Shadow of the Abyss

Chapter 314 Lilith and Syris III

Amidst the clash of Altair and Varis, hurling blows powerful enough to topple mountains raged across dawn and twilight as their weapons thundered across the heavens.

Varis was like a fiend, his face twisted into something that couldn't resemble man but a monster from the deepest pit of hell. The battle should have ended twelve hours ago amidst their first clash, or so he believed, as his spear crossed against the flying Vale Sword. He couldn't believe such power could exist in a sword made out of raw energy.

More than that, he couldn't believe it came from someone who was only a third circle.

'No! He should be nearly out of Mana!' Varis thought, craning his head as Altair blitzed his flank. His spear moved to intercept the sword, lancing towards his throat. He grimaced, embers flaring across his pupils, striking across flesh like the lashing of rain against the earth.

"You're getting slower," Altair told him, unleashing a flurry of blows that put the Gaint on the defensive.

Varis snarled, caught in a whirlwind of sword light, when two Vale Swords launched a surprise attack from his rear, embedding themselves into Varis's shoulder. The wounds were deep but not enough to deter movement.

Ding

[Sword of the Vale proficiency has increased by 4%]

[Sword of the Abyss has multiplied proficiency by 2x]

Sword of the Vale [F]

Proficiency: 17% —> 25%

Sword Limit: 2

'Why can't I sense those swords?' Varis wondered, gritting his teeth. He was forced to rely on his eyesight to battle Altair. He'd heard of this technique but had never experienced it before. The elders who had lived through their Crucible had spoken of it.

Shadowheart

'Damn it. How does Altair possess such a powerful domain?'

"Oi, don't be thinking of foolish things," Altair said, suddenly vanishing to Varis's shock. Eyes flailing wide, he felt a set of five fingers seize him by the face, hurling him from across the skies.

Varis flared his Mana, trying to activate the power held within his cells that allowed him to instinctually control space to propel flight to seize him. A mistake. The moment he stopped, Altair's cold boot gently settled itself on top of his forehead. Varis heard it then, the wails of the dead, as an unholy energy pulsed.

Desolate Descent

The Vale bore its fangs, lashing into Varis's head with the very shattering force that tore him from the skies in a gaping pillar of black light and onto the earth below.

"I can't seem to break through his defensive without a surprise attack," Altair said, looking past the mushroom cloud cresting the horizon. Each attack that held any significant power enough to land a lethal blow was parried with the help of his Giant Instants.

Shadowheart, which allowed one to mask the user's intent in their heart, allowed him to damage Varis, who couldn't sense his Vale Swords, but the damage was insignificant. It would be easily healed since he couldn't maintain his necrotic flame constantly.

"Altair!" roared the Giant, baring his fangs. The mushroom cloud obscuring his eyes was whipped away by the fog of Mana connecting towards the skies. The sting of humiliation flaring across his face, Varis rose into the heavens. Thunderclouds gathered as his fury seemed to tarnish the Mana itself.

This surprised the Emperor. He'd known that emotions could affect the world, the Mana, which was otherwise neutral unless acted upon by an outside force. It was just that he'd never seen another sentient being perform such an act. It felt sticky… as if trapped by a strange essence.

Your next journey awaits at empire

"Disgusting," he muttered, shooting a measured stare toward his opponent, bleeding tendrils of dense Mana from off his person. He stood at eye level, glaring at the Prince of the Vale with such hate it could be felt.

The rumbles of thunder rolled across the heavens as Varis' energy continued to grow, igniting some strange law that locked space down.

Varis lifted a palm, and the heavens wept, drizzling a hail storm of rain across the realm. The rain felt heavy. Infused with Mana, it struck the stone below like bolts of plasma, then actual rain.

Altair allowed a frown to tarnish his features, sparingly choosing to use the Mana he'd reserved for flight to invoke a barrier. He looked towards the Heavens, down towards Varis, when he saw a strange matrix materialize in his palm—a semi-transparent three-dimensional cube.

The skies suddenly became lined with strange veins of Mana, creating a similar cube around the space around Lord Blackwood.

"Die for me!" said Varis, clenching his fist that held the cube.

World Breaker

Altair sneered, feeling space contract; he grinned soon after, realizing this was the same spell Varis had used to seize him last time, just more formed than before. However, he was prepared this time, slashing his sword across space with Severing Edge, empowered not by Mana but by Vale Qi.

Varis, along with the other gods, gaped as space was torn asunder to reveal the Emperor, smiling at him.

"That…That…That was a transcendent spell," Varis muttered.

"And my sword art is of a higher grade," Altair revealed, pulling Vale Qi from the black lake in his astral sea into his meridians when a thought occurred to him. 'What would happen if I channeled Vale Qi into my Vale Stars.'

[Ding]

Vale Manipulation D]

Proficiency: .001% ?19%

He could do as much. Raven had taught him for nearly six months on how to better manipulate the Essence of the Vale.

Altair started with one star. Pushing the unclaimed essence from the still black lake into the outside world, tendrils of black qi latched onto a single vale star.

[Fallen Moon Imperfection has Awakened]

[The Attribute of Almighty has now been infused in all Magic]

[Mana consumption has been divided.]

[Space has become unstable due to the Presence of the Prince of the Vale]]

[Warning]

[Dead Laws are preparing to descend]

[Warning!]

[Dead Laws are birthing around the Prince of the Vale]

[Error]

[Error]

[Error]

[Calling for Administrator]

[The brand of the Golden Crucible has begun to crumble.]

[Prince of the Vale has rejected existence]

"What the fuck!" Altair muttered as Heaven and Earth toppled, crumpling like sands through his fingers. Space that was once like stone seemed more like a strange liquid melting to reveal a void beyond description. Empty and vast, it called to him like the lake in his mind.

"That'll be enough of that!" Said Lu Chen, snapping his fingers and reverting everything before Altair understood what had happened. "Altair… why don't you stop? I'd hate to kill you," he said, looking at him coldly.

Stunned, Altair immediately stopped channeling energy into his vale star. A coldness instantly treaded the lines of his cells, and for a moment, he felt naked—truly naked.

'Was that my perfect state of being?' he had to wonder, looking down at his fully clothed self.

"Why are you stopping us?" Varis barked.

Lu Chen slapped him. "Shut up, fool. If any of the administrators descended, they'd have killed you both. " He said, grimacing to himself, blaming his Master inwardly. "I'll not allow Dead Laws to descend in my realm. Try that shit on a higher floor; that'll be equipped for such things."

"Well said."

The voice chilled the hearts of everyone present, Lu Chen included, who instantly drew his sword, spinning on his heel, but the stranger was already behind him, staring strangely at Altair.

"Altair Blackwood, right?" the man asked. His smile did not quite reach his eyes, but Altair knew him. Everyone within the hells and heavens knew this man—the Almighty Conflagration of Heaven and Earth.

"Mephisto…" Altair muttered, a strange tightening coiling around his chest at those serpent-red eyes of his.

Mephisto grinned, glancing down at the boy's right arm. "You've got a lot to explain to Cain and Azura." he looked back to Altair. "They'll give hell for all this. Especially now that I'm here."

"What do you want?" Altair managed to say, unsure where this fear came from.

"Relax. I'm not here to kill you. I don't like killing potential allies."

"I could be your enemy," Altair said.

"Even better," Mephisto replied. "With enemies, I don't have to scheme to keep them alive."

That left Altair breathless.

Mephisto laughed. "Relax, boy. As I said, I'm not here to kill you. I'm curious about something."

"Lord Mephisto, I don't think someone of your station should be converting with Altair." Lu Chen said respectfully, shooting Altair a look that read, 'Give him everything he wants.'

"Don't interrupt me, " Mephisto said in a stony voice, not bothering to glance at a member of the Omnis ranking.

Knowing sought to grant some sort of foresight but was propelled by the creature's mere presence, smiling at Altair.

"I wish to know your mate's location. Raina Blackwood."

"My Wife?"

'My Niece," Mpehisto said playfully. "Fallen, Angels, and Nephilims are all family."

Altair's thoughts whirled as he considered answering, but the words came to his lips before he knew what had happened: "I don't know. Eh?"

"Don't mind it, "Mephisto said, grinning. You broke so many rules just now. It's my right to exterminate you, but killing you won't serve any good. You're still just a kid, too young for me to play with. I just want information."

"I can't lie?"

"You can. Channel that strange energy into those stars of yours, and you'll regain faculties, but…"

"You'll notice and kill me."

Mephisto scratched his cheek as if caught. "Well… I did say I wouldn't kill you. No. I'm just curious about little Ren. Is she alive?"

"Of course!" Altair blurted out, cursing that strange power compelling him to speak. He couldn't even sense it, yet there it was.

"Who has her?"

The scarlets of Altair's eyes turned to black as the essence of the Vale began to resist the strange energy playing at his soul; Mephisto's grin only deepened.

"I don't know you."

"Then give her a message for me," Mephisto said, pulling out a pocket watch. He was late. He was always late. "Here. Give that to her." He tapped him on the head, shooting him a goodbye wink. "And don't be scared of Azura and Cain.

You'll be on their level soon."

And he was gone.

Altair's lips trembled. "Why… Why does he feel like an uncle of sorts? Wait? If I'm technically a Nephilim, does that make him my uncle?"