CLEAVER OF SIN

An earth-shattering explosion tore through the air, and Asher's head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound. His sharp purple gaze locked onto a tall building in the distance. Recognition flashed across his face, he knew this structure well.

It was the residence allocated to first-year students ranked between one hundred and two hundred. His instincts told him immediately that a battle was raging inside. Without a shred of hesitation, his figure blurred as he shot forward, streaking toward the chaos like a silver arrow loosed from a bow.

Those students were the weakest in terms of combat strength, vulnerable in comparison to their peers. But Asher had no intention of abandoning them, no matter how insignificant they might appear in the grand scheme of strength.

He was not the type to let them be mercilessly slaughtered simply because he did not know their names or because they were not his friends. He was no heartless monster, no cold machine stripped of thought and emotion.

With a thunderous crash, Asher broke through the window of the ground floor, glass shattering outward like crystalline rain. He landed inside the first room that came into sight.

The room's simplicity struck him for the briefest of moments. A bed, a chair, a table, nothing more. It was a stark and sobering contrast to the luxurious quarters of the top one hundred. But Asher had neither the time nor the inclination to ponder such disparities. He was here for one purpose alone.

At the far side of the room, a male student thrashed frantically against the floor, desperately trying to free himself from the grip of a Grade 2 Emovira. The grotesque creature held him fast, its slimy, muscular limbs tightening like the coils of a serpent.

Without the faintest flicker of hesitation, Asher vanished from sight. His body blurred, silver light streaking across the air. A sharp flash thrust through the gloom, and in the very next heartbeat, a gaping void split open across the Emovira's head. The sound of flesh tearing rang like thunder, echoing through the chamber. Green blood and shredded innards splattered across the floor, staining the student who had been pinned only moments earlier.

Before the corpse could collapse upon him, it disintegrated into ash, as was the nature of its race. Only gore and viscous blood remained, grotesque remnants of its short-lived existence.

The shaken student lifted his gaze, only to see a tall boy, no older than himself, standing firm with a rapier in hand.

"T-thank you, Tenth Su—" he began, but his gratitude was cut short.

Asher was already gone, his form dashing toward the far wall with blinding speed. Without sparing so much as a glance at the one he had saved, his rapier flashed in a single arc. The wall exploded outward, and he instantly entered the next room.

Inside, another student was cornered, blood already trickling down her arm as she struggled to hold her ground against a snarling beast. She barely had time to register what happened. Neither she nor her foe saw the strike, only the whisper of displaced wind reached their ears. The next instant, her monster was hurled upward as if cleaved by the heavens themselves, and before the girl could comprehend her salvation, the wall shattered again. Her savior was already gone.

Asher repeated this methodical pattern. He did not waste precious seconds moving through the hallway or fumbling with doors. Time was the enemy. Instead, he carved his own path through the crumbling walls, cutting down monsters and moving relentlessly from one chamber to the next.

The ground floor was cleared in moments. Without pause, Asher bent his knees ever so slightly, muscles coiling with explosive potential like steel springs wound tight. With a blast of force, he launched himself upward. Stone, dust, and rubble shattered as his body tore through the ceiling, propelling him effortlessly from the ground floor to the first floor above.

A cloud of dust billowed outward, obscuring everything around him. But as he emerged from the haze, his instincts screamed. His eyes caught the glint of a massive club already arcing toward his chest. The air shrieked as the weapon cut through it with murderous force.

At the very instant of impact, Asher vanished. To the untrained eye, it was as if he had ceased to exist, reality itself blinking in disbelief. In the next breath, his figure materialized behind the assailant. His rapier, Virelass, flashed forward with ruthless precision, aiming straight for the creature's skull.

But the Grade 3 Emovira reacted with uncanny speed. Its form twisted unnaturally, movement almost preternatural, as though it had foreseen his attack before he even conceived of it.

A deafening blast resounded as club met rapier, the impact splitting the room apart in a concussive shockwave. Sparks burst outward in brilliant flashes where steel clashed against monstrous strength.

Asher frowned. He had not expected resistance, certainly not so easily. Yet the expression quickly dissolved. Obstacles were merely stepping stones. His movements sharpened, speed accelerating, strikes growing deadlier.

Virelass tore through the air once more, its edge slicing the very atmosphere as it blitzed toward the Emovira's head. But once again, impossibility unfolded. The Emovira's defense was seamless, almost effortless, deflecting his strike aside with terrifying ease.

It countered immediately. Its colossal club roared down toward Asher's skull, splitting the air with explosive force. But Asher had already read the strike long before it was delivered. He ducked, the weapon ripping through empty air where his head had just been.

Virelass flashed again, darting like lightning toward the creature's kneecap. But impossibility struck a third time. The Grade 3 Emovira blurred with fluid grace, evading the blow with the same eerie synchronicity it had shown before. It was as though it could read Asher, anticipating every movement as precisely and easily as Asher read its own.

From above, its club descended once more, momentum gathering like a meteor plummeting from the sky. Asher's Omni Perception flared, granting him full clarity of the incoming strike. But he could no longer afford to waste time on this foe.

Astra pulsed furiously through his Astra veins, augmenting his speed beyond normal measure. His form became a phantom, stepping aside with almost mocking ease. The Emovira's weapon smashed into the floor with catastrophic force, shattering the stone beneath them. With a booming roar, the ground gave way. Both combatants plummeted downward, falling back into the ground floor Asher had just cleared.

But Asher did not fall idly. Midair, his hand flared with power. Astra energy surged violently, erupting outward in a devastating wave. A brutal explosion engulfed the Emovira in midair, flesh and sinew tearing apart in grotesque sprays of black blood. The Emovira shrieked once, a sound drowned by the thunder of destruction, before it was reduced to ruin.

Before Asher's body could collide with the earth, his figure vanished once more, space bending around his existence. He reappeared instantly in the very room he had left above, his rapier gleaming with fresh hunger, eyes sharp, and aura steady.