Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 569: River Of Blood

The more Asher killed, the more the distance between him and them steadily closed. It was as though they could not see the corpses piling around them, as though the spreading carnage meant nothing at all. They advanced without hesitation, as if they were prepared to give their lives for the cause just as the father and son duo had done earlier, their loyalty bordering on fanaticism.

Although Asher did not know what inspired such blind devotion, what ideology or fear compelled them to risk their lives so readily, it did not matter to him in the slightest. Discovering the reason would change nothing. Sentiment held no value here. To him, this space would inevitably be turned into a river of blood, exactly as he had planned earlier, and no amount of loyalty or sacrifice would alter that outcome.

The next moment, Asher’s speed slowed abruptly. His body seemed to lose its momentum mid-motion, as though an invisible hand had seized and suppressed it.

’My speed was forcefully reduced?’ Asher questioned inwardly as his heightened perception dulled and everything around him snapped back to a normal, mundane state. It felt as though he were no faster than an ordinary person, stripped of the terrifying velocity that had defined his dominance mere seconds ago.

In the next instant, a blur filled his vision as a foot connected with his breastplate with titanic force. A burst of concurrent compressive wind rings exploded outward from the point of impact, the shockwave rippling through the air like a detonated grenade. But the following moment, the attack faltered catastrophically as the attacker’s own foot shattered upon impact, bone cracking grotesquely. A scream tore violently through the man’s throat, raw and agonized.

Confusion flooded the man’s mind; he could not comprehend what had just occurred. But just because Asher’s speed had been reduced to that of a normal person did not mean his absurd physique had been diminished as well. His physical body remained monstrous, far beyond conventional limits. How could a man at the Blazestar Life Rank possibly hope to send Asher flying with a single kick? That was nothing more than delusional wishful thinking.

Before the man could even react, still shrieking in pain, Virelass vanished from Asher’s hand and blurred independently through the air, decapitating him on the spot. The severed head fell with a muted thud. Asher did not move. Since his speed had been taken from him, there was no immediate need for physical motion.

Virelass took over the battle seamlessly while he remained standing in composed stillness. She blurred forward again and again, tearing through anyone who dared approach him, carving arcs of death with autonomous precision.

As for Asher, his purple eyes shifted methodically between the remaining cannon fodder as he attempted to discern who had stripped him of his speed. His mind remained calm, analytical. Yet while he focused on that thought, someone moved, far faster than anyone of her Life Rank should have been capable of.

A halberd tore through the air, slicing toward Asher’s waist with lethal intent. But before the blade could pierce his flesh, Virelass teleported between Asher and the incoming weapon, intercepting it with absurd ease. A violent shockwave erupted outward from the clash, slamming into Asher at point-blank range with surgical accuracy. Yet he did not budge. He was not even knocked off his feet. To him, it felt no different than a passing breeze brushing against his armor.

’I see,’ Asher thought calmly. ’Not only can she take away my speed, but she can transfer it to herself. A commendable ability... but still useless.’

The concept of the ability was indeed impressive. However, against someone like Asher, who possessed a vast array of abilities and overwhelming physical dominance, removing his speed did not alter the inevitable conclusion of this battle. Before the woman could blur into motion again with the stolen speed, her expression shifted abruptly. It felt as though the weight of the entire world had descended upon her shoulders.

Virelass vanished once more, leaving to deal with incoming suicide attackers who charged recklessly toward Asher’s stationary form. Meanwhile, the woman dropped to her knees, her legs buckling beneath the sudden, crushing force. Moments later, she was forced flat against the ground as the gravity surrounding her intensified further. The earth beneath her fractured and sank inward, shattering like brittle glass beneath unbearable pressure.

Asher simply raised one foot, the sole hovering coldly above the back of her skull. Then, with frightening indifference and frightening disregard, his foot descended. It tore into her cranium like a sledgehammer smashing into a fragile egg, pulverizing bone and brain into nothing but mangled pulp. Blood splattered violently across the earth. The stomach-wrenching sound reverberated through the air and into everyone’s eardrums like a thunderclap.

Virelass flashed from her distant position and reappeared within Asher’s grasp once more as his speed returned to him in full. His purple eyes swept across the battlefield, calculating the remaining numbers. Yet he noticed something peculiar, the assailants had stopped attacking.

Before Asher could question the sudden pause, the corpses scattered across the battlefield began to twitch unnaturally. Limbs jerked. Fingers curled. Then, one by one, they began to rise, their movements stiff and grotesque, as though animated by some abyssal contamination or malignant force.

Asher had already killed many of them, their numbers had reached into the sixties, yet all of them stood once more. Whether they possessed heads or not, whether limbs were severed or torsos split open, they rose the same way, animated by something that defied ordinary mortality.

Asher’s expression did not change. He merely observed with detached curiosity. ’It seems like each and every one of them has a thorough understanding of the others’ abilities,’ he concluded silently. Coordination at this level implied preparation and strategy.

The next moment, the resurrected dead rushed forward alongside the remaining living. However, the woman Asher had just killed lay closest to him, making her the first to be dealt with before the others could close the distance. His rapier flashed in a single, controlled motion. It was one motion, singular and seamless, but within it were countless micro-cuts compressed into a single slash.

In that instant, the woman’s corpse was reduced to nothing more than uncountable minced flesh, shattered bone fragments, and splattered blood. Asher had reduced her body to such a degree that whatever resurrection ability was in play would no longer function upon it. There was nothing intact enough to reanimate.

His purple gaze shifted toward the approaching walking dead. He exhaled faintly and decided to handle both the dead and the living simultaneously.

Asher sheathed Virelass calmly. Then, the moment they closed the distance, he unsheathed her in one smooth, fluid motion. The sound of metal sliding free filled the air with a sharp, hissing resonance.

The instant Virelass was drawn, tens of compressed wind-infused sword slashes erupted outward with incomprehensible speed, rotational force, and destructive precision. Before anyone could block, defend, or even attempt to dodge, the attacks tore through every single one of them. Flesh, bone, and weapon alike were carved apart mercilessly, reducing everything and everyone within range into uncountable fragmented, diced pieces.

Blood exploded outward in a violent, wet, and sickening shower as it rained down from the sky with a endless splattering sound, drowning and soaking the entire battlefield in crimson. Trees were reduced to splintered husks. Sword marks carved deep scars across the land. Trenches were torn violently into the earth as Asher reshaped the battlefield itself through sheer force.

And with that, he stood unmoving within a river of blood of his own making. Floating upon the surface of that gruesome river were countless minced human remains, drifting silently as testament to the overwhelming and absolute devastation he had unleashed.