Chapter 158 – Just Rage
The man groaned where he lay sprawled on the scorched tile, but Lux could feel it—he wasn’t out. Not yet. Not really. These two were wired like bomb circuits. You had to disarm both at once or get blown sky-high.
He didn’t intend to get blown.
So Lux moved.
Fast.
His wings cracked open, launching him forward like a nightmare-shaped missile. Devorare licked through the air—black steel, cruel curve, thirsting.
The woman t him halfway, claws extended.
She scread sothing in an old tongue—sothing holy turned inside out. A curse of judgnt.
Lux didn’t flinch.
He caught her arm mid-swing, twisted it backward until her shoulder cracked like splintering ice, and drove Amare upward—straight into her sternum. The blade slid through like silk, clean and elegant. She gasped.
Then her other hand lit up.
A desperate strike.
She brought it down toward his face like she ant to rip his head off.
He tilted.
Just enough.
It passed by his jaw, close enough to burn skin, and he let go of Devorare—left it buried in her chest—and seized her by the neck with his free hand.
"Shhh," he whispered. "It’s just a ga, rember?"
Then he pulled.
One sharp jerk.
Her neck snapped sideways with a brutal crunch. Lux yanked Amare free in the sa motion, spun her limp body, and kicked her backward...
Right into the rising man.
The impact knocked them both into the spa wall. The marble fractured.
Her body convulsed.
Then began to fade—not burn, not bleed. Dissolve.
Thread by thread.
Like shadowed lace unraveling.
The man scread sothing.
Not a na. Just rage.
He charged. No weapons. Just bare hands and hate. His fingers twisted mid-lunge into serrated claws—chaotic, burning, vibrating with Hunger-affinity energy. His wings tore wider. The crown above his head pulsed once.
Lux leaned forward.
Whistled.
All fifty orbs reactivated.
Like a switch had been thrown, they hovered in a wild, broken orbit around him.
"I win," he said.
Then he flicked his wrist.
Orbs surged.
They sward the man in an instant—howling through the air like cursed hornets. They hit in waves—so exploding, so bouncing, so injecting debt hexes directly into his mana stream. His body staggered. Froze.
Lux flew toward him.
Faster than light. Faster than rage.
He twisted Amare in one hand, yanked Devorare free from the fading woman’s torso as he passed, and slamd both daggers into the man’s gut.
Then he ripped upward in a vicious arc, slicing the man open from navel to throat with dual blackened blades glowing hot from contact.
The man choked on his own breath.
Lux spun once more—smooth, controlled, almost dance-like—and decapitated him with a final slash.
The head hit the ground with a thud.
Then, silence.
No scream. No second wind. No phoenix-tier coback.
Just stillness.
Steam hissed around the corpses.
Except they weren’t corpses anymore.
Both bodies began to collapse inward—soul threads curling, burning from the inside out. Black and red veins of mana twisted through the remains like they were being rewritten.
And then...
[Target 1: ELIMINATED.]
[Target 2: ELIMINATED.]
[Reward: 2 Levels.]
[You are now Level 264.]
[Distributing...]
[Charisma: 999 (Max)]
[Magic Affinity: 1,034 1]
[Strength: 774 1]
[Agility: 892 1]
[HP: 1,340,000]
[DP: 500,000]
[Note: Congratulations. Your existential threat rating just climbed again.]
Two objects remained on the floor.
The bodies were gone—just vapor now—but in their place, where they’d last fallen, lay two artifacts.
Both pulsed.
Alive.
One was a ring—delicate, black, shaped like barbed ivy. Its surface shimred faintly with symbols Lux couldn’t read but instinctively understood.
The other was a blade fragnt—small, cruel, and curved. It was clearly part of sothing larger, now broken, but even as a shard it radiated heat. Not temperature heat. Kill-you-while-smiling heat.
Lux approached, eyes flicking between them.
[New Item Acquired: Widow’s Thorn (Artifact Core)]
[Status: Condensed Soul Remnant – Consumption Required]
[Effect: Upon absorption, grants 1 random Passive Skill of Epic quality.]
[Warning: Cannot be equipped. Must be consud. Essence will bind to your core.]
[Note: Side effects may include smugness, improved survival rates, and a mysterious urge to smirk at danger.]
[New Item Acquired: Mawglass Fang (Artifact Core)]
[Status: Severed Weapon mory – Consumption Required]
[Effect: Upon absorption, grants 1 random Offensive Skill of Epic quality.]
[Warning: Consuming weapon essence may alter your fighting instincts.]
[Note: Ideal for those who prefer murder as foreplay.]
Lux crouched beside them.
Held each in his palm.
One light.
One heavy.
Both humming with old hunger.
He stared at the ring first.
"...That’s her soul, isn’t it?" he guessed.
After getting a couple of these things, he started to understand what it was...
[Affirmative.]
[Remnants bound to your kill signature. They are yours now.]
Corvus landed softly beside him. The spa was nearly quiet again—just the hiss of steam and the distant whir of security systems still trying to reboot.
"So," Corvus said, voice quieter than usual. "Feel better?"
Lux didn’t answer right away.
He was staring at the cracked tiles. At the scorch marks. At the faint sar of divine-tainted blood on his boot.
He wasn’t winded.
Wasn’t hurt.
Not really.
But there was sothing in his chest that hadn’t cooled yet.
The kind of tension you feel when soone reads your diary in a room full of caras.
He slipped the artifacts into his dinsional inventory.
Corvus made a low sound. "No one’s ever taken down two Accord ghosts like that."
"They weren’t ghosts," Lux murmured. "They were proof."
"Of what?"
He stood.
Wings flaring. Armor still hot.
"That the ones who want dead aren’t just from the Upper Realm anymore."
Corvus fluffed his feathers nervously.
"Boss..."
Lux’s smile returned—cold, crooked, and cruel.
"Yeah," he said. "It ans I just beca very interesting."
He tilted his head toward the broken security cara.
"And soone’s still watching."
[Would you like to leave a final ssage for the viewers?]
He turned toward the last blinking lens.
Leaned forward slightly.
And whispered.
"Try again."
Then he threw his dagger.
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