CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 575: Rebound Force

A heavy quiet stretched between the four as they warily assessed each other, sizing up intentions, motions, and auras. The tense hush weighed down the atmosphere like the charged calm right before a thunderstorm erupts. Abruptly, that silence exploded when Number Four lunged ahead at an absurd pace, his spear cleaving the wind smoothly like a hot blade through soft spread, stabbing straight at Asher’s belly with lethal exactness.

Asher responded without delay. His frame shifted laterally with seamless accuracy, actions fluid and honed from endless combats. Concurrently, his rapier whipped across in a gleaming silver blur, slashing the breeze as it headed for Number Four’s throat.

Yet before the blow could land, a sharp whistle cut from behind. Asher ditched his assault on Number Four on pure instinct. He spun his body once more to evade, a savage cut ripping through the spot he’d occupied just a heartbeat prior. But as he avoided that slash, Number Six had ghosted right up to him with eerie silence. Her daggers shot out like striking serpents, edges flashing with menace.

Asher’s wrist flickered as he deflected both blades with elegant poise and perfect timing, his rapier striking with the ferocity of a fighter tempered in innumerable desperate struggles.

Number Four wasted no time and charged back in. He materialized next to Asher in a flash, his spear lashing out with raw power as he used the pole instead of the tip, swinging it like a thick rod or mighty club rather than a piercing weapon. The blow packed savage energy.

Asher’s violet gaze locked onto the approaching hit; fresh from blocking Number Six, he couldn’t pull his rapier back fast enough to counter the crushing blow. In a split second, he lifted his right leg. His boot sole slammed into the oncoming strike, meeting the spear’s shaft head-on. Leveraging the attacker’s momentum and the weapon’s length as a springboard, Asher propelled himself up and away into the air, widening the gap from all three foes in one smooth leap.

Even before gravity tugged Asher downward, Number Six moved with haste. Her Astra power surged through her bloodstream, shimmering softly under her flesh. In an instant, a huge golden cage appeared overhead in the sky and plunged toward him from above.

Asher’s head jerked up as a shadow suddenly loomed over him. The second his sight caught the descending golden cage, his fist rocketed skyward to smash it before it could enclose him. But when his knuckles hit the golden structure, an odd bouncing energy rushed back through it. The cage held firm. Rather, it hurled his own strike’s power right back at him.

That returning force crashed into him with fury. Asher’s form plummeted earthward in a rapid blur, his boots slamming down with a deafening crash. The ground cracked open below him, a pit forming from the impact of his abrupt drop.

’That golden cage bounces back strikes?’ Asher pondered inwardly, his gaze sharpening a touch. On reflection, the trick clicked. Should anyone get boxed inside the golden cage and try to hit it from within, the structure would just send the assault rebounding onto them, flipping their strength against themselves.

Though the echoing power from his punch had taken him aback, Asher stayed utterly unscathed, yet his foes offered no chance to mull it over.

Number Five pressed in from the flank once more, his scimitar streaking as he loosed over a hundred blows in merely two breaths. The blade flickered like a torrent of metal ripping across the sky.

Asher countered without pause. His grip, torso, and whole frame pivoted aside to fend off the onslaught. His limb whipped with insane velocity and might as his rapier clashed against each assault directly. Every collision pealed out with crisp metal clangs. He countered Number Five’s pace with equal swiftness and power for power, never faltering once.

A flicker of astonishment crossed Asher’s eyes as he spotted a broad smirk concealed under Number Five’s mask, as if the fighter savored the fight with sheer delight and thrill.

Yet Asher couldn’t afford to dwell there. Via his Omni Perception, he’d already detected Number Four and Number Six swiftly narrowing the space again.

But prior to their next moves, Asher struck first. He dashed at Number Four and Number Six together. His boots pushed off as he vaulted skyward. In his grasp, Virelass streaked silver as he swung toward Number Six’s throat, while simultaneously his leg snapped out in a brutal kick targeting Number Four’s windpipe.

For a fleeting second, both froze, shock gleaming in their eyes. They hadn’t foreseen Asher dropping his duel with Number Five to go after them, much less hit them both at once.

Still, their shock didn’t hinder their reflexes; they’d endured too many fights for mere surprise to slow them down. Number Four swiftly hoisted his spear’s shaft.

Asher’s boot smashed into it with world-shaking might, a shockwave of gusts blasting out in waves as the atmosphere cracked. Both the wind shield and sound wall shattered right at the collision point. The raw power of Asher’s kick hurled Number Four rearward like a snapped puppet, his frame tumbling wildly through the breeze.

As for Number Six, she’d countered promptly too. She halted Asher’s rapier with crossed daggers in an X guard. A grating, piercing metal shriek burst from the impact, ringing across the field. The abrupt push of the block shoved Number Six sliding back over the dirt. Her heels gouged long furrows in the soil as she slid, dirt, rocks, grit, and chunks bursting behind her while she fought to steady.

Hanging in the air still, Asher didn’t ignore Number Five. His torso twisted as he spun, then he thrust a punch with vast power and mass, the blow exploding through the air with crushing force as his knuckles sped at Number Five’s skull.

Number Five’s reflexes fired at once, his response lightning-quick. He lifted his arm to intercept the punch. Asher’s force drove deep into his limbs, sending jolts rippling through him. Despite that, the sheer shock drove him back like Number Six, his soles scraping the ground as he slid a few paces before halting.

It was then that Asher touched down on solid ground again, his fall steady and poised; he rose gradually, his violet eyes rising to lock with the stares of his three adversaries ahead.

In the following instant, a subtle grin curved his mouth, one blending thrill and eagerness, as if he was just starting to relish whatever excitement this clash could deliver.

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