Chapter 51: One Whole, Two Bodies

Elysia’s slash instantly unleashed a wave of pitch-black energy that swept toward the White Dreadclaw.

The pillar of energy towering into the sky collapsed right away, following the direction of her slash and forming a giant wave that tore through the forest.

*WHOOOOSH!

A powerful pressure swept over the surrounding area. The trees swayed violently, leaves flew everywhere, and the ground along the path of the attack began to crack under the force of the energy.

The black energy spread in every direction, blanketing the area around the tiger with thick dust. The trees in the path of the attack toppled over, while the ground beneath them was ripped apart, forming a long trench.

For a moment, their view was completely covered by billowing dust.

Elysia then drew back all the black energy from her sword. After that, Evelyn stepped back a few paces and stood right beside Elysia.

"Wow, that was pretty decent, even if it’s not as great as it used to be."

"At least the man and the kitty are dead."

"Yup!" Evelyn then sheathed her sword and turned around, "We stopped one unwanted thing from happening. That’s good enough. Now let’s get some rest—!!!"

*Boom!

"Big Sis!!!"

While Evelyn was walking, a red claw-shaped blast of energy suddenly struck her from behind, sending her flying far before she crashed into a tree.

*Crack!

Elysia, who saw it happen, could only freeze at first, trying to process what she’d seen while being shocked, but it didn’t take long for her to show her reaction.

Seeing Evelyn sitting limp against the tree, which had cracked from the impact, Elysia turned toward the cloud of dust that had begun to thin out.

"How could..."

"Honestly, that attack of yours was insanely strong. If I’d taken it head-on or blocked it, I’d at least have died or been hurt so badly that I’d be crippled.

"But unfortunately, your attack only hit this big guy."

Elysia was shocked again when she found that Vladir and the White Dreadclaw were still alive. The tiger didn’t even have a single scar on it, even though Elysia had put out almost all her strength into that last attack.

Her eyes went wide, and she immediately stepped back a few paces, her gaze still locked on Vladir and the tiger. She hurried over to Evelyn, who was sitting limp with several wounds on her body.

"Big Sis, are you okay?"

*Cough!

Evelyn began coughing up blood, and blood started dripping from her head down to her forehead. Sweat beaded on her face as she grimaced in pain, wiping the blood from the corner of her lips.

"I can still go. But what the hell is this? This isn’t the same."

Elysia then helped her sister to her feet, a hint of worry showing on her face.

"I’m confused too. Everything should’ve gone like before. So why is it happening like this?"

Evelyn then coated her whole body with thick white energy before drawing her sword again.

"Well, whatever it is... We still have to kill them before the thing we don’t want actually happens."

"But are you sure you’re okay?"

"I can still move both my arms and legs."

Believing that Evelyn could still pull off a few more attacks, Elysia wrapped her own body in pitch-black energy too. Even though she had so many questions in her mind right now, and was worried about her sister’s condition as well.

She chose to focus on the enemy in front of her.

"So, what’s the plan, Big Sis?"

"Isn’t it obvious? We’re one whole that’s only separated by our bodies."

Elysia then began to set her stance. Her body bent slightly, her left foot a little ahead of her right, her sword pointed forward.

"Try to keep up with me."

Evelyn just stood upright without any special stance, but the energy pouring out of her body was surging wildly.

"Even though I’m hurt, I’m still one level above you, Elysia."

Elysia only snorted lightly before saying:

"Well..."

*Crack!

The ground beneath their feet began to crack from the pressure of the energy overflowing from both of them. The cracks spread rapidly before part of the ground shattered as Evelyn and Elysia put their strength into their legs.

*BOOM!

The two of them shot forward, leaving torn-up ground behind them. The white and black energy wrapped around their bodies churned fiercely as they charged at Vladir.

"We’ll talk about that rank thing when we get home."

Vladir, realizing the two girls intended to go after him first, got carried away by his emotions again. He quickly wrapped his body in red energy before shouting.

"Don’t think I can only hide behind monsters!"

Without waiting for them to get close, Vladir shot forward to meet their attack. The red energy around his body surged violently as he charged at Evelyn and Elysia, intending to face them head-on.

*Whoosh!

Just as the distance between them was almost close enough to cross blades, Evelyn kicked Elysia hard to the side.

*Thud!

This instantly shocked Vladir. He didn’t know why Evelyn had suddenly kicked her own sister, but this was clearly his chance!

He remembered the rumor that the twin daughters of the Nocturne family became absolutely terrifying when they fought at the same time. Even though their individual combat strength was high, at least it was far less troublesome than having to fight both girls together.

And besides, Evelyn was hurt right now. So her strength surely wouldn’t be as great as usual.

Vladir poured a large amount of mana into his sword right before his blade and Evelyn’s met.

"Hmph!"

"Khuk!"

*CLANG!

The two swords collided hard, sending sparks of red and white energy flying from the point of impact.

*Boom!

Vladir was pushed back a few steps, but his sword was still held in place by Evelyn’s. He gritted his teeth and kept pressing his blade forward, trying to turn the situation around.

Evelyn wasn’t in any better shape. Blood flowed from the corner of her lips again, making her cough in the middle of the clash.

*Cough!

Even so, she held on and pushed her sword forward. Her body trembled slightly from the pain, but she didn’t let Vladir take advantage of her condition.

Vladir himself was starting to struggle. He’d forgotten that he was also hurt from the earlier fight. That limited his movements a little. He winced as pain ran through his body, but still forced himself to hold back Evelyn’s pressure.

When Vladir tried to throw a kick at Evelyn’s stomach, she quickly raised her leg to block it.

*Bam!

Their legs collided, but their two swords were still locked together. The two kept pressing their blades, trying to push the other back while enduring the pain of their wounds.

With their swords locked and the two of them standing on only one leg each,

Evelyn’s face, which had been grimacing as if from the pain of her earlier wounds, suddenly turned into a wide grin, blood from her head streaming down her face and her eyes glaring sharply at Vladir in front of her.

Seeing Evelyn’s expression right then clearly shocked Vladir, considering their position. Was this really a position where a normal person would grin that wide? Even though he knew Evelyn wasn’t a normal girl, still... Vladir felt that the most likely explanation was that Evelyn was planning something.

And sure enough, he suddenly sensed an extremely strong killing intent from his side. When he turned his head, he found Elysia already right in front of his face, her sword aimed at his eye.

*Whoosh!

So what Evelyn had done earlier was to make Vladir focus on her. Then, when he got caught up in attacking Evelyn and defending against her, that was when Elysia could slip in quickly and go straight for his head.

If he didn’t dodge, he would clearly die from Elysia’s sword piercing his head.

But on the other hand, he couldn’t dodge. Because Evelyn had locked down Vladir’s movement with her sword and her own leg.

So from the very start, the two of them had planned all of this.

But at the last moment, right before Elysia’s sword pierced Vladir’s head, the White Dreadclaw clawed Elysia from the side.

*SLAM!

Elysia was sent flying and slammed into a tree. The impact was so hard that the tree toppled over.

*Crack!

Elysia immediately fell helpless on the ground. Her body ached from the impact, making it hard for her to get back up.

"Elysia!"

Seeing Elysia suddenly attacked, Evelyn let her guard slip. Vladir immediately took advantage of the opening by pouring all his mana into his sword before swinging it hard.

*Whoosh!

Evelyn was pushed back by the attack. But before she could steady herself, the White Dreadclaw spat a red breath from its mouth.

The attack hit Evelyn dead on.

*SLAM! SLAM! SLAM!

Evelyn was slammed into the ground hard several times. She coughed up blood again. Her face was much paler than before, her lips began to turn blue, and her vision slowly blurred.

Pain ran through her body. She felt that several of her ribs were broken and her right arm was broken too from the White Dreadclaw’s breath. Her head hurt even more than before.

She tried to get up, but her body had no strength left. All she could do was stare, struggling for breath, at Vladir and the White Dreadclaw, who had already prepared their final attack.

Vladir coated his sword with mana again, turning it red. Meanwhile, the White Dreadclaw began to focus red energy in its mouth.

*Hummmm...

"You two really are extraordinary talents. It would’ve been great if you were Everhart’s people. It’d be a bad thing if monsters like you stayed alive. That’s why I have to kill you here."

Hearing Vladir’s words, Evelyn felt a little relieved that she was going to die. But at the same time, she also felt a deep sorrow.

And the reason she was sad was that she couldn’t do what she had to do. She couldn’t stop something that must never be allowed to happen.

Her eyes began to tremble and tears started to fall from them.

’Elias.’

Without realizing it, she spoke his name.

"Farewell."

Vladir swung his sword, and a red sword energy shot straight toward them. The White Dreadclaw also unleashed its breath at the two of them.

*Boom!

* * *