Chapter 197: Let's End It Here for Today
In the heart of the storm, another figure now stood.
He had, in the midst of that maelstrom of raw, chaotic power, charged forward and had brought Org down on the golden barrier once more. The Demon King had not expected such a bold move. Her barrier, which had been enough to block his first attack, had shattered at the second blow.
And in that instant, he was through. He was a streak of light, a phantom in the storm, and he was now right in front of her. The demons all gasped. In the midst of that raw, untamed energy, that storm that had threatened to tear the very fabric of space apart... to charge forward, to brave the shockwave... it was insane. Wasn't he supposed to be the most ancient of human mages? they thought. Why is he fighting like a mindless warrior!?
She, too, was taken aback. To have her own attack, her own powerful spell, used against her... and the follow-up, so swift, so decisive... she had not been prepared for it. But her own battle instincts kicked in. She did not dodge, did not raise another, stronger barrier. She just raised her slender arm and met the tip of the sword with her wrist.
Thump.
A muffled sound of flesh being pierced. And when the storm finally subsided, a sight that made the hearts of all the demons stop. The holy sword, Org, the weapon that had slain a god, was now plunged through the Demon King's wrist, its tip emerging from the other side. A dark, golden blood, the blood of a new and terrible god, trickled down the blade, a strange and eerie sight in the dim light. A silver sword, a slender, white wrist... it was a grotesquely beautiful image.
And yet, on the Demon King's beautiful face, there was not a single trace of pain.
She tilted her head, a playful look in her eyes as she looked at her own wounded wrist. "So decisive," she said, her voice a soft and almost appreciative sound. "To seize any opportunity, to risk everything for a single, fatal blow... that's you, isn't it."
But he, his own heart was in a turmoil. He had put all his power into that blow, but the moment the blade had pierced her wrist, he had felt a strange resistance, as if he were trying to cut through a dense, viscous substance. And now, he could not move the sword, not an inch forward. And what was even more terrifying was the strange and corrupting feeling that was now flowing up the blade. Her blood... it was as if it was alive, a sentient, assimilating thing. The holy power of Org... he could feel it, crying out in a silent, agonized scream, its own light now dimming, a powerful and insidious corruption now eating away at its very essence.
No! He pushed, a new surge of his own mana now flaring, and the blade of Org once again shone with a brilliant light. And with a final, desperate heave, he pulled the sword free. A shower of golden blood, like molten metal, arced through the air. But the wound... it was not bleeding. Before their very eyes, the dark golden lines under her skin began to writhe, and the wound, it just... closed. In an instant, it was gone, leaving only a faint white scar.
A regenerative ability that was beyond all comprehension, a power that was on a whole new level of life itself.
He stumbled back, putting several dozen meters between them, and his own gaze, now a grim and sober thing, was fixed on her perfect, unblemished wrist. This new Demon King... this fusion of a mortal and a god... she was a being of a terrifying and incomprehensible power.
"Do you see now, god-slayer?" she said, and flexed her once-impaled wrist. "This... is the true, perfect form of life."
She then looked at Org and, with a new and strange appreciation, she said, "And to be able to temporarily resist my own power... as expected of the sword that can slay a god."
Org hummed, a low and angry sound, and a powerful and hostile energy emanated from its blade. He didn't speak. He just slowly, deliberately, began to raise the sword once more, his own breath now a calm and steady thing, his own mind a cold and calculated one. This time, he would not hold back. This time, a full and unrestrained release.
But just as he was about to unleash his full power... "Enough," she said, her voice a soft and quiet sound, but one that carried to every corner of the shattered hall. She looked at him, and there was a strange, almost wistful, look in her eyes. "Rhodes... and Serie. Let us end it here for today."
He froze, a frown on his face, and even Serie, who had been about to join him, was now a picture of a pure and utter disbelief. She wants to stop? Now? Just as he's about to use his ultimate attack?
"Are you joking?" she said, an unrestrained rage now in her own voice.
But she did not look at her. Her gaze was still on him, as if she were the only other person in the room.
"I know what you are looking for, Rhodes," she said, and her voice was a strange and resonating sound. "The formula of life. You have been chasing it for a thousand years, but you have never been able to cross the threshold."
She knows even that? He tightened his grip on the sword, a new and terrible thought now in his own mind. Should he just... kill her, now, before she could say another word?
She saw it, the flicker of a deadly intent in his own eyes. "You have already obtained the key to that door, Rhodes. To continue to fight with me... it is a pointless endeavor, is it not?"
"I think it has a great deal of point. No one wants to have someone like you, lurking in the shadows," he said.
"Heh," she laughed, and shook her head. "Shurahat's work... for you, it is a key to eternal life. But for me..." a mysterious smile touched her lips, "...it is useless. Our paths... they may have crossed. But our destinations... they are not the same." She raised a hand and pointed, at him, and at Serie, and at the ruined and shattered hall around them. "Today... you have destroyed my home. You have killed my most loyal servant. Is that not enough for you?"
"I, for one, am not yet satisfied," Serie said coldly. She did not like this arrogant and self-important Demon King. She wanted nothing more than to just blast her face with a few light spears and wipe that smug look from it.
(End of chapter)
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