"All of you… die!!!"
Ashen didn't feel a thing.
But it wasn't the same for the others. The price of knowledge was divided among the remaining survivors, and Alice was the first to feel her life drain away.
Ashen reacted instantly, coming to her side and jumping back as he supplied his own vitality to keep her alive until the curse ceased.
Sabrina's face paled. She puked blood, staggered, but still held consciousness.
Seraphine was the worst, collapsing instantly, life and death unknown.
But the most bizarre case was Wiseman himself. Suddenly, without any visible injury or struggle, he put his shield down and stared into nothing, as if he'd given up on the fight.
No, perhaps he really had. Cassius must have known he was from the Sloth pathway and targeted his resolve instead of his life.
The man in question staggered upright, blood-slick and swaying, his gaze sweeping the area with the demeanor of a wolf standing before a sheep pen.
He'd used the last of his mana on that skill, but it was worth it.
His eyes flicked to Ashen, pupils blown wide, murderous hate crackling at the edges. "Still alive? It matters not. Sooner or later, I'll burn you."
With that, he lunged toward the collapsed trio. Wiseman was the first to be caught as he was in the front. A hand found his head, and he offered no resistance… fwhoooshhh—…until the moment he turned into a charred corpse.
Alice, who witnessed this and knew who was next, shook the blankly staring Ashen. "Go!! I'm fine!"
That was all he needed.
{Path Skill Activated: Blindstep}
0.10—
Appearing between Cassius and the collapsed women, his spear swept horizontally, but black flames had already condensed into a miniature fortress around the crimson-haired man before he'd even triggered the skill.
Cassius had already known his next move from his memories and prepared countermeasures to survive that fraction of a second when he would've otherwise been helpless.
Ashen grabbed Seraphine with one arm, Sabrina with the other, then pushed off, blood trailing from his overworked muscles.
Time resumed. Cassius's hand closed on empty air where Sabrina's head had been a moment before.
He turned, tracking Ashen as he deposited both women beside Alice. His expression didn't change. He looked almost bored.
"How tenacious." Cassius started walking forward. "But ultimately pointless."
Ashen rose, spear in hand. His golden eyes met crimson.
The Astrologer moved first.
CRACK—
A blazing fist found Ashen's ribs. He twisted with the blow, spear darting toward the exposed throat, but Cassius had already sidestepped.
The man's voice turned conversational. "You'll thrust low next. Then feint high. Then aim for my left kidney."
Ashen's spear moved exactly as predicted. Each strike was parried before it fully formed.
"A sweep toward my right leg."
Slash—
"A thrust aimed at my stomach."
Whoosh—
"The spear's side blade will go for my ear next."
"Now—my shoulder wound."
"My left side."
"My heart."
"See?" Cassius caught the spear shaft, wrenched it aside, and delivered a knee to Ashen's gut. "I'm in your head. I can hear all your thoughts, I know your every plan. You're an open book to me."
Ashen staggered back, coughing blood.
"Your little lovers will die." Cassius advanced slowly, methodically. "The blonde first—I'll make sure you watch. Then that cheap copy. Then this whole domain will burn."
A thrust. Blocked.
"You'll die knowing you failed everyone who ever believed in you."
A slash. Parried.
"You will die a screaming, helpless, broken man. I'll make sure of it."
Ashen's grip tightened on his spear, but his strikes were growing less precise under the mounting injuries that even Somatic Autonomy was failing to keep up with.
'If only I could stop him from reading my thoughts…'
Cassius smiled, reading that very thought. "You can't."
'No. Shut up...'
'Shut up!'
'Shut up!!'
"SHUT UP—!!"
Ashen's eyes suddenly widened slightly.
If he couldn't control his opponent, he could still control himself, right?
Trance was already moving his body before his thoughts caught up most of the time. His conscious mind was merely handicapping him.
'Yes… I should just stop thinking.'
And immediately after, Cassius sensed the sudden shift in his opponent's mental landscape.
The chaotic stream of tactics, fears, and determination started to reduce. In the end, they streamlined to a single thought.
'Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. I'll kill you!!!'
The mantra repeated, drowning out everything else.
'Die. Die. Die. Die. Die. Kill. Die. Kill. Die!!!'
Cassius's brow furrowed. The thoughts were becoming mechanical, stripped of any nuance.
Despite that, the outcome hardly changed. He would be the victor.
CRASH—
BAM—
COUGH—
As he continued to push Ashen around, a frown appeared on his face. The death prayer also quieted, but that only made him uneasy.
It wasn't only that.
One by one, as the fight that now looked more like a beatdown continued, the man's mind only hushed further.
Hate dulled.
Excitement faded.
Fear evaporated.
Hostility cooled.
Even his fighting will—that burning determination that had sustained him throughout the battle—dulled until it was no more.
…Finally, the skill that let the body move ahead of the mind shed thought, emotion, and feeling in a last, desperate bid to see its task through.
[Path Skill Trance Evolved: Hollow Resolve]
Cassius, who'd been constantly reading Ashen's thoughts, stared at the man before him.
He was still standing, still holding his spear, and still fighting.
But looking further into his mind now, he found… nothing.
Not even emptiness in the emotional sense. Just absence. Like staring into a void where a person should be.
…The unfeeling man still clashed with him, even when he'd silenced his own will alongside every emotion. But how could one move without intention?
Cassius probed deeper with his Astrologer, searching for the trick. Then he found the answer, and it startled him.
The answer was duty.
Like a golem given a single command. Like a machine programmed to finish its task no matter what. He still moved to get the job done even when he was unfeeling.
Because he considered it his duty to bring salvation. And Cassius was the biggest obstacle to it, so he had to be removed.
It was as simple as that. Even with no emotion whatsoever involved, he still wanted to kill him.
And what was more deadly for Cassius than that was the lack of intent.
Anyone, as long as they are alive, must radiate some kind of intent. The desire to protect, to guard, to kill, to hate, to live. They are perceived through those conveyed emotions.
But when intent and will are stripped, what was the difference between a person and a rock on the roadside?
Cassius could answer that: None.
And he was having a hard time perceiving the strikes coming at him because of it.
It was like fighting a stone. A plant. A tree. His brain simply struggled to catalogue him as a threat when every instinct that identified danger relied on reading malicious intent.
But there was no maliciousness. Just mechanical, inevitable movement.
CLANG—
A spear scraped past his guard, drawing another line across his cheek.
Cassius retaliated with a hook, but he lagged, and Ashen's body had already moved.
BAM—
Another strike landed. Then another.
The exchanges grew faster and bloodier. Cassius, despite his superior strength, found himself adapting to a new kind of opponent.
Two opposites clashed. One dead calm, hollow, eerily empty. The other radiating rising ferocity, growing more aggressive to compensate for his inability to predict.
CRACK—BOOM—SLASH—
They traded blows. Cassius's flames met lifeless spear thrusts. Each clash sent shockwaves rippling across the ruined wall.
From her position, Alice watched with wide eyes, one hand supporting the barely conscious Sabrina.
'He's… matching him.'
Hope bloomed once more as she fervently prayed with all her heart to whatever deity was watching. "Please… please… Ashen… hold on…"
For Sabrina, who understood the implication of what she was witnessing, the spectacle had a whole other meaning. 'A Fifth Step… matching a Second Step blow for blow…'
Her eyes tracked the fight through her pain-induced haze. She'd seen many battles. Served under a Sin Lord. Witnessed transcendents clash.
But this? A boy—barely past his twentieth year—forcing a two-century-old monster this far?
'Mistress… if you could see this…'
BOOM—
Cassius's fist connected with Ashen's sternum, sending him skidding back. But Ashen's feet found purchase, and like a zombie that would never rest, he immediately lunged forward again.
There was no fear for his life. There was only a duty to fulfill.
"Stubborn insect—" Cassius began.
Then he stopped.
No… everyone stopped.
Because the air had changed.
A presence descended.
"Wow~ What a fun party! And I wasn't even invited?!"