Chapter 211 — The Split Sanctuary: The March of Bones
In the split sanctuary, the air vibrated as if someone had forced an entire cemetery to get up and go to work when they were clearly not being paid for it.
Dervan and Veyra kept walking calmly, arms almost relaxed, as if they were on a Sunday stroll.
Behind them, the scattered bones quivered.
Then trembled.
Then… reformed.
But this time, not like dysfunctional zombies.
No.
This time, it looked like they had received a premium update in military coordination.
In front of them, enormous giant skeletons emerged from the mist — massive shields, cracked armor, swords like pylons — the Skeleton Tanks.
Behind: skeletal mages already in a circle, their bony hands crackling with impure energy.
And higher up, in the shadows, thin, sharp, almost liquid silhouettes.
The skeletal assassins.
Dervan exhaled.
— "Looks like they've switched to serious mode."
Veyra nodded.
— "Strange… it feels like they're being guided by someone."
Behind them, the skeletal warriors moved into formation, shields raised, posture perfect.
The mages protected in the center, ready to cast a combined spell.
The Tanks activated their skill:
— "PROVOCATION!"
The cry echoed through the sanctuary.
Dervan raised an eyebrow.
— "Do they really think that's going to work on us?"
Veyra snorted.
— "They think we're idiots."
A skeletal assassin tried to slit Dervan's throat from behind.
Dervan didn't even turn.
He just backhanded.
Crack.
The assassin's skull exploded like an overripe fruit.
— "Missed," he said flatly.
Veyra smiled, hand on her hip.
— "Watch closely, darling… this is how it's done."
She raised her hand.
— "Star-Graviton: Singu-Lure Attraction"
A twisted, dark blue gravitational field appeared in her palm.
A Tank skeleton was ripped from its position like a toy and hurled straight toward her.
At the last moment, her arm blurred.
— "Acceleration — Horizon Throw"
She struck.
The Tank exploded into fragments, reduced to bone confetti.
Dervan raised an eyebrow.
— "Hmm. Still not impressed."
— "Stop being picky, darling," Veyra replied.
Dervan crossed his arms.
— "Want me to show you?"
And he leapt.
The skeletal mages launched a combined attack.
A massive dark fireball shot straight at him.
Dervan stood, unmoving.
The attack vaporized two meters before reaching him.
— "Tch."
An assassin tried to stab him.
Dervan grabbed its skull and shattered it with a knee strike.
Veyra, meanwhile, had already deployed a gravitational field around herself.
The assassins, upon entering it, found themselves:
— unable to move,
— pinned to the ground,
— or flattened like dead leaves.
Explanation:
Her Gravitational Anchor Zone amplified the weight of anything she deemed hostile.
The assassins now literally weighed several tons each.
She snapped her fingers.
— "Celestial Repulsion: Zero Wave"
BOOM.
A gravitational blast shattered them all.
Dervan, meanwhile, plunged into the mass of skeletal warriors and destroyed them without slowing, his hyper-developed senses allowing him to see and anticipate everything.
The mages' magic?
Canceled as he approached.
Like dead sparks.
He leapt, landed in the middle of a group of mages, creating a shock that disjointed them.
Then he jumped again, delivering two simultaneous kicks that reduced two more skeletons to dust.
Veyra, annoyed by the lack of challenge, raised her hands.
— "Gravity: Total Zero Knot."
All gravity in the sanctuary… vanished.
The skeletons floated, panicked, arms flailing.
Dervan, however, stayed on the ground.
— "No thanks. Not for me," he said, canceling gravity on himself.
Veyra smiled, ready to play.
— "Acceleration — Dance of Horizons"
The world around her seemed to stop.
Everything slowed as if she were walking through a frozen painting.
She eliminated the Tanks, the Assassins, the Warriors…
And took the time to sit down, pull out an apple, and eat it calmly.
— "Crunchy."
Then she stood, made a small hop, fixed her hair, and resumed her chrono-assassin stance.
When gravity returned to normal, all the skeletons crashed to the ground like sacks of stones.
Dervan descended slowly, landing with style.
Veyra tossed him the apple.
— "Want the rest?"
He shrugged.
— "Why not."
And took the most blasé bite in history.
Chapter 112 — "The Skeleton King… and the Woman With ZERO Patience"
Veyra walked alongside Dervan, hands behind her back, wearing a satisfied smile.
— "So, darling… how do you find this part of the sanctuary?"
— "I'd say it's fine."
Veyra pulled a dramatic grimace.
— "'Fine'?! Why don't you ever say something like exquisite, sublime, or magnificently devastated? Instead, you play the mysterious guy who speaks three words per century!"
Dervan ignored her completely.
As if he had suddenly lost the ability to hear.
— "Seriously, are you going to ignore me for long like this?"
No answer.
She growled.
— "Why are you ignoring me?!"
— "Because you talk too much."
And he kept walking calmly.
Veyra stood frozen for two seconds, outraged. Then she caught up, trotting, and of course started talking again.
— "See? Again! You're ignoring me! This is unbelievable!"
Dervan stared at a wall, expression saying: *is it possible to die of boredom?*
But suddenly the ground pulsed.
Magic circles appeared, spinning like malevolent gears.
Immense fireballs erupted, roaring.
Veyra didn't even look.
Her power activated instinctively:
**Total Deceleration — "Frozen World"**
Time locked around her.
The flames froze mid‑air, sparks halted mid‑flight, everything suspended like a painting.
— "There we go…" she sighed. "Finally, a calm moment."
She strolled casually among the frozen flames, as if walking through a museum.
Then she spotted a hooded figure, frozen mid‑incantation.
— "Ah, so you're the troublemaker."
She grabbed the figure by the throat, without the slightest gentleness.
Then she released the deceleration.
Everything resumed instantly.
The figure found itself lifted off the ground, strangled, utterly confused.
— "SURP— khrk—"
— "Surprise!" Veyra shouted. "And you just ruined my conversation with Dervan, which is a very serious crime."
The figure sweated.
Well, as much as a hooded figure could sweat.
— "You're the ones who… who intruded into my sanctuary! And you ask why I—"
Dervan placed a hand on her shoulder.
— "We're just doing our job."
Veyra yanked the hood off in one sharp motion.
A lich appeared, twisted crown on its skull, eye sockets burning with violet light.
— "Ohhh. So you're the boss of the sanctuary."
She dropped him back to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Dervan shrugged.
— "I suspected as much. We fought skeletons, it was predictable."
The lich puffed out its chest (or what passed for one).
— "Tremble, miserable humans! I am the Skeleton King, and some call me the Demon King of Death!"
Veyra raised a hand.
— "Yeah yeah, sounds like a nickname you gave yourself to feel important."
The Skeleton King made a dramatic gesture.
All the skeletons in the sanctuary rose simultaneously.
Cursed spirits emerged, screaming.
— "Soldiers! These two intruders dare mock your king! SLAUGHTER THEM!"
Dervan sighed.
— "Here we go again."
Veyra snapped her fingers.
— "I'll handle the minions. You take the stick‑king."
— "No problem."
She winked at him.
— "Okay, darling."
Dervan inhaled.
Then reappeared before the lich in a single leap, hands still in his pockets.
— "Show me what you can do, walking skeleton."
---
Veyra lifted a hand, and with a simple gesture, dozens of skeletons rose into the air.
Then she lowered her hand.
**CRUNCH.**
A rain of bones hit the ground.
— "Next wave?"
Cursed spirits charged.
She smiled, extended her palm, and focused gravity into a single point:
**Singularity Core — "Zero Gravimass"**
A mini black hole formed, sucking in everything that approached.
The screaming spirits were devoured like snacks.
— "Who's next?"
---
Meanwhile, the lich launched dozens of shadow blades.
They erupted from the ground, sharp, alive.
They chased Dervan.
He? Still with hands in his pockets.
He dodged casually, half‑step here, a tilt there, as if strolling.
— "Hmm. Boring."
Then he vanished.
Reappeared before the lich.
A stone barrier surged to block his attack.
Dervan delivered a simple kick.
**BOOM.**
The wall shattered like soggy cardboard, and the lich was sent sliding several meters.
It screamed, furious.
— "How dare you!!!"
Dervan raised an eyebrow.
— "This is only the beginning."
Chapter 213 – "When the Skeletons Realize They Made a Very Bad Choice"
Veyra sighed deeply as she watched the skeletons still advancing toward her.
— "You skeletons… I don't understand your stubbornness. You know you don't stand a chance," she said, calmly drawing her sword.
The air vibrated around her.
— "Chrono-Drift."
Suddenly…
The world froze.
Or rather: she became so fast that everything else seemed stopped.
She crossed the battlefield like a silver flash, cutting down several skeletons before they even realized she had moved. She sheathed her blade with a sharp snap.
Time resumed.
The skeletons collapsed one by one, delayed, as if they had only received the news seconds later.
— "Gravitas Verdict."
An invisible pressure suddenly fell, crushing another group of skeletons under monstrous gravity.
— "Be crushed by gravity," she added almost like friendly advice.
Cracks spread across the ground.
Veyra then raised two fingers.
— "Instant Fracture."
She literally disappeared for a fraction of reality, like a skipped frame, and reappeared behind a skeleton… which exploded automatically, simply for the misfortune of existing in her arrival zone.
The remaining skeletons all stepped back at once, their false souls screaming clearly:
*"This woman is far too dangerous."*
---
Meanwhile, Dervan faced the Lich…
The lich raised its bony arms, summoning a horde of skeletons to block Dervan.
— "…Seriously?" Dervan said, hands in his pockets.
He took three calm steps.
Then vanished.
A skeleton exploded under his kick.
He pulled one hand from his pocket, grabbed another skeleton by the skull, and smashed it against his knee like a plastic toy.
He leapt, landed crushing another skeleton. The impact hurled a dozen more into the air.
Before they had time to fall, Dervan pulverized them all at blinding speed.
He landed, hands back in his pockets, expression neutral.
Veyra tossed him her sword.
— "Catch!"
The sword spun in the air: *Silver Eclipse.*
Dervan caught it with one hand, without looking.
A black aura of anti-magic spread across the blade.
— "I hope you're not just a melee fighter," Veyra teased.
Dervan didn't answer.
He had already dashed so fast that several lines of skeletons were sliced into pieces behind his passage.
The lich began to tremble.
---
Back to Veyra
She sat calmly… on the head of a skeleton (which didn't dare move).
She pointed her hand at another group.
— "Hop."
Space compressed in an instant, reducing them to fragments without her moving more than a finger.
Several skeletal mages cast fire spells.
— "No."
She made a small gesture.
The flames reversed direction.
Then she extended her hand.
— "Come on, everyone over here."
All the remaining skeletons were sucked toward her, then brutally repelled in a gravitational wave that pulverized them.
---
Back to Dervan
He walked toward the lich at a calm pace.
— "Are you afraid now?" he asked quietly.
The lich cast a desperate spell.
Dervan waved his hand: the attack vanished.
— "It's over for you."
He appeared before her and slashed in a series of movements so fast it looked like several people attacking at once.
The lich didn't even have time to comprehend its own defeat before it disintegrated.
---
Veyra clapped her hands.
— "Looks like you're done."
— "You too," Dervan replied.
He handed her sword back.
She caught it, spun it, then sheathed it.
— "Much obliged."
Dervan sighed.
— "I think we've done our duty… and it's time to return to the guild."
Veyra nodded.
— "Yeah, let's go. That's enough for today. And I'm hungry."
— "You're always hungry," Dervan replied.
— "Yes, but this time it's serious."
They walked away calmly, leaving behind a battlefield empty… or rather: cleansed.
Chapter 214 — Broken Kingdom
Nyss and Harlan stepped through the portal leading to the Broken Kingdom.
The moment they crossed, the air changed.
A sky cracked like shattered glass stretched above them. Fragments of clouds floated upside down, and the ground seemed made of mismatched plates of reality glued together. Some zones vibrated slightly, as if space hesitated to stay in place; others were frozen, as if time had forgotten to pass through.
Immense ruins dotted the landscape.
Not normal ruins:
Buildings sliced cleanly, as if by an invisible blade;
Others stretched impossibly, with staircases leading straight into the void.
In the distance, silhouettes watched.
They weren't really monsters.
Nor truly humans.
The people of the Broken Kingdom had bodies slightly out of sync with reality: blurred outlines, limbs sometimes doubled like unsynchronized images. Their eyes glowed with a dull light, and their voices — when they spoke — echoed faintly, as if several versions of them spoke at once.
The Broken.
Survivors adapted to the collapse of reality, living between multiple dimensional layers…
Lovely neighbors.
Harlan calmly placed his hand on the hilt of his dimensional sword strapped to his back.
— "…Okay.
— Doesn't smell like a trap.
— Smells like a sophisticated trap."
Nyss sighed softly.
— "Always so reassuring."
Harlan, Rank S, hunter specialized in dimensional traps and builder of local realities, studied the terrain carefully.
— "Alright.
— I'll set traps."
Meanwhile, Nyss, Rank S as well, expert in camouflage, assassination, erasure of presence, and shadow manipulation, casually conjured… a milkshake in her hand.
— "Vanilla-caramel," she said before sipping loudly through the straw.
Harlan stared, shocked.
— "…
— You could at least make an effort.
— We're in an unstable, possibly hostile kingdom.
— And I still don't know how you make things like that appear."
Nyss took another sip.
— "Actually, it's the same principle as when I brought us here.
— Simply put: it's another way of using my power."
Harlan blinked.
— "So you can bend space…
— But you refuse to explain…
— And you use it to conjure drinks."
— "Exactly."
Harlan pinched the bridge of his nose.
— "I have a Rank S partner…
— Capable of erasing her existence…
— And she uses it to drink milkshakes."
Nyss shrugged.
— "Priorities."
Harlan sighed, then refocused.
— "Alright.
— Draw their attention.
— So I can set the traps quietly."
Nyss nodded.
— "No problem."
She stepped forward… then vanished.
No presence.
No sound.
No shadow.
Even Harlan, though used to it, frowned.
— "Seriously… she overdoes it.
— One day she'll disappear and forget to come back."
Then Harlan pressed his hand into the ground.
— "Frame Lock — Paradox Grid."
Invisible lines spread through space, creating trap zones where the dimension folded in on itself.
Seconds later, a cry rang out in the distance.
— "HEY! YOU OVER THERE!"
The Broken startled.
— "…Was that Nyss?
— Is she serious?"
Another cry, closer:
— "I'M HERE!
— NO, HERE!
— OH WAIT, BEHIND YOU!"
The Broken began to panic, spinning around, attacking empty air.
Meanwhile, Harlan calmly continued setting traps.
— "Dimensional fallback trap…
— Spatial compression field…
— Phase-shift mine…
— And this one… just for fun."
Far away, Nyss reappeared briefly… only to vanish again.
— "You're really not paying attention, huh."
One Broken suddenly exploded in a spatial distortion.
— "…Oops."
Harlan smiled faintly.
— "Trap activated."
Nyss reappeared beside him, milkshake still in hand.
— "So?
— Progress?"
— "Yes.
— And thanks to you, they're all running around like idiots."
Nyss finished the last sip.
— "Perfect.
— I love it when a plan comes together."
In the distance, the Broken Kingdom was already beginning to fold under the cumulative effects of the traps.
Harlan slightly drew his sword.
— "Well.
— We've officially triggered chaos."
Nyss smiled.
— "Rank S, baby."