Chapter 274
She had to remain in place to maintain control over the crescent mark.
He had not seen her move for a while since she had started using the technique; she was at a standstill and not even looking at him, which made him believe that to use such a high-power technique, she had to be positioned at a fixed point.
Still. Unmoving. Almost statuesque.
That meant…
A weakness.
‘Hmm…’
Oliver’s gaze flickered.
He lifted a single finger—
And fired an icicle straight at the mark.
The crescent mark shifted.
The energy attacks—
They turned.
The moment his icicle approached, the attacks abandoned him and redirected toward it instead.
His theory was correct.
“Hah.”
A smirk played on his lips as he wiped the dust from his face, his gaze settling coldly on the hovering crescent mark.
Then—
A chilling breeze swept across the battlefield.
Behind him—
Hundreds of icicles materialized in midair, forming a jagged army of frost. The air itself seemed to hum with their presence.
The scene was ominous.
The scene became intimidating, to say the least.
Oliver, on one knee, his disheveled hair rippling in the cold wind, his eyes glinting like sharpened steel—an executioner, standing before his own battlefield.
Behind him—a frozen arsenal.
Each icicle gleamed dangerously, reflecting the eerie glow of the crescent mark.
Ahead—
Sera, who had her back to him, her hands holding the crescent blue sword in a fixed stance—although she had her back to him, there was a stillness to her posture, a predator’s patience. Her thumb holding the sword twitched slightly.
She could feel it.
She knew exactly what he was about to do.
There was a momentary silence, the tension crackling like a storm about to break.
The battlefield stood still.
Then—
“Go!”
At his command—
The ice spears launched.
Hundreds.
Straight toward the crescent mark.
The air shuddered.
The moment before impact—
Sera’s lips curved into a grin.
The mark was still at that moment.
And then—
The battlefield erupted.
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A low, vibrating hum filled the air.
Whrr.
The crescent mark shuddered, pulsed, then twisted in on itself—as if it had awakened.
Then—
A violent, unnatural ripple tore through the air.
A flurry of energy fluctuations exploded outward, vomiting out every ounce of stored power, lashing out in retaliation against the incoming icicles.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
An ear-deafening explosion erupted, as if someone had set off a bomb on the battlefield. Sera’s brows shook slightly as she kept channeling her dark espera into it. Her espera reserves were vast, far greater than Oliver’s.
The whole battlefield was covered with thick, brown, dusty smoke, so dense it was harder to even see what was ahead.
But even then, the sound of explosions never stopped. Boom after boom, shockwaves pulsed through the battlefield, shaking the ground beneath them. It kept going, as if both parties knew where the other was through their perception.
She stood firm—her hands tight around her blade, pouring dark espera into the mark, feeding it, sustaining it.
Her reserves far exceeded his.
She knew it.
Oliver knew it.
She could outlast him.
And yet—
Why?
Why did she feel like she was losing control?
The battlefield was swallowed in thick, suffocating smoke.
Visibility was reduced to nothing.
Yet even then—
The explosions didn’t stop.
They continued, relentless, as if both fighters knew exactly where the other was.
Sera exhaled.
She was calm.
The icicles were dangerous.
But as long as she focused, as long as she fed enough power into the mark—
She could stop them.
She could keep him trapped.
But—
She inhaled sharply.
There was something wrong.
This boy—
He should not have this much espera.
This much power.
His energy reserves—they were unnatural.
Was he even human?
She could only feel it now.
Before, when he was fighting against her subordinates, he had hidden himself behind deception, tricks, and feints.
But now—
Now, he wasn’t holding back.
And she liked it.
The more she pushed him, the more he had to reveal.
Every second, she was learning.
Every second, she was discovering his secrets.
How much longer can you keep up, human?
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On the other side of the battlefield—
Oliver’s expression was unreadable.
His gaze pierced through the thick smoke, as if it weren’t even there.
Then—
His head tilted.
As if—
He had found something.
A quiet exhale.
His right arm rose.
His fingers curled—
Then—
He swung his palm lightly toward a certain direction.
And space… trembled.
The very air warped.
A thin, ominous red line cut through reality itself—
Like a silent executioner’s blade.
It snapped into existence—
Then vanished.
An instant later—
Click!
Before anyone could process what was happening, the crescent moon mark in the air was split—cleaved in two so smoothly it was as if reality itself had been rewritten.
Sliced in half.
Perfectly.
It took a moment before the crescent mark shattered into fragments, glowing particles dissolving like embers into the night.
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Sera, who was controlling the mark, froze. Her expression shifted from one of puzzlement to one of utter disbelief.
She did not realize.
What had happened just now?
What…?
She had no words
Just one second ago, she was almost suppressing the icicles and was preparing to target the human again, but the next moment, she lost all connection to the mark.
An unnatural silence followed, thick and suffocating.
Loss of connection to the mark only meant one thing.
It was destroyed!
But…
How?
And… there was another thing wrong with the current situation.
Her heart was beating so wildly, thudding against her ribcage like a warning drum. Her arms, her head—she was sweating.
Her breath came in short, uneven intervals.
Why?
Why was her body reacting this way?
Why did her arms feel weak?
Why was she sweating?
Her fingers twitched involuntarily.
Her lungs burned.
What had just happened?
Her instincts screamed—
“You almost died.”
‘No… I know.’ She lowered the sword, her expression returning to an eerie calm.
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