Chapter 215: The Battle of The East (4)
As the blow landed true, a fierce smile stretched across Krax’s face, the expression of a man who believed he had finally driven his strength through the enemy’s guard.
He planted both legs firmly into the cracked, frost-covered earth, boots grinding deep as he steadied himself and listened while the System’s voice cut cleanly through the lingering roar of impact.
[Host, the target’s presence is hard to pin down... It’s like he’s in a space that’s both here and not here. I suggest using every high-powered ability you’ve got right away. Staying in contact too long could be dangerous.]
At those words... Krax’s eyes narrowed, but as he’d always done, he listened to his system.
WHOOOOOSHHH!!!!!
Without hesitation, he launched himself forward in pursuit.
His pure aura was still rolling off his frame in heavy waves as he closed on the figure that had been hurled all the way to the shattered entrance of the stronghold and tumbled beyond it into the open ground outside.
’When exactly should I pull him out of the fight?’ the system wondered to itself.
It knew Krax was locked in a battle that would, without question, bring him to the brink of death—and only then could it step in.
If it acted too soon, the same dire event would strike again at an even more unpredictable moment.
Yet, it couldn’t even sense Melvin’s presence, so how could it possibly know the right moment to save Krax?
And... what neither of them realized was that, while Krax was giving chase, a massive blizzard was already forming and sweeping in from behind—an unseen wall of white that belonged to the real Melvin.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!
There was a reason the Fate Lock predicted Krax would barely make it out alive... and that was simply because the fight had never been in his favor, not even close to fair from the start.
Whether the system was aware of it or not, it was the only reason this particular Fate Lock ended in anything other than his death.
Even with his recent boost in battle power, the gap between them was still absolute.
The punch that had seemed to connect had never touched Melvin at all.
What Krax struck was only an afterimage, a flawless illusion born from Melvin’s Battle Art.
In the instant before the blow could land, Melvin had already slipped aside, blending seamlessly into the expanding blizzards that now coiled around the battlefield like living storms of ice and snow.
Krax, still descending on the fading afterimage with another innate power rising in his chest, never sensed the true threat until it had already unfolded behind him.
[Silent End’s Whisper (Origin)]
HUMMMMM!!!!!!
In that moment, Melvin’s innate power activated without sound or flourish.
In a single breath, every flame inside Krax—his rage, his drive, his will to continue—was extinguished.
A profound stillness settled over the surrounding fifty thousand kilometers, swallowing wind, sound, and even the residual heat of battle until the world itself seemed to hold its breath.
[Decree of Creeping Frost (Stellar (Auxiliary))]
Melvin’s voice, calm and absolute, carried the weight of authority.
HUMMMMM!!!!
In that moment, Krax became locked in the exact stance he had held while striking at the afterimage, muscles tensed, fist still extended.
BaDump!!
Inside his chest, his heart began to pound with sudden, violent force.
BaDump!!
The sound was enormous, isolated, absolute—the only noise left across the entire Eastern Continent.
It rolled outward like a war drum beaten inside an empty cathedral, each strike so heavy it seemed the organ might tear itself apart against his ribs and spill into the frozen silence.
BaDump!!
BaDump!!
In that moment, an icy glint passed through Melvin’s eyes behind the Dreamer’s Mask.
Then... he moved, and it happened so fast it was almost ridiculous, like a deliberate mockery of the limits thought to exist.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!
SWHOOOOSHHHH!!!
His sword swept forward in a single devastating arc that left hundreds of afterimages trailing behind it, each one carrying the same lethal intent.
Massive blizzards erupted along the path of the swing... it seemed as if winter itself were striking in along with Melvin.
At the same moment, his Sword Domain flared to full life.
HUMMMMMM!!!!!!
It had been said that Sword Domains granted essentially one buff or power along with one debuff, though Melvin still hadn’t settled on what his debuff would be.
What was certain from the moment he arrived, however, was that his buff was the ability to summon invisible swords—any number he desired.
In an instant, millions of unseen blades appeared in the air around him and surged toward Krax in a single, devastating storm.
The profound stillness created by Silent End’s Whisper had hollowed him out from the inside.
Rage, drive, and the stubborn will that had carried him through every previous battle were gone, leaving only a cold, echoing vacancy where his fire should have been.
His body remained locked in the striking stance, muscles still coiled, yet the familiar surge of strength refused to answer.
Even the pain from the earlier cuts felt distant, muted, as though it belonged to someone else.
Through that emptiness a single thought rose—quiet, bitter, and painfully clear.
’I... failed them.’
The Von’El name, the long effort to drag his bloodline back from exile, the years of clawing for every scrap of power and territory...
All of it had led to this frozen yard and the knowledge that he would die without restoring what had been lost.
The realization settled over him heavier than any blade, a final, private defeat that no external enemy had managed to deliver until now.
However, before any of the swords or the winter could reach him, the System’s voice cut through the stillness.
[Emergency Evacuation... commencing!]
HUMMMMM!!!!
In an instant, space folded in on itself.
Krax disappeared in a smooth spatial warp, leaving behind only ruffled frost and the faint echo of his presence.
Seeing him vanish, Melvin remained standing alone amid the settling blizzard, sword still extended from the final swing.
The last traces of the emergency evacuation faded into the frozen air like smoke dissolving on a cold wind.
"Tsk... he has a teleportation ability too?" He muttered as he straightened slowly, lowering the blade as his gaze swept the ruined stronghold one final time.
"That could have been much more efficient." He said as one thing he would never forget... was to end battles as quickly as possible.
To precisely avoid things such as this...
In this moment, he turned his wrist and layered a new restriction into the Sword Domain that still blanketed the surrounding land.
From this moment forward, any target caught within its reach would find themselves unable to raise a hand against him unless they did so with a sword.
The corner of his mouth curved into a cold, satisfied smile beneath the Dreamer’s Mask.
"Well... the Eastern Continent is now ours," he murmured, the words carrying no triumph, only quiet finality.
His eyes lifted and turned south, toward the distant silhouette of the mountain that had become Lucid Winter’s Peak.
He stood there a moment longer, sword resting loosely against his shoulder, considering the conversation that still lingered from two weeks earlier.
"I might as well stop by," he said at last, almost to himself. "I should see about those matters we discussed... before I start building the... empire."
With that, he stepped forward, the blizzard parting around him as he began the journey south, leaving the frozen stronghold and its silent dead behind.