Chapter 336: Chapter 336 : Divine Intervention

Blood poured from Alex’s chest, warm and metallic.

He looked down at the blade sticking out of him, then slowly turned his head.

Behind him stood a grey‑haired man with cold eyes and an unhinged smile.

Marcus Reed.

“Sorry,” Marcus said lightly, as if commenting on weather. “Did I interrupt something?”

Elaria’s breath hitched. Her gaze snapped from Alex’s bleeding chest to Marcus’s face, and her expression twisted into pure, murderous anger.

Without thinking, she drew her rapier.

In a blur of motion, she vanished from Alex’s side and appeared in front of Marcus, thrusting straight for his neck.

Marcus, already anticipating it, yanked his sword free from Alex’s chest with a sickening sound and kicked Alex away.

Alex’s body flew backwards, tearing through several trees before finally crashing into the ground far away.

At the same time, Marcus raised his blade and blocked Elaria’s rapier with a sharp clang.

“Wow,” Marcus said, pushing her back slightly. “A new power‑up, huh, girl? But it’s still not enough to defeat me.”

He glanced toward the direction he’d kicked Alex.

“I have no feud with you,” Marcus continued. “Just take your mother and leave. I don’t need you or your queen anymore. I’ll make do with the boy. When I serve his head to the King of Dragons… that’ll be more than enough.”

A bow of shimmering light materialized in Elaria’s hand.

She fired immediately.

The arrow whistled past Marcus’s cheek, close enough to almost graze his head.

He clicked his tongue. “I don’t have time to deal with you.”

He stepped in, faster than her eyes could follow, and slammed his foot into her stomach.

Elaria’s body smashed into the ground face‑first, the force carving a shallow crater. Her vision went black, consciousness leaving her in an instant.

Far away, Alex groaned as he tried to push himself up.

“Use… life energy… to heal it…” he muttered.

A soft, white, soothing energy wrapped around his chest. The gaping hole began to close, flesh and bone knitting together rapidly until only torn fabric remained.

The system’s voice echoed dully in his mind.

[ Host, only 2 percent of cosmic essence is left. Most of it was used repeatedly healing the queen as her body was being destroyed from the inside. We also cannot use Origin Collapse again—your body won’t withstand the strain, and it is on cooldown for the next 24 hours. ]

Alex clenched his jaw.

’Of course it is…’ he thought.

He forced himself to his feet, teeth gritted.

“So what do we do?” he whispered. “Elaria and the elven queen are still there.”

[ Host, listen carefully, ] the system replied. [ Right now, we are in no condition to fight. You should focus on escaping. ]

Before Alex could answer, Marcus’s voice drifted through the shattered forest.

“Oh, you’re already healed. Good.”

Marcus walked toward him casually, sword resting on his shoulder.

“I have to say,” he continued, “you’re really something else. Most people would’ve died right then and there.”

“Well,” Alex said, straightening as much as he could, “I’m not most people.”

Marcus smirked. “I can already see that.”

He stopped a short distance away, eyes studying Alex like a specimen.

“To be honest, I’ve been keeping a close watch on you for a long time,” he said. “Finding everything I can. Your fighting style. Your habits. Your relationships.”

His smile sharpened.

“Especially how you defeated Kyle,” Marcus added. “Using that strange power you just used to save the elven queen.”

He paused.

“I also know you can’t use that power repeatedly,” Marcus said. “You’ve already hit your limit, haven’t you?”

Alex met his gaze.

“Can’t say you’re wrong,” he said. “But you’re not entirely right either.”

He lowered his voice.

“Astral domain.”

The world around Alex shifted.

The ruined forest peeled away like a layer of paint, replaced by a vast, star‑filled void. The ground beneath their feet turned into a smooth, dark plane reflecting distant constellations. Gravity felt… different here—lighter, sharper.

This was Alex’s domain.

His space.

Hundreds of weapons materialized in the air around Marcus—swords, spears, halberds, chains, all forged from crystallized starlight. They hovered for a second, then all at once shot toward Marcus like a deadly rain.

Marcus exhaled slowly and took his stance.

“Silent Blade, First Form: Crescent Slash.”

His sword moved.

A single, clean arc of steel and mana sliced through the air.

All the conjured weapons shattered at once, fragments of light scattering and fading into nothing. The shockwave rippled across the domain.

Marcus smiled.

“Your domain is not as powerful as when you fought Kyle,” he said. “Maybe because you’ve already used that strange power that makes you nearly invisible.”

Alex didn’t answer, but his expression stayed cold.

The system spoke again in his mind.

[ He’s right, host. Without Origin collapse amplifying your strength, your domain isn’t strong enough to defeat him. He has the strength of a monarch. We cannot win like this. You should focus on escaping, not fighting. ]

Alex replied. ’I know. I know.

But do you think he will let me.’

Marcus watched him quietly, then chuckled.

“Looks like I’m right,” he said. “In that case… let me show you something interesting.”

He stabbed his sword lightly into the ground of the domain.

“Domain Severance.”

Cracks of dark energy spider‑webbed across the star‑field floor.

In an instant, Alex’s astral domain shattered like glass, fragments dissolving into the void until the real forest snapped back into existence around them—broken trees, torn earth, the scent of blood and burned wood.

Alex moved the moment reality returned.

He reached into his storage ring and drew out a sword—plain at first glance, but etched with faint, swirling patterns. In his mind, he spoke quickly.

’Put every last drop of cosmic essence we have into this move. Now.’

The system complied.

White runes flared to life along the blade, each symbol thrumming with condensed power. The same glow spread across Alex’s body, forming a thin, shimmering outline around him.

He took his stance, muscles coiling.

A soft white radiance covered him from head to toe.

“Astral Void Rend: Sixth Form—Temporal Echo,” Alex whispered.

Reality itself seemed to twist as he swung.

The blade’s arc split the air, leaving a line of warped space in its wake. The strike didn’t simply move forward—it existed in two moments at once, a cut that had already happened and was just about to happen, overlapping in a way the world itself struggled to understand.

The strike surprised even Marcus.

For a heartbeat, he stood there, almost mesmerized as the warped arc of light carved across reality itself.

“Beautiful…” he murmured. “What a beautiful art.”

The first slash of Temporal Echo howled toward him, tearing straight through the forest. Trees, stone, and earth were sliced apart as if they were paper, half the battlefield erased in a single shimmering line.

But just as the edge of the attack was about to reach Marcus, his eyes sharpened.

“But it’s still not enough,” he said quietly. “You’re too weak right now to use it at its full potential.”

He raised his sword.

“Silent Blade, Sixth Form: Force Breaker.”

His blade met the temporal slash.

Destruction reigned.

The collision detonated with a sound like worlds grinding together. A blinding flash swallowed everything; the shockwave ripped the ground open, flinging debris in every direction. When the roar finally faded, a colossal crater was left behind—everything around them annihilated, the forest reduced to broken stumps and scorched dirt.

As the dust slowly settled, Marcus was still standing at the center.

His breathing was slightly heavier, and his clothes were torn in a few places—but there wasn’t a single real wound on his body.

Then the second slash arrived.

Temporal Echo’s delayed cut shimmered into existence right in front of his face, aiming directly for his neck.

Marcus’s eyes widened a fraction.

He twisted and brought his sword up at the last possible moment, pouring every ounce of strength into the block.

Steel met warped reality with a shriek.

The force tore the ground under his feet and split the crater even further, but the slash was deflected just enough to miss decapitating him. A thin line of pain bloomed along his throat.

Marcus lifted his hand and touched his neck.

A single drop of blood stained his fingers.

“Wow,” he said softly. “I don’t have words for what I just witnessed.”

Not far away, Alex collapsed to one knee, the sword slipping from his grasp.

He was spent—vision swimming, limbs heavy, every breath burning his lungs. There was nothing left; even standing felt like a miracle.

Marcus walked toward him, sword still in hand.

“But I know this much,” he said. “If I don’t kill you now, I’ll never get a second chance.”

He raised his blade over Alex’s head, ready to bring it down and sever it cleanly.

Then he froze.

An overwhelming pressure crashed down on him, crushing and absolute—like the sky itself had decided to rest its full weight on his shoulders. His muscles locked, his breath hitched, and for the first time in a long while, Marcus felt something close to… dread.

A voice echoed through the shattered clearing.

Deep, resonant, and cold.

“Mortal,” it said, “keep your hands away from him.”

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