The Sword and The Shadow

Chapter 618

Deadash Domain

Leybecca seemed to appear and vanish like air. She stopped all of a sudden without any deceleration; a feat which Leguna considered even more ridiculous than being able to move quickly.

"Shadow Parasite!" Her eyes glowed as the shadow energy in the wood swarmed into Nidhogg’s wound per her will.

"Enough!" he yelled angrily as flames burst out and covered his body. The shadows were scattered as if they feared the hot monstrosity.

"If the first time doesn’t work, there’s always the second." She didn’t hold back and vanished once more.

We... we can actually win? A ray of hope was lit in his mind. Soulslay was still around and didn’t act even as his two brothers were being killed, but that aside, it seemed Nidhogg really couldn’t take Leybecca’s barrage of attacks. Could they really defeat him?

But this time around, Nidhogg seemed to be far more wary of her attacks. His eyes shone as he raised his hand to put a barrier so beautiful that Leguna drooled around him. He relaxed now that he was finally protected and got into a stance to dictate.

A cobblestone-sized ball of orange flames formed in the center of Nidhogg’s palm. It radiated fearsome heat; Leguna could feel his face prickling despite being so far away. Leybecca’s attacks hadn’t stopped in the meantime and the barrier covering Nidhogg slowly wore away. At that rate, it seemed like she would only take another five seconds to shatter it.

"What’s he trying to do?" Leguna’s sweat dripped away. It was the first time he had seen Nidhogg actually dictate a spell. The other spells he previously used were done with a mere raise of his hands. Yet, now, Nidhogg was using hand sigils on top of dictation. How truly terrifying would the spell be?

His spell successfully formed not long after. The fireball in his hand turned from orange to white and the heat rose to even more fearsome degrees. The plants around him withered at a speed visible to the naked eye and some dried up trees even started to burn.

His hand tensed up more and more as if it was feeling a little pressured by the sheer might of the white ball of fire. It continued to release blazing heat while exploding and contracting nonstop, but Nidhogg didn’t let it expand as it pleased. As if it was angered by being constantly compressed, the ball got even bigger during its next expansion, releasing its pent-up energy fiercely.

Wham! The barrier finally shattered and Leybecca staggered for a moment, allowing Leguna to catch a glimpse of her. As she was far too close to that ball of hot mass, parts of her armor had been melted off. The part of her face that was exposed started to contort. The beautiful and seductive face no longer existed and her left eyeball was dripping blood nonstop. She had most likely been blinded.

"Leybecca!" Leguna cried desperately. No, it won’t work! She can’t beat him! Even though she was the only one who seemed to stand a chance against Nidhogg, she had used some kind of secret technique that ate away at her life to do so. Even so, she still seemed to not be her match. The temperature the ball gave off alone was enough to hurt her so badly. There’s no way you can win! Stop! Give up and escape!

Leguna had wanted to yell at her to get her to run. But the moment he opened his mouth, an even louder sound drowned out his cries. Nidhogg’s spell exploded, though the phenomenon couldn’t truly be called as such. After the loud boom, the little ball still remained a spheroid as it expanded nonstop at a really slow pace.

If Myr and Annelotte were conscious, they would no doubt be flabbergasted by that sight. Explosiveness was one of the most unstable properties of the fire aspect, yet Nidhogg was able to control the exploding fire aspect with his sheer control and power. There was no other person across the continent who had absolute control like that.

Leguna struggled and crawled; his right leg was still broken and he couldn’t walk. The expansion of the flaming sphere didn’t stop. If he didn’t move, the ball would eventually reduce him to ashes. As for what had happened to Leybecca within it, he didn’t dare to imagine it.

"Annie... Annie..." he slapped her face lightly. "Wake up, quick!"

However, she didn’t react at all. She was completely knocked out by Bigsby’s Vajra Palm. He had no choice but to drag her along as he crawled at a pace slower than a snail’s. While he would be able to crawl faster after abandoning her, that notion didn’t even cross his mind.

The fireball was only ten meters away from him now, but he didn’t give up, he didn’t want to. If he did, he wouldn’t only be losing his life, but Annelotte’s as well. So, he could only crawl away from the domain of death and take her with him even if it was a centimeter or millimeter at a time.

The distance slowly closed in. When the fireball was a meter away, it stopped. Leguna breathed raggedly and carefully looked at the border of the sphere as he coughed out even more blood. Had he not bothered to struggle just now, they both would’ve been burned to ash.

A few seconds later, Leybecca’s pained cry rang out from within the sphere, which was followed by the rapid contraction of the ball. In three short seconds, it returned to Nidhogg’s palm. Not far away from him was Leybecca, lying unmovingly on the ground and seeming completely pitch black.

Nidhogg’s skin glowed like lava. He opened his mouth and swallowed the white ball of flame.

Leybecca stood shakingly up with the transparent dagger in her hand.

"You’re the only human who has lived through my Deadash Domain," Nidhogg praised, "However, are you still just a human?"

"Why does it matter?" she said, her voice hoarse like an old timer’s. "If he’s human, I am. If he’s a devil, I’ll turn into a devil. I will be what he is."

"She’s actually fine?!" Leguna was quite surprised. He thought that Leybecca would be heavily injured, to say the least, yet she didn’t seem too damaged. The black armor covering her was proof of that.

She charged at Nidhogg once more, but now, she no longer moved with her lightning-speed and grace. Instead, she seemed to almost be stumbling towards him.

Least surprisingly, Nidhogg immediately grabbed hold of her neck. Leguna then heard the sound of something crackling. He recalled that when she was stumbling forwards just now, he heard a similar noise.

"Fine?" Nidhogg raised her up with a cold smirk. "Look for yourself. Does this look fine to you?"

He tossed her in front of him.

"Aaaaaah! Aaaaaaaagh!" Even though he had experienced the most extreme forms of torture, he still cried out in terror. He could see that what covered her wasn’t black armor, but rather completely charred skin.