Vaelric leaned back against his obsidian throne, his sharp gaze fixed on the broken woman before him. The room was dim, the torches casting flickering shadows that danced across the jagged walls. The air was thick with tension, the silence broken only by his quiet, mocking laughter.
PLAP! PLAP!
In the darkness, a silhouette of someone could be seen jumping up and down.
Vaelric moved closer, his shadow looming over her. His hand reached out, tracing the curve of her jaw with a mockery of gentleness. “Such beauty wasted on weakness,” he murmured, his tone almost wistful. “You could have been so much more. Instead, you’re nothing but a tool now… a broken one at that.”
He crouched before her, tilting her face upward so their eyes met. For a moment, his expression softened—not with kindness, but with twisted satisfaction. He was in control. Here, in this moment, nothing could challenge him.
But then— snap.
Vaelric’s head jerked up, his expression shifting instantly from smug to alert. Something was wrong. The air in the room had changed, carrying with it a faint hum of energy. His eyes narrowed as he focused, his senses sharpening.
“What?” he muttered, his voice low and dangerous. His gaze darted around the chamber, searching for the source of the disturbance.
The sensation grew stronger, a faint but unmistakable ripple of mana cutting through the oppressive air. It wasn’t subtle—this was mana being used in significant amounts. Vaelric’s expression darkened.
“Mana?” he said, his voice rising in disbelief. “This isn’t a disciple… this is far too strong.”
The energy pulsed again, sharper this time, like the beat of a war drum. Vaelric’s breath hitched as he recognized the signature. The intensity was unmistakable—this was mana at the level of a 3-star Awakened, if not higher.
“An elder,” Vaelric hissed, his mind racing. But the possibility didn’t sit right with him. No elder would unleash their mana like this without his explicit command. His orders had been clear—discipline above all else.
His eyes widened as the realization hit him. “Someone is attacking.”
In an instant, he was on his feet, his aura flaring as he surged with power. The oppressive force of his mana filled the chamber, the torches flickering wildly in response. His sharp gaze snapped to the woman before him, her lifeless expression unchanged.
“Out of my way,” he growled, grabbing her bound form and throwing her aside like a rag doll. She landed heavily against the cold stone floor, unmoving.
Vaelric strode toward the door, his mind a storm of calculations and fury. If someone had breached his territory, if they dared to challenge the Crimson Serpent Sect within its own stronghold, they would pay for their audacity in blood.
Just then he sensed something.
SWOOSH!
Vaelric’s hand shot to the hilt of his blade, drawing it in a single, fluid motion as his instincts screamed a warning.
CLANK!
The clash echoed through the chamber as steel met steel, sparks flying from the force of the impact. Vaelric’s blade, a jagged, crimson-hued longsword, locked against the gleaming edge of another—a weapon shrouded in a faint, otherworldly glow.
“What?!” Vaelric snarled, his sharp eyes narrowing as he pressed back against the force of the strike. His opponent had appeared out of nowhere, their presence masked until the last possible moment.
The figure before him was cloaked in shadows, their face obscured by a hood that cast a veil of darkness over their features. But their stance, their precision, spoke volumes—they were no mere intruder.
Vaelric gritted his teeth as he forced the opposing blade aside, his aura flaring with fury. “Who dares to—”
But the figure didn’t give him time to finish. They moved with inhuman speed, their blade darting toward him in a flurry of precise strikes.
CLANG! CLANG!
Vaelric barely managed to deflect the rapid assault, his movements sharp but strained as he matched the intruder’s speed. His teeth clenched in frustration; whoever this was, they were no ordinary warrior. The sheer precision and ferocity of their strikes were unlike anything he’d encountered before.
“You’ll regret this,” Vaelric hissed, his voice a low growl as he parried another attack and countered with a sweeping slash of his own. His crimson blade ignited with a dark, fiery glow, the power of his mana coursing through it as he aimed to overwhelm the intruder with sheer force.
But the shadowed figure was undeterred. They twisted their body, narrowly avoiding the fiery arc of Vaelric’s blade, and retaliated with a spinning strike aimed at his side.
Vaelric blocked again, the clash sending a jarring vibration through his arms. His fury grew as he realized he was being pushed onto the defensive. “Who are you?!” he demanded, his voice echoing through the chamber.
The figure tilted their head slightly, their hood casting deeper shadows over their face, but the faint sound of a chuckle escaped from within. It was light, almost playful, yet it carried an undercurrent of mockery that cut through the tension like a knife.
“Hmm… Who am I?” the figure mused aloud, their voice unmistakably young, perhaps belonging to someone in their early twenties. Despite its youthfulness, there was a sharpness to it—a taunting edge that made Vaelric’s teeth clench.
“Does it matter?” the figure continued, their tone laced with teasing derision. They stepped forward, their blade shimmering with that same otherworldly glow. “You’re going to die here after all, Vaelric.”
The words hung in the air, each syllable dripping with confidence and contempt. Vaelric’s fiery aura flared in response, his anger boiling over as he glared at the shadowed figure. Continue reading at empire
“You dare mock me?” Vaelric snarled, his voice a low, venomous growl. “You think this is a game, boy? You’ll regret every word.”
But the figure didn’t flinch. Instead, they let out another soft laugh, the sound almost casual, as if Vaelric’s rage was nothing more than a passing amusement.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” the young man replied, his blade shifting into a ready stance. The faint light surrounding it pulsed, the shadows in the room seeming to warp and dance around him. “Show me what the infamous Vaelric can do. Surely, the Crimson Serpent Sect’s leader isn’t all bark and no bite?”
Vaelric’s eyes burned with fury, his jagged blade igniting with a fiery blaze as he lunged forward. “You’ll regret underestimating me!”
The figure met his charge head-on, their blades clashing in a violent explosion of sparks and mana. The room trembled under the weight of their auras, the oppressive heat of Vaelric’s fire battling against the eerie chill emanating from the figure’s weapon.
CLANG! CLANG!
The strikes came fast and relentless, the two combatants moving in a deadly dance of steel and shadows. Vaelric’s strength and fiery fury were matched by the figure’s agility and precision, their movements fluid and unyielding.
“You talk big,” Vaelric growled between strikes, his blade arcing in a brutal slash. “But words won’t save you!”
“And yet,” the figure countered, their voice calm and mocking as they sidestepped the attack, “here I am, still standing.”
The exchange only fueled Vaelric’s rage, but there was a flicker of unease in his mind. The figure wasn’t just taunting him—they were playing with him, every movement precise and deliberate, as if they were studying his every move.
Vaelric’s mind raced, his sharp instincts screaming warnings that couldn’t be ignored. He didn’t know if there were others lurking in his stronghold, waiting to strike, but it didn’t matter.
‘No one would dare to strike the Crimson Serpent Sect alone… This one must have allies,’ he thought grimly, his grip tightening on his jagged, crimson blade. ‘If I let this drag on, the consequences could be catastrophic. I need to end this now.’
His aura flared violently, the oppressive heat of his mana filling the chamber as he began channeling his energy. The crimson glow surrounding him darkened and intensified, coiling around his blade like a living entity. His lips curled into a vicious snarl as he uttered the name of his ultimate technique.
“Crimson Serpent Ascension.”
The air around him seemed to ignite as the energy coalesced into the form of a massive serpent, its body a writhing construct of molten flames and concentrated mana. The serpent’s eyes glowed with a fiery menace, its fangs bared as it hissed, ready to strike.
The figure before him didn’t flinch. Instead, they tilted their head slightly, as if curious. “A big snake, is it?” they mused, their tone mocking despite the overwhelming pressure of Vaelric’s attack. “How very fitting.”
Vaelric’s fury boiled over. With a roar, he surged forward, the serpent of flames coiling and striking in tandem with his blade. The room trembled under the force of the attack, the serpent’s fiery maw snapping toward the shadowed figure with deadly precision.
“Let’s see you dodge this!” Vaelric bellowed, his voice filled with both rage and desperation.
The serpent’s fiery body lunged, its blazing heat warping the air as it bore down on the intruder. The figure, however, didn’t move. They stood perfectly still, their blade lowered, as if waiting for the inevitable.
And then, at the last possible moment—
SWOOSH!
The figure moved.