CHAPTER 61: SECOND MESSENGER EMERGED

Despite the rage boiling inside her, the Messenger couldn’t help but chuckle. To her, the setup was laughable. Seth’s rifle gleamed under the dim glow of the crater’s bottom, confirming what she assumed all along.

"A sniper, huh?" she sneered, her whip slithering and snapping sparks against the ground. "And you drag me down here of all places where I can see everything, where there’s nowhere to hide, and where I can close the distance in a heartbeat? You basically stripped yourself of your only advantage." She threw her head back and laughed mockingly.

But Seth didn’t flinch. Instead, he tilted his head with a calm grin, as if she had just walked right into the trap she couldn’t see. Sora, beside him, matched his expression with a confident smirk.

"You really think I’m at a disadvantage here?" Seth said coolly, raising his rifle and letting its core glow pulse with energy. "You might want to think again."

Seth immediately squeezed the trigger. The rifle bursted, and the bullet streaked through the underground like a green comet, aura crackling in its wake. The Messenger narrowed her eyes, tilted her head, and let it hiss past her cheek.

But before the smirk could fully form on her lips, the bullet curved unnaturally midair, bending its path like a serpent, snapping back toward the back of her skull.

"Serpent Bullet." Seth muttered.

Most enemies would have been floored, stunned by the impossible trick. But this was different. With razor instincts, the Messenger flicked her whip behind her, striking the bullet just before impact. A deafening bang echoed as the shot exploded harmlessly against the cavern wall, spraying dust and rock.

"That’s quite the trick you got there," she muttered, her grin sharp and cold. "But now that I’ve seen it, it’s useless."

Seth only smirked, his rifle still humming with aura energy. "Yeah, looks like it. Guess you’ll just have to worry about my other tricks. Better not let your guard down."

Before the Messenger could snap back, a shadow fell from above. Sora descended like a burning star, spinning midair with molten daggers in each hand. Flames coiled and bloomed along her blades, igniting the chamber in crimson light.

"Don’t forget about me!" she shouted. "Red Bloom Drive!"

The cavern shuddered as her daggers slashed down in a blazing arc toward the Messenger.

But the Messenger was no pushover. With a sharp flick of her wrists, both psionic whips lashed out, coiling around Sora’s fiery strike. She twisted, redirecting the force with terrifying precision, and sent Sora crashing through the air.

Sora spun midair before landing in a crouch, her boots skidding across the crater floor until she ground to a halt. She exhaled sharply, daggers blazing hotter.

Tch! This Messenger is no joke. Even with the numbers against her, she doesn’t feel like she’s at a disadvantage at all. Sora thought as her grip tightened on her molten blades.

She darted forward again, fire trailing her steps, this time in sync with Seth’s aura laced sniper fire. Bullets screamed across the chamber, weaving into her assault, all powerful enough to deal devastating damage.

But the Messenger didn’t flinch. Her whips cracked, one striking against Sora’s relentless slashes, the other snapping and coiling to deflect Seth’s ricocheting rounds. Sparks and shockwaves filled the cavern, every clash sending out violent gusts of psionic wind against Sora’s molten heat.

The ground cracked, walls cratered, and the underground field twisted with their violent exchange. To the naked eye, Seth’s shots looked like they were going wide, slamming into stone and tearing chunks of earth. But behind his calm smirk, every so-called "miss" was deliberate, each bullet embedding itself at precise points, creating a web of ricocheting angles around the Messenger.

Seth’s intent was simple, destroy the terrain, choke the battlefield with rubble, and carve out cover where a sniper shouldn’t logically thrive. In the chaos of falling stone and shattered earth, he vanished into the mess, his aura suppressing as he slipped into shadows no one expected in such close quarters.

The Messenger’s eyes darted through the debris field, but her focus couldn’t stay fixed, Sora was already pressing in with a storm of molten strikes, each swing of her daggers growing sharper, faster, hotter. Sparks and psionic flares crackled at every clash, forcing the Messenger to commit her full strength just to parry.

Tch, that sniper’s clever. He’s turned this pit into his nest, and I can’t track him if I’m barely holding this girl back. And she’s adapting. Every second she’s just getting faster, stronger, reading me better.

Her jaw clenched as she whipped both lashes outward, carving deep trenches in the ground. I can’t let this drag out. If I don’t shut them down now, I’ll be the one cornered.

In an attempt to bring an end to being pushed back, The Messenger slammed both of her whips into the ground, sending psionic waves throughout the area, slamming all rubble into the dust and sending Sora backwards with it as she used her daggers to block the wave. In just a split second, the battlefield was clear again, and Seth’s advantage was immediately put down with the rubble.

"That’s better, I can see you pretty clearly now." Said the Messenger as she dashed forward towards Seth.

"Seth!" Sora yelled.

Seth quickly slung his sniper rifle to his back and grabbed his twin pistols in a swift motion. To the Messenger’s surprise, Seth was agile with his body and feet, dodging and spinning to evade all of her attacks. His movements weren’t that of a typical sniper, he fought like someone who had studied every angle, every step, moving with precision instead of brute speed like a seasoned assassin.

But despite dodging, Seth found himself in a place where he was easily cornered. The Messenger’s whips lashed down like striking vipers, cutting off every exit. He knew that in terms of speed and strength, he was outmatched, but he had a trick up his sleeve.

"Core Release: Silent Crescent." Seth whispered under his breath.

In an instant, everything around him seemed to slow down. His heartbeat steadied and his breathing synced with the rhythm of the air. His senses sharpened, clearly seeing everything, every speck of dust suspended in midair, every ripple in the wind, every twitch in the Messenger’s muscles before her whips descended.

He saw the Messenger slowed down, her body descending like she was trapped in water, coming at him from above and sending her whips downward with crushing force. But to Seth, it was as if he had all the time in the world.

In a quick moment, Seth raised his pistols and fired two bullets, each one covered in green aura, their trajectory bending slightly mid-flight as though guided by his will. The shots landed clean, striking the Messenger’s shoulders before she could even adjust, forcing her whips slightly off course.

Without hesitation, Seth slipped forward and rolled under her, the world still moving in slow motion through his Core Release. He could hear the grinding friction of her whips scraping the ground above him, the sound stretching out unnaturally as if time itself was bending. He emerged from the roll on her blind side, pistols already aimed, his breathing calm, his stance unbroken.

The Messenger skidded across the ground, her landing heavier than intended, eyes narrowing in annoyance as she realized blood was running down her arms from the shoulder wounds. She twisted her neck, glaring at Seth.

"Agh!" The Messenger groaned. "How did you?"

Unlike when he fought Gray with his Core Release where pain throbbed through every fiber of his body and exhaustion clawed at him with every movement, this time Seth felt only calm and serenity. It was as if he had become one with his power, no backlash, no restraints, nothing to weigh him down. His heart was steady, his mind clear. For the first time, it was a controlled power, the fruit of their relentless training and rigorous Drive Core conditioning. A small smile tugged at his lips, as if fate itself was rewarding his endless effort to achieve this level of mastery he once thought unreachable.

And then, as if to hammer down the certainty of their momentum, Sora’s voice rang out.

"Core Release: Overload Drive."

A surge of crimson light flared around her body as she launched her dagger forward. The blade sliced through the air, and in the blink of an eye, Sora vanished, reappearing right where her weapon had flown. The Messenger raised her whips to intercept, but she quickly realized the trap. Sora’s second dagger was already spinning high above.

In an instant, Sora’s form shimmered, vanishing again from the Messenger’s front and materializing above her in midair.

At that exact moment, Seth’s pistols roared, precise bullets tearing toward the Messenger’s direction. They smashed into the length of her psionic whips, sparks and psionic bursts erupting as a thick smoke cloud engulfed the battlefield.

Through the haze, Sora’s silhouette appeared, descending from above in a spinning arc, her crimson energy bursting like a flower in bloom.

"Red Bloom Drive!"

But instead of panic, the Messenger only smiled. The smoke swirled around her, and through the haze, her voice cut sharp and mocking.

"Enough playtime." Her eyes gleamed with venomous confidence as the whips slithered back into her hands like living serpents. "I, Valerie, 2nd Messenger of Shikkoku, shall put you all in place."

Her lips curved into a smirk as her aura exploded outward, distorting the air around her.

"Core Release: Viper Pit!"