The Crimson Exarch stepped into the shattered chamber with a calm that felt almost mocking. The faint glow of the crystal walls danced over his white hair and crimson eyes, and that radiant smile -
effortless, composed - never left his face.
He glanced at ylin, and after seeing that the woman had no lethal wounds, he turned toward the looming figure of Black Mask.
"We really need to stop eting like this," the Crimson Exarch said lightly. "That is how rumors start."
Black Mask's face twitched beneath the obsidian covering. His fury pulsed like a heartbeat in the air. This man had been the reason for his humiliation half a year ago, when the Scarlet King had nearly ended him. And now, here he was again, ruining everything, blasting apart one of his limbs just to save an enemy.
And he was smiling about it.
For a mont, Black Mask wondered if this was a cruel dream, so illusion ant to mock him. But the heat of his rage burned away the thought. Hatred brought focus.
"What do you think you're doing!?" he roared, his voice raw with fury. "You're aiding the Life Path and standing against ! That's treason, Crimson Exarch! When the Ancestor finds out, you'll be torn apart atom by atom!"
The na Ancestor made even the walls hum with dread. He was not a being known for rcy. One whisper of betrayal and entire
organizations had vanished overnight.
But the Crimson Exarch showed not even a flicker of fear.
He tilted his head, smile widening. "You an," he said softly, "if he finds out."
The light in his eyes changed. Gold flared from their depths, radiant
enough to make the chamber itself feel small.
Every instinct in Black Mask scread danger. The tendrils at his back coiled like frightened serpents as he understood the aning behind those words.
Fear clawed at him, but he crushed it, letting his hatred swallow everything else.
His aura detonated, corrupted energy flooding the chamber like black fire. "Fine then!" he howled.
The tendrils behind him snapped outward, rging into a colossal hand of corrupted matter. It lunged forward, crossing the distance between them in an instant.
"BOOOOOM!"
The impact shook the entire chamber, the shockwave splitting the ground where the Exarch had been standing. Shards of crystal rained down in a storm of light and sound.
But when the dust cleared the Exarch was no longer there.
"Too slow," ca his voice, casual and amused, from beside the impact
crater.
Black Mask gritted his teeth, hatred twisting his aura even darker. The massive hand disintegrated into a storm of black lances - hundreds of razor-sharp spikes that howled through the air like screaming souls, all converging toward the Exarch's heart.
ylin's eyes widened. Even at her peak, she doubted she could have dodged such an attack from such a short distance. The speed, the number, the power - each spear could have destroyed a moon.
And yet, none of them touched him.
The Crimson Exarch moved like a phantom, his steps a rhythm in perfect harmony with the world. Every ti a lance shot toward him, he was already gone - flowing between attacks as though he'd seen them before they were launched.
He wasn't evading by reflex. He was dancing with inevitability. "He's reading the frequencies," ylin whispered, awe slipping into her voice. "His command of The Flow... it might even surpass Cain's." Step by step, the Exarch closed the distance. Each footfall pressed against the air with growing pressure, his presence thickening the atmosphere until even the corrupted tendrils began to twitch nervously.
A primal warning clawed at Black Mask's mind. Every instinct scread that letting this man reach him would be a mistake - a fatal
one.
"Damn you!" Black Mask roared, desperation bleeding into his fury. The lances redoubled, splitting and reshaping faster, faster, until the air itself seed to blur with motion.
But still, the Exarch advanced.
Ten ters.
Five.
Three.
And then, with a violent convulsion of his chest, Black Mask unleashed one of his strongest weapons. A massive tendril - thicker than a tree trunk - burst from his sternum, launching toward the Exarch like a black lightning bolt.
At the sa instant, the other tendrils circled from both sides,
forming a cage of death.
ylin recognized that attack - the sa one that had shattered her
ribs and nearly torn her chest apart.
The pressure in the chamber grew unbearable, but through it all, the
Crimson Exarch rely... smiled.
He drew a slow, asured breath. His right hand lifted, palm open. "BOOOOOO0000000000000000MMMMMMMMM!"
The explosion that followed tore through the air like the birth of a
star.
Light - gold and crimson - collided with shadow, and the shockwave pulverized the floor beneath them. The Exarch was thrown back, his feet carving twin trenches through the crystal ground until he reached the far edge of the chamber. His right arm trembled from the recoil, but he didn't fall. He steadied himself, exhaling softly.
Black Mask, however, was not as fortunate.
The blast hurled him across the room like a rag doll, his body crashing
into the opposite wall with a deafening crack. Shards of shattered crystal rained around him as he struggled to rise, his aura flickering
chaotically.
ylin stared, wide-eyed, caught between awe and disbelief. Her
gaze fell upon the Crimson Exarch's right arm - the one that had caught and countered that impossible blow. Golden light pulsed through it, the sa light that glowed behind his eyes.
"The Flow..." she breathed.
It wasn't just flowing around him - it flowed through him.
The Crimson Exarch had not rely attuned to The Flow; he had weaponized it. The energy coursed through his blood, his bones, his very cells, reinforcing his strikes until his body itself beca an instrunt of universal rhythm.
"He used The Flow to amplify the strength of his arm," ylin realized. "To match no, to surpass the full-force strike of Black Mask." Before she could analyze further, an unearthly scream shattered her
focus.
"AHHHHHHRRRRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
It ca from Black Mask - a sound of rage, hatred, and despair all twisted together. His body contorted, veins bulging beneath his blackened skin as his aura flared wildly. The chamber dimd under
the spreading stain of his power.
User Comments
0 comments from readers