Chapter 177: East Anekta Crisis (16)

Luvian thrust both hands forward.

The spheres shot across the battlefield.

Luka immediately raised a wall of Dark Matter, but the two attacks struck it almost simultaneously.

The first explosion shattered the wall.

The second passed through the opening and detonated behind it.

A massive pillar of crimson fire erupted into the sky.

The shockwave swept across the battlefield, scattering the Dark Matter spikes and forcing Ember to brace herself against the ground.

When the flames finally subsided, Luka emerged from the smoke.

His left shoulder was missing.

A portion of his chest had been burned away, and several of the tendrils he had manifested were nowhere to be seen.

He stared at the damage.

For the first time, he wasn’t smiling.

The regeneration began immediately, but the process was noticeably slower.

His Dark Matter struggled to reconstruct the damaged areas, and the more it attempted to do so, the more apparent the loss became.

’Damn it.’

Luka looked toward Luvian.

The young man lowered his hands, seemingly unaffected by the enormous amount of Essence he had just released.

’That flame...’

He couldn’t understand it.

Dark Matter was supposed to dominate Essence. It was a fundamental property of the substance, something that had remained consistent through every experiment he had undergone.

Even a powerful S-Rank Awakened struggled to damage it directly.

Yet this man was burning through it as though it were ordinary flesh.

Luka clenched his remaining hand.

’What the fuck is he?’

Ember didn’t give him time to think.

She rushed forward, her purple flames gathering around her sword.

The next exchange was even more violent.

Luka swung his scythe in a wide arc, forcing Ember to retreat. She slipped beneath the blade and struck his abdomen, her flames bursting outward in a concentrated explosion.

Luka’s body folded around the impact.

He was thrown backward, but the tendrils surrounding him moved immediately, catching his body before he could hit the ground.

They pulled him upright.

The scythe dissolved and reformed into a long spear.

He thrust it forward.

Ember deflected the attack, but the spear separated into several smaller blades halfway through the motion. They scattered around her, forcing her to turn and intercept each one.

One grazed her cheek.

Another cut through her left sleeve.

The third was stopped by a sudden burst of purple flames.

Ember gritted her teeth.

’He’s becoming more troublesome.’

Luka had finally stopped relying entirely on his regeneration. Instead, he was using the battlefield itself to restrict her movements, attacking from multiple directions while keeping his own body out of reach.

It was a much more effective strategy.

Unfortunately for him, it was also costing him an enormous amount of Dark Matter.

Luvian raised his hand again.

A crimson beam shot toward Luka’s flank.

Luka sensed it and immediately created a thick barrier.

The beam struck.

The barrier held for a fraction of a second before beginning to disintegrate.

Luka’s eyes widened.

He abandoned the structure and jumped aside.

The attack continued through the space he had occupied, carving a glowing trench across the ground before exploding in the distance.

A massive fire tornado formed from the blast.

It spiraled upward, dragging debris and fragments of Dark Matter into its rotating core. The surrounding air distorted beneath the heat, and the flames spread across the battlefield in a widening spiral.

Luka landed behind a cluster of spikes.

The fire tornado swept toward him.

He raised both hands.

Dark Matter surged from the ground, forming a series of enormous tendrils that wrapped around the nearby buildings. They pulled, tearing entire sections of concrete from their foundations before hurling them into the approaching flames.

The buildings collided with the tornado.

The resulting explosion shook the entire district.

For a brief moment, the flames were dispersed.

Luka used that opportunity to rush toward Ember.

His scythe reformed in his hands, and he swung it with enough force to split the pavement beneath them.

Ember raised her sword.

The weapons collided.

A shockwave spread outward, shattering the remaining windows of the surrounding buildings.

She was pushed backward, but her purple flames intensified, reinforcing her arms as she forced the scythe aside.

Then she stepped forward.

Her attacks came faster than Luka could properly defend against. Purple fire trailed behind every movement, carving through the Dark Matter surrounding his body.

Luka’s torso was torn open.

His right arm was severed.

His scythe shattered.

He was forced backward, his regeneration struggling to keep pace.

Ember advanced.

"You seem to be running out of options."

Luka looked down at his missing arm.

Then back at her.

He laughed quietly.

"Maybe."

The severed limb began regenerating.

"But I’m not finished yet."

Dark Matter erupted from his back.

Several enormous tentacles emerged, each one thick enough to crush a vehicle. They spread outward, striking the surrounding buildings and tearing through their foundations.

The entire battlefield began collapsing.

Ember looked up.

The tentacles descended.

She jumped backward as one struck the ground, creating a crater several meters wide. Another swept across the street, forcing her to roll beneath it before cutting through its lower section.

Luka used the chaos to create distance.

He raised both arms.

The Dark Matter scattered across the battlefield began converging toward him, forming a massive sphere above his head.

The sphere expanded.

Its surface rippled as countless spikes emerged, each one pointing in a different direction.

Ember immediately recognized the danger.

"Watch out!"

The young man glanced toward her.

"Got it."

Luvian raised his right hand.

A concentrated mass of crimson Essence gathered around his palm, growing brighter until the surrounding air began to shimmer.

Luka brought his arms down.

The sphere erupted.

Hundreds of Dark Matter spikes shot outward, raining across the battlefield.

Luvian released his attack.

A massive crimson beam collided with the incoming projectiles, detonating in midair.

The explosion illuminated the entire district.

Dark Matter and crimson flames collided in a chaotic storm, tearing through buildings and reducing the surrounding streets to rubble.

Ember used the moment to advance.

She moved through the smoke, her purple flames shielding her from the falling debris. Her sword glowed brighter with every step until the entire weapon was enveloped in violet fire.

Luka noticed her too late.

Her blade struck his chest.

The impact sent him crashing through the remains of a building.

Before he could recover, she followed with another strike, cutting through his shoulder and forcing him deeper into the ruins.

A final slash tore across his torso.

The resulting burst of purple fire consumed everything around him.

When the flames faded, Luka was kneeling in the center of a crater.

His body was regenerating.

But slowly.

His breathing had become uneven, and the Dark Matter surrounding him had noticeably thinned.

He looked toward Ember.

Then toward Luvian.

The two stood several meters apart, their positions effectively surrounding him.

Ember’s sword remained raised.

Luvian’s hand was already glowing.

Luka stared at them.

’This is bad.’

He had managed to even the battlefield by changing his approach, but it hadn’t solved the underlying problem.

Ember was still an S-Rank.

Even without Luvian’s assistance, Luka had no reliable way to overwhelm her. He could injure her, force her to expend Essence, and perhaps even exploit an opening if she made a mistake.

But defeating her outright was another matter.

And Luvian made the situation considerably worse.

Every time Luka manifested a large amount of Dark Matter, the crimson flames threatened to destroy it. Every time he attempted to regenerate, he felt the loss accumulating.

He couldn’t keep this up indefinitely.

His gaze shifted toward the distant hotel.

He had been instructed to help protect the summoning ritual and ensure that the necessary sacrifices were delivered.

But if he continued fighting here, he might not survive long enough to see the ritual completed.

Luka’s expression darkened.

’I need to get out of here.’

Ember took a step forward.

"What’s wrong?"

Luka looked at her.

"Nothing."

Purple flames surged around Ember’s blade.

Luvian raised his hand.

The crimson light reflected in Luka’s eyes.

’Hurry the hell up, old man!’