Odyssey of the Renegade Sovereign

The outer areas of the forest were already in ruins. Broken trees, asunder area, and shockwave rolled like thunderclaps across the valley. Baldoc skidded to a halt, his feet carving deep trenches on the earth as the colossal serpent coiled and hissed its white scales glinting like polished bone under the moonlight.

"Enough warm-up," Baldoc muttered, his voice low but steady.

From beneath his tattered robes, his hand reached for the weapon on his back. The moment steel kissed air, the forest seemed to freeze.

Shiiing!

A radiant gleam burst forth, so blinding that the night itself seemed to retreat. The shabby old man's guise cracked instantly as he drew the Shining White Sword—a blade forged of pure light, flawless and terrifying, humming with divine resonance.

The serpent recoiled at the sight, its slit pupils narrowing, its body rippling with unease. But the sorrow of losing his mate and child didn't make it any better. With a strong hiss, it attacked, venom spraying like rain.

Baldoc raised the sword in a single smooth motion. The serpent met its strike head-on, and the sprayed venom scattered into harmless vapour, the divine radiance consuming its corruption.

"Creature of tainted blood…" Baldoc's voice rang out, layered with authority that did not belong to a mere man. "I, Baldoc of the Holy Sword, will be your end."

The serpent's tail lashed out, cracking through the air like a whip. Baldoc met it head-on, his sword cleaving downward. The impact erupted in a blinding flash—earth split apart, shockwaves flattening entire swathes of forest around them.

The serpent's tail lashed out, cracking through the air like a whip. Baldoc met it head-on, his sword cleaving downward. The impact erupted in a blinding flash—earth split apart, shockwaves flattening entire swathes of forest around them.

Baldoc's eyes narrowed. He shifted his stance, both hands gripping the shining sword.

"HAHAHA, come on, you beast."

And then, with a burst of light, he vanished from sight, his next strike already screaming toward the serpent's skull.

The serpent's roar echoed like thunder across the heavens, but Baldoc did not flinch. His blade hummed, its white light intensifying until it was no longer a sword of steel, but a pillar of pure radiance, tearing open the night sky.

He lifted it high, his voice resounding with a power that was not his own.

"Holy Sword—Sacred Slash!"

The world itself seemed to hold its breath. Then—

SHHHHHHHRRRRRRKKKKK!

From his blade erupted a crescent of blinding light, vast as a mountain, pure as judgment itself. It split the night in two, a streak of divinity tearing through clouds and stars alike. The heavens quaked. The earth cracked wide. The air howled as if torn apart by an unseen storm.

The impact struck the valley with apocalyptic force.

BOOOOOOOM!

The ground cratered, a canyon splitting open where forest once stood. Trees disintegrated into ash. A wall of searing light surged skyward, briefly turning night into day. The shockwave rolled across the land, slamming into Greenhollow City with a quake that sent people screaming into the streets.

When the brilliance finally dimmed, half the valley was gone, obliterated, reduced to molten rock and smoking ruin.

The serpent's titanic form writhed in the destruction, half its body cleaved, scales scattered like broken armour. Yet, its eye still burned, glowing blue, filled with unyielding fury.

Baldoc lowered his sword, chest rising and falling heavily. His robes hung in tatters, his aura dimmed, but his gaze was iron.

"…Still alive."

The serpent hissed weakly, coiling its mangled body, venom dripping like rivers.

And in the silence that followed, Baldoc's lips pressed into a grim line.

"This fight… is far from over."

The colossal serpent writhed amidst the smoking ruins, half its body mangled, scales shattered. Its roar shook the heavens, but beneath the sound was something sharper—fear. The Sacred Slash had wounded it gravely.

Its blue eyes blazed, flickering with a darker light.

The serpent slammed its massive tail against the earth, shaking loose rocks as if summoning strength from the land itself. Then… its body stiffened, coils tightening, as an ancient, powerful power stirred from deep within its blood.

Baldoc's eyes narrowed. His sword raised instinctively. "…Basilisk bloodline."

The serpent's throat swelled, veins glowing a sickly green. Its eyes ignited with a terrible brilliance, brighter and deeper than before, like two cursed suns.

With a piercing shriek, the beast unleashed its secret art.

Basilisk's Gaze.

From its eyes erupted beams of greenish-black light, like liquid venom turned to fire, sweeping across the battlefield. Wherever the beams touched, stone split, trees rotted into dust, and the very air turned to poison. The earth cracked open, soil and rock withering as if aged a thousand years in an instant.

Even Baldoc's holy aura faltered for a breath, the radiant light around him sizzling against the corruption. His lips pressed tight as his legs dug into the shattered ground, divine power flaring to shield him.

"Tch… so you reveal your true blood." He spat to the side, glaring at the creature. "But if you think you can get away while I still stand—"

The serpent did not wait for him to finish. Its massive body coiled, then launched backwards with impossible speed, vanishing into the ruined forest, dragging its mangled length through shattered stone. Each thrash of its body left corruption behind, the land turning barren in its wake.

From the skies above, Baldoc descended, eyes sharp, gripping his sword tighter.

"Running?" he muttered, aura surging once more. His gaze hardened, the weight of a predator set on the kill. "Then I'll cut off every path of escape."

And with that, he shot forward, a streak of blinding white light chasing the shadow of the retreating serpent.

----

Astrael sprinted through the shattered forest, every step rambled by the distant thunder of Baldoc's strikes colliding with the serpent's roars. Clawdia kept pace beside him, silver fur bristling, her low growls betraying unease.

The night sky flashed white, then sickly green, turning the trees into twisted shadows as if the world itself was breaking.