Debauchery of a Soul-Eating Wraith

Chapter 180: First Blood

Astrid watched Evian groan in pain and try his hardest not to succumb and fall to his knees and then she watched as he closed his eyes, took a shaky breath, and seized control of the flames that were wracking his insides with existence-ending sunders.

In a second she knew what he planned to do and she, who had been about to take a break and admit she had punished him enough, grinned with excitement.

'Still putting up a fight,' she thought, 'Good!'

Her urge to compete rose even higher as she increased the intensity of the purification being done by the miniature temple in front of her but then, the hairs on her body stood on end.

A chill began to creep over…

It moved slowly and yet weirdly traveled faster than light. It was instantaneous and by the time she was slammed by the deathly hold, the eyes of the Golden Child widened as she croaked,

"Impossible!"

Dark veins began to appear all over her body as she was getting corrupted at breakneck speed— She was getting corrupted faster than she could ever have anticipated.

"Impossible!" she croaked again right before her mind was thrust into an illusion that felt much too real.

In that illusory state, she saw Evian in his Reaper form with absolute control over the terrain which he used to let loose his Eldritch might on her. As an illusion, the events did not affect Astrid's body but they did seek to damage her psyche.

*Huff* *Huff*

Evian wiped the sweat off his forehead. His simple plan of reversal had been a success and the few seconds he had Astrid immobile were vital to end this duel.

He gripped his Spear and charged. It was taking every bit of the control he had over his Eldritch energy for him to keep Astrid the way she was so he had no choice but to end this with a physical strike.

This was it. This was his chance for a quick end.

The battle had no rules but Evian knew it was a power play. Metaphysical locks or not, he knew he had no chance of ending the life of a being at the Seventh Order but was sure that if he inflicted a wound so grievous that Astrid had to unlock her locks, it would be his win.

Alas, his weapon never made contact…

Astrid's Spiritual energy burned away his influence on her and freed her with more than enough time to lean to the side to avoid his Spear before slamming a knee into his stomach…

*Bam!*

*Crack!*

… which fractured his ribs even before he slammed painfully into the boundary.

"Ack!" Evian groaned as a powerful rupturing force impacted his organs and caused blood to pool in his mouth before he let it out in a thick spittle.

"How did you do it?" Astrid asked coming down with a kick from above.

"How did I do what?!" Evian asked as he raised his Spear over his head so the stem could intercept the kick.

*Bam!*

His arms shook at the weight behind the kick but with a good deal of Eldritch energy remaining in his reserves, he charged up his Spear and let loose an arch of cold energy that slammed Astrid point blank.

Alas, she did not look all that bothered. In fact, she took advantage of what looked like a last-ditch attempt from Evian to overpower him with her leg by forcing his Spear down and revealing his face to receive a swift kick from her other leg.

"Puh—!"

As Evian sailed away toward another side of the barrier, he stabbed one end of his Spear into the ground to anchor himself and slow his move.

"How did you get into my head?" Astrid asked.

She knew what he had done. She had expected him to do so but ordinarily, she was ready to block it and keep herself from being corrupted, but somehow, she had failed. Not only had the backlash of her own move moved so fast that it was almost instantaneous, but it had also struck a primal part of her mind. A part that she now realized was easily susceptible to corruption.

How did he find it? Astrid wondered.

The backlash should not have even resulted in the creation of an illusion. It should have attacked her like her attack had burned Evian but instead of trying to undo her existence (which it would have undoubtedly failed at), it had instead tried to ensnare her. To turn her over to the Dark Side.

"Oh," Evian said as he realized what Astrid's question meant.

He already knew from experience that his Eldritch energy touching minds had an illusory effect as had been the case with Frida Renan in Verdelen City, he just had not realized it would be an unexpected consequence to him striking Astrid with a backlash of what she tried to undo him with.

"You're not answering?" Astrid asked.

"I have no answer to give," Evian told her, glad for a bit of a respite to allow him to catch his breath. Multiple slams against the boundary had not done his body any good so far.

Astrid cocked her head to the side as her golden hair began to sway despite there being no wind in the trapped space they were in,

"I propose a proper structure to this duel," she said.

"Structure is good," Evian said with a nod. Apart from being glad that the break was still ongoing, he genuinely believed a structure was needed. Astrid had neglected that by bursting out an attack in the first place.

"Alright then," Astrid said as she acquired a sinister smile, "It's simple. If you manage to draw blood from my body, this will end and I will let you go. That much is at least worthy of me not getting involved in my Mother's business… For now.

Do we have an accord?"

Evian paused and then took a deep breath before creating a Health pack to heal his injuries. Astrid watched as every wound, every cut she had inflicted so far, got healed but did not appear all that surprised or impressed.

"Yes," Evian finally said and with one final amused smile, the Golden Child attacked again.

She moved in a flash that Evian's eyes were unable to follow and when she stopped, it was to stab her sword toward his head.

Parrying the strike, Evian let loose a force of Eldritch energy to push Astrid away from him. It hit but she dematerialized like an after image and in that same second, Evian felt ten jabs striking at his back.

He phased into the ground and surfaced barely a second later with the distance between himself and Astrid properly calculated so he could make use of his Spear's reach.

Astrid parried the Spear but as it passed harmlessly by her side, she grabbed it and used it to pull Evian closer while swinging her sword at his neck.

This was another time of many that Astrid had gone for the kill and the longer they battled, the more Evian was sure she had no qualms about ending his life.

In that second, Evian regretted having not purchased a defensive Wraithic Spell. He had never thought it was needed due to him having Wraithic Phasing but apparently, he could not have been more wrong.

A spell Circle appeared behind him and out of it, charged his Reaper chains. A group of the chains banded tightly together and pushed Astrid's sword down and away while the other group stabbed at her as Evian hoped to now use closeness to his advantage by giving Astrid less time to react.

Unfortunately, she had more than enough time and still managed to cast a spell.

A green Arcane Spell circle appeared behind Astrid and out of it sprouted a tree that was thick with a nourishing energy. The tree charged out vines that wrapped around Evian's chains not only holding them in place but also undoing them.

With her sword free, Astrid stabbed at Evian again.

*Sksh!*

Evian managed to contort himself so that the stab avoided puncturing a vital organ but he still got stabbed and he bled.

Alas, unknown to the Golden child, Evian had bid his time.

With Astrid grinning confidently, she appeared to have failed to realize that holding on to the Spear was not in her best interest. Evian used his weapon as a conduit for Eldritch energy so it stealthily coursed through Astrid's arm and numbled it.

He cast his Reaper chains again at her feet and the chains wrapped around her but before they could even constrict around her form, Astrid shattered them, and once a radiating glow warmed her numbed arm, she grabbed Evian's neck with it.

"Same tricks!" Astrid said with disappointment, "It saddens me that you even thought that could work."

"Oh, but it did," Evian said with a chuckle.

"What—?" Astrid started to say before she felt a prick of pain that caused her blue eyes to widen as she let go of Evian's neck and turned her arm around to view a small incision.

A bleeding incision.

She realized he had not numbed her arm to attempt to corrupt her again. It was just so he could cut her and have it not be revealed until now for theatrics.

Evian rubbed his neck. Her hold had been quite constricting.

"I drew blood," he said calmly,

"This is over."