Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 1245: A Battle Is A Battle

The six Dukes stood speechless. They couldn’t help but label this man a madman. It wasn’t that he was merciful, but rather that he had chosen to spare half of the Empire simply because of Azazel and his daughter.

”Regardless, I won’t allow you to do that, Azaron.”

Azazel stated, his eyes remaining fixed on Azaron’s face. There was no smile on his face at this moment, after all, he had counted millions of bodies the moment he appeared.

While he might not be a Noble, he was a Commoner and cared about the Empire. How could he simply stand back and watch his best friend wipe it out? At this moment, he wasn’t going to fight for the love of the game, but for a cause.

”Stand back!”

Azazel stated, as he could tell that Azaron was already ready to fight the moment he, Azazel, appeared.

The six Dukes didn’t hesitate. They vanished from the black Lightning Barrier, not daring to stay too close to these two Monsters, or they would be injured. The best they could do was expend their powers to ensure the shockwaves and everything else didn’t cause too much damage to the Empire, while also hoping Azazel would win.

And so, two best friends stood against each other.

One for retribution. One for protection.

Azaron didn’t bother moving away from the Velkarin Empire to prevent the shockwaves and blast waves from wiping out its people. Why should he? They weren’t his people, after all.

His knees dipped forward ever so slightly, and the black Lightning Barrier beneath his feet trembled for a moment. Like a stone launched from a catapult, Azaron propelled himself forward without wasting any more words, and the black Lightning Barrier covering the entire Empire collapsed completely from the force of his launch.

Arriving before Azazel in a blur, he unleashed a punch to the chest. Azazel’s eyes snapped towards the incoming attack. He stepped on the air as though it were solid, spinning on his feet as he effortlessly weaved to the side.

As he weaved to the side, he transitioned from evasion to offence in one smooth motion, as though the two were a single sequence rather than separate movements.

His elbow snapped outwards, tearing through the atmospheric barrier as he aimed for Azaron’s temple. Although Azaron’s attack had missed, it didn’t mean he had lost his footing or couldn’t react. Although he didn’t know how strong his best friend was now, as they hadn’t fought for over a century, he still knew the man was a menace.

At the incoming elbow strike, Azaron stepped into the air, his body snapping backwards just beyond the path of the elbow as it whistled past him.

As he dodged, he also unleashed another attack, a palm strike sweeping upwards from below, coming from just beneath Azazel’s armpit and heading straight for his chin.

Seeing the incoming attack, Azazel’s reaction was instantaneous, as though he could see the future itself. His other hand moved, catching Azaron’s wrist and stopping the attack dead in its tracks. Without missing a beat, he spun in the air and threw Azaron into the distance, using the opportunity to send him beyond the Empire’s boundaries.

Azaron remained upright with his arms crossed against his chest as the momentum of the throw carried him backwards. He knew of Azazel’s plan, but he simply didn’t care about it.

Why should he? There was nothing stopping him from wiping out the entire Empire after defeating this friend of his.

As the momentum carrying him backwards dissipated, gravity acted upon him, pulling him towards the ground. Azaron landed with a deft touch, making no effort to resist the descent. He looked around, finding nothing but trees upon trees, as he had already left the Velkarin Empire behind.

As he landed, Azazel appeared before him in a blur.

”Although we are fighting under the wrong circumstances, which please neither of us, it’s still exhilarating to exchange attacks with you, Azaron.”

Azazel stated the moment he appeared. He settled into a fighting stance, a pair of gauntlets appearing around his fists as his Astra Energy surged and enveloped his entire body, augmenting his physical capabilities.

There was no testing the waters, nor was there any attempt to feel each other out before going all out. They recognised each other’s strength, and going all out from the start was a form of respect.

”It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, Azazel. A battle is a battle, regardless.”

Azaron replied as Ender appeared beside him. Holding the blood-red spear, his own Astra Energy erupted around him as he shifted into Astra Energy augmentation.

At those words, neither of them said anything else.

A spear was raised. A gauntlet was raised.

Golden eyes stared into black eyes.

Golden hair danced to the rhythm of the wind, just like black hair.

Time seemed to freeze for a moment as they shot towards each other like enemies who had crossed timelines to meet again. They arrived at a point in space within such a minuscule moment that it couldn’t be quantified.

A spear tore through the air like a bolt of Lightning, while a gauntlet tore through the atmosphere like a hammer striking an egg.

The moment both weapons met, time froze for a moment, and the entire world turned blinding white as everything was drained of colour. Sound vanished, colour lost its meaning, space seemed to dissolve, and nothing appeared to exist for a brief moment.

Until everything snapped back into place.

An immeasurable explosion erupted, rumbling beyond anything the world of Crymora had witnessed in recent times. A dome of multicoloured flames and force expanded outwards, growing larger with every passing moment.

One kilometre. One thousand kilometres. One hundred thousand kilometres. One million kilometres.

The radius continued expanding as the entire battlefield warped, the surrounding forest erased beneath the might of these two.

The implosion slammed into Azazel and Azaron, their bodies threatening to shift, but both held their positions, the spear holding back the gauntlet, the gauntlet holding back the spear.

The earth beneath their feet was gone, and the atmospheric barrier had vanished too, but they didn’t need it.

In a blur, they were gone once more, their figures streaking past the destruction they had unleashed as their weapons clashed endlessly.

Their bodies became blurs, their strength titanic, their speed too fast to measure. They both seemed like perfect embodiments of sheer power, destruction, and might.

They appeared in the air one moment, then in the clouds the next, then over an ocean, and on a mountain the moment after that. They crossed millions of kilometres within moments, their speed increasing and their strength rising in tandem as they both drew upon the power hidden deep within themselves.

With a boom, Azaron skidded backwards, his spear plunging into the earth as he carved three trenches into the ground. His eyes snapped forward, but all he could see was a black fist growing larger and larger as it closed the distance, its reflection visible in his golden eyes.

His speed spiked, his body moving as he blocked with the shaft of his spear. The moment he blocked, he deflected the fist to the side, then spun on his foot, his heel tearing towards Azazel’s jawline.