CLEAVER OF SIN

A bone whip tore in from the side, but Asher simply sidestepped with ridiculous efficiency, his body weaving with effortless grace as though he had foreseen it long before it came.

Virelass streaked forward in a blur of gold and silver, its blade singing as it beautifully hacked the jagged bone whip into shreds, scattering the fragments like splintered glass across the battlefield.

His Omni Perception bore into the world itself, as though overlapping with reality and peering into its hidden layers. Blurry images filled the air around him, flashes of every possible strike and movement the bone whips could make.

No matter how many he destroyed, they were relentless, lashing out with endless hunger. But it did not matter to him. His hands moved with absolute certainty, tearing through each bone whip with the same calm smile etched upon his lips, as though destruction itself was his second nature.

Another pale, jagged bone whip coiled forth from behind like a striking serpent, but Asher had already seen it long before it came, as if he possessed eyes at the back of his head.

He moved instantly with flawless ease. His body lifted into the air in a perfect arc, his back arching as he flipped backward with ridiculous speed and elegance.

His feet landed upon the bone whip with uncanny balance, as though even the laws of parkour bowed to his supremacy. Using the spiked bone whip as nothing but a stepping stone, he tore forward with only a rapier in hand, a glimmer of refined lethality.

Within seconds, every jagged bone whip was reduced to fragments, their broken remains lying torn apart and scattered across the earth below Asher's feet, as though mocking their own futility.

His eyes snapped toward Ryaen's position. She, sensing an incoming catastrophe, blurred backward without hesitation, her instincts screaming at her to retreat.

And indeed, something was coming.

Asher raised his rapier to the sky, as though preparing to command the very sky itself. His stance was calm, his intent undeniable.

And command he did. And the sky obeyed.

Astra pulsed from his Astra veins in perfectly controlled waves, rising with a majesty that made the air tremble. The sky above darkened at once, as though night was descending prematurely.

Clouds gathered and churned, colliding with violent pressure, while serpents of energy crackled and twisted across the sky, intensifying with every heartbeat. A storm was gathering, one that seemed capable of erasing existence itself.

His hand fell. His rapier pointed at the retreating Ryaen.

From above, a blinding surge of purple lightning descended with apocalyptic fury, tearing apart the sky itself. Its cry was deafening, its brilliance so vast it seemed to consume the horizon. The clouds, unable to contain its might, released it in a single, merciless strike.

Every fiber of Ryaen's body screamed at her to defend herself, not with one skill, but with all she possessed.

She could never understand how the Tenth Sun's attacks carried such devastating power. Even now, with his blade raised like a divine arbiter, she had no way of knowing that Asher was holding back, restraining himself so as not to kill her by mistake.

With decisive resolve, Astra surged violently through her Astra veins as Ryaen unleashed every bone-based defensive technique she had ever learned.

Bone Armor. Exoskeletal Shell. Bone Dome. Skeletal Enhancement. Bone Shield.

Her body bristled with defenses layered one atop another, a fortress of bone and marrow summoned against the heavens themselves.

The punishment of the sky fell.

The lightning collapsed upon her with merciless rage. Her eardrums ruptured under the first impact, bursting as the crackling fury roared into existence. The forest became an inferno as fire blossomed across the earth, trees igniting into screaming pyres, stones charring black, wood consumed in waves of heat. The world itself seemed to wail.

Ryaen held on desperately, clinging to her defenses as each collapsed one after the other, as though it were meaningless to resist the judgment of the sky. Her vision drowned in purple light until blindness swallowed her sight.

The lightning tore through her body, consuming her in its brilliance.

But her defenses had reduced the ferocity of the strike. So, she endured. Crackling remnants of the lightning still ran through her armor, searing her flesh, but she was alive.

Through the haze of smoke, dust, and destruction, footsteps echoed. Ryaen emerged like an undying Valkyrie, her form bloodied yet unbroken. Her body bore injuries, but minimal enough that she could still move with intent. She wasted no time, transitioning immediately to her counterattack.

Field Of Skulls

The bone fragments littering the battlefield stirred under her dominion, each piece snapping together with eerie precision. Skulls formed, skulls of unknown figures, empty eyes burning with silent menace. They surrounded Asher in a grotesque ring, a grim army assembled from the battlefield itself.

Her lips parted, her voice a death sentence.

"Detonate."

At her command, the skulls ignited, exploding in thunderous succession. One after another, they erupted into storms of fire and bone, rampaging through the forest and consuming all in concentrated chaos. The battlefield, already a wasteland, became an apocalypse, every explosion converging on one point, Asher.

But when the smoke cleared, he stood untouched.

A crackling dome of purple lightning encircled him, its barrier protecting him from the storm's devastation. With a single thought, he dismissed it, the arcs of lightning fading away like smoke on the wind.

But his eyes widened slightly. While he defended, Ryaen had already called forth another weapon.

A towering skeletal giant loomed above, over seven meters tall. Its form was bulky, radiant in dread power, as though its fist alone could crush the forest into oblivion.

Bone Colossus

It was one of her ultimate skills.

Asher did not hesitate. Since long-range would not suffice without killing her. He would close the distance and end it himself.

With speed that shattered the sound barrier, he blitzed forward, the world bending around his sheer velocity. The giant moved. Its colossal fist tore forward with meteoric force, like an asteroid falling from the void to annihilate Crymora itself.

Asher darted sideways with impossible ease, his speed unbroken. The colossal fist missed him by a breath, the wind detonating in his ears, but still he advanced without pause.

Light poured into Virelass, the rapier glowing with golden brilliance. In a single flash, he swung, and the blade cleaved through the giant's arm. The massive limb severed cleanly, falling like a felled tree, the cut as precise as scissors through silk.

The Bone Colossus retaliated instantly, whipping out a colossal kick. Its size did not hinder its speed, the leg tearing forward with the power to shatter mountains. But before it struck, Asher vanished, his figure erased from his location.

Ryaen, standing atop the giant's head, frowned sharply. He was gone. Her instincts screamed,

'Behind me.'

But the realization came too late. A fist crashed against the back of her skull, inertia hurling her forward like a cannonball.

Before she could even regain balance, Asher appeared again, a phantom in midair. His foot raised high, then descended like a judge's gavel. His heel smashed into her jaw with merciless force.

Her bones endured, harder than most, but her flesh, gums, and teeth gave way. Blood splattered across the air as she was driven downward.

Her body struck the ground with seismic force. A ravine split open, the earth itself shattering as shockwaves tore through the battlefield. Another would have been unconscious, perhaps dead, but Ryaen rose, an undying cockroach refusing to perish.

But before she could blink, Asher was there. The distance between them had already been erased.

Light coursed once more through Virelass. His hands blurred, the rapier flashing with golden brilliance as numerous strikes erupted in less than a heartbeat.

Ryaen's bone armor shattered, fragments falling like broken glass. Her body lay exposed. Before she could channel Astra to call another defense, Asher moved again.

Virelass flashed.

With sickening ease and precision, he severed both her arms. Blood sprayed violently as the limbs fell, bouncing against the broken ground.

Pain exploded through Ryaen's body, but she grit her teeth, refusing to scream. Her vocal cords trembled, desperate to release her agony, but she forced silence upon herself.

Her black eyes lifted, and they met his.

Calm, clear, purple eyes.

In them, she saw not hatred, not anger, only clarity. She had served her purpose. And now, she was nothing more than something to be discarded.

In that moment, she knew. Her resolve, her determination, her will, though commendable, were futile. Against such an unsurmountable being, her existence was insignificant.

She understood. She stood below. The Tenth Sun stood above.

And that truth would never change. Not now. Not ever. Not even at the fall of time itself.