NOVEL NEXT Chapter 140: The enemy of my enemy is my friend
With that destructive incandescent sphere, Hakuto is certain he will smash through Cassian's solid defenses... but things are not going the way he expected.
Not only has the shadow cone managed to stop his rapid, devastating descent, it is even pushing inside the sphere.
«Shit... damn it! By concentrating all the shadows, he made them so solid and compact that even my plasma strike can't break through... in fact, I'm the one under attack now. If I channel more energy into the sphere, I could lose control and kill millions of innocents. What the hell am I supposed to do?!»
«That old bastard poured everything into defending against Hakuto and ignored me completely. I've never felt so humiliated in my entire life... do you think I'm not worthy of your time, huh?!» Velshekar growls. Under immense strain, she stretches her right arm toward the dark mage, supporting it with her left. «Cassian Thalukvar... how dare you disrespect me so openly?! I don't give a damn that your bloodline descends from one of Nyratalir's twelve daughters and that her blood flows through your veins...»
Around Velshekar's right hand, an intense and blinding aura of Sanguis energy swirls.
«...no one ridicules me like this and gets away with it! Blood Word Lv. 3: Slicewheel!»
The red aura she summons solidifies and twists, shaping into a blood-colored disc about a meter wide that shoots parallel to the ground, straight toward Cassian.
But once again, the dark mage's defenses prove impenetrable.
Velshekar's sharp disc is stopped by the black veil Cassian cast around himself to withstand the hellish heat from the plasma sphere—a heat so intense it burns the oxygen itself.
The thin red wheel of energy spins like a circular saw, yet it doesn't scratch the veil of shadow.
«Who would have thought I'd live long enough to see my son fighting side by side with one of the most ruthless beings I've ever known... it's really true that the enemy of my enemy is my friend...» Shin comments, bringing a cigarette to his lips.
His voice is calm and steady, but only on the surface—inside, fear devours him for what could happen to his son and to humanity, along with a crushing sense of helplessness. Against such a foe, far beyond his reach, all he can do is watch, his eyes filled with pride as they follow Hakuto.
That same helplessness grips Chantal too, but unlike Shin, she doesn't hide it at all.
She trembles head to toe, fists clenched, teeth grinding.
«Hakuto... just a year ago, he trembled whenever our eyes met, and now I'm the one trembling before him... no! Even if it costs me my life, I can't just stand here while he risks everything against someone far stronger!»
Before she even finishes the thought, pride drives Chantal to dive headfirst into the battle.
«Blood Word Lv.1: Burst!»
A powerful beam of energy bursts from her hand toward Cassian, crashing violently against the unyielding shadow veil that cloaks the dark mage.
From above, Hakuto bears down with the devastating plasma sphere. To one side, Velshekar launches her spinning blade of energy. From the other, Chantal unleashes Burst.
And still, it isn't enough.
The shadow cone keeps drilling deeper into the sphere, slow but relentless—it's already just a hand's breadth from Hakuto.
«More power... I need more power!» Velshekar growls through clenched teeth, pouring every ounce of her strength into keeping Slicewheel active.
A dozen spirits materialize around her, only to be absorbed into her body like the ones before.
The crushing aura of Sanguis energy swirls tighter, so heavy her feet start sinking into the ground. Her muscles bulge grotesquely, her skin splitting open under the pressure, wounds tearing and healing in endless cycles, spraying blood and green flames.
Those same emerald flames—her true body—hover around her in the form of countless little serpents.
Her face twists in a terrifying grimace of pain, screams ripping from her throat without control, her body on the verge of collapse from the unbearable energy.
But the torment is not in vain.
The red disc expands massively in size and speed—its diameter growing from one to three meters, its rotation tripling.
Then, countless serpents of green fire dart at Cassian, merging with the disc and igniting its edges.
A twisted grin of satisfaction spreads across Velshekar's pain-stricken face as she notices a small crack forming on the shadow veil—a sight that fuels her resolve, pushing the disc to grow even larger and faster, though only slightly.
But the grin fades quickly.
An instant later, the cracks vanish, and no new ones appear. Despite the overwhelming energy she pours into it, Velshekar's disc can no longer pierce the barrier.
Yet what might look like another futile attempt is not entirely in vain.
To reinforce the black veil, Cassian is forced to draw shadows away from the cone blocking Hakuto and channel them into the barrier around himself.
Hakuto notices it clearly—the cone's tip, a moment ago grazing his neck, now slowly pulls back. More importantly, the plasma sphere resumes its slow descent toward the ground.
Chantal's sharp eyes catch the shift instantly.
«This is it... the moment to push everything to the limit!»
Every particle of Sanguis energy in her body flows into Blood Word Burst.
Her legs are about to give out, just like Velshekar's—her body swollen and torn to the point where muscle shows beneath the skin.
«Boss, please... boss, hang on!» Clarissa cries, tears streaming, standing at Shin's side, still at a distance.
Then... she takes a step forward, toward the battlefield.
Another step. And another.
The first ones are shaky, trembling, but with each stride her resolve hardens, even as Shin tries to stop her from walking to certain death.
«What you're about to do is suicide! You don't stand a chance of even reaching him alive!»
But Clarissa doesn't even hear his words.
«Marquis Velshekar... when you saved me from death and brought me to this planet, I swore on my honor I would serve you until the end. Since birth, I knew my fate would be the same as any girl born in poverty: at best, give up my freedom to become the wife of some noble; at worst, if no one wanted me, sell my body and suffer abuse from anyone willing to pay the few coins the daughter of a farmer is worth. I hadn't eaten or drunk for four days when you found me—within hours, I would have died. You were a rich marquis with no reason to help me, and yet you did... looking back, knowing you better, I realize you only saved me because you saw potential in me, but that doesn't change the fact that it's thanks to you I had a life worth living. I could never thank you enough...»
Clarissa raises her hands to the sky, her skin reddening, blistering under spreading burns.
Thousands of shards of rock rise all around her, floating in midair.
«...you saved my life... now it's my turn to do everything I can to save yours!»