn, meant that Reed also found Aillet a formidable opponent.
As time passed, sparks seemed to fly in Reed’s red eyes.
The excitement brought by the fierce engagement. It stimulated the ferocity and gluttony of the Chaos Evil God that he had suppressed within him.
Reed’s movements changed. Instantly, the handsome man’s face invaded her focal range.
It was a headlong approach, like a beast trying to sink its fangs into its prey first. Aillet pushed Reed away with all her might and said,
“Where did your gentlemanly grace go?”
“Ah, my apologies.”
He gained an opening for the brief moment he was caught off guard. Librilly’s horizontal axis transformed into a flexible blade.
The long, sharpened tip, like a scorpion’s tail, menacingly targeted Reed’s back.
However, he merely dodged with economical movements, without even turning his head.
After a series of short clashes, a long standoff ensued. As their sword and scythe blades roughly scraped against each other, suppressing repulsive force, their gazes met.
This time, Reed spoke first.
“Have you talked to the 117th iteration?”
“Yeah. It ended well. Don’t worry.”
“Really…?”
The charming baritone voice hinted at slight discomfort. His questions continued.
“Now that you know his true identity, how do you feel?”
“What do you mean, ‘how do I feel’?”
“He destroyed the world, you know. Isn’t that more horrible than me?”
Even as the conversation exchanged, the two did not stop their hands.
It was at one point, as they continuously intertwined attacks as fierce as the emotions they held for each other.
“Reed.”
The apathy in Aillet’s voice vanished. She spoke with utmost seriousness.
“I don’t think you’re horrible.”
“…”
Reed’s gaze, fixed on Aillet, intensified even further. For some reason, the desire for gluttony grew within him.
Reed bloomed aura blades around himself.
As Aillet hastily widened the distance, black light blades poured towards her.
She immediately moved, sliding across the snow-covered ground, dodging the aura blades.
Wherever they missed, deep furrows formed in the snow and ice, exposing the earth’s bare surface.
By the time Reed’s offensive stopped, she took a breath and righted her posture.
It was the moment she was about to re-grip Librilly and charge again.
Kwoooong!
“…!”
From afar, a heavy roar accompanied by a circular shockwave shook the atmosphere.
The northeast. It was the direction of the Pontifical Palace, where Tesillid and Abyssinis’s battle was raging.
Whose attack was that just now?
With that reflexive question, Aillet’s gaze flickered in that direction.
At that instant, Reed’s toes pushed off the ground. With light footwork alone, his position instantly changed to right in front of Aillet.
Kaaang!
“Are you worried about them?”
He swept away what was before her eyes with a fierce strike. And with his next words, he regained her concentration.
“More than me?”
Aillet’s grip on Librilly tightened.
“Of course not.”
The battle, as if only the two of them existed in this world, resumed.
Privilege for Possessors