Silence fell over the battlefield.
Not the quiet of peace, but the kind that followed overwhelming destruction- the kind that pressed heavily against the ears, as though even the world itself needed a mont to recover.
But it lasted only a heartbeat.
Then a streak of crimson light was revealed, tearing through the air as it escaped the epicenter of the blast.
The Chira Sovereign's soul.
Stripped of its monstrous body, it had reverted to the form of the elderly man once more, its spectral figure unstable and flickering. Yet despite that, it moved with desperate urgency, fleeing the battlefield with everything it had left.
"I'll get him!" Typhon said without hesitation.
Before the words had even fully left his lips, his body blurred, dissolving into shifting mist as he surged forward. The air twisted around him as his movent technique activated at full capacity.
The gap closed in seconds.
Ahead, the fleeing soul flickered violently, attempting to accelerate, but its condition was far too poor. It could not escape.
Typhon's figure reford directly in its path.
The spectral elderly figure recoiled instinctively, its expression twisting in panic as it attempted to change direction, but the space around it had already been sealed.
He did not surrender without a fight.
Multiple explosions followed as the two exchanged spells, bursts of energy colliding in midair. The Chira Sovereign had built its power upon its physical form-its cultivation deeply rooted in flesh and transformation. Without that body, its spirit retained only a fraction of its forr strength.
Barely a fifth.
Perhaps even less.
Within seconds, Typhon completely overpowered the exchange. He then produced a wooden gourd, its surface inscribed with faintly glowing runes that pulsed with sealing power.
The mont it was revealed, a force surged outward-silent, invisible, yet absolute-locking onto the fleeing soul like a chain. The Chira Sovereign struggled violently, its spectral body distorting as it tried to break free-
But the power gap was too great.
The pull intensified.
In an instant, the soul was dragged inward, its form collapsing into a streak of crimson light before being absorbed completely into the gourd.
The runes flared once.
Then dimd.
Silence.
The Chira Sovereign-
Was sealed.
Monts later, Typhon returned, his figure reforming beside Ery as naturally as drifting smoke gathering into shape. He held the gourd lightly in his hand, a faint smile playing across his lips, as if the entire pursuit had required little effort.
"I wonder how much we can get from this criminal," he said casually.
Ery's divine sense brushed against the sealed gourd, sensing the furious presence of the elderly Chira Sovereign struggling within. A faint smile appeared on his face as well. As a highly notorious criminal, the Chira would undoubtedly yield a substantial bounty.
Unfortunately, the sa could not be said for the other mbers of the
Midnight Brotherhood. Their bodies and souls had been devoured or completely erased during the battle, leaving nothing behind to recover.
Without tangible proof-
Claiming any bounty tied to them would be difficult.
Ery slowly turned, his gaze sweeping across what remained of the battlefield, taking in the full extent of the destruction.
The swamp-
Was gone.
What had once been a stretch of uneven terrain filled with murky waters and dense vegetation had been completely erased. In its place lay a broken wasteland. The ground had been torn apart layer by layer, exposing jagged fractures of earth and stone. Massive craters scarred the land, while entire ridges had collapsed into uneven slopes of rubble. Thin streams of smoke drifted lazily through the air, carrying the scent of scorched earth, and here and there, faint flas still flickered stubbornly among the debris.
Amid the destruction, remnants of value remained scattered across the terrain. Skylark's weapons-his whip-like chains and concealed needles-lay partially buried beneath cracked earth. There was also Madam Butcher's massive knife. Despite the battle they had endured, their surfaces still faintly glowed with residual energy, clearly top-tier artifacts.
Not far from them, Maldrin's storage ring had also survived.
Ery swept through its contents. A large quantity of spirit stones was stored within, alongside various resources and treasures collected over ti. As the leader of the Brotherhood, it seed Maldrin had carried a significant portion of their accumulated wealth-an even greater amount than what Ery had found within Kronos.
But what truly caught Ery's attention-
Was sothing else.
The Chira Sovereign's aperture.
Considering its realm and infamy, whatever it left behind within its domain
would likely be extrely valuable.
A faint smile ford on Ery's lips.
Without wasting ti, he began moving across the battlefield, collecting each item of value with calm efficiency and storing them away one after another.
Then-
He paused.
Sothing brushed against his perception.
Faint.
Subtle.
Carefully concealed beneath layers of debris and lingering residual energy, so well hidden that even the aftermath of the battle nearly masked it completely.
Ery's eyes sharpened.
Without hesitation, he shot forward, arriving in an instant at one of the
collapsed hills. His presence alone disturbed the scattered dust, and with a flick of his hand, the rubble shifted aside. Stones raised and scattered as though pushed away by an unseen force, revealing what had been deliberately buried
beneath layers of destruction.
Revealed beneath-
A small black dagger.
At first glance, it appeared ordinary, its surface dull and unremarkable, as if it were nothing more than a discarded weapon. But the faint aura surrounding it
told a different story.
Ery's gaze grew colder.
"How long are you planning to hide in there?" he said quietly.
No response ca.
Only silence.
The dagger remained still, as if it truly were lifeless.
A few seconds passed.
Ery's expression did not change as he slowly raised his hand, a faint current
of energy gathering at his fingertips
"Alright," he said calmly, "then I'll destroy it."
The dagger trembled.
A faint glow seeped from its surface, barely visible at first, then growing
stronger as if sothing within could no longer maintain its concealnt.
Suddenly-
A spectral figure burst outward, drifting into the air before him.
It was Varkul.
The Phantom Blade.
Or rather-
What remained of him.
His form flickered erratically, edges unstable as though they might collapse at
any mont.
"Please... have rcy..." he begged, his voice shaking as his spectral body
trembled.
Under Ery's gaze, the once-feared second-in-command of the Midnight Brotherhood was nothing more than a fragile remnant. The composure and
arrogance he once carried had completely vanished, replaced by raw
fear, desperation clinging to survival.
With a single move-
Ery could erase him.
But he did not.
Instead, his eyes narrowed slightly, a glint of calculation passing through them.
Without another word, Ery stretched his hand. A restraining seal ford
instantly, lines of energy weaving together as they wrapped around the spectral figure, binding it in place. Varkul struggled instinctively, but the effort was aningless. Within monts, his movents slowed, then stopped entirely as
the seal suppressed him completely.
There was still value in him.
Not only for extracting information about the Midnight Brotherhood, but also
for uncovering the truth behind the Chira Sovereign's sudden loss of
control.
With that final task completed, Ery exhaled slowly, the tension finally casing from his body. It was ti to leave.
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