CHAPTER 176: CHAPTER 176: BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL [END]

Chapter 176 – Battle for Survival [END]

The slash was scarily poetic.

It was the slash that cumulated all the power of Kaden and Reditha, but also the terrifying enhancement of all the shadows inside the domain by Asael.

The fusion was seamless, the combination was striking. It was like blood, death, and shadow were meant to be together all this time...it was like they were made to enhance each other, and that’s why when the slash struck...

The World—or rather the domain—was split into two.

The result was jarring.

It was like there was a crimson vertical line embedded into the very fabric of reality, as if a harrowing beast had just clawed at it in defiance, and at that, the domain that enveloped them and wanted to crush them beneath its weight was immediately destroyed, and a loud crack like shattered glass echoed through the whipping wind, before being followed by both Kaden and Asael being transported back to the previous bloodied battlefield.

They were on their knees, their breathing ragged and heavy.

They were seeing nothing around them. Their eyes were heavy with exhaustion, and the body was broken beyond what they had ever experienced.

Blood was flowing down from their bodies, causing them to look like fiends that came from hell to wage war on humanity.

But neither of them cared.

What they cared instead was...

"D-Did...did we kill him?" Kaden managed to utter with difficulty, his throat dry.

Asael didn’t respond yet, but his expression was grim. "The Will should have announced if he was..." he said stiffly, and for the first time, you could see a real trace of fear inside his face.

Because if truly the knight was still alive after all this, then they might as well abandon this crazy task of killing a Grandmaster.

Because even if they wanted to with all their heart and mind...their bodies truly couldn’t keep up.

Asael was on the verge of fainting, and he was putting all his will into just staying awake.

Kaden’s heart skipped a beat or two hearing his friend’s words. He bit his lips tightly and focused in front of him to see where the knight was. With his bloodied eyes, it was not easy—as the world was red for him—but after deep effort, he did see.

And what he found eased his throbbing heart but also made him feel fear.

The knight was indeed still alive, but his state was so harrowing that it was difficult to describe.

His knight’s armor had been completely and utterly ruined, leaving his body bare, but Kaden would have wished to not see that scene.

The knight didn’t have physical flesh. His whole body beneath the armor was only skeletal bones. They were grey, cracked bones that looked like one tap from a mundane human could shatter them.

But Kaden knew better by now than to trust his eyes.

He resisted a shudder and steeled himself before starting to walk toward the knight.

It looked like he couldn’t stand up, his skeletal body had been severed into two, but Kaden and Asael could see that it was starting to reattach itself soon.

So, supporting each other, they limped toward the knight in a very slow but steady manner.

An unnatural silence installed itself.

Each of their steps echoed loudly around the enclosed battlefield, sounding like the final echo of a battle, and behind them a trail of crimson and black blood was left behind.

The battlefield was filled with corpses and shattered ground, so the sight of two broken men walking through this nightmarish sight was...grievous.

Soon, they reached the knight. They expected to see his flickering black flaming eyes looking at them with malevolence, but what they saw left them stunned.

The knight’s eyes looked like normal human eyes. Simple black eyes that showed his emotions bare.

Confusion, joy, but also deep and unfathomable pain.

It was like he was asleep all this time and only now did he wake up, as if he was...corrupted and now he was free again.

A small smile curled up into his severed lips. It was...scary to say the least.

"Blood...death...war...shadow...ahhh how...how nostalgic..." he managed to utter, his voice filled with joy with an undertone of sadness.

He then glanced at Kaden.

"Oh...a candidate...sorry for showing you such a...ruined and corrupted death," he said, his voice genuinely remorseful.

Kaden and Asael were confused by all that was happening. They didn’t know what changed in this knight for him to act like this, but they would be damned if they ever entertained this dreadful Black Knight after all they had been through because of him.

And it might even be a ruse to stall for time.

So,

Kaden slowly raised his bony hand and put it on the knight’s face, now filled with blood.

He locked his cold deep blood-red eyes on him and couldn’t help but ask,

"Tell me, how do you see death now that you will be killed by an intermediate and master ranked duo?" he asked, his voice cold and emotionless.

The knight’s lips—if you could even call them that—curled upward.

And Kaden and Asael had never seen a smile sadder than this in all their lives.

Then he spoke:

"I...feel happy," he said, with an undertone of relief.

"Death is eternal rest. Death is peace. Death is neither cruel nor merciful, only neutral, only fair. He comes for all...king and beggar, god and mortal alike."

"So I am happy...because I know something greater than me faced this same death even if the means were different."

His expression shifted and became filled with indignation but also hatred.

"And that’s why...do not let such a beautiful truth be corrupted...do not let rest be ruined..."

He paused, then slowly continued—this time, his gaze bore deep into Kaden, as if able to see things unknown.

"And you...you, young man, blood favors you...death loves you...and you were born within the embrace of war..."

"So be worthy of them...be worthy of...Him."

Soon after his words, a black sphere appeared from his broken ribs. It was so black, so dreadful and full of death that the world around them was suddenly drowned in darkness—and the woe of death, the woe of the damned, the woe of those who wished for life but couldn’t, began to fill the air, causing Kaden and Asael to shudder with terror.

They looked around with dread, expecting some sort of attack, ready to strike one last time but before they acted on their thoughts...

"I, Nasari Ai D’Kadavre, The Black Knight of Death...acknowledge you," the knight, Nasari, said before the orb immediately entered Kaden’s body.

Kaden’s eyes widened, as if expecting something to happen but nothing did.

No pain...just nothing.

He looked back at the knight, ready to ask, but the knight was already looking at Asael, and his body was slowly disintegrating as if about to disappear.

"Heir of Shadow...shadows are not so easy to get rid of, right?" he asked, his voice filled with some unexplainable hope as only his torso remained.

Kaden suddenly felt an inexplicable wave of sadness surge inside his body, ready to drown him in an ocean of woe.

Asael smiled faintly with his bloodied face, "We are a tenacious bunch, you fiend," he said, making the knight’s face to ease.

"Then I am glad...I...am truly glad..."

At that point, only his head—or even a small part of it—was left before it finally disappeared, his voice echoing one last time through the destroyed battlefield filled with gore.

"Keep death pure, O you favored by Him."

And then silence reigned.

Kaden and Asael stood there side by side, looking at the empty spot where the knight was. They had expected to feel happy and relieved for finally being able to kill a Grandmaster...but all they were feeling was a deep sense of sorrow and pain.

Because now they saw a living—or maybe not anymore—example of a corrupted being.

Of a being who had been denied the mercy of death and ended up being caged in a dungeon to act like a guardian.

How pitiful.

’Keep Death pure.’

Kaden repeated the words of Nasari and strangely...these simple words made him feel an intense burden.

He slowly raised his head to the striking white ceiling then he opened his mouth,

"We survived. And your daughter...you will see your daughter again..." his voice was strained but there was a sense of relief inside it.

Asael chuckled lightly, "Kaden, my friend..."

"Yes..?"

He paused a moment then,

"You didn’t answer my question last time I asked you..."

He grinned mischievously.

"...are we friends now?"

Kaden was stunned by this question and was unable to respond for a moment, but soon, his expression eased. The sadness and the burden he was feeling also lessened dramatically.

A quiet smile appeared on his lips.

"Yes...yes we are friends, Asael."

And so, the two of them stand there —bloodied, but unbroken — amidst the corpses of thousands of corrupted, after killing a Grandmaster.

Yes...

They survived

—End of Chapter 176—