CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 580: Light Beam

While disregarding the massive wooden giant and its shockwave assault entirely, Asher teleported straight at Number Four, materializing on the titan's shoulder in an instant blur. Right upon landing, his rapier thrust ahead at astonishing velocity, targeting to sever the man's head right there.

Yet Number Four responded without delay. Just by willing it, the vines forming the titan surged up, enveloping him in a dense, twisting shield of foliage. Asher's rapier blurred in rapid motion, shattering the shield into fragments on the spot, but the vine defense reformed just as quickly, keeping pace flawlessly like it had its own independent mind.

Asher disappeared from his position in a flash, reappearing inside the barrier itself. Since the guy chose to conceal himself there, Asher just phased right into the vine enclosure. However, no one awaited him inside; Number Four had vanished, absorbed into the enormous wooden titan. The instant Asher materialized within, a fresh barrage of thorny vines erupted from the barrier, as if Number Four anticipated the teleportation perfectly.

Asher made no effort to evade. His form turned ethereal, allowing him to pass through every assault unscathed, each thorn gliding right through as if he dwelled beyond reality's veil. He blinked out of sight again right away, rematerializing high above the huge wooden titan, hovering with serene ease. Before the titan could move or respond to him, a massive surge of Astra energy coursed through Asher's Astra channels, while light affinity sparked on his hand as particles of light amassed at accelerating pace and immense power.

In seamless continuation, Asher directed his palm down, unleashing a colossal golden ray of light that plunged with immense power, like divine judgment from above. The vast beam of dazzling luminosity crashed onto the wooden titan with annihilating might, slicing through it effortlessly like a blade through soft spread, instantly splintering the enormous structure into pieces before it dissolved completely.

The ray pressed on relentlessly, striking Number Four square on as he couldn't defend in time. The ground under Number Four's feet ripped open from the fierce light beam, his agonized cry ripping from his throat, but it got lost in the dominant roar of the blazing strike.

Before Number Five and Number Six could process the event, Asher cut off his assault suddenly. Number Four now looked like a hollow shell of his former self. His frame was scorched, mangled, and hardly identifiable; limbs fractured, skin ripped open, and gore sprayed wildly over the devastated terrain below.

Still, his stubborn life force kept him clinging to existence amid the catastrophic wounds. Acting swiftly despite the agony flooding his bloodstream and thoughts, he triggered yet another of his abilities.

An ability he devised personally that let him restore health by drawing life essence straight from flora and trees. With that, his Astra energy spread out, covering the combat zone as he tried to suck vitality from any surviving vegetation outside their arena. The result hit fast and strikingly; a shining emerald glow enveloped him immediately as his damages started healing and fading visibly to all.

However, Asher didn't just observe the recovery idly. He advanced, flickering away from his floating spot to teleport right in front of Number Four. Before the fellow could even twitch, his view of everything spun wildly as a gleam of silver filled his sight.

His head flew through the air before smacking the ground with a solid thump. Seconds later, the torso dropped too, crumpling to the dirt with a flat, deadened smack as scarlet liquid gushed like a bloody geyser from the severed neck stump.

Asher's gaze turned to Number Five and Number Six, both now glaring at him with grim scowls on their features. Asher held back from charging in right away. Rather, his stare swept gradually over the fight area, spotting those same golden crates hovering in the atmosphere and void.

He showed no response to them. His violet eyes merely returned to the two foes left, but Number Five had already vanished. The second Asher's attention drifted to one golden crate, Number Five struck without pause. His curved sword howled at Asher's neck in a streak of dark metal.

But the effort proved pointless. Thanks to Omni Perception, Asher detected the strike before it fully launched. His rapier arced up smoothly, deflecting the blow aside with elegant accuracy. In one fluid move, Asher's leg pushed off the ground with explosive power, breaking through the air shield violently as it aimed at Number Five's head side.

Yet the man blinked out of existence where he was, and a beast popped up in his stead, swapping places instantly. With devastating strength, Asher's kick crushed into the beast's cranium with merciless collision. The creature's skull burst open like a burst fruit under the hit. Crimson sprayed across Asher's features and form, but he remained utterly unmoved.

Without pause, he lunged onward, his speed tearing across the field as he reached the last pair in a warp of movement that bent space, his rapier weaving at Number Six's neck with deadly aim.

Number Six countered without hesitation. As soon as she caught the air's howl and felt its shield crack, she moved at once. A golden crate formed under her soles and Number Five's soles.

Yet before the golden crate could engulf them both, Asher's Astra energy thrummed with precise command as he accessed his spatial affinity. At once, the crate under Number Six's soles erased away, replaced by just a plain rock from the field.

Number Six's eyes bulged in utter disbelief and terror. She gazed powerlessly as Asher's edge neared her throat with each instant. She realized dodging was impossible. She knew blocking wouldn't work.

Thus, her Astra energy flared in frantic bid as she conjured an Astra shield ahead of her, aiming to delay the strike for a mere fragment of time and lessen its impact enough to counter somehow.

But Asher saw through the ploy. The instant he detected Astra energy shifting, he countered on pure instinct. Grasping Number Six's plan as simply as deciphering a kid's scheme, space twisted to his command again, the area around Virelass curving gently as Asher slashed her ahead, and exactly when the blade neared the shield, his rapier slipped right through it like mere mist.

His rapier cut smoothly across her throat with a reality-shaking slice. The eerie noise of steel biting meat rang out over the field as a slim silver mark rapidly formed on Number Six's neck, as if destined to appear there all along.