CHAPTER 175: CHAPTER 175: BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL [4]

Chapter 175 – Battle for Survival [4]

"Domain: Ruined Death."

The voice echoed, and a wave of power pulsed outward from the Black Knight and enveloped the three of them—elf undead, Kaden, and Asael—before dragging them into his domain.

A domain of death, but a ruined death... a corrupted death.

The previous striking white ceiling disappeared, and in its place was a cracking grey-black sky that looked like it might collapse at any instant. The very space around them mirrored the sky, showing cracks here and there that spread as far as their eyes could see.

The domain’s atmosphere was harrowing. It was filled with dust—some black, some grey.

The black ones decayed everything they touched, siphoning life with a dreadful hunger, and the grey ones... the grey ones made you lose your mind and your will until you became a fully corrupted being under the Black Knight’s command.

And... these dusts were everywhere, so they were inevitable. Added to that, the domain applied immense pressure to any enemy, so right now...

Kaden and Asael were both on their knees, the dust swirling around them, the pressure of the domain crushing them under a weight that turned every breath into a nightmare.

"This... this is a domain?" Kaden managed to open his dry lips and spoke, terror evident in his voice. He just couldn’t help it. What he was feeling right now was beyond his wildest imagination. It was like the whole world was against him, doing everything it could to bury him alive.

Asael chuckled dryly, "Yes, my friend... yes, it is." His usual jovial tone had faded, and only grimness remained. He already knew that winning against the Black Knight would be difficult, but as they say...

...you never truly understand something until you experience it. And by then, maybe it’s too late.

They gritted their teeth and started using their abilities to fend off the dust before they became corrupted or die. Though, deep inside, they doubted they would die.

With how they had killed all his corrupted undead, the Black Knight would take them as replacements.

And that was far worse.

So right now...

"It’s now or never, my friend. If you have any idea how to get out of this situation, I’ll name my future son Kaden," Asael said with a low chuckle as he slowly stood up, his black flames laced with intent enveloping his battered and bloodied body.

Kaden’s lips curled up as he stood too—albeit with more effort—as his Flame of Blood and both his intents enveloped his...

Well.

Kaden’s body was dreadful to describe. His right hand had been burned so badly that even now, his healing ability couldn’t fix it and all you could see was deep skeletal bone.

His body was bruised and cut, covered in blood, and marked with deep punches from the Knight. His hair was damp and stuck to his face like glue.

Truly... he was on his last leg.

But he still got up and stood beside Asael, unbending.

Crimson flame and black flame side by side, facing a being who stared at them with flaming black eyes that looked ready to burn their souls for eternity.

"Heir of Shadow... you are stubborn," the Knight said, his voice reverberating across the domain like a god speaking.

Asael smirked madly. "Didn’t you know, you fiend? Shadows aren’t so easy to get rid of... especially in a world already full of darkness like you," he said with spite in his voice, as he readied his stance.

The Knight held his gaze on him for a moment, then turned to Kaden.

A deep shiver ran through Kaden the moment that gaze settled on him. It was like he was being peeled open, his very soul under the microscope. In that moment, he felt like a lab rat under the gaze of a mad scientist.

It was eerie. It was harrowing. But most of all... Kaden felt fear.

"Half fragment of Death..." the Knight spoke again, this time with a tone of surprise, but also...

"Just in time."

...delight.

The moment those words echoed, the Knight already acted.

In a single second—no, less than that—he was in front of Kaden. His armored hand moved like a venomous serpent and gripped Kaden’s throat so tightly that the veins around his head and neck began to burst from the sheer pressure.

His vision turned red as tears of blood poured from his eyes, his ears, his nose. He was utterly lost, not even knowing where he was anymore, but—

"KADEN!!!" Asael’s shout snapped him back just a moment before he lost consciousness, and immediately after...

"F-Flame of Blood..." Kaden muttered weakly, sacrificing almost all of his blood to fuel his skill and—

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!

The flames exploded like a violent crimson storm, crashing down on the Knight, burning away the first half of his death mana. But what made the Knight pause—what made his flaming eyes widen in visible shock as the flames died down—was the fact his bloodline... his bloodline power had been severely weakened.

He raised his head in disbelief to look at Kaden, who was coughing blood and glaring at him with deep, feral eyes.

Asael emerged from the shadows beside him, helping him remain upright. Their expressions were grim.

Extremely grim.

At this point, the hope of victory was slipping through their fingers, leaking from their thoughts little by little as they began to confront reality.

No Intermediate and Master-ranked duo could win against a Grandmaster.

Yes. It just wasn’t possible.

Their current states proved it. Everything was against them. The place they were trapped in was the Knight’s domain, slowly killing them. And the Knight himself stood here, eyes filled with so much malevolence you couldn’t help but shudder under his gaze.

They were... doomed.

But...

"I-It’s not over..." Kaden said with a deep, murderous tone as he coughed up blood and pieces of organ from his dry, cracked lips. He raised his head and locked his blood-red eyes on the Knight.

"It’s... not over," he repeated as he limped forward, staggering, choosing to stand without Asael’s support. He gripped Reditha so tightly that she trembled in his hand, sensing the storm raging inside her master.

A deep, seething rage... and a killing intent that shattered the air around him.

It was overwhelming...so overwhelming that his intents activated on their own and began distorting the objective reality.

The Knight frowned, but just as he was about to act, the elf undead—who had remained silent until now—suddenly moved.

She lunged toward him, her body shining with a pure, intense, immaculately hot white flame. In this dark-grey domain, she looked like a falling sun... a white sun crashing down.

And it did.

A wave of blistering, earthshaking destruction followed, shaking the domain to its very foundations with instability.

It gave Kaden and Asael the perfect moment to act.

Kaden smiled, blood dripping between his teeth.

"Asael... isn’t it time to go back to your daughter?" he said, his voice hoarse with pain but filled with unyielding conviction.

Asael mirrored his smile. "I think coming back with an uncle might earn me her forgiveness... don’t you think, my friend?"

Kaden laughed loudly, eyes filled with untamed madness.

"I will be the best uncle, my friend," he said with a deep grin, then added, "If you’ve got any enhancement skill... enhance my sword." He immediately raised his right hand, his eyes closing in deep focus.

’Reditha... time to surpass our limit.’

And with those words, Reditha trembled violently and shifted.

No longer a red and beautiful katana but a cluster of crimson blood, thinning until it looked like Kaden was holding a thread of blood. He immediately applied Flame of Blood, Soulbrand, and both of his intents.

This time, he poured in all the blood he had gathered during their time in the dungeon—even almost all of his own—sacrificing it all to fuel the Flame.

And then... a sight unlike anything before appeared.

A bloodied young man, madness coursing through his blood-red eyes, raised his bony black skeletal hand, holding his precious weapon.

It was... eerily magnificent.

Reditha began glowing with an intense crimson light, streaked with blue stars. So intense that even the domain seemed to bleed, stained with crimson as if it were suffering.

At that moment, the Knight finally dispersed the white flame, his armor slightly burn... but it was too late.

Because when his eyes landed on the glowing threads in Kaden’s hand, all the shadows — every single one of them —moved like a tidal wave of darkness on a stormy night and wrapped around Reditha as Kaden slashed downward.

For a moment... there was a vision.

A vision of blood, death, and shadow dancing together in sacrilegious, unholy beauty...

...before the domain, along with the Black Knight, were split in two.

—End of Chapter 175—