Chapter 275: Wings of the Fallen: Leon vs Vaelith
A loud roar tore through the skies of Hell Land as its earth collapsed and turned to fiery dust.
Black and white feathers splattered upward while Leon hurled both himself and Vaelith through the space above them. Leon’s golden armor glowed as the moon’s rays above the Hell Land splashed on him.
Vaelith kicked his knee against Leon’s chest and set himself free. His feathered wings sprawled sideways as he wiped the blood off his lips, then smiled. "Let’s end this!"
The dark clouds covering the Hell Land dashed toward Leon when Vaelith slapped his wings together. A sonic wave dashed from him and crashed against Leon.
Thick veins appeared on Vaelith’s skin as he rose up and stopped at the moon’s angle. "You’ve advanced the Wither edict. SHOW ME HOW YOU WITHSTAND MINE."
Large blue glowing skulls erupted from the burning river of lava thousands of feet below the collapsed ground. They dashed upward and began circling Vaelith, as if they were souls attached to his.
Vaelith’s soul sword hovered in the air as he loosened his grip on it and crossed his arms at his back.
"By my blood," he said and bit the center of his right palm. "Inverse Shadows..."
The star-filled sky above him trembled when he swung his arm and splashed the blood in the air. "Corrupted Benediction."
His eyes blazed as he threw a sharp glance at Leon, tracking his opponent with a fierce glare. "Consumer of all strength, purity, and vitality."
His wings straightened and sharpened while he brushed the wounded palm on his face. "Be my guest. Wither!"
The moment the last letter exited from his mouth, cracks began appearing through the sky, splitting it in perfect half. Angry thunder clouds appeared and began sending countless lightning bolts on the collapsed ground.
The blazing lava thousands of feet below sprawled sideways.
Leon’s black blazing glow in his eyes intensified when he caught sight of countless blue skulls exiting from Tartarus and dashing toward Vaelith.
"Not this time!" Leon screamed and dashed forward like sound. The two Hi-no-Kami flew by his side while the spinning, golden war disc hovered above him.
On his neck, the red-gold cloth remained tight on him while the free tips flapped in the air with every distance Leon closed.
A concussive gold-blue blast echoed when Leon increased his grip on the hilt of the swords and swung them toward Vaelith.
Two blue glowing skulls dashed from Vaelith and moved along his soul sword. They crashed with Leon’s sword and began blasting Leon with every strike he laid on Vaelith.
Countless versions of Vaelith began appearing and circling Leon with every strike blocked.
’How is he doing that?’ Thoughts reeled in Leon’s head when he stepped on the blade of the soul sword and hurled himself high in the air.
The black glow in his eyes puffed once when he saw all seven versions of Vaelith staring at Leon from below. Just as the black glow vanished and got replaced by the gold, his golden heart thrummed like a war drum.
A new energy crawled under his skin from his chest and spread across his entire body. With all that going on in him, Leon dashed toward the seven versions of Vaelith and began slicing them one after another. "No tricks this time."
The first version puffed and turned into white feathers, which flew after Leon. The second puffed and turned into white motes that lingered in the air like bacteria. Leon didn’t hesitate when the third and fourth charged at him. He chopped the head of the third off and kicked his boot into the fourth.
The fifth and sixth versions slammed their jagged fingers into Leon and hurled him countless distances away from the Hell Land itself. Stones at the border of the Hell Lands dribbled on the ground as Leon crashed into the barrier placed to stop any human from entering the land.
"I’m stronger. I can beat him." Leon said and spat a glob of warm blood on the ground, then lifted his head upward.
Without much ado, Vaelith dashed toward him like a flash and used Leon’s back as a guide and sprawled the cornfield at the border of Agatha and Hell Land.
The cornfield lay flattened in every direction. Stalks crushed and burned at their roots where the lava wind had passed.
Leon slammed his right palm on the ground and pushed himself up. Fracture lines lingered at the chest of his gold blazing armor while the red-gold cloth at his neck remained dusty and bloodied.
Vaelith descended through the splattered sky like a meteorite. His wings fluttered while the blue glowing skulls orbited at his side like rings. In his right arm, the soul sword hummed while the tip of its blade sent cracks in the sky as they swung through the air.
The ground burned and blasted as Vaelith crashed into the ground and remained on his feet like an undefeatable God. "You’ve impressed me, Leon Storm."
His wings opened wide and sent hundreds of meters behind him burning. "But impressing me has never been the same thing as surviving me has."
Leon watched Vaelith close the distance like a spirit, then closed his eyes. For a second, everything went silent, including the burning rage inside his chest.
The whistle of wind through the scattered cornfield caught him first when the sound came back. The low, grinding moan of the earth with river lava followed. The moment the distant cracks of Vaelith’s blade sang through, Leon took in a deep breath then positioned himself, still with his eyes closed.
Inside his chest, the Solflare, the Break edict, the Wither edict and the law of distortion all threaded through his God heart like fire.
The blue skull energy of the Wither grafted to his wrist, the red glow of the Break edict wrestled behind him while his spine burned with the grey glow of the law of distortion. And on his forehead, the Solflare golden energy burned.
Every nerve in his upper body screamed as the compressed energy reversed their courses and drove themselves deeper into Leon and began mending his inner wounds close.
The golden armor darkened at his chest, while his fingers trembled on the hilts of the Hi-no-Kami.
The corn leaves brushed on Vaelith’s feathered legs as he came to a sudden halt, squinting forward at Leon. "What did you..."
All four energies glowed around Leon when he cracked his eyes open. The red-gold cloth unraveled itself from his neck and began spinning behind him.
The rustling corn leaves went completely still. Every rushing wind seized. Insects flying off the cornfield froze with their wings caught in the air.
Vaelith’s body froze but his eyeballs saw every rushing energy sparkling from Leon.
Leon stood there for a moment, then exhaled once. When he moved forward, the ground the base of his boots touched burned. The leaves he moved past turned to ashes, while the souls of the insects left their bodies and followed Leon.
Everything returned back to life when Leon stopped at Vaelith’s face. With a single press of his finger on Vaelith’s forehead, a massive air blast blew Vaelith off his feet.
He crawled through the cornfield like a bomb that has lost its direction. But Vaelith caught himself and pushed himself up. His soul armor had cracked when he shifted his gaze to his chest.
His wings sagged when he tried to push himself into the air with them.
Leon appeared before him before Vaelith could lift his sword and slammed the flat surface of the Hi-no-Kami’s blade on Vaelith’s face.
Mucus sprayed out of Vaelith’s mouth, followed by two molar teeth that carried fresh blood with them.
The impact sent Vaelith crashing onto the ground head first. He rolled like a ball until he hit a giant oak tree and stopped.
Smoky feathers flew upward while his chest heaved as loud coughs escaped him. Vaelith’s vision hazed and began seeing shapes and stars when Leon appeared at his front.
Sharp air flew out of Leon’s nose and mouth as the gold-red-grey-blue glow popped on his skin. The Hi-no-Kami trembled in his arms as memories began reeling in his head.
An Lang’s smiling face appeared, Wu Ze’s no-nonsense steeze, and Liu Yan’s warm eyes all appeared.
Feathers flew in the air when the blade of the Hi-no-Kami swung and stopped right at Vaelith’s face.
Warm thin blood exited his pointed nose when the tip of the blade pressed into his skin.
A grim grin appeared on Vaelith’s face. He slammed one palm on the ground and whirled himself around, kicking the blade of the Hi-no-Kami with both his sharpened wings and feathered feet.
When he tried dashing into the star-filled sky, pain rattled in his spine. The blade of the Hi-no-Kami sliced through the edge of the wings and severed the feathers from his back with a clean cut.
Vaelith’s knees hit the burned earth first followed by his palms. The impact sent the deep roots of the corn flying upward.
Laughter surged out of Vaelith while warm blood seeped out of his face, waist, and back. ’Finally.’
He shifted his gaze slowly and smiled with his bloodied teeth at Leon. "Finish it."
Leon’s eyes glowed but then he saw Vaelith with the same smile he showed him when killing his teammates.
The blade of the Hi-no-Kami sang in the air with a swish as Leon raised the sword upward. An Lang’s face, Wu Ze’s stillness, and Liu Yan’s eyes appeared beside Vaelith’s kneeling self.
Leon’s eyes closed while the blade swung through Vaelith’s neck, chopping the head off.
Evaporated air flashed out when blood sprayed from the severed head and splashed on Leon.
When he cracked his eyes open, Vaelith’s head lay on the ground coughing.
His eyes locked on Leon and smiled once. "Thank you for making me die under the hands carrying the same blood that once destroyed me."
Leon’s eyes widened as chills ran down his spine.
The moment Vaelith’s eyes closed, his body puffed into black motes and flew high into the dark sky filled with glowing stars.
