ttznovel Void Edge
Void Edge
The ancestral forest of Ky'lar, which was once a sanctuary of towering groves and crystal-clear rivers, had become a canvas of absolute chaos.(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM—KRRRRRRRR...!!!!!!!!)
The very reality of the ecosystem warped and collapsed under the fury of the large-scale conflict.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡ZWWWWEEEEE-KRAK-SHHHHHHH—BOOOOM-BRRRRRRRRR...!!!!!)
From the firmament ignited in scarlet hues, an incessant rain of fire meteorites plunged like the tears of an angry god, impacting the ground in deafening explosions that kicked up columns of ashen smoke and sulfur.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FJJJJJJUUUUU-BOOOOM—KRAKK-SSSSS-ZUUUUU...!!!!!!!!)
As a result, upon touching land, the incandescent impacts fractured the tectonic plates, causing burning lava to gush from the depths of the earth, coiling between the ancient trees that were consumed in seconds, reduced to coal.
(¡¡¡¡BRRRR-KABOOOOMMM-SHWWWAAAAA-¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡)
The weather was an indomitable chaos.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡VUUUUUUUU-ZRAKKK—BZZZZZZT-PT-PT-PT-PT-KRRRRRR...!!!!)
Around the battlefield, colossal tornadoes charged with static and ochre and violet lightning formed in seconds, sucking up the charred debris and ashes to hurl them back as supersonic projectiles.
(¡Vuuu-zrakk! ¡Bzzzt-pt-pt-pt-krrrr...!)
And amidst the storm...
(¡Splash-krakk! ¡Shhhh-brrrr-clash...!)
The rivers that once flowed through the valley overflowed into torrents of boiling mud, while tsunamis of water infused with natural energy and crests of sharp stone rose from the flanks, colliding with each other in a constant clash of opposing concepts.
(¡¡¡Vruushh-kraak-shhh-booom-brrrr...!!!)
It was an ecosystem mutating in a chaotic and violent manner every second, reducing the geography to a landscape of pure devastation.
"Royal Style..."
However, in the midst of that natural disaster, the figure of a silver valkyrie moved with a grace that defied gravity...
(¡¡¡CRRR-CRAAA-CRAAACK...!!!)
But, confronting her, the incessant attacks of the great earth spirit, Eldora-Gideon, suddenly surged, projecting an uninterrupted rain of rock formations and mineral needles that sought to block her path.
(¡¡BRRRUM-KRAK-SHINGGG-CLASH!!)
... Nonetheless, everything was intercepted.
"Inner peace."
Defying the gravity of the disturbed terrain, the princess knight linked a series of acrobatic leaps in the air with surgical precision.
(¡¡VROOOM-TZAK-TZAK-TZAK-CRUSH!!)
And using the chunks of earth she herself sliced with her greatsword, Silver used each floating rock fragment as a fleeting springboard in the void as she cut through.
(¡Shhhf-tap-tap-tap-vjúuu-clink-shrr...!)
As she moved, her boots barely touched the solid surfaces for a fraction of a second before she propelled herself back into the heights, dodging the collisions while the stone and crystal offensive around her became increasingly frantic and suffocating.
(¡¡¡KRAAAK-shhh-pluuu-FSSSSSSHHHHH...!!!)
In turn, the sky finished shattering, unleashing a torrential and violent rain whose drops evaporated before touching the rivers of lava, shrouding the battlefield in a dense and suffocating mist.
(¡¡¡BRRRR-KRAK-SHHHTT-ZOCK!!!)
Thus, taking advantage of the damp gloom, the ground began to seethe as Eldora-Gideon's offensive mutated into a far more creative and stifling level.
(¡¡¡Glooob-shhh-KRAK-shrrr-TLAC-TLAC-TLAC...!!!)
And immediately, the geometric replicas of living stone no longer merely charged in a straight line; instead, they now emerged directly from the water walls of the mud tsunamis, molding themselves into arachnid shapes and multi-armed colossi that intertwined with one another to weave physical webs in the air.
(¡¡¡CLASH-vjruuu-SHHH-clack-BRRRR...!!!)
The mass of those replicas of himself possessed the same density and physical strength as the actual main body of the Great Spirit of the Earth, and any conventional damage they suffered regenerated instantly, absorbing the minerals suspended in the air or the mud of the ground.
"Royal Style: Continuous Slashing Spin..."
However, despite this, Silver continued to descend and ascend in the air like a flash of liquid silver, defying gravity by bouncing off the rock fragments she sliced herself.
(¡¡¡SSSHING-KRAK-ZASH-ZASH-DZIN!!!)
Every time the edge of her greatsword or the saw-toothed rim of her shield-saw made contact with the stone limbs of the copies, they did not regenerate...
"Not yet... Not that one either... Nor that one..."
Instead, once cut, the stone replicas simply... disappeared.
(¡¡WUSH-VRRRRRRR-FSHHH-VOID-VOID!!)
The reason for this lay in the very nature of the grey, spectral flames that enveloped her weapons.
(¡¡¡Fshhh-ZRAAK-shrr-PLOP-clash...!!!)
At the slightest contact, the ashen fire nullified the mystical phenomenon of mineral cohesion and the natural energy that Eldora-Gideon breathed into his golems.
(¡¡Fsh-ZRAK-ZRAK-ZRAK-vj-FSHHH-ZRAKKK~!!!)
Because of this, cutting with those flames meant excising the stone's capacity for regeneration, reducing it to a conceptual nothingness that left perfect voids in the structure of the rock puppets as they collapsed.
(¡¡¡RATATAT-KRUNCH-VROOOM-CRUSH!!!)
Frustrated by this, Eldora-Gideon made his attacks even more restrictive and varied.
(¡¡¡CLAP-brrrr-VUUSH-krak-ZAAAK-clink...!!!)
Consequently, from the ground, the copies began to clap in perfect synchronicity, generating telluric shockwaves that compacted the rain's moisture and the dust in the air, creating heavy chains of floating rock that shot out like magnetic whips to ensnare the valkyrie's limbs in mid-flight.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIII-ZUUUUU-KRA-KRA-KRAK...!!!!!!!!)
But, as the heavy magnetic stone chains hissed through the air, closing in at a perfect intersection angle to imprison the small valkyrie...
"...."
Despite this, Silver did not show an iota of panic; instead, her electric-blue eyes, shining under the dense curtain of rain, calculated the trajectories in a fraction of a millisecond.
"Royal Style: White Tide Step..."
And resting the tip of her metallic boot on a rock fragment descending beside her, she executed a lateral pirouette of implausible flexibility.
(¡¡¡TAP-SWHISH-ZVUUUT!!!)
Her silver armor spun on its own axis, causing the links of compacted stone to graze the pauldrons of her armor-dress, barely millimeters away.
(... I wonder... What is this feeling...?)
In mid-inverted spin, her right arm tensed.
(¡¡SSSHING-KRAK-ZASH-ZASH-DZIN!!)
Immediately after, she unleashed a horizontal slash from her blade imbued with grey flames that sliced through three of the closest chains.
(I feel like I've done this before...)
Upon contact with the ashen fire, the concept of magnetism and physical cohesion that bound the stone simply dissolved into the air, letting the remaining links crumble like inert sand.
(... I don't remember.)
But as she regained her verticality in the air, the bombardment gave no respite.
(¡¡¡¡BRRR-KRAK-ZUUUM...!!!!)
Four perfect copies of Eldora-Gideon, carrying the strength and endurance of the original spirit itself, emerged simultaneously from the flanks, wielding colossal hammers of compacted basalt in a coordinated attack to crush her.
(An onslaught... of never-ending attrition...)
However, in such a situation and on such a stage, foreign and hazy flashes began to cross Silver's mind.
(This is so familiar...)
In the midst of the dance of dodges and counterattacks, a fragmented echo of a remote past began to seep into her subconscious...
(¡¡¡TZAK-TZAK-TZAK-BRRRUM-ZSHH-ZOCK!!!)
This was not the first time she found herself in a situation like this.
(A withered forest... the sensation of burning entrails...)
This was not the first time the world around her had been reduced to an infinite number of enemies seeking to suffocate her under the weight of numerical superiority.
(... And the sensation of fighting without an end.)
In her mind, for a fraction of a second, the rain of Ky'lar and the sulfur smell of the lava were stained by a much older, rancid, and poisoned memory.
(Seven days. Seven nights of continuous agony to protect a caravan I could no longer see...)
... And for an instant, who she had been before returned to her.
(¡¡FSS-SWISH-KRA-ZUUUM-SLAM!!)
But at that moment, the shudder of a stone hammer passing just past her side pulled her back to the present.
"¡¡!!"
Her martial instinct—that monstrous, innate talent she possessed since she was a young human, which allowed her to master any combat art in a matter of moments—reacted to the rebirth of her being...
(¡¡CHOCK-KLING-KLING-VROOOM!!)
And throwing her shield-saw with a violent whip of its leash of ashen flames, Silver made the weapon describe an elliptical trajectory behind her back.
(¡¡FZWUUUUU-ZVISH-VZZZZ-SUT-SUT-SUT!!)
As a result, the spinning shield, buzzing at absurd revolutions, sliced off the arms of the copies attempting to flank her in her blind spot, instantly nullifying their regeneration and leaving the golems disarmed before they could complete their offensive.
"... Now I remember."
Immediately afterward, with her right hand free, Silver descended diagonally, using the inertia of her own weight to drive her greatsword deep into the torso of the colossus beneath her.
(¡SHIIIIING-ZSHAK... ¡KRA-KROOOM!)
And immediately, the body of the indestructible stone golem split cleanly in two and began to silently evaporate under the effect of the grey flames.
"I want to fight..."
But once again, through the steel hilt, there was no vibration. There was no resistance. There was no soul.
"...Shells..."
As the memories rushed back to her, a childish grimace of annoyance tightened on the silver valkyrie's face.
"... I am not satisfied."
At that moment, her subconscious code of chivalry protested against the very nature of that confrontation.
"This is not enough!"
As she danced, she remembered...
(¡¡¡¡ZZZ-SCHHHWIK-CRASH-SHHH!!!!)
Silver loved battle; she lived for the thrill of the clash of wills.
(¡¡¡VRRRRR-SCHIIIWIK-KRAK-ZING-CHAK-CHAK-CRAAAAASHHH-VREEEEEE!!!)
But that mechanical carnage against lifeless puppets only resonated in an unpleasant, grating way with the memories of how she had lost her life.
(¡¡¡¡¡RUMMM-ZUUUM-BOOOM!!!!!)
The ground fractured once more, and from the lava and mud emerged dozens of more replicas, with open jaws and fists ready to continue the infinite siege.
"It's not enough..."
However, instead of backing down, the young princess knight hovered in the air, tensing every joint in her body with perfect economy of movement.
"... This is not enough."
Even under the suppression of the terrain, her performance was flawless; she was so accustomed to holding back just to enjoy battles that the suppression of the environment barely represented a real effort for her monstrous talent.
(... I want to experience more... More of this thrill...)
Retracting the shield to her left arm with a sharp snap, Silver adopted a classic stance of the royal sword style her father had taught her.
"Royal Style..."
The grey, spectral flames on her blade began to grow denser, hissing with a cutting static that distorted the falling raindrops around her.
(... Aaaahh... I remember now... After all...)
Her icy gaze locked onto the rear of the horde, where she sensed the true presence of Eldora-Gideon's core.
"...Void Edge."
And as her right arm swung down, the greatsword imbued with grey flames did not emit a conventional burst of fire, but rather a line of absolute nonexistence that expanded horizontally at a hyperbolic speed.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡SWHIIIIII-ZRAAAAAAAKISH—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM...!!!!!!!!)
The scale of the attack was devastating.
(¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡FSHHHHHHHHH-VOID...!!!!!!!!)
The thin grey line cut through the air and propagated across miles, cleanly splitting the chaotic forest of Ky'lar into two perfect halves.
"... I... this feeling..."
Everything that stood in the path of the slash was conceptually nullified instantly.
"I love to fight!"
As a result, a three-dimensional canyon of absolute vacuum was formed; a corridor of deathly silence where the physical laws of the ecosystem were suspended, leaving an abyss of static air that separated the two flanks of the burning forest.
(¡¡¡KRRR-KRAK-SHHHTT-ZOCK!!!)
However...
(¡¡¡¡¡SHWIIII-ZUUUUU~!!!!!)
In the very last millisecond, right at the far end of the trajectory, Eldora-Gideon's astral core reacted with the speed of the earth's crust itself.
"Terrifying. Dangerous."
Sacrificing ninety percent of the modular mass of his remaining copies in one go, the Great Spirit of the Earth used the pressure of the evaporated rock to propel his true core out of the attack's axis, plunging deep into the underlying tectonic plates.
(¡¡ZUM-KRUNCH-SHATTER-ZOCK!!)
Because of this, even as Silver's blade devoured space and inert stone, once again, the feeling of emptiness in the hilt confirmed what she already feared.
"I still haven't been able to cut you..."