ushernet Chapter 99: SKILL REVEAL
Chapter 99: SKILL REVEAL
Lilura’s axe, as if moving on its own, swung in a wide arc, cleaving through the air towards Silas’s neck.
A thin sheen of aether coated its blade as it trailed a streak of blue mid air.
Silas dropped beneath the attack, then drove his katana towards Lilura’s jaw.
Lilura’s head tilted to the side, the katana piercing through the space her head had been.
She countered immediately, her axe swinging as it smashed against the katana.
Silas stumbled backwards for a moment before he regained his footing.
Lilura flashed a cold grin at him as she poured her aether into the axe’s blade in controlled bursts.
"Thunderclap Split," she yelled as she brought her axe down with both hands.
Lightning arced outward from that point, snaking through the entire building towards Silas.
The lightning found him before he could move.
But Silas was not the only target.
The entire building lurched.
Walls that were barely hanging began to fall apart like dry bones.
The floor beneath Silas’s feet exploded outward as the current ripped through it.
Before Silas could understand what was happening, he was already falling, his body plummeting downward.
Rip.
His clothes tore as a metal pipe caught him by the shoulder.
He was suspended in the air, only momentarily.
In that moment, he looked up.
He saw Lilura.
She was looking at him through the hole that had been in the ground he stood on just moments ago.
She flashed a crazed grin at him as she leapt down, her axe held overhead as she neared.
Silas did not hesitate. His katana moved in a blur, slicing through the cloth.
Gravity reclaimed Silas at that moment.
His body dropped, faster this time as he approached the ground with each passing breath.
Silas landed on the floor, now filled with broken beams, rocks, and tiles.
He stood firmly, his body twisting to the side.
A second later, Lilura landed on that same floor, the blade of her axe following just a moment later, cutting through the earth where Silas had stood on landing.
She looked to the side, where Silas had moved.
Silas was already before her, katana glinting under the sunlight as it flashed towards her neck.
A barrier formed almost immediately at the point where the katana had targeted.
The barrier condensed into a single patch.
The katana struck hard against the patch, sending a chime that rang through the room.
The patch did not so much as shake. It absorbed the full impact of the blade before it could reach Lilura.
Silas’s gaze shrank, just for a sliver of a second. He regained his calm almost immediately.
Aether ran from his core into his katana, making it erupt with flames.
Silas withdrew and slashed back simultaneously, this time targeting her exposed torso.
Lilura backflipped, swinging her axe up in the same movement.
She deflected the katana, sending it off course.
Silas regained control almost immediately, swinging the katana vertically.
A sharp arc of flame aether shot out of the blade, carving through the earth as it reached Lilura.
Lilura landed.
She did not dodge the attack.
She met it head on, her axe screaming through the air as she swung it horizontally.
The arc stopped for a breath, pressing against the axe’s blade.
It was only a slight delay. Like paper, Lilura’s axe sliced through it.
The aether dissipated into a mist that breezed past her.
There was silence between both of them as they stared at each other, scrutinizing.
The air between them seemed to boil as sparks flew between them.
"Join me, Silas. We can rule this planet together," Lilura suddenly said, dropping her axe into the floor beside her.
Silas looked at her.
He said nothing.
His hand coiled around his katana as he brought it up, facing the sky and resting just beside his head.
Both hands held the hilt.
His body bent slightly, one leg forward, one leg backward.
"I will take that as a no," Lilura said, pulling her axe out of the earth. "I have tried my best. You can die now."
They sprang.
The floor beneath them, already in ruins, was destroyed further under their combined might.
They streaked through the room, then burst out into the open compound.
Aether flew through the air at close intervals as they unleashed skill after skill.
Silas twisted, planting his feet into the earth.
Lilura looked at him from above, hovering just slightly over him.
Her eyes were cold and distant.
The axe in her hand disappeared.
"It has been a long time since I used my skill," she said, flexing her hand.
Her bones released cracking sounds as she straightened them.
"Make sure you entertain me well," she said.
Silas furrowed his brows but did not let his guard down.
He did not even let her do anything.
He flashed before her, his katana drawing a thin silver line through the air as it ripped towards her neck.
Lilura did not flinch.
A thin patch of aether formed at the point of contact, stopping the blade before it could go further.
Silas pulled back, bringing his sword down at the same time.
The patch of aether was faster this time.
It transformed into a bullet that tore forward.
Silas’s body began to fall as a hole carved itself into his forehead.
A tremor swept through from behind Lilura as Silas’s reformed body slashed at the new barrier coating her.
The barrier wrapped into itself on contact, splitting into thousands of motes that sliced towards Silas’s head.
Something was different though.
Compared to the first one that had passed through Silas’s head in a single strike, these did not even leave a mark on him.
Lilura looked at him with a calm gaze.
"This is futile. You are only alive because I want you to be. I will say this again. Would you join the Crimson Fang or not?"
Silas looked at her and shook his head.
For the first time, he spoke.
"You just don’t get it, do you?" He asked.