CHAPTER 774: BEYOND SEVERANCE

"Don’t you get tired of this song and dance? You chase me, I walk away. You keep chasing me and I keep walking away. I choose to fight, you choose to skirmish. Then I walk away and you just keep chasing." Tiamat narrowed her eyes.

Two figures stood in front of her.

One familiar, one unfamiliar.

"Well it’s either we keep repeating this over and over or you give up trying to free the sealed Lords. Your era is long over Tiamat. I cannot in good conscience allow you guys to roam free." Allura smirked as Tiamat let out a heavy sigh.

"Look at yourself. Broken beyond belief and yet you still keep being an absolute pain in the ass. I’ve taken pity on you Allura, to not kill you while you’re down. Or is my judgment of you wrong? Do you fit the philosophy of the Eclipse better? To die in the heat of battle?" Tiamat glared.

The world around her began to lose its colour with energy gathering around her at an abnormal rate.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would’ve already. I’m simply pushing my luck at this point." Allura chuckled, matching the surge of energy as flames burst out from her fists.

Veins bulged on Tiamat’s neck as she heard Allura’s nonchalant attitude.

All this time, she had pitied the woman broken past her years. A blazing will dragging that husk of a body along. And yet she continued to annoy her to this extent.

"Fine then, have it your way." Tiamat snapped.

Clasping her hands together, a cage was instantly formed around the area, preventing them from escaping. Countless flaming dragon heads manifested in the sky above, each gathering energy and condensing it into a spark before firing!

*RUMBLE!!!

A maelstrom of blazing fury exploded out but Tiamat was not done yet.

She knew full well how tenacious Allura is. She is someone who’s managed to survive this long despite having a body that’s basically dead!

A pair of draconic wings unfurled behind Tiamat.

She’ll show Allura why she was given the title of Apocalypse!

Beneath her, countless symbols spun to life as rings of energy connected them all to one another.

Above each symbol, a spark of raw unfiltered energy began to form a tether towards Tiamat as flames converged towards her.

The air split and crackled, flickers of energy ripping through the atmosphere as Tiamat’s wings covered the sun. Her crimson rage darkening the world as though she was doom incarnate.

*BANG!!!

Tiamat soared towards the sky. There was no reason for her to stay so close to the ground. What she desires right now was the erasure of Allura!

Behind her, glowing pylons of energy erupted from her bath, latching onto the tethers shot out from her sparks.

The ring began to deconstruct itself, orbiting Tiamat like celestial bodies. Each turn, each cycle, formed a spiral, a weave of energy in front of her.

"Allura!!!" Gin shouted in a panic, seeing the calamity that’s about to befall them.

Gritting his teeth, he grabbed some medicine from his inner pocket and tossed them into his mouth.

His Sigils flared to life and the space above him was torn in half! Beyond the veil, the avatar of death clawed its way out. Darkness latched onto Gin’s body, forming a tattered cloak as his flesh began to peel away, revealing a withered skeletal frame.

Resonance!

Tiamat’s eyes blazed with an apocalyptic fury.

She has shown them mercy, she had allowed them to leave. Yet they refuse to backdown.

Then so be it.

Gathering energy into her fist, Tiamat punched up towards the sky! From her fist, a line of energy tore through the realm, shattering the barriers that held the world together!

A raging inferno poured down from the sky, twisting, converging into a massive sphere of annihilation. And from within this spear, a blinding light so bright it darkened the sun itself.

A light so bright that it transformed their world into a world of shades. All colour erased.

Pulses of heat burst out from the sphere. Each pulse setting the world around them ablaze, all moisture evaporated in an instant.

Gin, despite under the protection of his avatar, found his body being set on fire. He wanted to fight back, to unleash an attack to counter this orb, to prevent it from converging but a suffocating pressure bore down on him from all directions.

An invisible pressure that eliminated all acts of defiance.

Tiamat clenched her fist, condensing the sphere to the size of her fingertip.

It all ends here.

Tiamat flicked the spark towards the spiral tether of energy that she had created.

Three seconds till extinction event.

"I know that I’ve grown weaker as the years have gone by. But aren’t you in the same situation? Your seals are almost completely gone but you can’t even kill a woman on the verge of death! How you’ve fallen Tiamat!" Allura’s voice burst out from the clouds below.

Pushing the clouds of dust away from her, Allura revealed her Resonance and aimed her Executioner’s Blade towards Tiamat.

Two seconds till extinction event.

"You ask me why I kept bothering you for days on end well let me give you my answer! I was judging whether or not I could still kill you! And guess f*cking what you dumb lizard! I CAN!" Allura laughed, blood pouring from the seams of her armour.

One second till extinction event.

As Alice’s guardian, Allura’s task was to pave a way for a safer future. Having Tiamat go around destroying the seals of the Old Lords was not going to benefit them at all. Especially with the hatred that’s been accumulating over the years.

Thus, this was her task as a guardian.

Of course, she wouldn’t just blindly throw herself into danger no matter how desperate she may be. Time was limited but that did not mean she should give up on being prudent.

And so she began to test Tiamat.

Test her powers over the course of several days.

While she may have broken out, the seals have done their job. Her powers have dropped drastically.

Had this been Tiamat in her prime, Allura wouldn’t even dream of fighting her in her current state.

In fact, Tiamat in her prime would’ve killed her during their first exchange. There would be no chance for skirmishes, no chance for talking.

But this? This was manageable. Even for a walking corpse like herself.

Severance is the action of cutting.

To sever, to isolate, to bisect.

But what lies beyond severance? What lies beyond the horizon of the absolute authority of severance?

"Beyond it lies only Oblivion." Allura smiled.

Extin/ction Ev/ent imm/anent.

*Bzzpt

Tiamat froze.

She stared at Allura who erased everything that Tiamat had sent towards the earth.

"Oi. . ." Tiamat muttered, her eyes slowly turning bloodshot as veins bulged on her neck.

Allura smirked.

"Hah! Seems like you’ve noticed."

"Oi! What the hell did you do!?" Tiamat roared, raising her hands and trying to gather her energy once more only for it to dissipate.

"Oblivion. Only that." Allura replied, her resonance fading away and revealing her bloodied self.

Blood pouring from her lips as she fell backwards towards the earth.

Tiamat gritted her teeth.

She underestimated Allura. She should’ve dodged! Unlike her previous attacks, that one was not infused with the authority of Severance! It could’ve been dodged! Yet she had believed it wouldn’t harm her!

She didn’t feel the threat of death!

She didn’t sense any danger!

But that was the key.

What lies beyond Severance was Oblivion.

It did not require the desire to kill for that was never Allura’s goal.

What she desired in that moment, was erasure.

When Allura’s attack collided, what it erased was not the attack.

What it erased was the core principles behind it.

Tiamat’s method of casting. The rituals and contracts she put in place in order to draw out her maximum power.

What Allura used the power of Oblivion on, was Tiamat’s habits and knowledge accumulated over the course of her life.

Like an artist who knows the core techniques needed for art yet their projects continue to deteriorate, Tiamat can never reach the same peak using her tried and true method.

She had to start over from the beginning. To discover something new.

And with this, Allura has also erased Tiamat’s ability to unseal her fellow brethren.

"I know I can’t kill you. Had I tried to use Oblivion to try and erase you, you would’ve discovered its weakness. But what I can do is piss you off like I’ve been doing the last few days." Allura let out a laugh as Gin caught her just before she collided against the ground.

"Let’s leave Gin, we’re done here." Allura’s vision blurred. Her breathing was weak as she pushed her body beyond the limit once more.

All so that she could erase one more danger for Alice in the future at the cost of her time.

"Do you think I’ll let you leave so easily!?" Tiamat screamed, preparing to attack once more but Allura glared at her.

Even though she’s weakened, Tiamat felt her body freeze up.

"I’m sure you have more important matters at hand. Shouldn’t you figure out how to cast again? Or is the mighty Lord of Apocalypse going to die to a sh*tty geezer, unable to do anything?" Allura grinned with Gin preparing to attack if needed.

Seeing Tiamat hold her tongue, the two of them stepped away from the battlefield, leaving the old lord behind.

Staring at their retreating silhouettes, Tiamat felt a seething rage like no other.

But she couldn’t deny the power of Allura’s Oblivion. It’s as she said.

Right now, she is merely a vessel for power but lacking the tools needed to unleash it.

She has been crippled for the moment. Her wings clipped and bound.

As Tiamat’s rage hit its peak, she unleashed a cry of anger. A fury that could be felt in the bones of all who heard her cry.