Sinful, The Ascension Judge (BOSS)

[Sinful, The Ascension Judge - Boss]

[Level 20]

A blinding light cut through the smoke, revealing the Ascension Judge.

Standing at three meters tall, the figure towered over them, a striking embodiment of divine authority, his humanoid form radiating an ethereal glow.

His eyes were burning with a piercing gold aura, and he was wearing a shiny white/golden knight armor, and instead of having hair, he had spiky skin at the top of his head, a golden halo above it.

Two immense wings unfurled from his back, their feathers glistening in shades of white and silver, and they stretched wide, casting a shadow over the arena and the participants.

In his right hand, the Ascension Judge wielded a golden sword, its blade reflecting the crimson moon above.

"…" Sinful didn't speak, although he could, a trait that only boss monsters and above had, instead he just positioned his giant blade horizontally in front of his face while holding the handles with his two weird hands, "I shall be the judge."

Leon didn't waste any time as he immediately checked out the HP of the boss.

[Sinful HP: 5000/5000]

'Fair,' it wasn't that much.

[I would watch out, you don't know his stats,] even EGO was cautious, sensing that this thing was strong, [It's gonna be great when we devour it =)]

"Yeah…" even Leon could feel that deep inside of him, that same urge EGO has was screaming for him to attack.

"Mini-Arrows!" the first to react to the appearance of the boss was Alan, and he pointed his staff at Sinful before launching a dozen small blue arrows at him.

Yet…

"Golden Shield," the monster slashed his sword in the direction of the arrows, and a shield appeared in front of him, taking all the attacks.

"You all are gonna have to distract it-" Alan tried to suggest some kind of strategy, since his arrows wouldn't hit otherwise.

But before he could even finish…

~DASH, FWISH~

"Judgmental Strike," Sinful closed the distance between him and the mage and… slashed his sword vertically.

"BLUE SHIELD," feeling threatened, he activated his skill as well, creating a blue barrier in front of him.

And yet… it wasn't enough.

~SLASH, CRACK~

Sinful swung down, and the barrier was IMMEDIATELY destroyed by the attack, and to add to the humiliation, Sinful's momentum didn't even stop after that, meaning that he broke the shield and reached Alan at the same time.

"GARGH-" Alan was quite literally cut in half instantly, the holy aura powering up the sword enough to pierce his defenses and body easily.

"You failed," Sinful mumbled as he took Alan's separated body and threw it off the tower, "Next."

Dan's eyes widened as he grasped Foxxy by the scruff of her neck: he was RIGHT next to Alan, and seeing him die so quickly scared the living shit out of him.

"Go!" He hurled Foxxy at Sinful, hoping her speed would catch the boss off guard.

And in addition to that, Max immediately dashed toward the boss as well, wanting to overwhelm it: unsheathing his katana for the second time as letting it take down one by one was a terrible idea.

But even with all of that, Sinful didn't even flinch.

"Futile attempts, but you will still be judged for it," the angelic judge said with a neutral expression,

"Foxxy, use [Bite]!" Dan shouted.

"Samurai Slash!" Max's blade glowed with a deep silver aura, leaving a trail behind, as he closed the distance and swung at the boss's side.

The two combatants were now mere centimeters away from Sinful, who should clearly be overwhelmed by their attacks since Foxxy's teeth were on the verge of closing on the boss's legs, and Max was also right about to cut his body in half.

And yet…

"Silver Wings," Sinful mumbled lowly, and the two angel wings that were coming out of his back suddenly moved as if they were snakes.

And then…

~SLASH, SLASH~

Both the wings, as sharp and durable as iron, the complete opposite of what you would expect them to feel like as they were made of feathers.

And of course, not expecting that… what had to happen happened.

~CRUNCH~

Foxxy was unsuccessful in biting the boss, the attack reaching her right before.

And so...

~SLASH, BOOM~

She was pierced by one of the wings, cutting her body in half, then a blinding flash erupted, and in an instant, she transformed back into the golden bell, clattering to the ground.

"FOXXY!" Dan shouted as he positioned himself: he NEEDED to go get the bell back otherwise he would be fucked.

And as for Max… he was as lucky.

~SLASH~

He managed to block the wing as he sensed it, but then was followed was "blade battle" between him and Sinful, the boss using his golden sword to deflect and try to attack the samurai with his katana.

~CLANG, CLANG, CLANG~

Max's katana clashed against Sinful's golden sword, sparks flying with each strike.

"Damn it!" He swung again, but Sinful parried effortlessly, his movements fluid and precise.

Max had been confident in his abilities as a samurai and swordsman, yet here he was, getting overwhelming by the second boss they met.

Was the true difficulty of the ascension trial?

Maybe… maybe trying to fight the boss yourself was a terrible idea.

Maybe letting the others do the work was enough, because as long as you escaped the forest, then you wouldn't be considered as a 'failure', right?

~SLASH, SLASH, CLANG~

"You are being judged," Sinful said between two strikes, "And…"

~SWISH, SLASH~

He slashed with his silver wings toward Max, who was forced to block them both if he didn't want to be pierced.

And then…

"You failed," Sinful completed his initial sentence as he swung down, hitting Max while he was busy deflecting the wings, cutting the arm that was holding the katana off.

"Ah…" Max looked down at his arm, "AHHHHGHGHGG~" and then began screaming.

But before he could even finish…

~PIERCE, VIOUM~

Sinful pierced his chest, then raised his sword as if it was a skewer, impaling the boy.

"Next," Sinful said as he swung his sword, throwing Max's body off the tower, crashing onto the ground in a disgusting thud, his organs crushed.

[Two participants remain.]

"Should have stood still and waited," Sinful pointed his golden sword at Dan, "Now all of you will fail, for only the true ascended can defeat me."

But right as he turned his head toward Dan, Sinful noticed something: where the hell was the other human?

He turned his head in several directions to try and find the other human…

But...

"Devour…" Sinful heard a voice behind him, and when he turned around, a crimson fist hit his face, the impact so strong it actually hurt the judge a bit, "I'll devour you," Leon repeated, still in the air.

[That's the spirit, partner, but stop being edgy now and kick its ass,] EGO smiled, confident they could win.