CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 583: Death Trigger

Death Trigger operated as a vengeful power aimed at the slayer of Number Five. The consciousness of each tamed beast got marked with the foe that Number Five had confronted right before his end, and right now, Asher Wargrave served as the prime object of that fury.

Asher gazed at the unbelievable spectacle in front of him. He barely trusted the sight his eyes conveyed, and for a short instant, he even questioned the system's boasted shield against illusions and psychic control techniques. Indeed, the creatures he had slain with his own hands mere moments earlier now rose anew, each one burning with evident rage and lethal intent.

He had long since stopped tallying their count. Number Five had existed for countless years, during which he must have subdued a vast array of monsters and beasts. Even at this point, fresh portals kept spewing them out in relentless streams.

Asher couldn't resist pondering what catastrophe might have unfolded had this power enabled Number Five to subjugate the Negative Emovirae, beings deemed untamable by all conventional means.

That mere idea sent shivers down his spine.

In the following instant, the air appeared to inflate bizarrely, like the atmosphere bloating under immense strain before imploding inward. The heavens quivered as avian monsters beat their colossal wings overhead. Canines wreathed in various elemental powers burst from the gateways, their coats sparking with flames, bolts, and ice. Enormous ursines advanced with booming strides, lithe felines slunk like living shadows, and beasts of endless varieties and types flooded the field of conflict.

A few were beings Asher had met previously, but many were entirely alien to him. Even huge spiders skittered ahead, their myriad limbs drumming steadily on the broken earth, the incredible variety of these entities left him awestruck.

Without pause, they all charged ahead, fixated on one goal and driven by a sole purpose burned into their wrathful thoughts: the demise of Asher Wargrave.

The earth stirred under their assault. It fractured fiercely as a nightmarish horde thundered forth. The crimson pool under Asher's boots quivered and churned as the creatures barreled on in an unending surge, fueled by raw reprisal and stripped of all terror.

Asher shut his eyes briefly and exhaled softly, then reopened them. His frame crouched a bit as he leaned in, his fingers wrapping securely around Virelass's handle, which vibrated eagerly in his hold. His sinews tensed like coiled wires, primed to unleash at the slightest provocation.

For a split second, Asher considered deploying his rapier style. He had eagerly awaited a chance to try it in actual combat. Yet he declined to squander its debut on foes he viewed as beneath him.

With that resolve, Astra power burst from his frame, Light essence flared over his whole being, encasing both him and Virelass in a glowing amber glow. The soil under his soles split harshly as energy pulsed out, then, with no delay, he shot ahead like a missile, the blood lake below exploding into a massive surge from the raw power of his dash.

In under a heartbeat, Asher had bridged the gap to the oncoming beasts. Before any could truly respond, their forms were sliced open in one gleam of golden light.

In that instant, Asher resembled not a human but a herald of destruction. Everywhere he went, creatures tumbled down with resounding booms.

Their status held no significance. Their powers held no significance. Their armor, skins, talons, and gigantic builds held no significance.

Wherever vitality blocked his path, Virelass stepped in to deliver it to the deity of demise. Asher had merged seamlessly with his sword. He and Virelass flowed in perfect harmony, their actions so unified that distinguishing man from metal seemed futile. His pace now exceeded any he had shown before this point.

His Light essence drove that pace even farther past its bounds, crimson sprays coating him as he advanced, air shields crumbling and sonic walls breaking all at once while his swiftness kept soaring upward.

Asher's motion suggested he had shifted into an entirely altered realm. He looked trapped in a timeless pause. The falls of the beasts formed the beat of a wordless melody, and their crumpling frames served as the companions in his deadly waltz.

Then, the very next moment, Asher disappeared from the terrain, rematerializing far up in the clouds, his figure soaked in gore and carrying the stench of slaughter. The flying monsters that had earlier misplaced him amid his blistering velocity quickly detected him again.

Yet before they could cry out or beat their huge wings toward him, Asher struck, his arm and blade merging into a blur, for one brief spell, the firmament turned to gold as his edge cut at velocities beyond even the grasp of sky-dominant beasts.

Afterward came the consequence.

Plumage burst in all directions. The former azure vault now brimmed with floating plumes, plummeting remains, and gushing ichor, as if the skies had morphed into a tempest of mortality. Scores of aerial creatures lay shredded solely by masterful blade work.

Asher faded once more, the heavens misplaced him anew as he resurfaced amid the fray on the ground.

Remains showered from the heights like a macabre barrage of shooting stars. Fluids of diverse hues cascaded as though the firmament shed scarlet sorrow while beholding the epic drama playing out underneath.

The descending gore hit Asher and the surviving ground-dwellers with a gentle tapping, yet no one spared it a thought. The terrestrial beasts unleashed all their arsenal. Blazes roared, thunder cracked, toxins spewed, and forces of nature ripped through the warzone.

But Asher refrained from phasing, he had no need for it, what outpaced light? To him, their actions crawled like sluggish bugs. He evaded them effortlessly as if they inched along, even the serpents, using heat-sensing sight, tried to follow him, but to no avail, all they caught was a brief amber streak before eternal blackness claimed their views.

Exhaustion appeared foreign to Asher as he pressed on. His tissues ached from the intense strain of his velocity, his presence reducing to a ghostly trail over the chaos.

Under the vast sky, his sword seemed totally unassailable.

The ceaseless flood of creatures gradually thinned, thousands shrinking to hundreds, hundreds to dozens.

And dozens finally reduced to mere inert husks strewn over the wrecked terrain.

The final beast perished just as the initial one had, pointlessly.

Asher's form abruptly stopped, his gaze shut anew, his stance frozen utterly as if his spirit and flesh were gradually reentering the world from some otherworldly combat plane he had accessed.

Then his violet eyes flared wide once more, and precisely then, the slaughter under his boots, the enormous crimson sea born from innumerous lifeforms, started to shudder fiercely, the soil quaked, the blood tide roiled and lifted skyward, then, drawn by an unstoppable pull, the colossal fluid mass surged straight at Asher.

In the instant after, it flowed right into Virelass. The slender blade absorbed the vital fluid greedily, gulping it down with ravenous thirst as if it formed an endless void designed purely for devouring without end.

Earlier, Virelass had ignored their essence. To her, and given her wielder's present strength, it ranked too low and unworthy of intake.

But now, with these beasts having so boldly sought oblivion, she claimed every bit, as their quest for payback ended in defeat, their lifeblood could at least benefit her owner down the line.

Once finished, no trace lingered on the field. Just desiccated innards, broken skeletons, and myriad cadavers dotted the ravaged ground.

And thus, Asher remained solitary in the quiet he had forged. The Death Trigger, designed to haul Number Five's killer into the abyss with him, had been thoroughly nullified.

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