Chapter 338: Cleaving Hundreds, Stunning More
"Holts this, Holts that," I muttered, stepping forward with slow, deliberate steps. My voice carried across the clearing. "I’ve been hearing you lot yap about the Holts since I got here."
They flinched, all of them.
"But you see," I continued, "by now you should’ve figured something out—"
I vanished mid-sentence and reappeared right in front of the man who’d spoken.
"—I don’t give a fuck."
Time slowed in my mind. I watched the moment his brain registered my disappearance. His eyes widened, pupils shrinking, fear flashing in his face. My fingers had already wrapped around his throat.
His hand twitched toward his sword.
I didn’t give him the chance. My grip tightened, Essence reinforcing the pressure. I felt bones crack under my fingers as his neck snapped clean. His body dropped limp to the ground, the sound muffled by the dirt and ash.
I turned to face the rest.
"Alright," I said calmly. "Let’s finish this quickly."
There was silence for a second. And then someone in the back shouted, "Kill him!"
That was all it took.
The air trembled as weapons ignited and skills launched all at once. Fire, wind, swords, spears, light, energy.....chaos came crashing toward me.
But above all that, I heard it.
A sharp screech split the sky.
Silver.
He dove down from above like a silver meteor wrapped in crimson mist, tearing into the mob just as their attacks reached me.
I raised my hand.
"Sovereign Reversal."
It was a skill I had created, a fusion of [Spatial Shield], [Sovereign Absorption], and my deeper understanding of space.
Violet vortexes formed around me, swirling rapidly. The moment the barrage of attacks reached, they were sucked in, energy, momentum, everything vanishing into the spinning void. My core flared with heat as the absorbed energy converted into fresh Essence.
I transferred already existing Essence to Strength attribute. My muscle tightened and bones strengthen as the Strength attribute surged.
The vortexes lasted only a few seconds before finally tearing apart.
But by then, the second layer had formed.
A shimmering dome of distorted space pulsed into place, catching what remained of the attacks. I twisted it backward and redirected everything behind me.
BOOM!
The ground behind me erupted. A crater formed, the earth cracked apart, and even the towering ice wall groaned. Spiderweb cracks etched across its surface, but it held.
I exhaled and casually dusted off my shoulder, gaze lifting to watch Silver tear through the crowd like a god of death.
His screech echoed once more, high and proud.
And I smiled.
Every single one of them was a Master-ranked fighter—strong, experienced, dangerous.
But compared to me, they felt like nothing. I hadn’t even used my domain yet. I hadn’t tapped into the full extent of the minor laws I’d recently mastered. Even without all that, just my physical stats alone made me feel unstoppable.
It felt like I could crush them all with brute strength alone.
So I decided to do exactly that.
Essence surged from my core, flooding into my channels and bursting through my body like a tidal wave. My muscles tensed, bones hummed, and every fiber of my being was reinforced. The rush of power was overwhelming—pure, volatile, and alive.
Steam hissed off my skin. My hair rose, floating upward, weightless under the pressure of the power pulsing through me. The air grew dense around me, as if the atmosphere itself was struggling to contain the force I now carried.
Then the ground cracked beneath my feet.
A low rumble echoed out in every direction as my aura exploded, a wave of sheer presence that crashed into the battlefield. For a moment, everything froze. Even the wind held its breath.
And then I forced my will outward.
Every single person within my perception range was struck by it. The cold certainty of their death, broadcasted straight into their minds. No words, no warning....just truth.
My will spread like ripples across a vast ocean, crashing into the minds and hearts of the Masters surrounding me.
At first, they frowned in confusion. Then they trembled. Some took a step back. A few shouted in defiance. But fear was faster than reason.
They broke.
All at once, nearly a thousand men and women roared and charged toward me. Weapons were raised, skills ignited, a flood of Master-ranked fury rushing straight at me, all trying to smother the fear clawing at their insides.
But I stood still, waiting. Calm. Focused.
Because I knew one thing they didn’t.
They were already dead.
I knew it the moment they charged. Their fates had already been sealed.
I willed and summoned my staff.
Essence churned and spiralled from my core, coiling around my arm before solidifying into cold, black metal. The staff slammed into my palm with eagerness behind it.
There was one skill I had designed specifically for moments like this.
Something that allowed me to unleash my full physical power without restraint.
I closed my eyes briefly.
Lightning hummed faintly along my skin, flickering from my fingertips to my shoulders. Essence surged through me, channeling into the weapon. I poured more and more of it in, until the staff trembled under the sheer weight, vibrating like a beast straining at its leash.
My feet braced against the broken ground. I took one breath.
Then I moved.
I shifted my footing, left foot forward, knees slightly bent. My grip tightened around the staff, both hands spaced evenly across its length. I twisted my waist, coiling my entire body like a spring, the weight of the weapon pulling at my shoulders.
And then I unleashed.
My hips turned first, dragging my torso into motion. My arms followed, muscles straining as I poured every ounce of my strength into the swing. The staff cut through the air in a wide, horizontal arc from right to left, whistling with deadly force.
It wasn’t just a swing, it was a cleave powered by my full body: from the twist of my legs to the snap of my spine, from the torque in my waist to the raw power in my shoulders.
And when it moved, the world followed.
As the staff cut through the air, lightning screamed across its surface. The roar was deafening. Blinding arcs crackled off the weapon and scattered through the air, turning everything around me white-blue.
And then it happened.
"[Lightning Rend]."
The swing split the air itself. A massive ripple of lightning exploded from the staff, a horizontal wave that blasted outward like a tidal surge. Space screamed as a tear formed along the arc, a glowing rift cleaving through reality.
The tear widened in proportion to the strength I had put behind it, wide enough to swallow trees, people, anything. It wasn’t a simple attack. It was an execution.
The frontlines didn’t even scream.
The lightning ripple struck first, stunning hundreds of them mid-charge. Their bodies spasmed violently as arcs of lightning danced over armor, flesh, and bone. Those weaker than the rest simply combusted, burned from the inside out, charred corpses falling where they stood.
Then came the tear.
The rift of space cleaved through them like a god’s blade, merciless, clean, final.
Barriers shattered like glass. Shields ruptured in flashes of light. Weapons were flung aside or snapped in half. And bodies... bodies tore apart at the waist, across the chest, or just split down the middle. Blood misted the air in huge arcs. It rained limbs and steel.
The ground in front of me erupted. Chunks of broken earth were hurled in every direction as the wave continued its path. The lightning and spatial rend reached hundreds of meters out before slowly vanishing, leaving only a long, smoldering trench in its wake.
Smoke rose.
Ash drifted on the air like snow.
I slowly lowered my staff, exhaling softly.
Silence followed.
Nearly half of the entire 1,000-strong force lay in ruins. Some still twitched. Most were already gone, disintegrated by the lightning or cleaved apart by the spatial tear.
The scent of scorched earth and burnt blood filled the air. Even those far in the back stood frozen, wide-eyed and pale, too shocked to even scream.
My grip tightened around the staff as I stared at them.
And then I stepped forward again.