Ascension of Chaos

The Final Stairwell

During Ashley's battle against the Tiger of Eternal Snow's clone

Rexval feels nothing but anger as he sits at the center point of the Final Stairwell alongside seven other Successors of Sin. All because they have no other choice in being here.

Their Primordial gave them no choice.

Kill the Successor of Chaos or be killed by him.

But despite that, each and every one of Erebos' Successors know very well what Erebos' true goal is. That being to sacrifice one Successor after another to the Successor of Chaos.

It's what he's been doing for a while. Sending one Successor after another at her to gradually increase the number of Sin skills and mana manipulation skills she has.

The only bright side about this particular attempt is that Rexval feels relatively confident he can take down Ashley.

Ashley's main strength is her destruction magic. But Rexval has already managed to steal high destruction resistance from a destruction watcher a while back thanks to his Gluttony skill to steal a single skill from those he eats. So her destruction magic isn't going to be an issue for him.

It's just a matter of if he can kill her with his other skills since she's immune to Sin magic's most dangerous attacks.

Rexval looks out over the other Successors of Sin scattered across the Final Stairwell. None of whom look particularly frightened.

And why would they?

All of the Successors of Sin here have already prepared countermeasures for Ashley. For the Queen of Destruction.

And with all seven of them working together, there's no doubt they'll be able to take her down.

His thoughts draw to a sudden halt when he hears Erebos chuckling at his thoughts. Almost as if he's mocking him.

Rexval frowns before shaking his head. Deciding to not fall for the Primordial's games.

Even the Queen of Destruction shouldn't be able to kill the Tiger of Eternal Snow's clone.

It's just too powerful, and has an incredibly annoying True Damage skill. One that can't even be blocked by Rexval's own True Damage shielding item.

Which means that the strange conceptual skill Ashley will no doubt take from those chess pieces on the earlier Order floor of the System Tower won't even work on Eternal Snow.

The Eternal Snow skill, while doesn't directly do damage itself, is incredibly powerful when the user learns how to use it.

This much has been clearly confirmed over the years by all the people attempting the System Tower.

The Tiger of Eternal Snow is the one Unique Monster that has been fought by billions of people over the years on livestream after all. So everyone knows about it already.

And there's no way Ashley can defeat it.

Every one of the Successors of Sin firmly believe that she will die once before giving up.

That is, until one of them opens her livestream to find her fighting the Tiger of Eternal Snow with her looking like she has an actual chance. At which point the Successors of Sin, including Rexval, all begin to show uncertainty.

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And when they see her actually killing the creature and claiming its Skill Tree as her own?

Rexval and the other Successors of Sin each feel a chill run down their spine.

Especially when they see Ashley practicing her ice magic.

Rexval feels Erebos' presence growing stronger in his mind as the Primordial no doubt watches them to make sure none of them run.

A faint sensation of panic fills Rexval as he watches Ashley growing more used to her new skill alongside her new companion. But he eventually activates a berserk skill to snap himself out of his own panic.

As his hunger floods every inch of his mind.

In his hunger-addled mind, he sees the other Successors of Sin all activating their own berserk skills. Preparing to face the Successor of Chaos when she arrives.

But when she actually shows up, things go completely differently from how they all expect.

The instant she appears, with her hands in her jacket pockets and an apathetic expression on her face, she mutters, "Freeze." Following which a strong blizzard shoots out from her, sweeping across the Final Stairwell and slamming directly into Rexval and the other Successors of Sin as they leap forwards to attack.

And the moment it hits them, they all find themselves screaming in pain in their minds. All because they can't vocalize it with their entire bodies frozen solid.

But that's not all as the Eternal Snow takes its payment first before freezing them. Devouring their flesh until their muscles are all visible beneath their skin.

Leaving them completely skinless as they freeze midair and fall to crash into the stairs below.

Rexval feels absolute terror even as he hears Erebos laughing and giggling in joy at the sight of them like this.

You fucking bastard! Why did I ever-

His thoughts come to an abrupt end when he sees a foot entering his view through the ice and blood covering his damaged eyes. Only for said foot to swing straight at his face before cracking the ice and his skull.

Killing him in an instant.

All while leaving the livestream broadcasting them and Ashley to the universe completely flabbergasted by how easy it was for Ashley to kill them all.

Only for everyone in every stadium and all across the universe to explode into applause, cheers, and screams of excitement all at once.

Ashley

Well that was unexpectedly easy.

I can't help but tilt my head a little at the corpses frozen on the stairs. All of whom have more than a little terror expressed on their faces.

Was it supposed to be that easy?

But where's the notifications? And where are their Skill Trees?

I stare for several seconds before eventually just shrugging. Then I begin walking to the closest one of them, only for all seven Successors of Sin to suddenly begin glowing with seven different colors, each representing different Sins.

Okay, maybe it's not that easy.

The lights grow brighter and brighter as I cover myself in a shield of Eternal Snow. Only for a wave of pain to strike my entire body.

My mind, every inch of my flesh, and even my soul.

Everything screams in pain.

And when the pain fades, I find myself kneeling on the ground while panting in exhaustion.

Well, shit.

My health is completely empty now and I'm missing half of my torso, including my heart and major organs.

But all the irritation in my mind vanishes the moment I find the messages for the kills appearing one after another. Showing that I managed to kill all of them.

Were those attacks self-destructs?

Regardless of what they were, I quickly begin reverting the damage on my body. All while making sure I don't run out of energy.

After all, the only reason I'm alive right now is because of that Resolution of Order skill.

While that skill didn't work on the Tiger of Eternal Snow for some reason, probably for the same reason Chaotic Source didn't work on it, it did work against this thing.

I guess some True Damage is just undefendable or something.

Maybe it's because it's an effect more than a direct attack?

"Some True Damage is just unblockable, even by True Damage defense specialized skills," Chaos says, sounding kind of like he's busy doing something. Which is never a good sign for Erebos' people from what I've learned. "Eternal Snow requires mana and energy to use, which is one of the biggest factors in why it's hard to block. Unlike Gaze of Destruction which is just a passive skill that constantly deals out damage wherever you look and doesn't require any energy or mana to use."

That makes sense.

Costing mana and energy to use makes it more powerful.

Anyway, once all of the damage is reverted, I just stretch a little before beginning to make my way up the stairs. Deciding to look at the new skills after I get out of this damn tower.

Because I really am starting to get sick of this place.

And I've already gotten what I came here for.

I hear a short mewing sound coming from the tiger cub walking next to me, making me look down to find him looking up at me while walking rather quickly for such a little guy. So I reach down and pick him up to hold him in my arms as I continue climbing the tower.

Leaving behind the frozen corpses as I do so.