Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Boom!

The Purifiers executed a devastating kamikaze offensive, destroying their own organisms in the process. Faced with the brutality of the detonation, Dale and Sephia reacted instantly by activating their “Ice Armor.”

Molecular bonds intensified to the limit, structuring a frigid barrier that held firm despite the scorching fire surrounding them. Although the defense did not completely dissipate the power of the impact, it provided the vital protection to prevent fatally serious wounds.

After all, it was the magical display of Dale, considered the most famous prodigy within the empire, together with Sephia, the respected elder of the Blue Tower.

Unfortunately, Saxon’s riders, who only had their “Steel Armor,” did not have the same fate.

The extreme temperature melted the metal of their protections, scorching skin, bloodstreams, and bone structures.

The self-inflicted explosion by the Purifiers caused the immediate eradication of dozens of warriors belonging to Saxon’s elite Night Raven faction.

And that was due solely to one of the twelve living artifacts. With the whirlwind of fire still active, the rest of the “explosives” resumed their march.

Faithful to their directive, the gloomy Purifiers lunged directly toward Dale, ignoring the flow of discordant magic caused by Sephia, while spewing flames with every step.

“So they have chosen this path.”

However, Dale possessed the experience of a combatant hardened in countless battles.

With tongues of fire approaching, Dale took control of the “shadows” projected under his feet. Through an agile sway of his dark robe, he materialized blades made of pure gloom, dodging the fiery offensive of the Purifiers without complications. Immediately afterward, he executed a counter-offensive, piercing his opponents with the dark edges.

Thud!

“Two less.”

The shadow blade pierced the Purifier’s torso and, a moment later, shattered into multiple internal thorns that shredded his body cavities.

Acting like the teeth of a high-speed shredding mechanism, the magic dismembered the heart, viscera, shoulder area, every limb, and the neck.

The Purifier’s body ended up exploding, although the detonation was significantly attenuated because its physical structure was already too deteriorated to concentrate its maximum power.

With that action, the threat was reduced by two units.

“It is impossible to appeal to their sanity.”

Surrounded by currents of fire, Dale focused his thoughts and looked back to check on Sephia’s status.

“Stay alert.”

Fortunately, her level gave him peace of mind.

“The same goes for you, Dale.”

The rest of the Purifiers began a simultaneous siege from different flanks. They did not seek to use conventional long-range spells.

Even for them, it was a titanic task to break through the barrier raised by two specialists of the water element under the influence of the Blue Tower’s discordant magic.

“…!”

Boom!

A series of fire-bearers surrounded the pair and detonated at the same time.

If a single one of these explosions already possessed a terrible force, the accumulated effect of multiple Purifiers activating at the same instant exceeded any previous scale.

They surrendered their existences without the slightest hesitation in a joint fiery onslaught.

A deafening roar shook the ground, giving way to a column of abyssal flames.

The shockwave reached such magnitude that it ended up burying Dale, Sephia, and the contingent of three hundred mounted warriors accompanying Dale.

The force of the impact was so brutal that it caused intense disorientation in those present. At the core of the violent detonation, Dale’s silhouette vanished completely as it merged with the gloom.

It was the benefit of his dark attire, the Spectral Form technique.

For her part, Sephia used her own magical resources to ensure her integrity. As a high dignitary of the Blue Tower, famous for her defensive capabilities, she was not going to perish in a conventional suicide attack.

“…!”

However, with the exception of Dale and Sephia, the remaining troops met a tragic fate. Their humanities were consumed by the fire, falling lifeless without even space to utter a lament.

The panorama faithfully reflected a scene from hell itself.

Of the initial dozens, the number of fallen increased drastically, exceeding a hundred.

Through the persistent blizzard of fire, Dale returned to his physical state from the shadow plane. Still protected by the layer of ice, he positioned himself at the rear of one of the Purifiers.

Thud!

He introduced the shadow sword and caused a destructive twist inside until the body was reduced to an unrecognizable state.

Tissues, fluids, and bone remains were scattered throughout the area.

“There are still opponents remaining.”

After turning the target into remains, he turned his face completely imperturbably.

Sephia remained safe behind her frozen wall. At her back, the scene showed melted metal and scattered organic remains, disfigured vestiges of what moments before had life.

They were members of Saxon’s Night Raven unit, the same ones who had sworn allegiance to Dale.

“……”

Upon contemplating the devastation of his ranks, Dale pressed his lips so hard that blood sprouted.

“Their mission has failed completely.”

Only three Purifiers remained on the field. Dale addressed them with a calm tone while taking a position in front of them.

“You do not possess the capacity to end me.”

Despite the severe casualties and the price paid, he maintained the absolute certainty of his triumph.

“Heh, heh, heh.”

One of the Purifiers let out a laugh with deranged and deformed tones.

“Do you dare to call this a ‘victory’ having witnessed this panorama?”

With a gesture, he pointed to the remains of Saxon’s knights scattered on the ground.

“It is true that your Black Tower controls the threads of ‘death’…”

He pointed to the destroyed protections and the desolate human fragments.

“But do you truly consider that we fear ceasing to exist?”

With expressions loaded with insane mysticism, the trio of Purifiers resumed their offensive march.

“We are ready for the end, determined to incinerate our existence before it arrives!”

They behaved like true extremists.

“Long live the Empire!”

They lunged forward, resolved to trigger one last blast.

“──Under that premise, are you truly ready for the end?”

A word cut the air.

It was a masculine tone that felt familiar.

At that precise instant, the physical structures of the remaining Purifiers exploded.

The self-destruction was completed.

The fire rose with force, forcing Dale and Sephia to resort once again to the protection of their ice armor. Once the igneous gusts began to dissipate, Dale held his breath at the scene that was revealed before his eyes.

Despite having resorted to the mass destruction spell of their own bodies, the Purifiers, who should have been reduced to ashes, remained in place.

Without a single scratch.

“Unlike popular belief.”

At that very moment.

“Mentalizing for the end is a simpler task than you imagine.”

The declaration continued.

“True courage is demonstrated in a different realm.”

An individual remained static in the place.

Dressed in completely dark clothing.

“The firm resolution not to perish.”

The Purifiers, confused to realize that they were still alive, moved their heads in confusion.

That their organisms remained intact after the detonation did not respond to their own desire.

“Do you perhaps possess the firm resolution of ‘not perishing’?”

The newcomer posed the question to the Purifiers once again.

It was the presence of the most feared practitioner of dark arts in the entire territory, the highest authority of the Black Tower. Before his figure, the Purifiers directed their attacks at him immediately.

They rushed against Dale’s progenitor.

Willing to force a new detonation of their hot organisms.

Boom!

A new blast was generated. A shockwave of such proportions that it threatened to devour the entire surrounding perimeter. The flames of hell spread.

However, the phenomenon lacked logic.

The noise and light of the detonation occurred, but it did not generate “any aftermath.” Even the very emitters of the attack remained completely unscathed.

The master of the dark arts performed a new gesture with his hand. The “shadows of fire” that held them prisoner vanished completely.

With the same ease with which a small flame is extinguished.

The Purifiers, finally understanding the gravity of the scene, raised their gaze. They fixed their eyes on the individual in dark vestments.

The most formidable exponent of forbidden magic on the continent, “Lord Black.”

“Is it that you still cannot understand it?”

Lord Black sentenced.

“I have not given the go-ahead for your deaths.”

Upon assimilating the implication of that phrase, the Purifiers’ faces lost their color suddenly for the first time in the encounter.

“In this territory, there exists no ‘mechanism for you to reach the end’.”

The dark specialists belonging to the Black Tower direct their knowledge to scrutinize the mysteries that await beyond death, and the man who stood at the head of them all… had simply denied them the right to die.

“Curse: Abomination.”

Lord Black declared. He executed the rotation of eight magic circles, concentrating dense dark energy, and released the curse.

In unison, a gust of black wind began to rotate around them.

An invisible and colossal force of attraction imprisoned the Purifiers. They were dragged toward each other as if they were iron magnets; their respective anatomies began to melt and amalgamate into “a single being.”

“What is this…?”

They felt extreme heaviness in their limbs. They were incapable of performing any movement. Their vocal cords did not emit any phoneme. Their visual field was altered in a grotesque way.

“What… what does this mean…?”

“What is happening…?”

The calls for help from their peers were perceived right next to them. Next to them? No, the perception was erroneous. It was not limited to physical proximity. They were even more integrated. Closer? Neither was that the exact term. The union exceeded closeness.

It was at that instant when one of the Purifiers understood the reality.

The exclamations of his allies came from within his own interior.

He inspected what corresponded to his body and assimilated it all. That was no longer his individual anatomy. It had transformed into a colossal block of living tissue. The three surviving Purifiers had melted into a monstrous mass of organic matter, compacted under a spherical physiognomy.

It lived up perfectly to its designation: a “repulsive fusion.”

A set of six eyeballs moved aimlessly, evaluating the environment. From three oral openings flowed altered and disfigured laments, becoming indecipherable. Six auditory cavities perceived those same laments. A total of thirty digital appendages thrashed in a disorderly way, sprouting without criteria or harmony from the spherical structure of flesh.

Was there the possibility of cataloging that as a “human being”?

It showed the appearance of a set of raw material that an artisan would have gathered before giving shape to a living sculpture.

“To continue with existence,” the black sphere continued, orienting its words toward the conglomerate of organic tissue.

“It is a considerably more tormenting and complex experience than the mere act of surrendering to the end.”

Expressed with total serenity.

“I will pose it to you again.”

Using a tone of voice completely devoid of sensitivity.

“Do you have the necessary preparation to ‘not perish’?”

That individual had no relation to the entity of death. He did not represent a force that granted a peaceful and predictable passing.

Under the dominion of the black sphere, the simple fact of “dying” was transformed into an unattainable benefit.

A torment located beyond death itself. Dale perfectly understood the message and a cold shudder ran down his entire back.

This was because, finally, he had contemplated the true dimension and nature of the being named the black sphere.

The conglomerate of flesh began to emit babbling filled with desperation. The ideological fervor ended up disappearing completely from what remained of them, being replaced by evident signs of terror and absolute panic. Although they no longer possessed faces properly said to gesticulate.

The only thing undoubted, in that scenario, was that even those subjects who perceived themselves ready for the end lacked the preparation to face the destiny of “not perishing.”