CHAPTER 946: FEELING INVINCIBLE

The first move was the wraith’s. A jagged rift split the air before Max, and from within it came a massive, spiraling spear of compressed void energy.

Max’s form blurred as Lightning Manifestation Armour ignited around him—crackling arcs racing across his black armor, his speed spiking instantly. He side-stepped mid-air, vanishing into a lightning streak, and in the same motion his sword cleaved down in Severing Flow Sword Art, splitting the spear into two halves that dissolved into nothing.

The wraith responded by twisting space behind him, attempting to crush him between two converging folds of reality.

Max’s body flashed white-hot—Star Flame Art activated, the weight in his limbs increasing tenfold, forcing his movements to carry unstoppable momentum. His flames burned pure white, radiant like the cores of newborn stars, and with one sweeping slash he unleashed Void Severance Slash, splitting open a massive, stable gap in the spatial folds, forcing the wraith to retreat.

It roared without sound—a shockwave that shattered the ground for miles—and then rifts all around him spat out countless void spears.

Max’s eyes narrowed; his sword flickered, becoming nothing but streaks of light—Soul Sword Art unleashed. His blade danced at impossible speed, deflecting and cutting apart every incoming spear, the rapid clashing sounding like a storm of ringing steel.

Even the wraith’s afterimage-filled movements seemed sluggish before the blinding flurry of strikes.

But the wraith adapted. Space bent beneath Max’s feet, sucking him toward a spinning black vortex. Without hesitation, he planted his stance, invoking Sky Shattering Sword Art—his aura hardened into Unyielding Sword Art - first move, a blade of sheer will that shattered the gravitational pull in an instant.

His follow-up, Heaven Defying Sword - second move, cut a perfect, jagged crack through the vortex itself, sending ripples through the void. The wraith recoiled, its form momentarily destabilizing.

Max’s eyes sharpened. He activated Invincible Sword Domain - third move, the sky around him filling with countless illusory swords, each one vibrating with killing intent. Every sword pointed toward the wraith as he gathered power into a single strike—One Sword - All Conquered.

The world seemed to still for a moment... and then his blade fell. Space screamed as the wraith was carved through, its void essence spilling apart in pieces.

But it wasn’t dead. Far from it. The Eclipsing Rift Wraith’s form reassembled in an instant, rifts opening all around Max. Purple-black lightning erupted from them, mixing the destructive force of space with the searing bite of lightning.

Max gritted his teeth, summoning the Heaven-Piercing Thunderclap Sword. The first form struck—a single upward slash that detonated in a pillar of lightning, cutting apart two rifts. The second form blurred into the third, each strike faster, sharper, and heavier.

By the seventh form, the sky itself seemed to be drowning in violet arcs. The ninth form fell with a soundless flash—so fast it seemed to happen in the space between moments—splitting the wraith’s body from crown to core.

The creature howled, its body unraveling, but desperation made it summon one final, massive spatial rift, big enough to engulf the battlefield. Max’s grip tightened on his sword. His flames erupted again—black and star-white intertwined, wrapping the blade as he channeled his last, most devastating art—Crimson Burial Sword Art: Burial of Nine Suns.

Nine blazing spheres of star-flames flared into existence behind him, each one burning so bright the leaders watching had to shield their eyes.

With a roar, Max swung his sword, and the nine suns merged into a single, all-consuming wave of death and destruction. The space rift cracked like glass, the wraith’s form splintered and burned, its screams swallowed in the white-black inferno.

But it wasn’t over. Only a heartbeat after being torn apart, the wraith’s fractured body rippled and knit itself back together, its warped, shimmering form returning to its peak as though nothing had happened.

Max’s eyes narrowed, his brows furrowing in frustration. ’Damn... how am I supposed to kill this thing?’ That thought barely had time to settle before the creature vanished—space bending violently—and reappeared right in front of him, stepping out of a rift like a phantom.

Max’s instincts screamed. In that split second, the perception granted by his Three Dimensional Body flared, and without hesitation, he drew upon his mastery of space to teleport himself out of the danger zone.

A sharp whoosh followed as reality folded, flinging him away from the strike. But the wraith was relentless. It blinked into existence again—this time faster—forcing Max to warp space once more to avoid its blade. He escaped, but not without cost; a burning sting bloomed on his upper chest.

When he glanced down, a shallow yet deep-looking wound gaped there, a clean chunk of flesh simply missing as though carved away from existence.

’It’s ignoring my defense completely...’ Max realized with a cold shiver that the true danger of this last wraith wasn’t just its speed or power—it was its ability to bypass all protection. There was no room left to hold back.

Without hesitation, he called upon the Storm King’s Inheritance. Red lightning began to crackle violently across his body, arcs dancing from his fingertips to his shoulders.

He activated the second form—Extreme Speed—and his body became a blur of unstable energy. But he didn’t stop there. His jaw clenched, his eyes burning with determination as he overstepped the most dangerous rule of the inheritance: he layered the third form—Heaven’s Wraith—on top of it.

The inheritance had explicitly warned against such recklessness, stating that no expert should activate Heaven’s Wraith while Extreme Speed was running; the combined toll on the body would cripple it after a single use.

But Max no longer cared. This was life or death, and hesitation was the same as surrender.

In the next moment, his entire figure blazed in an aura of crimson-red lightning so intense it seemed to tear at the air itself. Each crackle carried a destructive might that could pulverize mountains, and his presence became like a living thunderstorm.

He extended one hand toward the space wraith, curling his fingers in a beckoning gesture, his lips forming a single word dripping with confidence and challenge. "Come."

At that moment, Max felt like a force beyond mortal comprehension—Heaven’s Wraith gifting him the raw, annihilating power of lightning while Extreme Speed wrapped him in the unpredictable swiftness of a storm’s strike. Coupled with his mastery of four different concepts at the third level, his aura was nothing short of invincible.