Chapter 322: Apostle of Severance
Chapter 322: Apostle of Severance
Between the three of them, Kaden, Allura and Nyer, he was always the weakest in terms of raw combat power.
Allura was second and Nyer was first.
But as the owner of the Severance Blessing, Allura was first in lethality!
Taking a step forward, Allura was akin to an unsheathed blade. Just being in her presence was enough to make one hallucinate the thought of being slashed into ribbons in the blink of an eye.
Compared to her previous states, this was far different. There was no flaming aura, no explosive flames. Just pure, untainted, silent lethality.
A pair of cold blue eyes stared at Shura who was gritting her teeth from the curses imposed by the Sin of Sloth.
Allura's hair was now similar to Alice except it wasn't split down the centre. Instead, it was black that faded into a pure white colour similar to Velouria.
She wore a black and white dress that fluttered with each of her movements, gentle and composed.
Breathing out, a crest manifested on the back of neck. It was barely visible but Alice could see it clearly. The symbol of Ayr guarded by a single blade and three pairs of wings.
[Apostle of Severance : Allura]
Around her, the space began to distort as she pulled her hand back before punching forward.
*CRACK!!!
The space shattered apart as Allura reached into the tear and began to pull out a single blade. Unlike the blade she manifested before, this was different and hummed with divinity that resonated with her blessing.
As she began to pull the blade out, the fabric of space looked as though it was nothing but a veil, dragged along by the edge of the sword. Its infinite darkness overlaid the silver edge. Once the blade was pulled out in its entirety, radiant white flames burst out of her body, condensing into a black and silver armour.
Once again, the crest of Ayr was clearly visible on its surface. Allura's pride and joy.
Raising the sword before stabbing it into the ground, Allura glared at Shura before a headpiece manifested itself over the upper half of her face.
Allura had two Relics bound to her.
[Executioner's Raiment]
The armour she dons upon herself to carry out her execution.
And finally, her blade bestowed by Velouria herself. A blade crafted with the blessing of Severance acting as a base. The first of its kind.
[Nihility's Edge]
A blade to reduce everything to zero. To shave away at a person until they are nothingness.
"Commencing Execution." Allura spoke coldly as she flickered out of sight and appeared behind Shura who was unable to react due to the Sin of Sloth. But even without this hindrance, Allura's power had reached an all time high.
With the fulfilment of her Ritual and the dawn of the Seventh Day of Execution, she was now at a level that was above Apostles and below the Gods!
In other words, by fulfilling the Ritual, she had gained the power of a demi God.
"Severance of Sight."
At that moment, Shura was greeted by a word of darkness. Her sight that she replied upon and the sense that allowed her to 'see' through energy, robbed.
"Severance of Touch."
Shura stumbled over, the ground lost meaning as she felt as though she was floating in the sky yet she was not moving.
"Severance of Sound."
"Smell."
"Taste."
With each strike, Allura continued to strip away everything that Shura used to interact with the world but she wasn't done.
Even with all of her physical senses being robbed from her, instinctually, Shura still understood how to utilize her power. And in her current state of panic, she was unleashing the power of destruction wantonly.
"Fuuu….." Breathing out deeply, Allura unleashed a sixth slash horizontally.
"Severance of Power."
With the thread of power connecting Shura to the Will now severed, the aura of destruction fizzled out as she raised her blade above Shura's head.
Her target was now senseless and powerless. The state of a prisoner awaiting execution.
And finally, Allura slashed down.
"Severance of Life. Execution!"
In a single slash, Allura decapitated Shura as her body began to crumble away. Seven days of Execution, seven stages of Severance before reaching nihility.
By allowing her target to have 'seven days' to prepare themselves, she is able to unleash power beyond her normal authority in a single burst to impose an execution onto them.
With Shura now defeated, the strands of her energy converged around Allura as her armour and blade faded away.
This was the second drawback of her ritual despite its impressive power. It was single target only! Upon executing her target, her boost in strength would fade away immediately unless she decides to reactive the ritual for a second target.
However, with her current state being one where she's essentially out of energy completely, activating a second ritual was impossible.
"What a bothersome ritual. I might need to make some adjustments if I want to use this more often." Allura stumbled with a bitter smile.
Clutching her head, she glanced towards Kaden and Alice who seemed to be shouting something.
'Why is Kaden activating his resonance?' Stumbling towards them, their voices became clear.
"LUA! DODGE!!!"
"!!!"
Widening her eyes, Allura felt a chill from behind.
At that moment, a piercing cold feeling invaded her body as several blades pierced through her torso.
"Eh?"
Blood dripped from her wounds as a festering energy permeated her wounds and into her body.
Gritting her teeth, white flames roared out from her body.
"FAMINE!!!!!"
"You don't have to shout so loud~ I can hear you just fine." Famine grinned as her claws dug deep into Allura's body.
[Apostle of Famine : Deva]
###
Grabbing Enris by the collar of her outfit, Velouria was seething as one could see the bulging veins on her neck. The fury in her eyes and the aura that threatened to consume everything around her.
"Explain yourself Enris." Velouria hissed.
No longer did she call people by the nicknames she had given them. No. This time, Velouria was livid.
"What's there to explain? I didn't think my children would go this far either. But so long as we get the result we wanted right? Weren't you the one who said you wanted a bit of chaos by the end?" Enris shrugged.
"Of course, there's also the option for us to fight here and now. I'll admit that I'm not a match for you usually, even when you're weakened. But right now? I feel like I can get a good hit in or two." She narrowed her eyes with a grin.
Hearing this, Velouria was reminded of who she was dealing with. The most chaotic God that didn't care about what happens so long as it entertained her. The biggest variable within their group.
Even after trying to entice Enris with a chaotic end, Velouria couldn't stop her from doing whatever she wanted.
Killing intent erupted from Velouria's body as Enris laughed in the face of danger. The air became suffocating even for Apostles that had finished their fights recently.
Both Solaris and Lumiria wanted to say something but understood that Velouria's wrath wasn't something they could calm down right now.
After all, Enris's Apostle had just injured Allura.
"I'll give my children a warning but you can't blame me now can you? It's not like I told them to attack Allura. Just for them to do whatever they wanted since it's what they do best. Who knew they would attack an ally?"
The more Enris spoke, the more infuriated Velouria became as she released Enris's collar.
"That it? How bor-"
*BANG!!!!!
Before Enris could even finish her sentence, Velouria punched Enris in the face before slamming her into the ground, cracking the platform beneath them.
Panting heavily, Velouria glared at the other two Gods before turning her attention to the battlefield.
"Don't say I'm being unfair." Velouria spat out coldly as she glared down at Enris.
Reaching her hand towards the battlefield, she snapped her finger.
Suddenly, the entire Abyss began to tremble as countless black hands rained down from above. Cracks in space opened up with countless eyes scanning across the battlefield before finding their target.
And when it did, the hands lunged forth.
Seeing what was about to happen, Enris rushed to her feet but was too late.
Velouria wrapped the countless hands around the Apostle of War.
Upon contact with these hands, a corruption seeped into his soul and infested the connection he had with Enris.
Opening his mouth to scream out in pain, Abyss Water poured forth without stop as his form began to twist and crack, transforming into a malformed creature of the Abyss.
With his connection tainted and soul corrupted by the colour of the Abyss, Enris wasn't able to escape the backlash either as she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Clenching her fist, Velouria commanded a beast from the Abyss to lunge from the shadow and crushed the Apostle!
"You b*tch…" Enris forced out through gritted teeth as the lost of an Apostle was detrimental to any God. Even though Famine may have attacked Allura, she wasn't dead.
Yet Velouria took the initiative to directly kill her Apostle of War. Stumbling to her feet, Enris glared at Velouria who wasn't intimidated.
Even if she wanted to threaten her right now with cooperation, Enris could tell that Velouria didn't care.
"Seems like you're not going to say anything even after I killed your child. What pitiful children to have you as their God." Velouria glared while Enris smiled in return.
"Let's stop it here Velouria. You already killed her Apostle, aren't you even now?" Solaris couldn't take it anymore and spoke up while Lumiria agreed.
"Hah! Even if I killed 100 of her worthless Apostles it still wouldn't equal to the safety of Lua. Don't overestimate your worth." Velouria spat out in disgust.
The only reason why she didn't kill Famine as well was so that Allura and Kaden could do it themselves.
Right now, she didn't care if the Will was laughing at her from beyond the Void. The only thing she knew right now was that Allura was harmed due to Famine.
"If you're going to go against me, you're prepared to die right?"