NOVEL NEXT Chapter 388: One Step
Daniel now understood why the prophet had said he couldn't defeat him. Daniel didn't even have the slightest chance in this battle. It was a one-sided slaughter.
With this situation, moving him even a single inch was impossible.
'Maybe I'll be forced to use Apocalypse,' he thought to himself. No other way came to his mind.
He could use [Glass Domain], but it would have no effect on the prophet. That man could shatter the domain just by breathing.
So, he had to find another way. But suddenly, he felt an overwhelming sense of danger.
"It's not over yet, kid," the prophet said with a smile.
Immediately, Daniel activated [Bloody Shadow Dance], slipping into the shadows to hide himself.
[Chains of Eternal.]
Silver chains descended from the heavens. All the shadows froze in an instant and were crushed into dust. Daniel barely managed to free his sword and escape death.
"Running won't help," Zirham said.
With fresh wounds burning, Daniel activated [Demonic Twilight Shield]. Feeling it might not be enough to block the next strike, he also cast [Royal Barrier].
Two defensive layers surrounded him, giving him a small sense of relief.
But the prophet only exhaled: [Oblivion's Breath.]
Both shields trembled, and then completely shattered. Daniel once again felt his existence falling into the void, where he could be erased at any moment.
However, he managed to break free, using the power of death to force death onto the void itself. Even so, he suffered immense damage.
His body was on the verge of collapse, close to complete disintegration. At any moment, he could die.
But this wasn't a place where he would back down. Covered in blood, with a scream, he released all the power he had left. [Eternal Burning Sun] formed in his hands—a small blazing sphere, a sun that burned and roared.
He hurled it at the prophet. He had almost no energy left, most of it consumed by the prophet's first attack.
But the prophet opened his eyes: [Eternal Fracture.]
The world shattered. Invisible glass crushed the sun into fragments. Flaming shards scattered in the air and struck Daniel's body. He was the one burned.
His flesh charred, his skin destroyed again, his body roasted alive.
With the last of his strength, Daniel activated [Thunder of Lost Dreams], and then once more unleashed [Eternal Judgement] behind him.
This time, he poured all his power into it, even borrowing strength from his Fallen. A bloody sword took shape in the sky and lunged at the prophet.
The prophet glanced at the sword, moved his finger, and the sword stopped in place before shattering like glass, vanishing.
[Eternal Collapse.]
The earth and heavens crumbled. Daniel fell, an endless fall into darkness. His thunder disappeared, his song silenced.
If the prophet hadn't extended his hand in the last moment to catch him, Daniel would have been lost forever in endless void and dimensions, with no possible way to save himself.
"So? Do you want to admit defeat?"
"If I do that, I lose all the rewards, right?" Daniel gave a bitter smile. He truly had no energy left to continue.
"Of course," the prophet nodded.
"Then I refuse." Daniel lifted his sword. Throughout this battle, he had learned a lot, not only from this fight but also from his battles against the heroes.
And finally, he had managed to create a new skill. He had always been trying to combine death and moon into one ability, and now he succeeded.
He created [Eclipse of Silence]—a black moon that covered the sun, plunging the world into silence.
The moon was cloaked in death energy, radiating the scent of death itself.
The prophet raised his eyebrows at the sight, nodding slightly in approval.
The moon charged toward him, aiming to annihilate him.
But with just a look, the prophet activated [Stasis of Eternity].
Time froze.
Daniel's movements stopped, the moon halted halfway and crumbled into ash. Even the drops of blood on his cheek froze in the air.
The prophet's sword gently touched the side of his neck, only as a warning.
Then he waved his hand, and everything returned to normal.
Daniel fell to his knees. Blood spilled from his mouth.
He was on the brink of death—in truth, at this point, he was no different from a walking corpse.
"If you have nothing else, then this battle is over," the prophet said with a smile, still standing at the same place
"One more thing… maybe it can shake even eternity," Daniel said with a faint smile.
His body was torn apart, his bones broken, his breaths like the groans of someone walking on the edge of death.
At last, he could use that skill.
And in that instant, he began to self-detonate.
From within Daniel, a surge of three interwoven Laws erupted—the Moon, Death, and even Eternity. This time, he had no choice but to gamble again with the Law of Eternity.
His veins glowed, his blood turned into molten glass, and every cell of his body ignited from within.
Suddenly, his body exploded, completely destroyed, blood scattering everywhere.
"Oh? Interesting." The prophet smiled.
[Apocalypse]
Time itself seemed to tear apart—moments slipping away from one another.
Illusions of past and future appeared all at once. The earth, in the blink of an eye, shifted from a barren wasteland to a frozen land—
a transformation born from the Law of the Moon.
The sky looked as if it were collapsing.
The stars seemed ready to fall.
For the first time, the prophet's eyes widened slightly.
"This… feels familiar," he murmured to himself.
All the apocalyptic phenomena gathered into a single point, then struck at the prophet in one devastating blast.
A river of blood, a black moon, an inverted sun, shattered stars—all rushing toward him in a single explosion.
For the first time, the prophet moved.
He raised his hand and activated his defensive skill:
[Eternal Sanctuary]
A transparent sphere that freezes everything inside it.
The explosion collided with it.
The world shook.
The frozen land was shattered.
But—even that sanctuary could not withstand it.
Its transparent walls cracked, broke apart, and the apocalyptic wave pierced through.
The prophet was forced to raise his arm and defend with his body. For the first time, he stepped back.
One step.
Just one step.
But that one step was enough.