Moments before the angel's arrival,
Vionette sat comfortably upon a chair that Rose had prepared with an uncanny foresight, looking like a queen presiding over a kingdom of ash. Rose herself sat poised beside her, her posture as straight as a needle, her hands folded over her lap but her eyes darting across the horizon, ready to serve or strike at a moment's notice.
Kaelen is doing fine.
Noa is… he looks like he's enjoying it.
System, give me a list of all of Noa's skills.
While sitting down and enjoying her tea, she was looking at Kaelen's mechanical perfection through her own eyes, observing Noa's jagged struggle through the shared sensory link of [A Match Made in Hell], and even communicating with her internal system while simultaneously drafting the blueprints for the aftermath of this disaster.
She was doing more than one task at the same moment, and that was how Vionette's brain had always been—never splitting, only expanding—and this was the quiet terror Elan had seen when she first looked into Vionette's eyes, the realization that every possible way she could be manipulated, every outcome those manipulations could branch into, was already being calculated in an instant, like threads of fate being arranged by unseen hands. Those calculations only stopped when she stood before people she trusted, as though even a mind like hers allowed itself a rare moment of rest.
[Noa Ravel:]
Low Pain Resistance (Common)
Low Explosion Resistance (Common)
Minor Regeneration (Uncommon)
Aura Blade (Rare)
Blink (Rare)
Presence Override (Rare)
Phantom Phrase (Rare)]
Echo Reclamation (Unique)
A Match Made in Hell (Unique)
"Let's see… I have the Accumulation Points from when Kaelen secured that Fable Mark, but it's not enough," She sharpened her gaze, finding a specific entry in the blue holographic window. "Minor Regeneration? That's some bullshit. His body regenerates faster than that naturally. Sacrifice Minor Regeneration."
[Notice! Minor Regeneration has been devoured by Crown of Accumulation.]
[Notice! User received Accumulation Points.]
Then, while she looked at the battle between Jain and Noa, watching the way they traded blows that shattered the nearby architecture, she noticed something unusual. Noa wasn't using his newly acquired skill, [Phantom Phrase], and even she understood why: he already had that kind of ability in his other skill as well.
"Blink does the same shit," she said, waving her hand in a gesture of annoyance as if brushing away a persistent gnat. "Get rid of Phantom Phrase too. It's useless to him."
[Phantom Phrase] was a skill that allowed a user to make their body non-physical for one single second. It was a somewhat good skill for a commoner, but to someone like Noa, it was just junk mail in his skill list.
"Sacrifice Low Pain Resistance and Low Explosion Resistance along with it," she commanded, taking a calm sip from her tea. "Now, let's see if we can finally evolve Echo Reclamation."
[Notice! Phantom Phrase, Low Pain Resistance, and Low Explosion Resistance have been devoured by Crown of Accumulation.]
[Notice! User received Accumulation Points.]
[Proceeding to evolve Echo Reclamation...]
[Error! Evolution of Echo Reclamation is impossible. Would you like to proceed to gain a new skill instead?]
"It's still not enou—Wait…"
Vionette leaned forward, her crimson eyes narrowing as she scrutinized the system panel. She looked at the text again, more carefully this time, searching for the logic behind the failure. And then, she noticed it. There was no timer for the 'impossible' status.
"Like it's not possible, possible? What's going on?" She regained her composure quickly, her mind racing to find a way out of the deadlock. "You did an analysis on it before, right? Give me the results."
[Status: It seems that the skill Echo Reclamation is a skill that has been made after forcefully combining two opposite skills into one.]
"Mmm… any way we can separate them? A cheat?"
[Separation is not possible.]
[Possibility detected: If the user Noa Ravel uses the skill Echo Reclamation to its fullest, the essence fragment can use the skill analysis function to identify the two combined skills.]
"So by doing so, we can't separate them, but we can just sacrifice one of those skills using the Crown of Accumulation and then proceed to evolve the remaining one," she concluded, a predatory smile tugging at her lips.
[The user's predictions are spot on.]
"Quit your glazing. Aside from that," she looked back through Noa's eyes. "How can we get a lot of emotions with the barrier up—oh. He's doing it right now."
She saw the moment Noa grabbed the entity and absorbed all the festering, ancient emotions it had been hoarding. The conditions were finally being met, and the engine of her plan began to roar to life.
[Conditions met!]
[Beginning analysis. Please wait…]
Then, as they waited, the barrier above was pulverized by Noa's strike, the golden shards falling like a rain of broken glass. Just after that, the pillar of light hit the ground, and the angel was summoned.
---
The angel was a masterpiece of muscular architecture, a statue of ivory and gold brought to life. He had a handsome, cold face that seemed to look down on the very concept of mortality, dressed in white divine-like clothes that framed his powerful build. His hair was long enough to reach his hips, golden and shining. Massive white wings, made of feathers as soft as fresh snow, fell behind him, fluttering in a steady, hypnotic rhythm that sent pulses of holy energy through the air.
He had been summoned by his god, Liara, but the body for his summoning was a hack-job, created in a hurry by cannibalizing the Aether resources of the broken barrier. Because of this, he was a hollow shell of his true self, possessing only about 5% of his peak power.
He looked around at the battlefield, his golden eyes scanning the ruins until they found the saint who glowed with the same divine hue. He observed the city-state briefly before finally landing his eyes on their primary enemy.
Something's wrong here. I can sense someone who reached 'existence' in this place? As he sensed Kaelen's cold metallic presence, he looked toward the entity known as It. An entity with a minus existence value, and a man with 'that power'.
[Blink]
"DIE!"
The greeting was a bark of pure violence. Noa teleported directly in front of the messenger, his left hand white-knuckled as he gripped Acheron. He pointed the blade at the angel's chest and pushed forward for a thrust with every bit of strength he had left in his body.
CLANG!
The sound of steel crashing against divine energy echoed through the city-state like a thunderclap. The angel had manifested a sword made of solid golden energy in the space of a heartbeat, stopping Noa's blade just inches from his heart. The purple, rotting energy of [Echo Reclamation] and the angel's blinding light of [Radiant Frame (Rare)] pushed against each other, the friction creating a screeching sound that could burst eardrums.
More! MORE!
Noa didn't back out; he poured more strength into the attack, his feet digging into the cracked pavement as he forced the angel's sword back. His eyes were wide, intense, and filled with a manic sort of joy.
Ugh… such intense force, the angle thought, his wings flapping to stabilize himself as he was forced to slide back a few inches. Are we matched in strength right now?
"I'm Ithriel, one of Lady Liara's messengers." He pointed his sword toward Noa, his voice carrying the weight of a decree. "And who are you?"
"Who knows? Your death?" Noa smirked in a way that was more teeth than lips, a predatory look that didn't belong on a human face.
"He's Noa," Jain joined in, her voice cold as she stepped up to stand beside the angel.
As Jain pointed her spear at him, the constellation of radiant symbols orbiting her made spears and spheres of golden line. Then, Jain and Ithriel charged together, their weapons leveled to fight a death-to-death battle.
[Echo Reclamation]
[Blink]
Noa activated his skill and teleported just in front of the two, Acheron's blade glowing with a violent purple energy of [Echo Reclamation] that seemed to eat the surrounding light. The seal on his skill had finally been kicked open.
Clang—clang—clang!
Noa unleashed a fierce, savage combo on the angel. His hands were beginning to spill blood from the recoil of his own impacts, the vibrations of the sword traveling up his arms and cracking his skin, but he wasn't the only one getting hurt. Ithriel was being marked, shallow slashes appearing on his arms and chest, golden blood spilling onto his white robes.
Then Jain descended from above, her presence cutting through the battlefield like a falling star, and as Noa parried Ithriel's attack, gaining a brief moment of freedom, he turned toward her, shifting his stance smoothly, one foot forward, the other back, Acheron resting near his hip as his hand hovered near the guard, his body settling into stillness that felt almost unnatural amidst the chaos.
— Formless Sword: Horizon (Distant Edge) —
As Jain lunged with her spear, a massive horizontal slash of pure purple energy tore through the air.
What the—
She widened her eyes as she looked at the slash. She had expected power, but the weight behind this strike was different. The slash that followed moved like a horizon being drawn across reality itself, distant yet impossibly close, its presence warping perception as Jain's eyes widened in shock.
[Hollow Step]
She couldn't see the exact timing because of the special illusion, so she concentrated until the blade actually cut into her skin before she activated her skill to prevent being bisected. She barely escaped, but the wide slash roared past her, clearing the sky of all her manifested objects and leaving a purple scar across the clouds. She could make the objects again, but her Aether quantity was a problem.
[Divine Tether (Rare)]
Just as Noa was about to lunge at Ithriel again, the floor below him liquefied into golden water. Chains made of solid light erupted from the liquid, wrapping around his wrists and ankles, snapping tight and stopping his momentum. He struggled, the metal of the chains burning into his skin, but there seemed to be no escape except to break them with raw force.
This was Jain's specialized bind—a skill that locked the very space around the enemy, preventing the usage of any teleportation skills.
Swooosh!
From his front, Ithriel's sword came down in a vertical arc, trailing a tail of golden light. Noa looked up, his muscles bulging as he gripped Acheron with a white-knuckled intensity. He gritted his teeth, his eyes locking onto the incoming blade as he flooded his body with the energy of [Echo Reclamation].
"GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!!!"
CLANG!
With a roar, Noa shattered the golden chains, the shards of light turning into dust. In the same motion, he parried Ithriel's attack, the collision of gold and purple making overlays of color that blinded the city-state for a split second. The shockwave of the impact sent a tremor through the ground, shattering what was left of the nearby storefronts.
The two swords went opposite ways after the clash, but their eyes remained locked. Noa took a ragged breath, a drop of blood trickling from his lip, and he chuckled. It was a low, dark sound. Then, he exploded forward.
Clang—clang—clang—clang—clang!
"Hahahah—AHAHAHAH!"
He delivered a continuous barrage of attacks to Ithriel, his movements becoming a blur of purple steel. The angel was being pushed back, his body taking more slashes even as he managed to block the lethal ones. His sword and body were reinforced by [Radiant Frame], but Noa's strikes were starting to chew through the divine defense.
Clang!
Just when Ithriel blocked a heavy vertical slash, in a sudden shift, Noa released his grip for a fraction of a second, reversing it mid-motion before continuing seamlessly, his movements flowing as if guided by instinct rather than thought.
"Fucking angels coming down here now?" Noa stepped up, swinging Acheron in one hand as Ithriel's blade was swept aside. "Do you guys have nothing else to do up there? Seriously?"
Clang!
Jain joined the fray again, her golden objects gone for the moment as she heaved for breath. She relied on her spear, waiting for her Aether to recover enough to manifest her constructs once more.
THUD!
"Kwak!"
With a brutal kick to his stomach from Jain, Noa was sent flying. He crashed through the walls of a row of buildings, the sound of breaking timber and masonry following him until he came to a stop in a pile of debris.
"Motherfucker…"
He spat out a mouthful of blood, the copper taste familiar. Slowly, he climbed out of the ruins of what looked like an old tailor shop, his feet sparking with purple energy as he launched himself back toward the saint and the angel like a human projectile.
[Blink]
[Piercing Verdict]
[Exalted Judgment]
Just as Noa appeared back in their sight, the angel and the saint activated their long-range skills. Spears and spheres of golden light snapped forward, while thin lances made from the angel's skill moved unnaturally fast, cutting through the smoke and dust.
[Echo Reclamation]
Noa gathered spheres of purple energy at his fingertips. He didn't have the ability to control them like the others; he could only shoot them. He fired them off like a shotgun blast, hitting some of the golden projectiles and causing explosions that rocked the city. However, his power was visibly fading—the citizens outside the barrier had started to calm down, and his 'fuel' was running low. His spheres couldn't get past the sheer volume of lances and spears coming at him.
And then, the intervention happened.
[Notice! Skill analysis complete.]
[Skills inside Echo Reclamation confirmed: Mind Stain + Origin Essence]
[Notice! Mind Stain has been devoured by Crown of Accumulation.]
[Using all the Accumulation Points to evolve Origin Essence (Unique)...]
[Origin Essence (Unique) → Nihility Decree (Legendary)]
[Analysis of Nihility Decree: The Null Essence within the user is now directly usable, allowing the formation of stable, sustainable constructs that can be manipulated instinctively without structured control, while also possessing the ability to affect the Astral Body as well.]