Chapter 335: Ain’t All That

The Sorcerer roared and shot through the skies like a corrupted meteor. Consumed by a blind bloodlust, he completely disregarded his surroundings, focused only on tearing apart the opponent before him.

Faced with the devastating attack, Priam merely showed a cold smile.

With a subtle movement of his hand, he pulled an object from his spatial ring.

It was his secret weapon. Capable of making gods and demons cry... with rage.

The black branch.

*POW!*

Without giving him any time to react, the branch shot forward at a mystical angle, striking the Sorcerer’s face head-on with supernatural precision.

After hitting him, Priam was already prepared to block his counterattack. But...

"Oh?" Priam’s eyes lit up as he instantly detected an unusual reaction at the moment of impact.

In a fraction of a second, he spun his body through the air in a perfect arc, taking advantage of the opening.

*POW! POW!!*

Priam unleashed a dizzying sequence of branch strikes, hitting his opponent at multiple points before the Sorcerer’s mind could even process the first blow.

Priam’s initial intention when drawing the black branch had been purely tactical: he needed to analyze the enemy and buy time to investigate the so-called ’Celestial Mark’ mentioned by the System.

Using the black branch was easy and instinctive. Actually attacking, on the other hand, would require him to concentrate completely. Choosing the branch was simply something he hadn’t thought much about.

However, the result exceeded all expectations.

At the first touch of the dark wood, the Sorcerer’s aura fluctuated violently. With each subsequent strike, his soul and mind descended into a state of absolute chaos, as if his very existential structure were being corroded from the inside out.

"AHHHHH!"

The Sorcerer let out an inhuman roar, writhing in agony. Black lines and markings rapidly spread across his skin, burning his flesh like red-hot iron.

*POW!*

Priam delivered another sharp blow, sending the writhing figure flying backward.

Watching his opponent collapse in pain in midair, Priam clenched his fists, feeling a subtle pulse within the branch itself — the Sovereigns’ Curse was reacting, something that had never happened before.

’I see...’ Priam reflected, fascinated by the discovery. "Celestials use a power created by the Sovereigns themselves. The curse imbued within this branch is also a creation of the Sovereigns. When the two energies clash, they don’t repel each other; they attract and merge. In this fusion, the curse seems to prevail, becoming exponentially intensified."

"Normally, against ordinary people, the black branch only causes subtle suffering. But when used against a Celestial, the reaction between the gift and the curse creates a fierce interaction, affecting the soul, mind, and physical body."

"BASTARD! WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

The Sorcerer struggled to get back up, howling frantically.

His eyes were bloodshot and wide with pain. He was incapable of comprehending how a simple piece of wood could inflict such profound torment upon his body.

It was at that exact moment that Priam’s senses detected the phenomenon.

At the center of the Sorcerer’s forehead, the golden rune pulsed with greater intensity than before, desperately reacting to the curse’s corrosion in an attempt to maintain the host’s integrity.

’So this really is the Celestial Mark...’ Priam concluded, a hunter’s gleam flashing in his eyes.

’Mirra, want to test that new technique? We only have one attempt with a 100% success rate. Think you can do it?’ Priam sent the mental message to his partner.

’Of course I can!’ she replied, excitement vibrating in her voice.

**BOOOM!**

The Sorcerer shot through the air again, dragging a storm of corruption behind him. All his power churned chaotically and uncontrollably.

From a safe distance atop a mountain, Dandara and the surviving Beasts watched the battle with their eyes wide open. The fight, which had previously seemed like an evenly matched stalemate, had changed dramatically.

Priam took a step forward, and a clear yet terrifying light shone in his pupils.

The space around him fractured and distorted in visible waves. It was like a machine receiving a much greater energy load than normal. The Creation Essence within his body was burned!

Priam took a deep breath, feeling that new power for the first time.

He had only a tiny remnant available to use, which wouldn’t last more than a few moves. But the potential he could feel within himself now was at least ten times greater than what he had with Ether.

The enemy’s black blade sliced through the air toward his chest, but Priam simply dissolved into the void.

The black branch reappeared behind the Sorcerer.

*POW! POW! POW!*

Sharp, thunderous cracks rang out in a deafening sequence. Priam moved like a beam of light, striking his opponent from every imaginable angle.

At the same time, all the corrupt mist surrounding the Sorcerer’s body and the environment around him was being completely devoured.

"GWAHHHH!" the Sorcerer howled, practically going insane from the pain.

The spiritual and mental pain inflicted by the branch paralyzed his ability to attack properly. If Priam had been trying to decapitate him or tear his flesh apart, regenerating would have been a simple process; he could then fight with everything he had without any problems. But this torment was the most twisted fighting style he had ever faced.

After dozens of merciless strikes in mere fractions of a second, Priam stopped his attack and retreated.

The Sorcerer was so shattered by agony that his reflexes had become absurdly slow. When he finally managed to turn his face toward Priam...

He saw the young man spread his arms, and reality itself change color.

**RUMBLE!**

The continent’s crust trembled. The ground vibrated with such violence that it seemed like the entire planet was about to be torn apart.

In the next millisecond, the earth beneath the Sorcerer collapsed.

Hundreds of wooden pillars — each more than three meters thick — burst from the depths like a divine prison, surrounding and sealing the Sorcerer inside an impenetrable structure.

Then the wood came alive: millions of rigid thorns sprouted inside the cell, impaling every inch of the enemy’s flesh. Not a single centimeter of his body remained unpierced.

Priam watched it happen and nodded in admiration.

He wasn’t the one who had done it.

Mirra had used the highest-level nature energy, drawn from Priam’s Pristine Core — which had absorbed a colossal amount of corruption and converted it into an ocean of Ether. On top of that, she had fused everything with Soul Power, originating from one of the techniques of Priam’s Ancient Art.

The contract between the two was the same one possessed by the others from the Ylisse clan. But Mirra wasn’t a spirit of nature, so she couldn’t manipulate or possess much of this energy to use.

Even so, she had worked hard to learn a little, and she was able to use the most basic method of manipulating this energy.

She had been able to merge spiritual power with the power of nature to shape wood that was infinitely denser and more expansive. The Ether cost for such a feat would have been prohibitive for any ordinary Mage, but with Priam serving as an inexhaustible source, the technique was unleashed in its full splendor.

"FUCK!"

That Sorcerer roared furiously, releasing all of his corruption with everything he had. If he had been at 100%, he would have simply dodged with ease and never would have been trapped in the first place.

Even after being caught, he wouldn’t have been held for long.

But...

Priam only needed a brief moment.

When the Sorcerer least expected it, a small opening appeared in the middle of the wooden prison.

Priam advanced toward him, heading straight for his forehead.

[Absorb Celestial Mark?]

[Yes / No]

’Yes.’

With the confirmation, in a mere instant...

The Sorcerer’s eyes bulged.

His throat seized up, and his mind collapsed. He felt as though part of his soul were being forcibly ripped away.

And that was exactly what happened. The Celestial Mark, the central core of his power, had been completely stolen!

"Game over," Priam said, emerging outside with the golden rune floating in his hand. "Turns out Celestials ain’t all that."