Chapter 409: Chapter 409: Clash

The heat in the chamber had turned heavy — thick enough to taste.

Ash floated between streaks of red mana, and the air buzzed like a forge ready to burst.

Noel stood with Revenant Fang lowered at his side, watching the two figures ahead.

The Fourth Pillar rested his jagged sword against his shoulder. Beside him, the Third Pillar, a girl not much older than Noel, held a floating staff of fractured crimson crystal. The shards circled her hand like small, hungry moons.

They weren’t speaking. Their presence alone made the ground hum.

’They want the crystal,’ Noel thought, jaw tightening. ’I still don’t know what the hell it’s for, but it’s the only thing that makes sense.’

He took a step forward, voice even. “What do you want with the crystal?”

The girl tilted her head slightly, eyes gleaming red in the dim light.

“Why should I tell you?” she said, calm, almost amused. “You wouldn’t understand anyway.”

Albrecht’s gaze shifted to Noel, his hand resting loosely on the hilt of his sword. “We protect it,” he said. “Whatever this is… it’s wrong. I can feel it.”

“Yeah,” Noel answered quietly, raising his blade.

A faint smirk ghosted across the girl’s lips. “Then die trying.”

Noel didn’t move, but his pulse quickened. The mana around the crystal began to distort, vibrating like a heartbeat that wasn’t human.

’If I’m right about what this… we’re in deep shit. Let’s hope I’m not.’

The silence stretched for one more heartbeat — then cracked.

A ripple of crimson light tore through the ground, the walls trembling under the weight of the power now gathering between the two Pillars.

Noel’s grip tightened on Revenant Fang. Albrecht raised his sword. Selene and Noir shifted behind them, ready.

The first impact shattered the silence.

The Fourth Pillar lunged forward, his sword cutting the air in a violent, red arc. The shockwave split the floor between him and Albrecht, sending chunks of stone flying. Albrecht stepped in without hesitation, meeting the strike head-on. Sparks exploded as gold and crimson mana collided, flooding the chamber with light.

Noel dashed to the side, his boots scraping against scorched stone. “Ignition Surge!”

Flames wrapped around Revenant Fang, the metal flaring orange as he swung upward. The blade met the Fourth Pillar’s mid-strike and deflected it just enough for Albrecht to counter. The old man’s movements were steady, measured — pure technique layered over raw power.

Behind them, the Third Pillar raised her staff. The fragments orbiting her spun faster, a red glow bleeding across the walls.

She whispered something under her breath, and a storm of crystal shards erupted outward — hundreds of them, slicing through the smoke like razors.

“Fire Arc!” Noel slashed in a wide crescent. The wave of fire carved through the storm, melting the first line of shards, but the rest kept coming.

“Voltage Needle!”

Bolts of lightning shot from his palm, detonating the last of them in midair. The blasts painted the ceiling with flickers of blue and red.

Noir moved next. Her shadow stretched, twisting into sharp tendrils that slithered across the floor.

“Go,” Noel ordered.

The wolf vanished into the darkness, reappearing behind a group of creatures that had crawled out of the tunnel walls. Her jaws snapped once — bones cracked. Shadow Step. She vanished again, re-emerging under another beast, ripping its throat open in silence.

Selene stood a few meters behind, eyes fixed on the other entrance. Her wand pulsed blue. “Permafrost Halo!”

A wave of frost rolled out from her, slowing everything it touched. The monsters that hadn’t yet been shredded by Noir froze mid-motion, their bodies locking as ice climbed their limbs.

“Cryo Grasp!” Hands of translucent ice burst from the ground, gripping and crushing whatever remained.

“Keep them off us!” Noel shouted over the roar.

“I’m trying!” Selene’s voice came through the smoke, calm but strained. She raised her wand again. “Frozen Lance!”

A streak of crystal-white light pierced the chest of a charging Ravager, pinning it to the wall like an insect.

At the center, Albrecht and the Fourth Pillar were a blur — two forces tearing the chamber apart. Albrecht didn’t shout names of spells; he didn’t need to. His sword moved with purpose, every swing releasing compressed fire that burst on impact.

The Fourth’s strikes were heavier, faster, chaotic — but equally precise. They fought like mirrors of opposite colors.

Another pulse of mana erupted from the Third Pillar’s staff. The ground shook, cracks spreading toward the crystal at the center — yet it remained untouched, still and silent amid the chaos.

Noel exhaled sharply. ’Too much energy… this place won’t hold.’

He blocked another swing, sparks scattering around his face, and pushed back with a grunt. “Stormpiercer!”

Lightning wrapped around him. He vanished and reappeared behind the Fourth Pillar, blade flashing in a streak of blue. The impact threw both men apart, the shockwave bursting outward in a roar of wind and heat.

Stone rained from above. The ceiling groaned.

Cracks zigzagged across the floor, light leaking from below like veins about to burst.

The fight didn’t stop — but the chamber itself began to give way.

The roar of mana drowned everything.

Every strike, every spell, every breath added another fracture to the already dying chamber.

Noel slid across the rubble, Revenant Fang blazing with a mix of lightning and fire. The Fourth Pillar swung his sword again — a downward slash that carved a red shockwave through the air. Noel barely caught it, the force numbing his arm as he deflected it sideways. Sparks and embers showered the floor.

“Flare Trap!” he shouted.

A circle of runes flared beneath the Pillar’s feet. A column of flame erupted, swallowing the man in an inferno — but he stepped through it unharmed, his armor glowing faintly as if feeding on the fire.

’He absorbs mana from the environment,’ Noel realized, grinding his teeth. ’Perfect. Just what I needed.’

Behind him, the Third Pillar lifted her staff high. The shards around it spun violently, fusing into a spiral of blood-red light. “Crimson Wave!”

The attack hit like a storm — a wall of condensed heat and pressure that tore across the chamber.

“Zero Point Burst!” Selene’s voice cut through the roar.

Gravity folded on itself, collapsing into a singularity before exploding outward. The wave met her spell midair, the clash creating a deafening implosion that flattened part of the wall.

A fissure opened beneath them, wide enough to swallow a carriage. Heat burst from the cracks, mixing with frost and ash.

Noir jumped into the air, her massive frame outlined by violet light. “Shadow Step!”

She vanished, reappearing near the ceiling, then dropped like a meteor. Her claws tore through a line of creatures crawling out of the broken walls. The impact sent a shockwave of darkness pulsing outward, shattering stone and bone alike.

Albrecht moved through the chaos like a storm. He swung his sword once. The air ignited behind the blade, creating a sweeping wave of molten fire that consumed everything in its path. The Fourth Pillar blocked it, but the ground between them split open, glowing red from the heat.

Selene stumbled, her knees shaking. “The structure— it’s giving out!”

Noel turned his head, his hair matted with sweat and dust. “No shit! Just keep them back!”

Another pulse hit — stronger than before. The walls groaned, the ceiling buckled.

Chunks of debris rained down, smashing into the floor, crushing anything still moving. The crimson glow intensified until the air itself felt ready to explode.

The crystal, untouched, floated in the haze — unmoving, silent.

Noel’s instincts screamed. ’It’s not breaking… it’s resisting everything. Whatever it is, it’s not normal.’

A line of fire shot between him and the Fourth Pillar, their blades colliding once more. The pressure cracked the floor open wider, a deep rumble echoing below.

Albrecht shouted over the chaos, his voice low but sharp. “Hold position!”

But the ground didn’t listen.

With one final, earth-shattering sound — the entire floor gave way.

The ground gave way in an explosion of fire and dust.

Everything blurred—heat, rubble, and mana tearing through the air like shrapnel.

Noel fell fast, the roar of collapsing stone chasing him. He twisted mid-air, eyes flashing. “Shadow Step!”

His body dissolved into smoke, melting into the darkness below. A heartbeat later, he emerged from a crack in the rubble, crouched low as burning debris crashed where he’d been an instant before.

’That was close,’ he thought, exhaling sharply. The air burned his lungs, hot and thick with mana.

The chamber had split into four jagged sections suspended over a molten abyss. Streams of red light poured through the cracks, giving the ruins a hellish glow.

From where he stood, Noel could still see the others through the haze — distant but visible.

His father, Albrecht, was surrounded by monsters on a higher ledge, his sword cutting arcs of gold through the swarm.

Selene and Noir stood together below, both facing the Third Pillar, who hovered mid-air with her crimson staff spinning lazily around her.

And directly ahead — the Fourth Pillar, sword balanced over one shoulder, red energy crawling along the blade like veins.

They were close enough to see each other’s outlines, to feel each other’s mana.

But every one of them knew what came next.

Noel tightened his grip on Revenant Fang.

From here on, everyone had their own fight.

“Guess it’s just us now,” he muttered.

The Fourth Pillar smiled faintly. “You should’ve stayed up there.”

Noel didn’t answer. He vanished instead. “Shadow Step.”

A burst of black smoke, then a flash of light—he reappeared behind the Pillar, already swinging.

“Ignition Surge!”

Flame exploded along Revenant Fang’s edge, the heat distorting the air. The strike connected, but the Pillar blocked it with the flat of his blade, sparks raining between them.

The man retaliated instantly, sweeping in a wide, horizontal arc.

Noel dropped backward, letting the blow slice the air in front of his face, and used the rebound to spin. “Voltage Needle!”

A spear of lightning shot from his free hand, grazing the Pillar’s arm and detonating behind him.

They clashed again, steel against cursed steel. Every collision shook the platform beneath their feet.

Across the chasm, Selene fought like a storm.

“Gravition Hold!” she shouted, pressing her wand forward. The ground beneath the Third Pillar warped as gravity spiked, bending metal and rock alike.

But the girl countered effortlessly, her staff flaring red. The gravitational field shattered with a shockwave that threw Selene backward.

Before she hit the ground, Selene twisted mid-air. “Gravition Hold.”

Her body lightened, her momentum inverted, and she floated sideways, landing smoothly on a broken slab of stone.

Noir appeared from her shadow a moment later, roaring as her claws extended with violet light. The wolf slammed into a swarm of illusions surrounding the Third Pillar, shattering them into ribbons of mana.

“Careful, Noir!” Selene called.

Back on his platform, Noel ducked another crimson slash and vanished once more into his own shadow. He emerged behind the Pillar again, Revenant Fang blazing.

“Stormpiercer!”

A line of lightning tore through the air, the impact sending both fighters sliding apart.

For a moment, the four battlefields echoed in rhythm—each collision of power shaking the ruins further apart.

And above it all, untouched and unmoved, the crystal hovered in the red light, cold and perfect amid destruction.

Noel looked up at it briefly, sweat mixing with ash on his face. ’Even after all this shit it can’t break…’

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