Chapter 124: Anna Versus Blednica

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(Anna's POV)

Ding!

[You have slain [Vampiric Undead Monsters (D Rank ~ B+ Rank)] x73!]

[You have slain [Phantasmal Blood Knight Living Armors (A+ Rank)] x50!]

[You earned 1.615.000 EXP!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Your Level has increased to Level 63/80!]

[You have activated the [A Being Between Heaven and Earth (A Rank Privilege)]!]

[Ten [Angelic Spirit Knights] have descended from the Celestial Realm! Their power and Stats will be based on your own Status and accumulated Skills, plus a +50% boost to all their Stats.]

[Duration: 1 Hour. Usages: 1/2 Per Day.]

It only lasted for one hour, but I guess it was about time I used them. I could sense that things weren't going too well out there, and I hoped that with this little help, the Demons could pull through.

"What sort of power have you activated?!" Blednica panicked the moment I stepped inside her enormous throne room, only for her to smile back at me again. "Oh well, not like it would ever make much of a difference anyway!"

The huge sphere of darkness and crimson energy above Blednica continued growing in size as swirling tendrils emerged out of them, slowly embracing Blednica's body and gently wrapping around her arms and legs.

[The Bleeding Scream] greets you, swirling their appendages in excitement…]

[You are about to witness the birth of yet another of their precious children.]

Was she really just offering her own body to this monster?! Has she lost her mind completely now? Well, not like she hadn't done it before, seeing how insane the last Vampires were.

However, if she does that, she'll get much more than what she bargained for.

"Blednica, stop what you're doing!" I roared. "Before it is too late!"

I couldn't stand over there as whatever the Bleeding Scream planned was unfolding before my eyes. I tightly grasped Gram and my daggers as I rushed towards her as fast as I could, utilizing the boost of speed of my one wing, which had grown to a larger size.

"Before it's too late?" Blednica laughed, her aura continuously growing stronger as the swirling tentacles started lifting her from the floor, moving her toward the sphere of darkness. "If only you knew what I have gone through all alone... Since my dear brother, the only family I had left, And now I'll finally meet him again! I will become an Apostle of Death and join my beloved brother! I SHALL NOT FALTER! EVEN IF I HAVE TO OFFER ALL THE SOULS, ALL THE POWER, AND ALL MY BODY TO IT!"

As she screamed, filled with euphoria, the darkness of the sphere started to quickly consume her body! Whatever The Bleeding Scream was planning, it wasn't going to just be Blednica turning into an Apostle!

"STOP!{Celestial Sunshine Blade}!"

With all my Celestial Energy, Mana, and Ki gathered into Gram, a gigantic sword composed of Holy Light was created, growing over ten meters in height and shining radiantly.

I kicked the air and flew directly towards her, her aura suddenly shaping into countless red hands, attempting to block my attacks!

SLASH!

A single slash destroyed the giant Blood Hands, with explosions spreading across the entire hall as I rushed towards Blednica, who seemed to be turning farther and farther away!

"Dammit!"

Gritting my teeth in desperation, I unleashed a barrage of slashing attacks with Gram, releasing dozens of waves of holy light and cutting through invisible barriers that were distorting space itself.

"{Arcane Hands}!"

I kept advancing, touching the invisible barriers, most likely cast by Bleeding Scream, and "hacking" into them, making them explode and disappear into pieces one after another!

Yet no matter how hard I tried, Blednica still felt so far away!

Just what's going on?!

Eyes of Truth!

[The [Divine Eye of Truth (S): Lv4] Skill Effect has been activated! You've analyzed your current situation!]

[The Bleeding Scream] has created a special pact with [Pure-Blooded Vampire Countess: Blednica (S+ Rank)]! Through this, the Void Ruler is capable of exerting a small fragment of their very {Presence}!]

[The {Presence} of [The Bleeding Scream] distorts Space and Time around Blednica, making it so the closer you get to her, the farther you will be!]

What? This is ridiculous! Not even attempting to break these "barriers" works because they instantly get recovered, mostly because they are not even barriers to begin with, but the physical manifestation of a slight fragment of the {Presence} of a Void Ruler!

"Hahaha… HAHAHAHA!  Try as you may, you filthy Celestial, you cannot hope to attack me now that you've stepped into my Domain!" Blednica laughed. "I am BLESSED by the Constellations! I can feel it! Their magnificent power! My ascension is soon to come!"

The sphere of darkness slowly kept dissolving itself into Blednica's entire body, the darkness tainting her body constantly and contaminating her with otherworldly and eldritch energies and essences she could not hope to comprehend.

For Demons to ascend into Apostles of Death, the conditions always vary. The novel only revealed the method of a single Apostle of Death, Baal, the King of Nightmares.

And the conditions he had to meet were far from just reaching the limits of his body in both strength and demonic power.

The reason Baal was able to ascend and Blednica wouldn't do so was because of this condition, which was actually shared by all the Apostles.

To sacrifice one hundred thousand demon souls to the Archdemons. Baal, in particular, had to torment these souls with an endless cycle of nightmares.

These nightmares enlightened him; their twisted energies allowed him to awaken his Soul to something greater.

And helped him develop a Dao Root.

But this… Blednica won't be able to do the same as her brother! She doesn't have enough souls, nor does she have any sort of mastery over a single element.

She's simply becoming the vessel of the Void Ruler.

I don't really care about her well-being; in fact, I would rather kill her. But the real problem is not that I am worried about her. It is because I am worried about this whole world.

If I let The Bleeding Scream completely descend in some sort of Vessel, they'll devour the Demonic Realm and everything within it.

And I absolutely cannot let things escalate to such a degree!

RUMBLE!

Space itself started to constantly twist itself; black lightning started zapping out of the black sphere, shattering the ceiling of the castle, and revealing the red skies above us. An enormous black hole was slowly beginning to open as a single red eye glared down from above.

The moment I felt the eye glancing at me, my entire body felt goosebumps; I almost felt completely paralyzed, and I would have vomited blood if it weren't for the special abilities my body possessed.

"GRYYYYYAAAAAAEERGGGHHH…!"

A monstrous shriek emerged from within the black hole. The Bleeding Scream had let out their first scream.

RUMBLE!

The entire world felt like it was beginning to be affected; the ground beneath shook, and the skies started to split apart. Cracks opened across the empty air, darkness seeping from within them.

Particles that made this world started to slowly dissipate, beginning to fly into the darkness seeping from the cracks, being consumed.

It was already beginning to digest the world.

"Hahahaha… Take it, take this ruined world, my beloved Constellation! I don't care anymore about it! I DON'T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING! HAHAHAHA!"

Blednica gave out completely to the euphoria she felt by becoming The Bleeding Scream's vessel, spreading out her arms into the skies as the darkness continued seeping into her body.

"You insane bitch!" I roared, growing more pissed off with each second. "Do you seriously not understand what you're doing?!

"Fufufu, do you think of me as someone so fool as to not understand what I'm doing?" Blednica smiled. "Since the beginning, I've never cared about this world; the only thing that matters is my brother! My only family…! This world and everything on it can go die in a ditch!"

["It's pointless to reason with her, Anna…!"]

"I know, I'm just buying time; the more she puts her attention on me, the slower her transformation becomes. Can't you notice?"

["Wait, what?! It is! The darkness is becoming slower?!"]

"It is because The Bleeding Scream is devouring her mind; if she puts her mind into something else, this process becomes much slower."

As I explained that, my body started to exude an aura of both holy light and cosmic energy, fusing together with my Ki and my Celestial Energy as I dropped the last Mana Potions and Stamina Potions I had, having drank them already.

And I might as well drink those other Potions I got as a reward for dealing with Hel.

[You've consumed [Mana Potion (B+ Rank)] x3!]

[Your Mana has been greatly restored.]

[You've consumed [Stamina Potion (B+ Rank)] x4!]

[Your Ki has been greatly restored.]

[You've consumed [Skill Level Potion (B Rank)] x3!]

[A Random Number Of Levels has been distributed across your Skills!]

[Random Number: 7!]

[The [Arcane Hands (SS): Lv1] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 3!]

[The [Sunlight Blade (B): Lv4] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 5! Its Rank has increased to A!]

[The [Anubis' Judgement (S): Lv2] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 3!]

[The [Half-Beast Demonic Transformation (B): Lv6] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 8! Its Rank has increased to A!]

[The [Miracle Magic (A): Lv2] Skill has Leveled Up to Level 3!]

As the skills kept leveling up, I felt my entire body overflowing with energy. The Skills that leveled up weren't just for show; each time some of these Skills leveled up, I would gain a lot of strength and more stats.

Now, more than ever, every single stat is important!

"Do you think that you're going to get anywhere merely talking to me now that you've realized it is all futile, you pathetic Celestial?" Blednica smiled, the shadows around her body beginning to gather further and further. Her soul was mutating. "Well, you're wrong. Don't think that I won't give myself the benefit of slaughtering you now!"

Blednica smiled, completely confident in what she could do, as she raised her hands and gathered the darkness floating around her, fusing it with her blood energy.

"{Abyssal Blood Claws}!"

Dozens of gigantic, over thirty-meter-long claws made of black blood were summoned, rushing down towards me at a rapid speed.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm not pulling any punches either!"

I smiled as I rushed forward, swinging my sword towards the claws rushing down to me, Gram, and my daggers dancing in midair, as it felt like their single attacks were multiplied into two, four, and then six!

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

"What…?!"

Blednica reacted in shock as she noticed something was wrong; my abilities wouldn't have been able to destroy her strong technique so seamlessly. She quickly, however, noticed a red-colored stone glowing in the palm of my hands, disappearing into light as it was absorbed by my body.

Aside from the Skill level Potions, there was another, much stronger reward I acquired from defeating Hel.

[You've absorbed the [Skill Evolution Stone (A Rank)] x1!]

[You may choose one Skill below A Rank to instantly Evolve it into an A Rank version of it!]

[You've chosen the [Twin Cutter (D): Lv6] Skill!]

FLASH!

A bright red and golden light erupted from my body as one of the Skills I've been using since the beginning suddenly underwent a greater evolution.

Its icon, resembling two sharp praying mantis scythes, changed completely, gaining a golden color and a red aura, resembling a single blade that had dozens of mirages of itself surrounding it.

[The [Twin Cutter (D): Lv6] Skill has evolved into the [Thousand Blades (A): Lv6] Skill!]

[The [Thousand Blades (A): Lv6] Skill has gained one Bonus Level!]

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[Thousand Blades (A): Lv7]

[Skill EXP]: [0/70000]

A Unique Skill that has been born from the Evolution of the [Twin Cutter] Skill.

Not only it can multiply all slashing, piercing, and blunt attacks by 7 times without any Mana Cost, but by imbuing Mana into any blade, it is possible to multiply these attacks based on Skill Level, unleashing a devastating barrage of Blade Energy slashes, which can deal up to 250% Damage and Ignore -40% of a target's total defenses. Has a 30% Chance of being a Critical Attack.

Level Bonus (7): Increases Damage Dealt by +245%. Increases Defense Ignore by -126%. Increases Critical Attack Chance by +105%. Grants a 70% Chance to unleash an Additional Attack with no MP cost. 35% Chance for attacks to ignore Magic Barriers or Dimensional Barriers.

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[You have imbued large quantities of Mana into your Blades, the power of the [Thousand Blades (A): Lv7] Skill has been activated!]

[All your attacks have been multiplied by seven each!]

And that wasn't all. The moment the Skill fully evolved; those slashing attacks multiplied even further. Imbued with not only Mana but Cosmic Energy and Celestial Energy, they reached upwards, slashing Blednica's pitiful magic and then crashing against the invisible barriers—the fragments of {Presence} from The Bleeding Scream!

Crack, crack…!

CRASH!

"W-What?! Impossible!"

Blednica panicked as she glanced at the {Presence} of a Void Ruler waver and shake before the slashing attacks I unleashed, the Skill Evolution and the Cosmic Energy being the most important factors on this decisive strike!

"RAAAH!"

With a furious roar, I flew into the skies and clashed against the invisible barriers that desperately regenerated, crushing them and shattering them one after another as a literal storm of slashing attacks was unleashed from my blades with each swing!

"S-Stop! No! You can't just do that!" Blednica screamed in frustration, gathering her energies and unleashing a giant snake-like beast out of her Aura. "{Abyssal Vampiric Snake's Fangs}!!!"

The mighty magic spell of an S Rank reached my entire body, engulfing me in pure darkness and crimson red energies, trying to constantly absorb all of my life force.

Yet…

"{Thousand Blades}: {Eclipsing Slash}"

I concentrated and manipulated the power of my Skill, fusing the slashing attacks together into a gigantic, slashing wave that pierced the snake!

SLASH!!!

The slashing wave instantly sliced through the snake-like aura beast, reaching Blednica and crushing the last barriers, until finally hitting her body. The powerful strike made sure that her transformation was interrupted!

BOOOM!

"Aaaaarrgggh…!"

Her entire body was sliced into two perfect halves, blood and guts splattering everywhere as her transformation was interrupted, and even her soul was slashed into two!

"GRYYYYAAAAEEEGGHHH…!"

[The Bleeding Scream] shrieks in true agony!]

[They say you will pay for having interrupted their new toy from becoming their vessel!]

The Bleeding Scream didn't like that, screaming furiously as their vessel was interrupted from their ritual, the enormous black hole above the skies beginning to slowly shrink, as the black sphere of energy above Blednica was promptly slashed into countless pieces by my blades.

"{Sunshine Cosmic Beam}!"

A beam of light and cosmic energy was quickly fired from my fingers, exploding on the fragments of the black sphere, the egg of The Bleeding Scream's "child," and blowing them out of existence!

BOOOM!

At the same time, I descended towards Blednica, rushing towards her to finish her off as fast as possible! Carrying within my heart were the hopes of the last survivors of this world. I simply couldn't falter!

"Blednica, you're dying TODAY!"

"SILENCE!"

Blednica gritted her teeth, still alive, as her upper half suddenly amassed a large quantity of blood and darkness and unleashed hundreds of snake heads toward me. I rapidly swung my two arms, unleashing a storm of slashing attacks.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

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