CLEAVER OF SIN Chapter 636: Rule Imposition

Morthen’s silhouette materialized high in the sky, his stance utterly serene as if toying with three Crownstar Life Rankers like mere trifles had been effortless; he merely gazed at them with a grin, speaking in a leisurely tone without any haste, his aura projecting a subtle yet derisive assurance.

"You know, I’ve kind of missed this, the adrenaline, the anticipation of a strike, the dodging, the collision of weapons," Morthen remarked with a grin, "although I will not be killing you three today, I will at least have some fun with you, after all, it has been a few decades since I made a move," he added as if addressing mere children, his voice relaxed but edged with clear menace.

Daniel, Gabriel, and Israel couldn’t suppress their tongue-clicks of frustration, their vexation clear even through their poise. This explained the sheer challenge of facing Morthen Wargrave—he flipped from Swordmaster to Martial Artist in a blink, leaving no chance to adjust amid his sudden, unpredictable shifts.

Even more infuriating, he held his own against them solely through raw bodily might, employing zero Astra energy boosts, whereas they channeled enhancements into their forms just to stay even, yet failed to claim any edge.

Of the trio, Israel fared the worst right now, having absorbed two straight hits; though Excalibur’s initial blow had wounded him, the blood flow had ceased ages ago, with healing already underway, for Crownstar Life Rankers possessed utterly absurd vitality, resilience, and stamina, shrugging off wounds that would obliterate weaker foes on the spot.

"Time for round two, right?" Morthen uttered with a perilous grin that infused the air with deathly portents, his words airy but laden with inescapable heaviness.

Daniel surged forward without delay, having endured several gut-wrenching blows before, though agony held no terror for him after years of battling past it. His Astra energy exploded with immense power, summoning liquid metal that hardened in a flash into millions of silver spears, each radiating deadly purpose, before blasting ahead like artillery shells, shredding the atmosphere at ferocious velocity.

Faced with the onrushing barrage bent on ripping him apart, Morthen dissolved from his position, his frame surging to staggering velocity as he streaked through the sky in a haze, yet the spears trailed him relentlessly like homing warheads, never breaking their lock. As any neared, he glided aside with casual grace, evading before they could graze him.

The heavens swarmed with endless silver spears and one elusive form darting among them with flawless agility, yet suddenly Daniel materialized beside Morthen as if warping straight there—and he had. Daniel could instantly teleport to any of his metal creations, provided he spotted or sensed them.

Instantly upon arrival, he cleaved toward Morthen, unleashing a million silver slashes in one heartbeat, the onslaught blooming outward as if aimed to shred him into bloody scraps.

Confronted by the slashing torrent, Morthen stayed utterly composed, his mind serene and limpid while his soul-bound book whipped through its pages at blinding speed, countering the peril without pause.

In the blink of an eye, his form slipped from that space entirely, as though never occupying it, phasing flawlessly to escape Daniel’s ruinous onslaught; the terrain beneath shattered into cataclysmic devastation, millions of blade scars gouging the ground as colossal rifts tore wide, like swords hellbent on bisecting Crymora.

Suddenly, Morthen rematerialized at Daniel’s back, his heel driving down toward the man’s head with pulverizing might, but Daniel’s fluid metal acted with eerie autonomy, erecting a colossal silver barrier in the next instant; Morthen’s strike collided catastrophically, unleashing a deafening roar and a savage windstorm that ravaged the skies.

The silver barrier swiftly melted back to liquid, ensnaring Morthen’s foot, and seamlessly Daniel hurled him groundward at Israel and Gabriel with colossal power. Spotting the hurtling Morthen, they pounced at once, without the slightest delay.

Known as Rule Imposition, Gabriel's power enabled him to enforce rules upon reality with horrifying simplicity, provided he had sufficient Astra energy to uphold them, warping the natural laws to obey his command.

Gabriel uttered his command, instantly turning his words into an unyielding rule that halted Morthen’s body suspended in air mid-swing, locked in the enforced order. In that critical instant, Gabriel and Israel unleashed their strikes with deadly precision, determined to finish the fight in one crushing blow.

Though Morthen held back from slaying them, they assaulted him with complete murderous resolve, sparing no effort whatsoever.

Israel possessed Overclock, an ability that supercharged and elevated anything—or truly everything—to staggering heights, thrusting his bodily limits far past what nature intended.

Yet Morthen required no physical motion to trigger his powers; a mere thought sufficed, making Gabriel’s imposed rule completely ineffective in the end.

Astra energy exploded from Morthen’s form, birthing sound waves into tangible existence. They packed densely together before detonating fiercely like a ruptured container, crashing straight into the nearest Gabriel and Israel. The cacophony was insane, a ravaging vibration crafted to shred flesh and force blood forth, capturing the essence of the technique’s name.

Morthen’s sound wave assault also howled upward, charging at Daniel, overwhelming all three opponents at once without him shifting even slightly.

Gabriel’s vulnerability stemmed from his obligation to voice rules aloud to enact them, preventing a timely defensive imposition against Morthen’s abrupt, zero-distance onslaught. Recognizing the uselessness of an Astra energy shield, he steeled himself to absorb the blow bodily and curb the harm to the bare minimum.

Thankfully, Israel intervened to save him from facing it solo. Activating Overclock, Israel boosted his speed and resilience together, then in one fluid move, he seized Gabriel and blurred out of the danger zone, spanning hundreds of kilometers in a mere heartbeat, nimbly dodging the catastrophic wave.

Daniel fared worse; despite hoisting his silver shield, it offered scant protection. The strike hammered into him savagely, sound waves jolting his organs, his eyes filling with red as blood gushed from his mouth, his form blasted downward from the heavens by the sheer power of the collision.

Those lingering sound waves then ripped across the terrain, unleashing landscape-shattering ruin, obliterating mile after mile of Crymora’s map as if its realms stretched infinitely without limit, the havoc vanishing into the distant skyline.