Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 571: Unknown Number Three

Asher stood within the smoke and debris of his own destruction, his eyes tore sharply to the side, locking onto the direction from which the blood sword constructs had been launched.

Without hesitation, he moved. His body ripped through the thick cloud of smoke and dust, dispersing it in his wake as though it were fragile mist before a storm. He did not spare the teleporter another thought; his senses had already confirmed that the man had vanished before the golden light explosion could swallow him whole.

The moment Asher covered a distance of over four hundred meters in a breathless surge of speed, his rapier flashed forward toward a tree with immense force and a slicing wave of compressed air. The man concealed behind the tree reacted instantly. His sabre screamed forward to meet Asher’s blade head-on, steel colliding with steel in violent defiance.

A sharp metallic hiss exploded outward, accompanied by a burst of shockwave that rippled through the surrounding air. Neither of them took a single step back. The tree beside them, already weakened and on the verge of collapse from the earlier blood explosion, immediately burst apart into countless wooden splinters that scattered like shrapnel in all directions.

Then, in a blur, both of them vanished with absurd speed and terrifying force. Sabre and rapier clashed repeatedly in a rapid exchange, each strike delivered and parried at a pace that blurred the boundaries of perception. Sparks flared with every impact, carving brief streaks of light through the smoky air.

The next instant, Asher felt his hand freeze for the briefest fraction of a second.

Number One’s sabre screamed toward his neck with lethal precision. The blade carved cleanly through Asher’s throat like a knife through butter... but no blood splattered.

Number One’s eyes narrowed immediately. As someone whose awakened ability revolved around blood manipulation, he could instinctively tell that his attack had failed. And indeed, it had. Asher had phased through the strike at the precise moment of impact.

Simultaneously, Asher’s left foot left the ground with explosive force. His forefoot tore toward Number One’s temple from the side, the air itself shrieking beneath the velocity of the kick. Yet, without warning, Number One’s speed increased dramatically. He stepped back with unnatural ease, as though assisted by an unseen force. Asher’s attack met nothing but empty air.

The moment his left foot strike failed, Asher did not hesitate. The instant his left foot touched the ground again, his right foot left it in seamless martial flow. He pivoted effortlessly, redirecting his momentum in a perfect chain of movement. His right heel tore toward Number One’s jaw with merciless force and blistering speed.

Number One appeared momentarily caught off guard.

But just as the attack was about to connect, Asher’s Omni Perception flickered violently.

Number Two materialized between them.

A short sword screamed toward Asher’s Achilles heel in a vicious downward slash, its edge aimed to cripple him in a single stroke. Asher’s purple eyes narrowed as he made a split-second decision. He abandoned his own attack without regret and vanished in a burst of motion, reappearing several meters away. His body stabilized instantly, balanced and ready.

The next moment, control over his hand returned fully, as though it had never been frozen.

Asher’s gaze dropped briefly to his hand. He did not need to guess what had occurred. Number One must have momentarily frozen the blood flowing within his hand, immobilizing it in tandem. A precise and calculated disruption.

Asher stared at Number One and Number Two without making an immediate move. Although his eyes remained fixed on the two before him, his senses remained razor-sharp and expanded across the battlefield. Four other opponents still lurked unseen, and he refused to lower his guard.

Slowly, Asher raised both hands. His light affinity bent obediently to his will as radiant energy gathered within his palms. In the span of a breath, two elongated light whips formed, each one pulsing with condensed, incandescent power. They shimmered like living beams of judgment, humming with destructive potential.

Without another word, he flicked them forward.

Number One and Number Two were not fools. Number One instantly blurred out of existence, his speed so explosive that it seemed as though he possessed a specialized speed-type ability. Number Two vanished entirely, disappearing as though he had never occupied that space at all.

But Asher was not finished.

He wielded the twin light whips with monstrous strength and meticulous control. Each whip tore toward its target with apocalyptic force, forcing Number One and Number Two to flicker in and out of visibility repeatedly. The ground beneath the whips shattered like fragile eggshells. Boulders disintegrated. Wind barriers ruptured. Sound barriers fractured in succession, each crack echoing across the ravaged terrain.

Neither opponent needed to be told that if either whip landed cleanly, the resulting injury would be catastrophic. The sheer force behind the radiant constructs was overwhelming.

Then, Asher’s sixth sense screamed again. It was the same ominous warning as before.

Number Three had made a move.

Once again, there was no air displacement. No distortion of Astra energy molecules. His Omni Perception detected absolutely nothing, no fluctuation, no ripple, not even the faintest disturbance. Even his natural senses perceived only nothing.

Asher vanished immediately, teleporting without hesitation. He reappeared three meters directly above the position where his sixth sense indicated the unseen attack had originated. Without losing momentum, Astra energy pulsed outward as he activated gravity manipulation. Crushing force descended upon the area below, pressing down with immense weight. The earth groaned and shattered beneath the invisible pressure, cracks spiderwebbing outward in violent protest.

But in that very moment, Asher felt the same lethal sense of danger again, this time directed toward his neck. He vanished once more, refusing to gamble even a fraction of uncertainty.

As his body reappeared at a distance, his mind raced through rapid calculations, attempting to decipher the mechanics of Number Three’s ability. It resembled invisibility, yet it was far more advanced. There was no presence, no residual trace, no Astra signature whatsoever. It was as though the attacker existed outside conventional detection entirely.

The moment Asher stabilized in his new position, a wave of blood whips lashed toward him.

Number One had copied his earlier method with unsettling ease.

Asher did not even spare the incoming attack a second glance. One precise slash from Virelass cleaved through the blood whips, causing them to crumble instantly into useless fragments. Without missing a beat, Asher shot forward like a launched missile, intent on eliminating the blood manipulator before further coordination could occur.

But Number Two appeared abruptly behind him, materializing without warning. His hand lunged toward Asher’s back, fingers outstretched as if to make direct contact.

But Asher didn’t allow it.

He entered his phasing state once more. The moment Number Two’s hand passed through Asher’s intangible body and emerged from the front, Asher swung Virelass downward in a swift, decisive arc, aiming to sever Number Two’s hand entirely.

But just as the rapier was about to tear through flesh, Number Two vanished again with effortless fluidity, as though his vanishing ability activated automatically whenever mortal danger approached.

Virelass sliced through nothing but empty air as Number Two escaped once again.

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AUTHOR’S NOTE: My finger has swollen up and has become quite painful. I will still release Chapters every day, but it might affect the release schedule by a couple of hours due to the immense pain and slower typing speed. Thanks for reading and understanding.