Chapter 184: Going all out
A sharp, violent pulse of purple vector energy surged through the length of Executioner’s Edge, expanding outward in a concentrated shockwave. The sudden explosion of kinetic force forced Emperor Marcus IV to step back two full paces, his dark sword parting from Vince’s blade with a dull, heavy hum.
Vince didn’t waste the split second of space. Without breaking eye contact with the Emperor, he spoke in a low, absolute tone that cut through the ringing silence of the hall.
"Lyrielle! Livia!" Vince commanded, his eyes locked onto Marcus. "Get your mother and husband out of here right now. Move them to the subterranean tunnels and tend to their wounds."
Lyrielle swallowed the terror clawing at her throat, her hands trembling as she scrambled forward alongside Livia. Together, they hooked their arms under the bleeding forms of Queen Moriele and King Golrath, dragging the heavy, broken Sovereigns toward the shattered archway of the throne room.
Vince’s gaze flicked sideways for a fraction of a second, catching Elena’s wide, terrified eyes on the balcony above. "Elena. Hold the perimeter. Make sure neither of them comes back down here—no matter what happens. Understood?"
Elena bit her lip until it bled, her chest heaving, but she gave a single, firm nod of her head. "Understood."
"Hahaha..."
A low, rich chuckle echoed through the cavernous hall. Marcus stood unbothered, his dark arming sword resting loosely at his side as he watched the frantic retreat of the Sovereigns.
"You’re funny," Marcus said, his light laughter vanishing as his expression hardened into absolute, icy seriousness. "It seems you’re the leader of this little troupe. Why would a human affiliate himself with such lowlifes?"
Vince kept his sword raised, his stance low and grounded. "Perhaps they found me worthy enough to be called a friend. Seeing as i don’t look or talk down on them. Friendship is earned, not forced. The same goes for loyalty."
Marcus stared down at Vince, his golden eyes narrowing with dark, ancient contempt. "I see. Your mindset needs correction."
Beneath the hem of his dark sleeve, Vince’s right hand was quivering violently. The sheer kinetic shock from blocking Marcus’s earlier strike was still vibrating through his bones, numbing his fingers to the bone. The raw density of his attacks is insane, Vince thought, his jaw clenching tight. I’mout of options here.
System, Vince commanded internally, his mind flashing with quiet resolve. Convert all active skill trees, passive attributes, and acquired combat arts into streamlined passive access. Zero latency.
[SYSTEM COMMAND ACCEPTED]
[All Combat Abilities Streamlined to Passive Instant Access]
[Latency: 0.00ms]
A brilliant, suffocating aura of pure violet mana flared around Vince’s body, tracing the outer edges of Executioner’s Edge in a fierce, crackling outline.
Marcus’s lips curved into a thin, ruthless grin. "Come at me."
"As you wish," Vince replied.
He lunged.
Vince blurred across the stone floor, appearing directly in front of Marcus in less than a microsecond. He channeled a full kinetic vector loop into the tip of Executioner’s Edge, driving a point-blank slash aimed clean across Marcus’s chest.
SWISH.
The heavy blade sliced through the air, carving through Marcus’s torso without meeting a single ounce of resistance. There was no blood, no bone, no sound. The image of the Emperor simply dissolved into thin air like a fading mirage.
Nothing? Vince’s breath hitched. It was just like I observed... there’s no flaw on this guy. Tsk.
"Keep your thoughts straight, boy."
The voice whispered directly behind Vince’s left ear.
A cold sweat broke out across Vince’s neck. His heart slammed against his ribs as his mind raced—My active spatial perception was running at maximum output, yet I didn’t sense him move at all!
Before Vince could turn, a terrifying wave of colorless kinetic force slammed into his back, blasting him fifty yards across the throne room. He tumbled across the marble floor, rolling hard before driving the tip of Executioner’s Edge deep into the stone to halt his momentum.
Vince pushed himself back up to his feet, wiping a thin trail of blood from the corner of his lip. His dark purple eyes burned into the darkness of the hall.
If standard perception can’t track him, going all out from the start is my only option.
Vince closed his eyes, taking a deep, ragged breath. Deep within his core, his latent mana-beast bloodline ignited. Dense, dark fur and razor-sharp draconic scales began to ripple across his arms and chest, his teeth lengthening into dangerous fangs as his eyes flared with an unholy, glowing violet intensity. His physical height expanded, his muscle density multiplying tenfold as a roaring tempest of hybrid beast-aura erupted from his body.
---
High above the clouds, piercing through the thick layer of grey war-smoke, Duchess Rosalind hovered above the city with a broom.
She stood at the prow, her noble eyes widening in utter disbelief as she looked down at the Imperial Capital below. Even from thousands of feet in the air, the sheer violence of the aura clashing at the palace center was sending shockwaves that rattled the clouds.
"The capital..." Rosalind murmured, her knuckles turning white against the broom. "It isn’t completely destroyed, but the palace district is a crater... What kind of monsters are fighting down there?"
---
At the same time, miles away at the outer perimeter of the First Canopy—
Elder Everwood and the three returning Elven Elders stood amidst a battlefield littered with fallen imperial soldiers. The last of the human invasion forces were currently being bound by massive, living roots bursting from the earth.
"The human advance has been halted!" an elven warrior shouted, rushing toward Everwood.
"Secure the perimeter!" Elder Everwood commanded, his voice tight with fatigue as he turned his gaze toward the central medical tent.
Inside the tent, Vetra lay suspended within a glowing bath of concentrated elven life-fluid. Four high-tier elven medics were working frantically around her, their hands glowing with green restoration magic as they stabilized her crushed internal organs.
"Her core is holding!" one medic called out, wiping sweat from her brow. "Her will is strong she will survive, but she needs absolute rest!"
Everwood let out a heavy sigh of relief, looking off toward the distant horizon where the sky above the Imperial Capital was flashing with violent, unnatural bursts of purple and gold light.
---
Back inside the shattered throne room—
Vince’s fully transformed Man-Beast form let out a low, guttural growl that reverberated through the very stone beneath their feet.
He didn’t speak. He simply vanished, leaving behind a crater of shattered marble where he had just been standing.
The speed was terrifying. The air inside the grand hall shrieked as Vince unleashed a relentless, storm-like barrage of strikes, Executioner’s Edge becoming a continuous sphere of violent, purple kinetic blades surrounding Emperor Marcus from every conceivable angle.
High on the balcony above lyrielle had already applied first aid to Golrath and moriele’s wounds, Elena, Lyrielle, and Livia stood frozen, their hands tightly clasped together, watching the insane blur of high-tier violence below with their hearts in their throats.