Cng!

  Sparks danced when Luna surprisingly blocked his first strike. And a shockwave cracked the ground beneath their feet. His dark eyes sparkled, and a wide smile appeared on his pale face before they leaped back and separated.

  He charged again, this time with more power, after realizing that Luna was still strong enough to resist.

  Victor knew her fighting style, so he was aware of how dangerous it was to let Luna strike first. He was no fool and was very familiar with her incredible sword skills and strength. In fact, of the Feng sisters, she was by far the strongest according to the Files.

  “As expected of someone with generational inheritance. I heard that it granted you the power of inherited memory and turned you into an exceptional martial artist,” he sneered as he parried one of her strikes with frightening ease.

  “Where did you get that information?”

  She pushed him into a block and met his mad, dark eyes.

  “Well, if you’re dying to know, House Artemis just happens to know so much about you and your special powers. We’re aware that House Feng bears the lineage of the Ruler. And that only two people have ever awakened it since it was passed down, Zheng Feng and…”

  With a grunt, he pushed Luna back and pointed the tip of his longsword at her.

  “…You.”

  Luna pursed her lips. Even with her current strength, she was having trouble controlling her own body. She was moving much slower, as though she had gotten heavier. But that wasn’t the case. Luna knew the exact cause of these sluggish maneuvers.

  ‘My soul hasn’t yet fully recovered from my desperate moments earlier. I might have a much stronger soul now with a Soul Gate, but it still needs me to recover.’

  Using her essence like this was simir to forcing it to push out its full potential, and the effects of that were noticeable in her movements.

  Whoosh!

  She barely evaded Victor’s deadly thrust—his bde grazing past her ribs like a whisper of death.

  Then came the second strike. She didn’t see it. Only instinct saved her as she twisted to the side at the st second, the cold steel slicing through strands of her hair.

  The sword came down again. This time, she was ready.

  Steel met steel, and sparks burst from the csh as she parried the swing, her arms trembling from the force behind it.

  She staggered back, catching her footing just barely on the slick ground. Then, with a snarl, she drove her fist into the partially frozen earth. The ground responded with a sharp crack, splitting beneath her as ice fractured in all directions.

  Victor leapt back, his crimson cloak fring behind him as he avoided the jagged eruption.

  The battlefield went still for a moment, breath and frost hanging in the air.

  Luna rose from her crouch, breath ragged, chest heaving. Her dark eyes burned with exhaustion and fury. “So,” she said, voice hoarse, “you were sent here to observe me?”

  “Close. I was sent here to compare myself to you,” Valentine corrected her. “Your strength…is it like mine? People with our blood traits are very rare, you know. We, in fact, qualify to be Visionaries…the true guardians of mankind!”

  ‘Visionaries? What the hell is he talking about?'

  Luna frowned. The battlefield wasn’t letting her think—a lot was happening around, and her concern was currently directed to her sister. The ice containing concentrated essence had left her with a troubled heart.

  However, despite the chaos, a dark smile appeared on her face. “You’re just like me, aren’t you?” she figured.

  “Bingo!” Victor snapped his fingers and then ughed like a madman. He had observed Lunaris for a long time.

  Even before he learned of the fact that she was the inheritor of a forbidden lineage, Victor was intrigued by Lunaris from the day their dark eyes met at the Sect of the Jade Horizon.

  They were youngsters at the time, but he knew that they would cross paths one day.

  That’s just how fate worked.

  He ughed and said in a deep voice, “In more ways than you think, Lunaris. I forcefully inherited the Lineage of the Moon Goddess from my father, along with an Aura that not only let us live as one but blessed us with freedom. I may be cursed by my brother isn’t!”

  Bam!

  As soon as he said that, Luna was suddenly hit by the invisible force of gravity that forced her to her knees. It was like a divine hammer had smmed into her.

  “Darkness...?” She looked around, hoping to see her teammate. She recognized this power.

  But there was no one.

  No answer.

  Only him.

  Valentine stood several feet away, cloaked in stillness and power. A dark, knowing smile crept across his face, his hand raised—fingers clenched into a fist as if gripping the very gravity around her.

  Silver energy spiraled into his body in torrents, weaving around him. It no longer listened to Luna and responded to her opponent instead.

  In other words, this was his domain.

  “If you’re wondering where the Daughter of Ares is, I already took her down alongside Gail. Truth be told, they were strong. But with someone like me as their opponent, those poor souls were doomed from the very start.”

  “What…are…you?” Luna strained under the gravitational field. Her dark eyes bared rage as she forced herself to look up.

  Luna already had her suspicions about Valentine since their conversation in the shelter. His shift in personality might have been abrupt, but it was also a sign of his abnormality and his true intentions.

  “I’m gd you asked. I am Victor Artemis. The strongest Ascender in the world.” He answered with confidence.

  '...The Strongest Ascender?'

  She now understood why Razchar mentioned she needed a fighting chance. She just didn’t expect it to be Valentine, another person following the truth path like her. To see him as an enemy did hurt a little, but that was the price she paid for trusting him so easily. He was right, they were very alike.

  That also meant that she could fight him.

  ‘Protect me!’

  Lunaris screamed in her heart, and her Soul Gate released a wave of gold-crimson energy. It spread from her center like an explosion, and the gravity trap was negated right away.

  Victor’s eyes widened slightly when he saw this and quickly retracted his Authority over gravity. Her will had overpowered his own, and the backsh reached his second gate.

  Luna stood up and let the power in her body rage out like a powerful tide. The essence coming out of her body resembled electric bursts of reddish and gold energy, floating and connecting to her skin. Her dark eyes did not change, but the will of a godlike being was reflected in them as though she were a mirror of his consciousness.

  She was already familiar with maniputing essence, and the presence of a first gate added to that factor.

  “Hehe…I guess the visionaries were right about you.” Valentine hissed when he saw her essence explode.

  The moment his words left his mouth, he knew what was coming next.

  Luna’s eyes fshed with a dangerous fury, and before he could even brace himself, she lunged.

  Her bde swept through the air with a deadly precision, and Victor met it with his own, their swords crashing together with a deafening cng. The impact reverberated through the icy ndscape, sending a shudder through the ground beneath their feet.

  Luna didn’t hold back. Her Ascender power surged like a storm, and the crimson essence of Razchar—his essence—poured into her.

  The warmth of it flooded through her veins, a stark contrast to the bitter cold surrounding her. It revitalized her muscles, sharpened her senses, and cleared a little of sluggishness from her every movement.

  She was faster.

  Kraaa!

  The csh of steel rang out, an overwhelming sound that echoed across the battlefield.

  Luna's sword, Sun Ember, a god relic—vibrated in her hands, nearly humming with energy as she pushed against Victor’s bde.

  But Victor’s sword wasn’t just any weapon. It held its ground. It was alive—an embodiment of raw power and met the force of her strikes, every blow sounding as though the heavens themselves were trembling under the weight of their combat.

  Both of them, warriors forged by unimaginable power, fought with everything they had.

  And the world around them seemed to hold its breath.

  ‘He’s incredibly skilled for someone born in the Western settlement. He must’ve trained from the Central Settlement….’

  Yes, that was the only possibility because House Val also focused heavily on Martial Arts as their greatest weapon. They even developed their own techniques that rivaled many of House Feng’s, which were much older.

  As the battle raged on, Victor’s senses sharpened, his experience allowing him to read Luna’s movements more accurately. Her strikes were powerful—undeniably so—but there was something… off.

  A subtle g. A slight dey in her reactions. It was nearly imperceptible to anyone else, but to him, it was enough. He watched her sword swing with deadly intent, and with a practiced grace, he sidestepped--his movements like liquid.

  In an instant, he was in front of her--his fist pulled back, coiled like a spring.

  "Shit!”

  Luna’s instincts screamed, but her body was too slow, too heavy with the lingering fatigue on her soul. She tried to twist away, but Victor’s fist nded with ruthless precision just below her ribcage.

  The air rushed from her lungs as the impact sent a violent shockwave through her body. Her vision blurred as the silver essence, the essence of the goddess, collided with her own crimson-gold power. It was like a war within her soul.

  For a brief, agonizing moment, Luna’s blood burned as the two essences cshed—her vitality resisting the foreign silver energy invading her soul.

  With a brutal exhale, she coughed up blood, spttering across the ice—before she was bsted backward, her body hurtling through the air like a ragdoll.

  She smashed into the frozen earth, skidding several meters away from Victor, her breath ragged and shallow.

  Urghhh…

  Her body convulsed and trembled as the essence inside her battled. The silver essence carried Victor’s will. And that alone turned his essence into poison.

  “Lunaris, you might be strong! Gifted for all I care. But I am the superior being. I have walked through the Temple of The Forgotten Path, faced off horrors far more terrifying than Demons and Cursed creatures just to understand what I am capable of.”

  Victor manically ughed as more essence exploded from his body. With two souls, the current Luna stood no chance against him. She was just potential, a barking dog incapable of biting.

  “You think that you’re better than me because of a First Gate and a fancy lineage?” his smile deepened. “Please….that’s just pathetic.”

  Just as Victor stepped forward to deliver the final blow, a fsh of blinding golden light tore through the night sky.

  He looked up and saw a manifestation of pure brilliance. Its edges crackling with divine energy, creating a sword that could be held by a giant. The forest below lit up in a wash of gold, casting eerie shadows on the icy battlefield.

  Victor’s eyes narrowed, his lips pulling back in irritation. He bit down hard enough to draw blood as he stared at the giant sword.

  “Valentine, you damn bastard!” The cry echoed across the battlefield as the conjurer of the sword descended, hovering beneath the great bde.

  Luna barely registered it through the pain. But Victor saw him clearly—a figure wrapped in golden light, his golden eyes burning with fierce determination.

  The conjurer drew out all his zenshi, gathering the power to release the bde with a single, mighty thrust.

  Victor’s expression remained unfazed. He opened his free hand, fingers spyed, and a wall of ice surged to life before him. The light sword fell toward him like a comet, and just as it made contact with the wall, it exploded into a cascade of brilliant particles, like shattered stars fading into the cold night.

  ‘You’re not strong enough to manifest something that powerful. Not bad though.’

  But as the golden light dimmed and the remnants of the sword dissolved into the air, a figure nded between them with a thunderous impact.

  It was Gail.

  His breath was ragged, his arms drenched in blood—crude runes carved deep into the skin, burned with malicious precision. His armor was in tatters, barely holding together, and his face was pale. His eyes were wild with the weight of the battle.

  He opened his arms wide, his hands trembling slightly as he manifested an energy sword, its shape wild and unpredictable. He held it like a desperate serpent—its curves and sharp angles reflecting his frantic spirit. His stance was clumsy, a pitiful dispy of his unfamiliarity with sword combat. His arms shook, and his breath came in sharp, pained gasps.

  But he attacked anyway.

  With a roar of defiance, he lunged at Victor. The ground beneath him cracked and split, a reflection of the raw power he poured into every move, even if his technique was cking. The energy sword bzed to life, leaving a glowing line of light in the air as he swung it in a wide arc that cut through the night, barely missing Victor’s chest.

  Victor's eyes fshed with irritation. “I thought you had died this time… fucking cockroach!”

  Victor’s voice was like ice as he parried Gail’s next wild swing with his own energy bde. The impact echoed across the frozen wastend as the two swords cshed, their edges hissing with the friction of divine power.

  Victor’s sword was a work of art—masterfully wielded, precise, lethal. His movements were fluid, every strike calcuted, but Gail… Gail fought with nothing but raw desperation. His swings were powerful, but clumsy, like a cornered animal, far from refined.

  The golden-eyed ascender was covered in the dried blood of the comrades Victor had swept through. His golden eyes were a burning sea of rage. His anger drove him, but against Victor’s skill, it wasn’t enough.

  Each blow Gail struck was met with Victor’s mastery, the gap between them too wide to bridge with fury alone.

  “Lady Lunaris…” Gail gasped, his voice strained as he parried yet another of Victor’s blows. “We were tricked! This is an all-out war… Fme of Winter and Ghost of Winter are locked in battle…House Feng has to ensure that the Tower is destroyed…” His words were desperate, barely more than a rasp in the chaos of their fight.

  Luna's image flickered in the corner of his eye, and he saw the moment she recovered.

  Without Victor's Will, the essence in her body was easily pushed out.

  “No!” Victor growled as he saw her stand up once again.

  With a savage sneer, he drove his fist into Gail’s gut, the sheer force of the blow sending a shockwave through the air. Gail’s breath whooshed out of him, and a sptter of blood escaped his lips. The golden-eyed ascender staggered backward, the st of his strength fleeting.

  “I don’t care if you’re special, Silverman,” Victor hissed, his tone mocking and cruel.

  Then, with a cold smile, Victor’s eyes gleamed with malice as he unched his foot into Gail’s chest, sending the poor ascender flying through the air. Gail crashed into a nearby tree, coughing up more blood, his body crumpling in the aftermath.

  Luna froze for a split second, horror seizing her heart as she watched Gail's brutal fall.

  But it wasn’t just the sight of him that paralyzed her; it was the fsh of Victor’s sword, already descending in a deadly arc toward her vulnerable form.

  She didn’t have time to reach for the Sun Ember, so she did the unthinkable and caught the bde with both her hands.

  Drip. Drip.

  Blood spilled from her hand, crimson lines tracing down her wrist as she clenched Victor’s sword, holding it back with raw strength and defiance.

  “It seems you're just as weak as the rest,” Victor sneered, pushing down harder. His strength bore down like a colpsing mountain.

  Luna gritted her teeth, eyes bzing. Every muscle screamed, but she didn’t let go.

  Then suddenly, a fsh appeared as Gail surged forward, battered and bloodied, with a fading light bde in hand. It flickered like a dying star, but it was still burning.

  “This is for Darkness, you bastard!” His cry split the frozen air as he drove the bde into Victor’s back.

  “Aaaagh—!” Victor let out a pained roar and lost grip of his weapon.

  Luna didn’t hesitate to use this moment of weakness. She pnted her feet, swung upward, and smmed her fist under his chin. The force sent him flying, but she wasn’t done.

  “Sun Ember!” she called. The sacred sword answered and flew into her hand.

  She pointed it at Victor's form, and a cascade of golden fire erupted from her sword, washing over the battlefield and melting the frost around them in a wave of divine heat. It surged toward Victor, engulfing him in a vortex of fury.

  For a moment, they both thought it was over. But then, as the fmes roared, Victor's voice reached them.

  “Didn’t I tell you?” He tepped from the inferno, completely unscathed with a cruel smile on his face. “I am the strongest Ascender in the world.”

  Luna’s eyes widened—but before she could react, a flick of his wrist hurled her aside like a broken doll. She crashed into the frozen earth, breathless.

  Gail turned, eyes locking with the glowing bde now aimed at his heart. Valentine had appeared in front of him with his longsword.

  'No...'

  Time slowed. The sword didn’t just pierce his armor—it phased straight through it, sliding into his chest with ghostly precision and striking his Soul Gate directly.

  Gail gasped.

  His golden eyes widened as agony tore through him, soul-deep and unrelenting.

  Crack!

  His second Soul Gate shattered, and a wave of pain exploded from his soul. He let out another scream as the First Gate also shattered instantly and sent him to so much pain that his mind could barely fathom.

  His eyes turned bloodshot….His body heated up. And his mind faded in and out as the pain possessed him more and more, tearing his mentality bit by bit….

  “This is your punishment, Gail. This is what you deserve for going against the Visionaries. I had promised I wouldn't kill you for my brother's sake...but you've forced my hand.”

  Victor turned away and proceeded to Luna, who was frozen in pce. There was no need to finish off Gail because he would be dead once the spark of divinity disappears from his body.

  ‘Who knew that Diana’s Aura was this powerful? Father was right about crippling her.’ Victor was a bit surprised by the strength of his strike.

  While in the sea of pain, Gail struggled as much as he could to keep his life force flowing. Blood poured down his nose, ears, and eyes as he tried to keep his eyes on Victor. His sight turned red as he saw the past years fsh by in his memories.

  He remembered when he opened his first gate and when he opened his second gate, which granted him an Aura this powerful. He thought this was his calling…to be the light in this cursed world.

  But was he wrong to think so? Was he too full of himself?

  ‘I guess I will never know.’

  As the st remnants of zenshi left his body, Gail saw strange flickers of energy around him. Many of them resembled silver weaves, while the rest appeared golden.

  He lifted his hand a little, trying to reach for the silver energy, but his hand only phased through it. It then dropped after the st of his strength faded. Tears flowed down his pale, handsome face when he felt the cold cws of death.

  He didn’t want to die, but death was inevitable for all mortal things.

  “I’m sorry, Lunaris.”

  With that thought, Gail Silverman drew his st breath and died alone, lying on the dirt, with his eyes wide and frozen. The earth fed on his remaining tears, and his eyes lost their golden color.

  This was his death.