Chapter 245: Cut Through
A second later, the surge inside Red escalated. Heat spread through his entire body in a violent wave that burned from the inside out, forcing its way through his veins as if it was trying to erupt from beneath his skin.
The sensation intensified rapidly until it became more severe.
His skin began to blister in multiple places. It was faint at first, then worsening.
Red knew that it wasn't the result of external damage or the attacks he had taken moments ago. His body had endured far worse without reacting like this. The conclusion formed clearly in his mind as he pushed through the pain with sheer will: This came from the power itself.
It was too much, too raw, too uncontrolled, as it forced its way through him. Yet he did not reject it. He accepted it completely, because as long as it gave him the strength to defeat Myles, the cost no longer mattered for him right now.
Across from him, Myles felt the change immediately. His mind remained clear despite the rage that still burned within him, sharp and focused without distraction.
He no longer struggled against his emotions. He used them. Every thought aligned toward a single purpose, cutting through everything else.
He wanted nothing beyond ending this fight, killing Red, and killing everything tied to him. But as that intent settled his senses picked up the sudden change.
Red's power surged again and became stronger than before, but it carried something else within it. Something unfamiliar yet distinct.
Myles sensed a second presence buried beneath the surface of that rising energy, carrying a signature that felt distant and vast, something tied to a higher existence.
But that realization did not shake him. It only sharpened his awareness. He did not feel fear. He felt the need to be more precise.
He moved immediately.
The distance between them vanished in an instant as Myles surged forward, his body cutting through the space with overwhelming speed.
In the next second he was already in front of Red, his blades descending without hesitation.
Their swords collided again with explosive force as another shockwave burst, tearing through the ground beneath them.
They clashed again at an even higher intensity as both of them pushed beyond what they had before. Their movements accelerated further, their power surged higher, and the pressure they released multiplied suddenly. It did not just double, but tripled.
Around the battlefield the people felt it immediately.
George's body slammed down to one knee as the force pressed onto him without warning, his hammer digging into the ground just to keep himself from collapsing completely.
"What the hell is this pressure?!" he shouted with a strained voice as he forced himself to stay upright.
Kade dropped beside him, one hand braced against the ground as his teeth clenched tightly. They were all already gathered together right now.
"Are they trying to kill everyone here along with each other?!" Kade's voice carried clear frustration as the weight bore down harder.
Victor staggered back before losing his footing completely and hitting the ground.
"Damn it… this is insane…!" he growled, trying to push himself up but failing as another wave of pressure crushed down on him.
"We can't even get close anymore…!" Samantha said through gritted teeth, her voice shaking under the strain. She fell to one knee, her arms trembling as she struggled to hold herself up.
Ethan collapsed fully, his body pressed flat against the fractured ground as he tried to lift his head.
"This is bullshit… how are we moving under this…?!" he snapped, anger mixing with disbelief.
Around them, others fared no better.
More fighters dropped where they stood, forced to the ground by the overwhelming pressure as the space around Myles and Red became completely unapproachable.
The clash between them continued relentlessly as if everything else had already become irrelevant.
The surge within Myles extended outward into the weapons in his hands, as if the power itself demanded to manifest through everything he carried.
Fangblade darkened further as the void-like energy seeped into its structure. Thick black mist coiled along its edge, while streaks of shifting color spread across the surface like liquid ink drifting in slow, unnatural currents.
The aura pulsed in sync with his movements, growing denser and more oppressive. Each swing leaves behind faint distortions.
Noctyrix blade also responded even more intensely. The dagger carried a deeper concentration of that same power as if it resonated more naturally with the darkness now flowing through Myles.
The two weapons no longer felt separate from him. They had become direct extensions of his will, shaped by the same force that now drove every action he took.
Across from him, Red's condition continued to deteriorate under the pressure of his own power. The blood-red mist surrounding his serrated purple-black short sword thickened further, burning hotter as it clung to the blade like an unstable flame.
It pulsed outward in uneven bursts of sparks and embers, matching the violent surge coursing through his body.
The blisters that had formed earlier spread more aggressively, rising along his arms and climbing toward his face.
The damage became impossible to hide. It distorted his features slightly, stretching the skin as heat continued to build beneath it. But his expression held. The grin was strained and sharp, refusing to break even as his body paid the price for his power.
Myles' focus began to change. His gaze still followed Red's movements with perfect clarity but his attention no longer stopped at the surface. His senses reached deeper, pushing past the physical into far more significant things.
The presence within Red pulsed with every surge of power. It carried a weight that felt completely separate from the man in front of him, something older, larger, and far more dangerous.
"That presence inside him must be the origin point of everything he is drawing from right now. If that thing continues to exist within him, then no matter how much I push him back or how many times I break through his defenses, he will continue to get up again as long as that source keeps feeding him, and that means this fight will never truly end unless I remove it completely."
His grip tightened slightly around both blades as his killing intent narrowed further.
"Red himself isn't the real threat anymore. I keep treating him as the main target, then I'm only attacking the result instead of the cause."
The thought aligned perfectly with his current state, reinforcing the clarity that now guided him.
"I need to reach it no matter what it takes, and destroy it completely before it grows any further."
That purpose settled firmly into place, overriding everything else as his movements adjusted with subtle precision, no longer aimed at simply defeating Red, but at cutting through him.
Myles suddenly felt with undeniable clarity as his control over his power deepened. The power flowing through him no longer moved only as a violent surge that amplified his body and weapons. It began to respond in a more refined way as if it revealed another layer of itself.
The darkness surrounding him tightened and then spread again in a controlled flow that mirrored his thoughts. It no longer needed to remain bound to his physical movements. It could extend beyond them.
Myles acted on that realization immediately.
Instead of stepping in or swinging his blades directly, he drove his will forward. The mantle-like darkness surged to the front then condensed into a sharp dark force that cut across the space between them. It moved faster than any attack he had thrown before and held the same killing intent within it.
Red did not react in time.
The energy struck him directly, slipping past his guard without resistance as if it ignored the physical layer of the clash entirely.
The impact did not throw him back but carved into something deeper.
Red's body froze for a fraction of a second as the sensation hit him.
His eyes widened as he felt the force had not struck his body in the usual way. It had bitten into the very power surging through him, tearing a small portion of it away as if it had been cut directly from its source.
The crimson aura around him flickered violently.
A brief instability ran through it, breaking its rhythm before it forced itself back together.
Shock spread through Red's expression as the realization struck him.
That attack had not been aimed at him. It had reached into the power itself.
"What the hell was that…? That wasn't a normal attack… it cuts into the power itself…!"
Red's breath hitched as the flicker in his aura refused to settle completely. The instability lingering and shaking the certainty he had forced into himself moments ago.
His grip tightened around his weapon as anger surged violently to suppress the rising unease. The thought struck harder than any blow, forcing its way through his mind.
His jaw clenched as a cold realization followed close behind. "If he can reach this… then I'm not safe…!"
His fear returned, sharp and unwelcome, cutting through his fury.
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