MMORPG : Ancient WORLD
Author: Aibek
Chapter 624: Error vs Fate (II)
In the vast dome drowned in pitch darkness, Alex hung ensnared in a prison of a hundred fine strings, each one a whisper of cold, binding silver brushing against his skin.
The blurred movements of his blades and elemental wrath faded within seconds, dissolving into stillness as the silken strands tightened around him, until motion became impossible and thought began to dissolve into silence.
The strings shimmered like fractured moonlight within the dark enclave, swaying softly around him in unseen air currents. Some were taut as steel, biting into his limbs; others drifted lazily, whispering against his armor like the breath of ghosts.
Alex hung suspended in the shifting web, a sculpture of surrender, a puppet who seemed to have no will of his own.
Silence reigned absolute. Then, breaking through the dark, a single ghostly arrow appeared out of nothingness. Its light flared for the briefest heartbeat, scattering the shadows, then vanished, sinking soundlessly into Alex’s chest.
Moments later, the strings that bound him began to blur, their edges melting into streaks of silver mist.
From beyond the shroud, thicker threads burst forth, cold, silken cords of fate that wrapped around his arms, torso, legs, and neck, each loop drawn with meticulous precision, suspending him like prey in a web.
Without warning, the silver cords pulled taut. The razor-fine edges sank deep, slicing through armor, flesh, and bone alike. Blood bloomed from the cuts, spreading in slow waves across his skin, clinging to the threads like wet velvet.
The pale silver quickly turned a glistening crimson, shimmering in the faint light that seeped through the dark.
The spectacle lasted only a breath. The strings tensed once more, then sliced through him completely.
Freed of its anchors, his body fell apart, slipping into several cleanly severed pieces that struck the ground with a dull, wet thud.
Zarach watched in silence, his expression unreadable, before finally speaking.
"I suspected you might cheat death with your Error," he said, his tone carrying that familiar note of pride-tinged disdain. "So I had Ayah slip into your mind, trap you within yourself, buying me the time I needed to put you to rest."
A small smirk crept across his pale features, the faintest spark of admiration in his gray eyes. "But to think your control over soul-splitting had reached such an advanced level,"
A figure stepped through the veil of darkness, clad in black armor, different from the dead body lying in its own blood, but other than that, there was no difference between the two.
Zarach chuckled, the sound low and rough, carrying a hint of amusement that didn’t quite reach his eyes. "If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that you are a scion of a great clan, just like myself."
"I’ll admit, that was better than I expected... but how many times can you repeat that trick?" He spoke with a tone that was half impressed, half mocking.
Alex had survived using a plethora of skills, using
to weaken the hold of fate on himself and
to grow his control over Darkness.
He followed that by using
and planting it on his own soul, making it so that it wouldn’t perish under any form of attack, a skill he had refined to near perfection to deal with the trickery of Zarach.
Lastly, Alex had used ’One Soul, Multiple Bodies’ to split his soul and abandon his original body, creating a sanguine avatar that held ninety percent of his original stats.
And since it carried the majority of his soul, the weakening effect was negligible.
Alex wouldn’t have needed to abandon his original body, since with his soul bearing an Error that made him immortal, and fate’s grim grip on him weakening by the second, he could have recovered from any injury.
But, as Zarach explained, the Empress spirit’s attack was meant to counter his immortality. She didn’t harm him directly, instead, her attack tried, and successfully, split his mind into two halves.
If Alex hadn’t timely sensed the danger and left just a wisp of his soul in his original body, then his fate would have been left to the unknown.
"This battle will end in your death," Alex spoke evenly as he manipulated darkness to take away his two swords, his space ring already resting on the index finger of his right hand.
"I told you that confidence is good, but overconfidence against me will be your end," Zarach answered dismissively, before blitzing into action.
Alex had already used the Monarch Aura, so he only had limited time to end this battle, and it seemed Zarach felt the same.
The silver strings of fate converged at Zarach’s back, growing in number by the moment. Alex swung his blades, sending forth a torrent of erasing force that made the strings circle Zarach before swiftly weaving into a spiral web.
The web of strings burned with a silver purity, taking the brunt of his attack. As if facing a mirror that reflected power, the entire force of the sword torrent turned back toward Alex.
Alex sidestepped, appearing tens of meters away, but Zarach was upon him like a shadow. Tens of strings rushed at him, some with the intent to seize control of his fate, others to sever.
All the while, ghostly arrows of various effects rained in: some aimed directly at him, others shaping themselves to affect entire swathes of the battlefield.
The pillar made of fate strings trailing Zarach served no purpose other than faster execution, acting as a never-ending arsenal of weapons, so attacking it with Error or any other attack would be nothing but a waste of energy.
He also could not go after the Empress Spirit, since she was immortal so long as Zarach lived. And with that monster trying to overwhelm him, going after his helper was not a viable option.
Or at least, that’s what one would think, but Alex knew that if Zarach was the true threat, then she was his invisible blade, and as long as she remained present, taking out her master would not be possible.
So Alex planned to take her out first, render her useless, and only then deal with her master to put an end to this deathly duel.
Alex shot into the sky, breaking free from the swarm of silver strings that clawed after him. As he ascended, the surrounding darkness stirred violently, converging around him to form a colossal whirlpool that devoured both darkness like a ravenous beast.
Around him, the vast enclave began to shrink, its structure trembling under the growing pull of his power. The storm of darkness calmed as quickly as it rose, folding back into a still, endless sea of darkness, revealing Alex at its center.
His eyes, twin voids of nothingness, locked onto Zarach as he began his descent.
He fell like a dark meteor, closing the distance in a blink. His twin blades came crashing down upon the silver web that stretched before Zarach, the strings gleaming as they strained to hold their form.
The impact shattered the web like fragile glass, scattering threads of fate across the air. Zarach was already retreating, his form vanishing behind a cocoon of intertwining silver strands.
At that same instant, three ghostly arrows pierced through the dense shroud of darkness, streaking toward Alex from different angles.
Alex twisted midair, his foot dissolving into a swirling void as he flipped, meeting the arrow head-on. Nihility Purge flared through the air, silent and absolute, erasing the projectiles in a blink.
Without pause, he pushed off the darkness itself, launching forward once more. The very world rippled as an unseen fracture, an
, took form within the silver cocoon, distorting its form from within.
But Zarach did not wait for Alex to reach him.
The cocoon unraveled, its silver threads peeling away in fluid motions, revealing the Scion of Fate within. His colorless gray eyes shimmered faintly, showing neither thrill nor worry, reflecting countless threads of possibility.
His pale hands were clasped together, calm and deliberate, as if holding something within. Then, swiftly, he parted them. His fingers spread wide, and between them unfolded a vast cobweb of incorporeal silver strings, delicate yet heavy in their presence, each line humming with unseen tension.
A faint smile touched Zarach’s lips just when a few moments separated him and Alex, a smile too calm to be anything but unnerving.
With a fluid motion, he flung his arms wide, and the countless threads burst outward like streams of liquid light, fusing seamlessly with the world itself, binding to every possible strand of existence.
"Fate Crucible"
His voice resonated, calm yet absolute, as the web expanded around them, its strings becoming a mix of real and illusion, glinting faintly in the dark enclave, stretching outward in all directions.
The strings converged with the surroundings, weaving into an enormous dome that grew larger around them, creating a domain where the fate of the world itself was a weapon for Zarach.
The blurred movements of his blades and elemental wrath faded within seconds, dissolving into stillness as the silken strands tightened around him, until motion became impossible and thought began to dissolve into silence.
The strings shimmered like fractured moonlight within the dark enclave, swaying softly around him in unseen air currents. Some were taut as steel, biting into his limbs; others drifted lazily, whispering against his armor like the breath of ghosts.
Alex hung suspended in the shifting web, a sculpture of surrender, a puppet who seemed to have no will of his own.
Silence reigned absolute. Then, breaking through the dark, a single ghostly arrow appeared out of nothingness. Its light flared for the briefest heartbeat, scattering the shadows, then vanished, sinking soundlessly into Alex’s chest.
Moments later, the strings that bound him began to blur, their edges melting into streaks of silver mist.
From beyond the shroud, thicker threads burst forth, cold, silken cords of fate that wrapped around his arms, torso, legs, and neck, each loop drawn with meticulous precision, suspending him like prey in a web.
Without warning, the silver cords pulled taut. The razor-fine edges sank deep, slicing through armor, flesh, and bone alike. Blood bloomed from the cuts, spreading in slow waves across his skin, clinging to the threads like wet velvet.
The pale silver quickly turned a glistening crimson, shimmering in the faint light that seeped through the dark.
The spectacle lasted only a breath. The strings tensed once more, then sliced through him completely.
Freed of its anchors, his body fell apart, slipping into several cleanly severed pieces that struck the ground with a dull, wet thud.
Zarach watched in silence, his expression unreadable, before finally speaking.
"I suspected you might cheat death with your Error," he said, his tone carrying that familiar note of pride-tinged disdain. "So I had Ayah slip into your mind, trap you within yourself, buying me the time I needed to put you to rest."
A small smirk crept across his pale features, the faintest spark of admiration in his gray eyes. "But to think your control over soul-splitting had reached such an advanced level,"
A figure stepped through the veil of darkness, clad in black armor, different from the dead body lying in its own blood, but other than that, there was no difference between the two.
Zarach chuckled, the sound low and rough, carrying a hint of amusement that didn’t quite reach his eyes. "If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that you are a scion of a great clan, just like myself."
"I’ll admit, that was better than I expected... but how many times can you repeat that trick?" He spoke with a tone that was half impressed, half mocking.
Alex had survived using a plethora of skills, using
to weaken the hold of fate on himself and
to grow his control over Darkness.
He followed that by using
and planting it on his own soul, making it so that it wouldn’t perish under any form of attack, a skill he had refined to near perfection to deal with the trickery of Zarach.
Lastly, Alex had used ’One Soul, Multiple Bodies’ to split his soul and abandon his original body, creating a sanguine avatar that held ninety percent of his original stats.
And since it carried the majority of his soul, the weakening effect was negligible.
Alex wouldn’t have needed to abandon his original body, since with his soul bearing an Error that made him immortal, and fate’s grim grip on him weakening by the second, he could have recovered from any injury.
But, as Zarach explained, the Empress spirit’s attack was meant to counter his immortality. She didn’t harm him directly, instead, her attack tried, and successfully, split his mind into two halves.
If Alex hadn’t timely sensed the danger and left just a wisp of his soul in his original body, then his fate would have been left to the unknown.
"This battle will end in your death," Alex spoke evenly as he manipulated darkness to take away his two swords, his space ring already resting on the index finger of his right hand.
"I told you that confidence is good, but overconfidence against me will be your end," Zarach answered dismissively, before blitzing into action.
Alex had already used the Monarch Aura, so he only had limited time to end this battle, and it seemed Zarach felt the same.
The silver strings of fate converged at Zarach’s back, growing in number by the moment. Alex swung his blades, sending forth a torrent of erasing force that made the strings circle Zarach before swiftly weaving into a spiral web.
The web of strings burned with a silver purity, taking the brunt of his attack. As if facing a mirror that reflected power, the entire force of the sword torrent turned back toward Alex.
Alex sidestepped, appearing tens of meters away, but Zarach was upon him like a shadow. Tens of strings rushed at him, some with the intent to seize control of his fate, others to sever.
All the while, ghostly arrows of various effects rained in: some aimed directly at him, others shaping themselves to affect entire swathes of the battlefield.
The pillar made of fate strings trailing Zarach served no purpose other than faster execution, acting as a never-ending arsenal of weapons, so attacking it with Error or any other attack would be nothing but a waste of energy.
He also could not go after the Empress Spirit, since she was immortal so long as Zarach lived. And with that monster trying to overwhelm him, going after his helper was not a viable option.
Or at least, that’s what one would think, but Alex knew that if Zarach was the true threat, then she was his invisible blade, and as long as she remained present, taking out her master would not be possible.
So Alex planned to take her out first, render her useless, and only then deal with her master to put an end to this deathly duel.
Alex shot into the sky, breaking free from the swarm of silver strings that clawed after him. As he ascended, the surrounding darkness stirred violently, converging around him to form a colossal whirlpool that devoured both darkness like a ravenous beast.
Around him, the vast enclave began to shrink, its structure trembling under the growing pull of his power. The storm of darkness calmed as quickly as it rose, folding back into a still, endless sea of darkness, revealing Alex at its center.
His eyes, twin voids of nothingness, locked onto Zarach as he began his descent.
He fell like a dark meteor, closing the distance in a blink. His twin blades came crashing down upon the silver web that stretched before Zarach, the strings gleaming as they strained to hold their form.
The impact shattered the web like fragile glass, scattering threads of fate across the air. Zarach was already retreating, his form vanishing behind a cocoon of intertwining silver strands.
At that same instant, three ghostly arrows pierced through the dense shroud of darkness, streaking toward Alex from different angles.
Alex twisted midair, his foot dissolving into a swirling void as he flipped, meeting the arrow head-on. Nihility Purge flared through the air, silent and absolute, erasing the projectiles in a blink.
Without pause, he pushed off the darkness itself, launching forward once more. The very world rippled as an unseen fracture, an
, took form within the silver cocoon, distorting its form from within.
But Zarach did not wait for Alex to reach him.
The cocoon unraveled, its silver threads peeling away in fluid motions, revealing the Scion of Fate within. His colorless gray eyes shimmered faintly, showing neither thrill nor worry, reflecting countless threads of possibility.
His pale hands were clasped together, calm and deliberate, as if holding something within. Then, swiftly, he parted them. His fingers spread wide, and between them unfolded a vast cobweb of incorporeal silver strings, delicate yet heavy in their presence, each line humming with unseen tension.
A faint smile touched Zarach’s lips just when a few moments separated him and Alex, a smile too calm to be anything but unnerving.
With a fluid motion, he flung his arms wide, and the countless threads burst outward like streams of liquid light, fusing seamlessly with the world itself, binding to every possible strand of existence.
"Fate Crucible"
His voice resonated, calm yet absolute, as the web expanded around them, its strings becoming a mix of real and illusion, glinting faintly in the dark enclave, stretching outward in all directions.
The strings converged with the surroundings, weaving into an enormous dome that grew larger around them, creating a domain where the fate of the world itself was a weapon for Zarach.