Chapter 87: Clash of Titans

"Infinite Mana... Shadow Merge!"

The effect was instant.

While the Emperor was buffing himself with his holy light and, at the same time, advancing his evolution realms in that split second, Kaelen summoned all his shadow summons from the ruins, who appeared in an astronomical line to his side, all imitating his move as they began merging with him at an astronomical speed.

The Emperor left his sword rooted to the ground as he raised his large fist above his head as well.

Then their fists collided, and the world went blank like a TV forcefully shut off from power.

The Emperor’s elite guards barely had time to react when they disintegrated like an atomic bomb had gone off, reducing them to mere silhouettes on the floor.

***

On another floor in that same mansion, the two figures stood opposite each other with their katanas.

Black Rose stood opposite Crimson Purple as she held herself up with her blade while clutching her bleeding side.

That wasn’t the only place she’d been cut or injured, but she couldn’t apply pressure to all of them, and her mana level was at a critical state after fighting with the infamous bounty hunter, who was injured not as much but cut in several places. But unlike Black Rose, she stood tall with her shoulders and back straight like she’d experienced worse.

Crimson Purple didn’t give the noble lady time to recuperate before she took her deadly fighting stance with her katana pointing towards Black Rose.

Black Rose didn’t have any choice as she forced herself to take a fighting stance as well, though her unsteady hands from blood loss were visible to the enemy, and her sight was starting to blur, making her see Crimson Purple in two places.

She quickly shook her head to correct her sight, but that was the moment her opponent chose to make her move, closing the distance between them in an instant as she drew horizontally for the woman’s injured abdomen.

Though Black Rose had been caught off guard, her reaction speed was no joke, and she positioned her blade to intercept that of Crimson Purple as she dashed forward as well.

Slash!

Two sword beams clashed against each other as the two opponents charged against each other, Crimson Purple screeching to a halt before the door to look over her shoulder. But unlike her, Black Rose didn’t stop to turn around.

She was fully aware that fighting any longer would only result in her death, and was fully aware that the bounty hunter was only warming up and hadn’t even displayed a single of her famous copied skills.

She made her decision in that split second to make a run for it. So she didn’t stop.

She had already positioned herself to face the window and not the door.

She was very much aware that running out of the door, even if she managed to break it down, would only make the assassin charge after her, leaving her back exposed. So she chose the window instead, regardless of the fact that her room was on the fifth floor.

She charged straight for the window and threw herself at the glass, shattering it as she fell out and dropped several feet down in an instant before she hit the ground and had the air knocked out of her lungs.

She was strong enough to survive the fall, but not enough to not feel any pain.

A group of soldiers were running across the compound at that moment when they spotted her fall out of the window and immediately ran to her aid.

"Young miss, are you okay?"

"What happened?"

"Who did this?"

Black Rose forced herself to turn on her back amidst the torrents of questions from the guards, but the moment she did, her heart stopped.

Standing over the broken window was Crimson Purple, who looked like she was about to leap out of the window after her. The guards followed her terrified gaze towards the shattered fifth-floor window, and when they spotted the figure standing there, they stumbled in shock as some fell on their butts, while the others quickly scrambled away, leaving their ’young miss’ behind as they ran for their lives.

Black Rose didn’t care and didn’t blame them either, as she knew they couldn’t offer any useful help to her except to buy her time to get away safely, but that would mean sacrificing their own lives.

Crimson Purple was just about to leap out the window when the entire world went pitch black at that moment as time seemed to slow to a stop.

Crimson Purple was suspended in the air, and Black Rose’s terrified expression was frozen, except her brain still processed everything at the normal speed, making her wonder for a split second if there was a possibility that she was dead. When—

Like time was suddenly reversed, Crimson Purple was suddenly dragged back inside the window.

It wasn’t just her, but the entire structure of the mansion was suddenly sucked inwards like a black hole had opened inside and swallowed the moonlight.

Then everything went white.

Booooom—!!!

The entire building was blown outwards, and a powerful shockwave spread across the entire estate, moving at an incredible speed as it covered the entire stronghold in an instant.

Black Rose could barely react as she watched her life flash before her eyes when a figure suddenly grabbed her from behind, and they both disappeared from the spot before it was compressed into a crater.

The next place she found herself was on the wall of the stronghold, and that was when she finally got a chance to see who saved her.

It was Cindra, who still looked to be in one piece.

She breathed a sigh of relief and was about to ask how the woman had a teleportation skill when she was fully aware that it wasn’t her Talent or in any of her skill sets.

That was also when the second explosion and shockwave swept across the stronghold, forcing all the guards watching from the stronghold walls to duck or risk getting thrown over.

She gathered the courage to push herself to her feet to see what was happening. That was when she saw it.

Two divine figures in the sky. One covered in a holy light while the other was covered in fear-consuming shadow, resembling the void of reality itself.

They were everywhere and nowhere at once, and each time they clashed, it was like the coming of age of the ancient gods.

Boooooooom—!!!

"W-Who’s that?" she stammered in shock and disbelief.

Cindra tilted her head to look her straight in the eyes with a serious expression for the first time.

"...You know the name."