The Broken Halo

Chapter 1051 - 1050: The Roar Of An Asura (Magic Castle Bonus - )

[A/N: Shout out to _John_Doh_ for the bonus Chapter!]

———

Akaza opened his eyes.

The light of the Bloodline Origin Gate faded from his vision, and Simon’s face came into focus.

He was still sitting before him, both hands pressed against his chest.

There was sweat on his forehead and exhaustion in his eyes. But as Akaza looked at him, a pleased smile appeared on his face.

Simon nodded.

”Congratulations. You made it.”

Akaza tried to answer, but a voice reached him first.

”Well done, Akaza! With six arms, you have no excuse not to carry this Honourable’s luggage.”

He turned.

Sonya stood beside the barrier with her hands on her hips. Virella was staring at him with slightly wide eyes, while Ammor’s gaze moved between the three pairs of arms.

Akaza looked down at himself.

Then he chuckled.

RUMBLE!

The sound pulled his attention upward.

Crimson lightning twisted through the dark clouds above the courtyard. The pressure descending from them made the hairs along his arms rise.

The Bloodline Extinction Tribulation.

He had watched Sonya fight it. Now it was waiting for him.

His fingers tightened.

For a moment, he remembered the Kharad catching his fist. The Vardran crushing him into the ground. The Asura striking him so hard that he had barely remained conscious.

He had survived all three.

Akaza lowered his gaze toward his body.

He now had six arms. Black markings were also spread across his chest and shoulders, continuing down his new limbs. Blood-red hair fell across his face.

He moved his lower hands.

They answered as naturally as the pair he had always possessed, although he still found himself looking at them to be sure.

His heart beat harder.

Demonic energy surged through pathways that felt wider and stronger than before. His Chaos Flame had changed as well. It burned more fiercely within him, refining the power passing through it with an intensity he had never experienced as a Martial Demon.

He could feel the difference in every limb.

Simon gradually withdrew his energy.

The imprint faded, and Akaza’s heart continued beating steadily without his support.

”Ready?” Simon asked.

Akaza raised his head.

”Yes.”

Simon removed his hands and stood. He paused briefly to steady himself before walking toward the enclosure.

Akaza watched him go.

Blackmoon was still Blackmoon. Sonya was still the same shameless girl who called herself Honourable.

But looking at them no longer brought that familiar helplessness.

He wanted to see what this new body could do.

A flash spread overhead.

Akaza stood.

The first bolt fell before he had fully straightened.

CRACK!

He raised his upper right fist.

A dark-grey field appeared above him, pressing upward against the descending lightning. The bolt tore into it, scattering thin crimson branches toward his shoulders.

Akaza punched.

BOOM!

The lightning burst against his knuckles.

His feet sank slightly into the ground. Sparks raced over his blackened forearm, burning several narrow cuts into the skin.

He lowered his hand.

Blood ran between his fingers.

The pain was sharp, but his arm remained steady.

Akaza slowly closed his fist again.

He had expected to be knocked down.

Instead, he was still standing where he had risen.

A grin pulled at his mouth.

Three more bolts descended.

Akaza spread his lower arms.

Gravity pulled sideways on either side of him. Two of the crimson streaks curved away, striking the ground several paces to his left and right.

The third continued toward his head.

His upper fists met it together.

BANG!

Light splashed across his face.

His middle arms rose to block the escaping branches, while the lower pair maintained the pull directing the rest away from his body.

Broken fragments struck his legs.

He barely noticed.

Beyond the barrier, Ammor leaned forward.

”He’s actually punching the lightning.”

Simon’s gaze followed the dark-grey pressure shifting around Akaza.

The first gravitational field had been familiar. The ones pulling the lightning sideways were not.

On the terrace, Red Calamity raised his brows as he watched Akaza.

Akaza shook his upper hands.

His knuckles stung.

The energy he was spending was considerable, but it was flowing through him without the resistance he remembered. His body could finally withstand more of the power he wanted to use.

He looked at the next flash.

He could continue meeting the lightning like this.

But there was something else he wanted to try.

He raised a hand.

A familiar pull gathered above the platform, drawing loose fragments toward a black point several meters over his head.

The Vardran had shown him the direction and the Asura had forced him to take it further.

Akaza compressed the field.

A black speck appeared.

His heart beat harder, but the sudden agony he remembered when he first tried it did not return. His new pathways carried the power without threatening to tear apart.

He tightened the pull until the speck grew into a small black hole.

Light bent around its edges.

Akaza kept it smaller than the one he had formed on the path. He had nearly lost control of that attempt and he had learned from it. There was no reason to repeat the mistake just because he had become stronger.

Thunder rolled overhead.

A broad crimson bolt struck toward him but its lower end curved.

Akaza watched it bend into the black hole.

The rest followed, dragged inward until the straight bolt became a twisting crimson stream.

His wrist jerked.

The pressure inside the technique increased sharply, and he brought another hand up to steady it.

Red light flickered around the black edge.

Then it was gone.

Akaza stared at the darkness above him.

He had destroyed the lightning.

A grin slowly spread across his face.

”What was that?” Ammor asked.

Enigma’s expression had changed.

”A black hole.”

Sonya glanced toward Simon.

He was already watching with narrowed eyes.

Above the platform, Akaza’s fingers trembled as he adjusted the inward pull. The black hole had begun to swell after taking in the first lightning strike.

He forced it back into shape.

It worked, but holding it was still expensive.

The clouds churned.

Crimson branches spread outward, gathering above different parts of the courtyard.

Akaza followed them with his eyes.

One black hole wouldn’t catch everything quickly enough.

He lifted his other hands.

A second black speck appeared to his left. Then a third formed on his right.

His grin disappeared as he concentrated.

The three pulls tugged against one another. Akaza moved the outer two farther apart, keeping each fixed above the platform.

His Chaos Flame burned fiercely.

Demonic energy poured through all six arms.

Then the lightning fell.

One bolt came straight down. Two slanted toward his sides, followed by a spreading web of thinner branches.

Akaza raised his hands higher.

The black holes pulled.

The central bolt vanished first. Those on either side bent sharply, dragging their trailing branches into the other two points.

Crimson light twisted across the sky above his head.

Then the next wave arrived.

Akaza remained where he was.

His upper hands steadied the central black hole. The other four held the ones on either side while his feet pressed deeper into the ground.

Another burst of lightning disappeared into the black hole.

To the people watching, the tribulation seemed to be throwing itself into something it could not escape.

Akaza hadn’t needed to dodge.

Virella’s gaze moved from the clouds to his unmoving figure.

Even Enigma was silent now.

Akaza drew a slow breath through his teeth.

They could only see him drawing the lightning bolts into the black holes as he stood, but they couldn’t feel the strain building in his heart.

Sweat ran down his face. His lower left arm shook, and he tightened his control before the black hole above it could drift.

He couldn’t hold all three for long.

The clouds gathered into a dark mass directly overhead.

Akaza looked up.

”Come on.”

The last of the crimson light converged.

A thick column descended, splitting into several twisting branches as it approached him.

Akaza thrust all six hands upward.

The three black holes rose together.

The lightning struck between them.

For an instant, crimson filled the courtyard.

Akaza’s knees bent.

He growled and forced them straight, pouring more energy into the inward pull.

The column stretched in three directions.

Its centre thinned as the black holes tore the branches away and crushed them into their depths.

Akaza’s arms trembled.

One more heartbeat.

He forced the last surge through his hands and the remaining lightning broke apart.

Crimson strands whipped around the three black holes, then they shortened, and then they disappeared.

Above him, the clouds stopped churning.

Akaza held his position until he was certain there was nothing more coming. Then he slowly reduced the flow, easing the pull rather than letting the techniques collapse at once.

The black holes shrank.

One vanished, followed by the other two.

Dust fell around him.

His arms dropped, and he dragged air into his lungs.

The clouds were breaking apart and that meant one thing.... He had survived.

Akaza looked at the blood on his hands, then at the people beyond the barrier.

Sonya was grinning.

Simon gave him a small nod.

And when he saw this, something rose in Akaza’s chest.

He tried to swallow it, but the feeling only grew stronger.

Joy. Relief. The excitement of possessing strength he had once struggled even to imagine.

And the anger he had carried through every beating, every helpless retreat, every moment spent watching his friends advance while he remained behind.

He no longer knew which feeling was making his hands shake.

Akaza lifted his face toward the clearing sky.

His six arms spread, his chest expanded, and the roar of an Asura thundered across the awakening grounds.

”ROOOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!!”