Chapter 105: The Fall of a Frozen World(40)

Knowledge Rank — [Fragment]

>744/1000 knowledge shard

Rising in Class and Rank made you stronger, much stronger, especially when it came to class. But that didn’t mean that gaining sync and shards didn’t make you stronger. It did. The strongest you can be without ascending in either Class and Ranks is having your sync fully filled without challenging the Trial of Salvation, and having your shards on the verge of fulfilling the requirements for ascending.

And while his sync hadn’t risen, his shard counter had changed quite a while ago while on his way to conquer Frozen Crown, pairing that with the rage of his blade.

He was much stronger than he ever had been. If he couldn’t beat her now… then what would he have to do? How many more shards, relics, how much rage did he have to borrow before it was enough…

Aether frowned, gripping his blade tightly, and yet the hilt didn’t dare harm his fingers like it normally did. His fingers had been spared from bleeding.

Without even realizing it, he had already started running towards her; he couldn’t even see well, everything was blurry, and yet, he could sense her every movement. He didn’t need to see; he was going to rely on his instinct.

The essence flowing through his body was large, and without any ability to use it on, it was left to bottle up inside him.

The sigh at his attack, her blade danced in the air, taking her stance.

When Aether’s blade came from the side, she blocked it with the tip of her blade without budging. While he tried to drive it in, she stood quite, stopping him without breaking a sweat.

Seeing this, Aether moved his blade down so that her blade would drive forward, since it wouldn’t have something stopping it. But it had failed, making him back away, only to drive forward again a second later.

The sound of the clashing black steel of the Voidpiercer and the transparent crystal blade of the Queen’s blade echoed through the halls as their swords continued to make contact.

They shared the same type of blade, so neither should be able to get past the other’s defense. And yet, Aether had already failed to defend several times now. The Queen was far more experienced with this style of sword fighting. So it was easy for her to predict his movement, since most of them were beginner moves.

If you were to examine their styles, you would see that they shared the same essence, piercing the opponent, but at the same time, you would see just how drastically different their styles had evolved from that essence.

The Queen was tactical, paying close attention to Aether’s every move, so that he could find an opening in his attacks and defense. She was patient, and her defense was unpenetrable. Her pierces didn’t miss; her aim was on target each time. All her moves were planned.

While Aether was more reckless. From fighting many opponents stronger than him, he had developed his style to rely on tricks and bluffs. His blade wasn’t good for cutting things, and yet he still drove forward to cut, as if it would have an effect, all to trick his enemy.

He had no idea of how to keep up with the Queen’s attacks, and let many gaps for her in his defense. He was also bold, trying not to let the Queen breathe; he didn’t have her experience in piercing, so many times he missed his attacks.

One thing was for sure in this battle.

He was losing.

’Damn it.’

Aether backed away for a second to take a breather. The rage from his blade was still there, but he didn’t know for how long it would remain that way. He had to speed things up, but how? He was the one bleeding and with cuts all over his body, not her.

She was unscaved!

…

’Why can’t I hit her!’

He was doing the same thing he had been doing before, so how was she able to stop his attacks every time? How was she able to see through his facades?

…

The Queen sighed, seeing Aether trying to come from above… how miserable, did the boy really think she wouldn’t notice that the grip on his blade was slightly turned to the side, meaning he was going to stop last second and come from the side.

’Such a stupid child.’

She waited patiently for him to switch his trajectory, but in the end… he didn’t.

Her eyes widened as the sword came like it had originally been supposed to. But why hadn’t he switched?… Of course, there was no damage… but he had somehow caught her off guard.

…

’It… worked?’

He had not expected it, after all, it was a dumb plan, but somehow… it worked.

After realizing that the Queen was predicting his every attack, he came up with the idea that for her to stop foreseeing her attacks, he should also not know his next attack. He was practically deciding what he was going to do last second.

And it was working… he was making contact, of course, it wasn’t doing any damage, but it was still progress.

But for how much time would it work? He was combining this style with his original; that way, it was harder for her to realize, but at the same time, she was a Breaker, someone who had fought for more time than he had lived. It wouldn’t take long for her to realize.

There was one thing that he realized, pierces didn’t work, so that meant he didn’t have to rely on them, he could use his blade however he wanted, even ways it wasn’t used to. And when he caught her off guard, he could then pierce, building up [Pierce the End]; he didn’t know if it would work.

But the Queen had both a high class and rank, and not only that, she was the vessel of a God. Meaning his pierces got much stronger each time.

…

With their blades clashing endlessly, exchanging blows constantly, it wasn’t long before… The Queen got scratched for the first time. Of course, comparing a small scratch with his bloodied body was a long shot. He was still losing and very drastically so.

But he was making progress… or was he?

While he was slipping through her defense once and a while, she had been getting used to his style, and it had become rare for him to make contact. And with his style being even more negligent on defense, he was getting hit a lot more.

Not to mention the fact that his rage wasn’t going to last much longer.

…

He was losing, and it was undinable.

“Give up, Aether, this… is the last time I’ll be holding back. If you decide to attack once more, then I’ll kill you.”

He smiled, blood dripping from his face and body. His fate was clear the moment his blade rose once more to face her.

He rushed forward, with his tip directer towards her liver. Of course, this was a faint, to make her block, and then go around it. But before he could get close, the Queen grabbed him by his head and slammed him into the ground.

He coughed up blood, as his vision blurred even more for a second. He tried to get back up, but before he could, his body was already chained to the ground by the manifestation of the Abyss. The tentacles wrapped around him, not letting go as much as he struggled.

The Queen moved forward, kneeling down near him. She stared into his eyes with a wicked smile as she moved her blade up. His eyes shook as she saw her drive it down right into his leg, countless times.

He screamed in pain, but no one would listen.

“It’s impressive seeing how much more a Reader can survive with Praise by their side… but your reserves of essence are running low, aren’t they? And when that happens, you would go back to being a normal reader. A normal human… You have bled way more than any normal human could. So… I guess this is… it”

…

Was this really it? Was he going to die? He couldn’t, right? He has been in this type of situation many times, and he was going to figure something out and escape.

’Yeah, let’s look around and see.’

Time seemed to freeze for some time as he looked around, examining his situation.

He was bleeding heavily, locked by the tentacles that wouldn’t let go, with the rage of his blade almost gone, alongside his essence. He couldn’t use his blade, and he didn’t have any other relic or ability to use.

…

…

’So then what can I do!’

The blade moved closer; he could look away from it, but his eyes were glued to it.

…

’I am… really going to die…’

And to think he was this close to winning.

…

…

…

…

…

…

And yet in his frozen world, a shadow appeared. One belonged to none other than the Queen; she seemed scared, but determined. His vision was blurry, but he could see her pointing at something.

He squinted his eyes, trying to focus on where she was pointing, and there he saw a small gap in her armor, but beyond that gap was a hole.

…

His eyes widened as he remembered Voidpiercer’s advice.

“It had limited its soul to one point…find it, and you will win.”

…

In a moment of desperation, Aether poured all his remaining energy and strength to try one more time and escape the grasp of the tentacle. Their grip was tight, clawing his skin and muscles away until some parts of his bones were visible, but his arms had somehow escaped. Without waiting a second, he summoned his blade, catching the Queen of guard.

He redirected her blade to the side, and with the limited time he had while she was vulnerable, he prepared another attack that was supposed to go through the crack between her armor and the place where her soul reset.

As his blade got closer, she realized what his intent was, panicking, he tried to move so he would miss, but she was caught off guard when the shadow of her daughter appeared in front of her.

Seeing her had made her doubt that she had made the right decision by killing her. That moment was enough for Aether to drive his blade between the cracks.

…To think that her motherly love would kill her…

…

“You’re making a grave mistake, Aether, the world will fall without the Abyss’s blessing… all I have done until now is protect my people… and you have doomed them all!”’

…

…

[You have killed a Breaker Godspawn, The Queen]

[Your knowledge grows stronger.]

[You have gained a relic]

…

Knowledge Rank — [Fragment]

>1000/1000 knowledge shard

[You feel your essence of combat grow stronger. The world starts to fear you more, as the blood of those you fail killed marks you for eternity in the eyes of the pure.]

…

[Your Knowledge Rank has ascended to the rank of [Echo]]

…

…

…

[You have changed the ending of Frozen Crown… your reward will be granted soon… do you wish to leave now, or see the epilogue of the world you created?]

His breathing was heavy, as the Codex wispeared into his ears. He was overwhelmed with excitement. He had done it, he had actually conquered the world of Frozen Crown, and had even risen in Rank!

And yet he felt some sort of doubt from the Queen’s last words.

“I… wish to see what will have happened to the world I created.”

[…Very well, you will remain for five more minutes; after all, you shall be transported back to the Infinite Library]

He smiles slightly; he wanted to take a good look at what was going to happen to the world.

So he spent most of his time getting on top of the castle, climbing out of a window to climb on the roof.

The fog was gone, so he could see everything from there. Even the First Ring. After he had defeated the Queen, the spell of the Abyss had been destroyed, and time had been restored. So he had… really done it. He had given time back to his people. He had kept his promise.

So the why did they keep fighting… why hadn’t the Sun of the First Ring been destroyed?

…

There was one thing he had missed. The people of Frozen Crown had lived in this frozen world for much longer than he could even imagine… they had gotten used to this life. For ages, they have been hoping that time would come back…

But they didn’t actually hope it would; they had gotten used to this world, heck, they had forgotten how to live in the real world… they just needed something to cling to.

And now that their hope was answered… they had nothing to hope for anymore, to keep them sane.

That was why had continued fighting. It had replaced the hole that was left after their hope was answered.

So really… he had forced them into an endless battle.

“But… damn it, I didn’t want this to happen. This isn’t the ending I hoped for!”

[Challenger Aether, you will be transported back to the real world.]

“What, no! I need more time, I need to change everything!”

The world around him started to vanish, around him.

He hadn’t realized it until now, how many consequences his action had on worlds. Until now, he and his master had chosen the easiest option, no matter if it destroyed the world. But now that he had lived in this place for months, he had grown attached to it.

…And had failed to protect it.

“All the sacrifices I have made… all the bloodshed. The lives of Elpis, Avrie, Azel, and Eir… they have been for nothing.”

He took one last look at the world he had created, the flames burning through the city, the dead bodies that covered the street, and the battle that would continue for eternity.

He had caused it all.

…

…

“I have learned to see meaning in meaningless words… but have been blinded from seeing the meaning in the ones that were meant to mean something…

I guess everything has a price.”

…

…

[End of part one of volume one: Frozen Crown]

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