The envoy leaned close, his face inches from Master White's. "Don't worry," he whispered. "I'll make this last."
At this point, after suffering the trauma of being struck at first, and now being pinned to the ground through the same wound, Master White had lost consciousness.
The envoy also noticed this and smirked, but it didn't last long.
To his surprise, the body beneath him suddenly flared to life, and it looked up at him. The eyes carrying something new and different from the earlier coldness.
"And as if I would let you do that, you bastard!" Master White... No—Azrael cursed looking up at the envoy.
The envoy amazed by the new expressions of his prey, started laughing and said, "I thought you were one of those rarer quiet ones, but it seems I was mistaken."
"Well, it's more fun this way anyways." He said, and before Azrael could retort, a purple liquid started forming along the protrusions and it started flowing through the open wound.
Azrael's eyes hardened at the purple drop, immediately recognising what it was, "{Poison infusion}"
But he didn't panic yet, as he had the immunity to all poisons in the universe. His passive {Poison & Curse Immunity} was ever-present.
Considering all that he still took a drastic step, his face was now directly looking at the envoy, he formed a light smile across his face, and said "you will pay for this." With that, he immediately activated {perfect cleaver}. The blade formed and he chose to amputate his own right leg. With one swift motion, the blade engulfed in black&white light fell, and a perfect amputation followed.
The action caught the envoy off guard, and before he could react, the aftermath explosion from the {perfect cleaver} happened and Azrael's body was pushed backwards, creating the necessary distance between them.
"Ahh.. haaah..ahh.."
"Shit! It really hurt as much as the first time." Azrael was gasping with pain, his breaths came heavily. Even though the poison didn't have any effect, he was still pinned to the ground because of the pointy protrusions, like a nail hammered to the floor. He would have been at the mercy of the envoy, if he hadn't severed his own leg.
The explosion propelled him back, but it also injured him. Multiple wounds opened, and he was bleeding profusely.
Steadying his breath, he looked at the envoy, who also was covered in blood.
The impact of the {Perfect cleaver} was at point-blank. So the envoy suffered more, as it was Azrael's attack. The astonishing thing was, as the wounds were opening up, purple liquid flowed from it, instead of blood.
"You really are one great nuisance, you have made me angry after so many years." He spat those words, as if it were troubling him in his throat and mind.
"If you can withstand my wrath, then maybe I will respect your stubbornness." The envoy said in one ragged breath. He wanted it to sound grave, but the voice with which it came out, it honestly sounded sweet and pleasant.
Hearing that sound, Azrael on the ground unconsciously flinched. One leg missing, holes and cuts in his body formed like puzzle pieces separated. He looked like the slightest movement would shatter him. But all of this was just the outer appearance, inwardly he was forcing himself to be calm.
And for him to be calm inside, he projected his turmoil outside,
"If I am a nuisance, then you're a fucking roach, you bastard!"
"Just die for the sake of me!"
"Ahh.. can you please die?!" He looked at the envoy, with a big animated face and completely ignored the blood covering him. It appeared as if Azrael had gone crazy, but it was deliberate. Every word of his was crafted to hit the right note.
The envoy was genuinely baffled by the change in attitude. It was like listening to the whining of a child. Just that instead of games or candy, he was demanding his death, simple right?! Hahaha...
"You surprise me a great deal, an unpredictable nuisance, is more terrifying than a predictable one."
"It would be a mistake of the order, if we let you thrive. So, don't worry, your life would end here by my hands." Again instead of a threatening voice, it came out as a voice smeared with honey.
"If I surprise you, then you disgust me.. "
"You ugly women-in- man clothing." Azrael said with a mocking grin.
As soon as those words left Azrael's mouth, the atmosphere changed. At the start, the envoy had not taken him seriously, but then after Azrael revealed his weird abilities, he got serious, considered Azrael a worthy opponent and fought with him by using every weapon in his arsenal.
But throughout this, he never got angry. There was no reason to, he was utmost annoyed by Azrael's mysterious actions. But it seems, the earlier comment passed through his indifferent shell. And hit right where it hurts.
"You will die!" The envoy didn't waste anymore words, and simply started crawling towards him with speed.
"Oh shit! I guess, I went a bit overboard over there. Now what should I do? Think Azrael.. Think." His thoughts were boiling but he hadn't come up with any solution, he ran many possibilities in his mind but none seemed applicable. With each passing moment, he could see the "crawler" moving closer to him. "Ahh.. I can't even seriously think, with all these wounds flaring."
"Wait.. how are these wounds flaring?!" By all means the death attribute from the {Perfect cleaver} should have left clean cuts and perfect voids in the place of the tissues at the place of impact. But when he looked down, he was shocked to see, all around his injuries, the muscles, tissues, and cells remained intact. All the wounds, were just simple blade cuts.
"Maybe.. maybe.. I can do as White thought, just on a larger scale." Azrael thought, by now the envoy was very close to him. Without any hesitation, Azrael moved,
He raised his hand. He closed his eyes. Ignored the pain. Ignored the envoy crawling closer. Reached deep into the well of power that he had saved all this time while fighting, he unleashed all of that in one go. Without any reservations.
{Flames of Consumption} erupted everywhere. Not aimed or shaped, it just was everywhere. The walls, the ceiling, the floor. Black& White fire consumed stone and air alike. {Perfect Cleaver} manifested in a storm, hundreds of invisible blades spinning in random patterns, cutting everything they touched. {Puddle of Death} flooded the entire chamber, turning the floor into a sea of hungry black.
The envoy's eyes widened. "That's—" His crawling steps came to a halt, the fire roared as it promised to drown his face, his limbs and protrusions were threatened to cut, and his feet were ordered to rot.
He dodged. He had to, the flames were everywhere, the blades filled the air, the floor was death.
He moved left, a blade caught his shoulder, shearing through cloth and flesh. He moved right, the Puddle grabbed his foot, held for a crucial second. He twisted, flames kissed his back and began eating.
But he was still moving. Still fighting. Still alive.
He emerged from the chaos on the far side of the chamber, bleeding from a dozen wounds, his clothes in tatters, his composure finally shattered by the sheer destruction that took place.
"You.. " he gasped. "You bastard. What are you??"
Azrael didn't answer. He slowly stood up. With blood and dried tissue still hanging from, what remained of his thigh.
He dragged his one leg, his body screaming in protest. But he still moved.
The envoy tried to retreat to the walls, as that was his trump card. But the moment all four of his limbs took hold of the wall,
Azrael laughed, "Hahah.. got you bastard!" He then casually snapped his fingers and to the envoy's horror, the ground became normal and the whole wall turned black, the {Puddle of Death} manifested. Strings and vines of rot trapped the envoy.
"NO.." He screamed, denying his end.
Some defensive ability flared, slowing the consumption, but only slowing. He was trapped, and he knew it.
His descent into rot began slowly, he tried jumping out many time, but it was useless. Two out of the four limbs started to decompose and were withering in real time. He was screaming nonsense at this point, the pain and the understanding of death clouded the envoy's mind so much that he wasn't even able to form coherent sentences.
"Blood.. Spine–"
"Key—"
Azrael moved closer to the envoy. He wanted to see the end of his enemy. The first enemy to have pushed both him and Master White this far.
In that last moment, as Azrael was just inches away from the envoy, in a desperate struggle against sanity, he got a moment in clarity and struck at Azrael with the one remaining limb, with all his power concentrated.
"FOR ENLIGHTENMENT!"
The envoy shouted and plunged his half-deformed limb, decorated with protrusions, aiming right at Azrael's forehead.
Azrael caught off guard wasn't able to react in time, and he was sure that he would die.
But at the last moment, as the bleeding never truly stopped, and all his wounds never closed. He was pushed beyond limits, and his one leg finally gave out, and he wasn't able to withstand his weight anymore. So, he fell down immediately.
"Hamph... Hamph..." Azrael breathed heavily, the air returned to his lungs slowly with the realisation of his possible end.
He had nearly died. And he knew with certainty, that he had escaped with sheer luck. He didn't dodge the last attack, nor was he even able to think, all of that happened instantly. And nothing was in his control.
The attack was a hair's length away, and his body fell. It was all an absurd coincidence.
"Ha... Ha.. never get close to a dying enemy. Noted." He remarked, still terrified by the narrow miss.
All of his energy was completely exhausted, the {Puddle of Death} and the storm of {flames of consumption} and {Perfect cleaver} finally came to a halt.
There was a skeleton covered in a mesh and gore of green tissues, it was somehow embedded in the wall, its hollow eyes were trying to peer into the world of living, and the skeleton's hands and legs were coming out of the wall in an escape motion.
Seeing that, Azrael understood once more, just how terrifying his opponent truly was.
A normal cultivator would have been completely decomposed and would have turned to nothing. But the envoy's skeleton remained, it was a proof of the power that he commanded.
Azrael stared at the skeleton for a while, and commented "Good Riddance."
*************
Author's Note : For some of you who may question, Why was the battle against Tier-4 easy? And why was Tier-5/Tier-6 deadly?
Crippled cultivators = Cultivators
Tier-1 & Tier-2 = Realm 1
Tier-3 & Tier-4 = Realm 2
Tier-5 & Tier-6 = Realm 3
So you can see, that battle against Tier-4 is just a fight crossing one realm. Which is expected of an OP Character.
Now, when it comes to Tier-5 or above, it is essentially crossing two realms to fight. And Azrael is not at that stage yet.
Hence, the last few fights were as such.
And another reason, why the fight with Tier-4 was short, is that you guys will be bored, if I gave each one of them a whole individual chapter.
I feel like you guys are already cursing me, for the pace being very slow. But for some weird reason, if you guys think that we can move even slower, then let me know in the comments. ಠ∀ಠ