Manor Of Sin 5

The Duke's grip tightened around Kouneli's throat. Ether crackled in the air, his gauntleted fingers pressing against the flesh of his struggling opponent. Kouneli's vision blurred at the edges, his limbs weakening as the relentless force constricted his airflow. The others moved to intervene, but the Duke's aura alone repelled them, the pressure suffocating, inescapable.

Then, something shifted.

The blood that had smeared the Duke's hands coiled and twisted unnaturally. It bubbled, solidifying into jagged crimson daggers that buried themselves into his palms. The sudden intrusion forced his grip to loosen, a sharp exhale escaping his lips. His focus wavered, and in that moment, Kouneli gasped for air and wrenched himself free, stumbling back.

Seizing the opportunity, Rajin surged forward.

Electricity danced along his blade, crackling along its razor-sharp edge. His body moved instinctively, Thundercall surging through every fiber of his being. With a breath, he invoked the technique that had been drilled into his bones.

Third Art: Grand Lightning Blade.

A single slash.

A radiant arc of lightning cleaved through the air, its brilliance stark against the dim battlefield. The Duke barely had time to react before the blade carved through flesh, severing his right arm from his body. The limb fell to the ground, the wound seared shut by the sheer heat of Rajin's strike.

A scream of agony erupted from the Duke's throat.

Ether surged wildly from his body, uncontrolled, untamed. His remaining hand trembled, fingers splayed as if grasping at the empty space where his arm had once been. His breath came ragged, his expression twisting into something unrecognizable—pure, unfiltered desperation.

He refused to fall.

Wind surged around him, a violent, spiraling force that tore through the battlefield. He lifted his remaining arm, gathering the raging gales into a single, growing mass. The sphere expanded, blades of compressed wind forming within its center, their edges honed to perfection. The very air howled as it bent to his will.

"I will not be brought down by the likes of you!" The Duke's voice trembled, not with fear, but with unyielding conviction. His glare burned into them, filled with something beyond rage—an unwavering belief. "For the sake of this world, I will annihilate you all!"

With a sweep of his arm, the storm was unleashed.

The colossal sphere of cutting wind surged forward, its very presence distorting the space around it. Ubel and Leo stood directly in its path, their eyes widening as the force of the attack bore down on them. There was no room to evade. There was no time to think.

Instinct took over.

Both raised their hands, ether surging from their cores as they met the Duke's onslaught head-on. A clash of raw energy exploded outward. Kouneli, standing behind them, felt the sheer force pressing against his skin, the ground beneath him cracking under the weight of the collision.

Rajin was thrown back, his body propelled by the force radiating from the struggle. He tumbled across the debris-ridden floor, unable to fight against the sheer magnitude of ether erupting between the combatants.

Leo and Ubel strained, every muscle in their bodies screaming as they fought against the relentless advance of the Duke's attack. Their feet dug into the ground, blood seeping from their fingertips as they pushed with everything they had.

But it wasn't enough.

The wind howled, and the sphere inched forward. Their bodies threatened to give way, the overwhelming ether pressure suffocating, crushing.

And then—

A voice.

"Is this all you can do?"

It was not an external sound, not something spoken aloud. It resonated within Leo's mind, cutting through the storm of ether like a whisper in absolute silence. A voice that was both unfamiliar and intimately known.

The other him.

A presence, ancient and unwavering, stirred within his soul. "You can't even stop something as pathetic as this?"

Leo's mind reeled. His breath came ragged, his consciousness teetering on the edge. But the voice continued, calm yet laced with disdain.

"Pathetic. You'll die here, won't you?"

Leo gritted his teeth. His body was failing. His vision darkened. His arms shook, his bones felt like they would snap under the pressure.

"I refuse."

"Then stand."

The presence exhaled, the weight of its existence pressing against his very soul. "I'll lend you a fraction of my power. Not out of kindness, but because your death means mine."

A sudden surge of ether exploded from within Leo's core.

His body convulsed, his blood igniting with newfound strength. The world sharpened into painful clarity. From his skull, two jagged horns emerged, twisting upward like a crown of divinity. His green eyes bled into gold, shimmering like molten sunlight.

The Duke's gaze snapped to him, his thoughts scrambling to make sense of the transformation before him. Something has changed.

Leo stepped forward.

The sphere of wind, once an unstoppable force, faltered.

Leo pushed. His ether, vast and unrelenting, crashed against the Duke's attack like an unshakable wall. The resistance that had threatened to crush him moments before now crumbled beneath his fingers. The wind, no longer an all-consuming storm, bent beneath his will.

Behind Leo, his spirits emerged—phantasmal, their forms hazy yet undeniable. They loomed, their presence pressing against reality itself. Ethereal remnants of something greater, something beyond mortal comprehension.

The Duke's breath hitched.

For the briefest moment, he saw them.

Two spirits, intertwined with Leo's very being. Watching. Judging. Waiting.

And then, he was engulfed.

The sphere of wind, twisted and reversed, surged backward. The Duke had no time to react before his own attack consumed him whole.

A cataclysm erupted. The world shattered at the seams as the explosion tore through the manor, ripping through stone and steel as if they were nothing more than parchment before a storm.

The walls collapsed. The ground crumbled. The battlefield, once contained, was obliterated.

Their bodies were cast into the open air, flung from the ruins and into the vast expanse outside. The stars above bore witness to the destruction, their cold gaze indifferent to the struggle below.