CHAPTER 193: COLLAPSE

But it was clear now—Jael wasn’t interested in conversation.

He wasn’t going to give me time to breathe, let alone answers.

"I have questions," I said anyway, hoping—perhaps foolishly—that something in him still remembered reason.

But all I got was a guttural growl in return.

"Unfortunately for you," Jael snarled, his voice coated in malice, "death is the only answer you’ll receive."

He moved before I could respond, slashing his blade in a sharp, diagonal arc. A wave of pitch-black energy—cold and suffocating—tore through the air like a guillotine.

I ducked low and twisted to the side, the edge of my cloak fluttering just inches from the deadly surge. The slash sailed past and slammed into the wall behind me with a thunderous BOOM!

The impact wasn’t just noise. The entire cave shuddered, stones raining down from above, dust thickening the air. Cracks spiderwebbed across the walls as though the cave itself was recoiling in fear.

I looked up slowly, my gaze locking onto Jael.

But in a flash, he was gone—vanished from my sight.

And now, he was behind me.

I barely sensed the shift in air before I felt the weight of his presence bearing down. His blade came crashing toward me with brutal force, no hesitation, no wind-up—just pure, savage intent.

BOOM!

I reacted on instinct, activating [Warp] in the nick of time. The world twisted, the space around me folded, and I blinked out of the strike’s path.

But the second I reappeared, my feet barely touching the ground—more slashes came.

Fast.

Relentless.

And terrifyingly accurate.

Streaks of death-laced energy tore through the air like jagged lightning bolts. Each one exploded violently against the stone.

TREMBLE!

TREMBLE!

The cave began to shudder, deep cracks crawling up its walls like veins, raining dust and shards of rock down on me.

And it wasn’t just the force of the impacts.

Jael’s death energy was corrosive—eating into the stone with a hunger that didn’t stop. It spread like mold through the rock, blackening and rotting everything it touched. Every strike wasn’t just destructive—it was infection. The very foundation of the cavern was unraveling under his power.

This place was going to collapse if this kept up.

Mr. Grump over here clearly didn’t care.

Not about the cave.

Not about the fact that its ceiling was cracking like eggshells.

And definitely not about the very real possibility of both of us being buried alive under tons of jagged rock.

"You idiot!" I shouted over the chaos, dodging a falling chunk of stone. "Are you trying to bring down the cave on both our heads?"

"As long as you die first," he growled, completely unfazed, and unleashed another wild slash of that decaying black aura. The ground split in two, and more of the cavern’s ceiling came tumbling down.

He was way too carefree with those attacks.

No hesitation, no restraint—just blind, unrelenting fury.

I warped again, blinking just past the edge of the next strike, reappearing with a grunt several meters away.

"Jael, come on," I said, raising both hands in mock surrender, breath slightly ragged. "Why don’t we just take a moment? We can fight after we talk—five minutes, tops. I’ve got questions. You’ve got answers. Win-win."

"Stop calling my name, fool!" he roared, voice raw with fury. Then came the blade again—no pause, no warning.

Another death slash.

And another sigh from me.

This guy. Seriously.

I warped again, slipping just outside the arc of the slash as it sheared straight through a boulder like butter. The boulder hissed and then crumbled, eaten from the inside out by Jael’s cursed energy.

And then, in a blink, I reappeared—right above him, upside down, gravity pulling at my limbs as my fingers latched tightly onto the helm of his armor.

"Let’s take this outside, why don’t we?" I muttered with a grin, voice casual, but my focus razor-sharp.

Before Jael could process what was happening—before that deadly blade of his could swing upward—I activated [Warp] again. Then again. And again.

I blinked in rapid succession, chaining the skill without pause, dragging us both through the tunnel of crumbling stone, past the bodies, past the bloodstains and ruins, past the fractured walls still echoing with the aftermath of his reckless fury.

Each flicker of light, each burst of motion, pushed us farther and farther from the collapsing cave—until finally, we blinked one last time—

—and emerged at the edge of the mountain, high above the valley floor.

The cold wind greeted us first, sharp and biting, whipping through my hair as we burst into open sky.

As soon as we were free, Jael snarled and twisted, his gauntlet-covered hand lunging for me. I felt it before I even saw it—the dangerous thrum of power surging through his fingertips.

Ariel’s warning rang like a siren in my mind: Avoid his hands. Don’t let him touch you.

I reacted on instinct.

I blinked again, just as his hand came within inches of my arm, warping several meters away midair.

Jael whirled, snarling in frustration as the two of us plummeted.

The open sky stretched wide around us, and the wind howled as we both descended—me controlled and balanced, him a crashing storm of blackened steel and fury. But he wasn’t done with me.

Midair, Jael swung his blade in a wide arc, unleashing another death-laced slash that tore through the air with a chilling hiss. I didn’t wait for it to connect. In a blink, I warped upward, reappearing several meters above him, the cold wind cutting across my face.

There, suspended in freefall, I summoned heat into my palms. Flames ignited instantly, swelling with power as I channeled the skill—[Inferno Lance]. The spear formed quickly, far larger and hotter than usual. The core burned a molten white, and the surrounding flames danced violently, crackling with an intensity that scorched the very air around me.

It was stronger than I remembered. More violent. More alive.

I figured it had something to do with the...