Chapter 294: Gate of Ascension [3]

Chapter 293

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Episode 77 - Gate of Ascension [3]

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Atlas and Vahelra’s senses immediately sent them a warning of danger.

".....!?"

".....!"

The gazes of both Class 10 villains turned downward.

Floating a kilometer above the ground was a forest of crystals. The leaves of the crystal trees were blood-red.

The forest stretched endlessly across thousands of kilometers, with no visible end.

A mountain range that rose above the clouds also stood near the duo. The mountains were obsidian-black, streaked with small rivers of intensely crimson lava.

’Plane of the Nine Heavens...’

The thought naturally surfaced in Atlas and Vahelra’s minds.

A forest composed entirely of crystals meant they were in the Sixth Heaven of the Plane of the Nine Heavens.

It was a place containing nothing but forests, lakes, and mountains, all surrounded by a sea.

It was inhabited by creatures born specifically from Mana.

Bernice had chosen the Sixth Heaven because it was an extremely vast place and contained no "living" beings in the biological sense.

However, setting aside the fact that Bernice had forcibly dragged two Class 10 villains into the Plane of the Nine Heavens...

"...!"

"...!"

Whoosh!

Atlas and Vahelra moved immediately.

Their figures vanished as though they had never been floating there in the first place.

The next second, a silver blade wreathed in dark-blue flames tore through the air.

The air, space, and even gravity were cleaved in half.

The crescent-shaped blade expanded to more than five thousand kilometers in length, splitting the clouds, the forest, and a colossal mountain in half along its path.

Boom!

A shockwave erupted in all directions, sweeping away everything in its path and sending it flying hundreds of kilometers through the air.

Whoosh!

After confirming that Atlas and Vahelra had successfully evaded the attack, Bernice’s figure vanished.

She crossed the distance in an instant and appeared before the duo.

Atlas and Vahelra immediately split apart.

Clank!

Bernice’s sword sliced through the air, and a solar storm compressed into an incredibly thin blade shot forward.

The attack tore through and melted the crystal forest, leaving behind a canyon thousands of kilometers long.

Dark-blue flames erupted in every direction.

Hundreds of kilometers away, Atlas reappeared and, without wasting any time, conjured a spear in his hands.

He assumed a stance and swung his weapon.

Immediately, space and gravity distorted.

The energy of the Power of Chaos began to swirl around the spear, and within a second, millions of thrusts were fired toward Bernice.

Boom! Whoosh!

Bernice deflected the millions of thrusts with the back of her hand, doing so with almost mocking ease.

Without giving Atlas time to react, she extended her other hand.

A magic circle appeared before her palm.

".....!?"

Atlas’s senses screamed a warning.

He immediately stopped and tried to increase the distance between them, but it was already too late.

Boom!

The magic circle expanded, and four smaller magic circles appeared around the main one.

Then, a solar flare erupted from within.

The flames spread across thousands of kilometers, devouring both the sky and the earth until Atlas’s figure was completely engulfed.

His body began to melt beneath the searing heat.

However, his natural regeneration immediately kicked in, rebuilding his body even as the flames continued to consume him.

The process became an endless cycle.

Atlas gritted his teeth and muttered:

"Primordial Chaos Heavens."

The power of one of his Unique Traits immediately activated.

The next second, the sky and earth trembled.

A dark-gray vortex began to form in the sky, expanding until it covered more than ten thousand kilometers.

The dark-blue flames were pulled into the colossal vortex and eventually devoured completely.

While Atlas restrained Bernice’s attack, Vahelra also began to act.

His hands formed a hand seal, and suddenly, the entire ruined crystal forest began to tremble.

Then, a crimson tree covered in flowers with long, blood-colored petals emerged from the depths of the earth.

The tree rose into the sky.

At its center, a crimson light began to shine intensely, and a blood moon appeared above its branches.

Once the Blood Tree finished manifesting, Vahelra’s hands continued to move.

Following his movements, the tree’s branches and roots tore through the sky and extended toward Bernice.

In an instant, Bernice’s limbs were caught.

Then, an intense red glow appeared within the crimson moon.

A terrifying amount of heat began radiating from it, surpassing even what an ordinary sun could produce.

The crystal trees melted.

The earth began transforming into lava.

Even the clouds covering the sky vanished beneath the heat.

Finally, from the crimson moon located at the center of the Blood Tree, a beam of the Power of Chaos erupted.

The beam tore through the distance toward Bernice.

Bernice’s eyes calmly watched the approaching crimson attack.

Then, she broke free of her restraints.

She extended one hand, and gigantic magic circles appeared behind her.

Immediately, Mana of the Lunar Attribute began to surge forth.

A silver radiance illuminated the heavens.

Then, a silver beam shot forward.

Boom!

The silver beam completely engulfed the crimson beam and continued forward, devouring the Blood Tree’s figure along with Vahelra.

The attack continued advancing in a straight line, cleaving through the expanse of the already-melted crystal forest.

In its wake, it carved out a canyon hundreds of kilometers deep that stretched as far as the eye could see.

After unleashing Ten-Star Magic, Bernice remained completely unfazed.

She swung her sword.

And the next second...

Clank!

The tip of her sword blocked Atlas’s spear.

Atlas immediately moved his weapon again and again, unleashing a succession of increasingly faster attacks.

Bernice answered every strike as the two moved across the battlefield.

Their figures moved at such an absurd speed that, in the blink of an eye, they could cross thousands of kilometers.

Every clash between their weapons unleashed fresh waves of destruction.

Forests, mountains, and lakes were rendered completely unrecognizable as their battle continued spreading throughout the Sixth Heaven.

Every swing of Bernice’s sword left behind countless canyons stretching for thousands of kilometers.

On the other hand, every thrust of Atlas’s spear tore enormous holes through mountains and forests, laying waste to everything in its path.

Whoosh!

Their figures tore through space, appearing from one location to another as if distance itself were so insignificant that they could cross thousands of kilometers in less than a second.

The sparks produced by the clash of their weapons rained down without end, while Mana and the Power of Chaos swirled around the two of them.

At some point, Vahelra reappeared after recovering from Bernice’s previous attack.

Rejoining Atlas, the villainous duo used everything at their disposal: Traits, Unique Traits, deception, and illusions.

Every resource served a single purpose: to create even one second of an opening that would allow them to get close to Bernice and land a single blow.

However, they never succeeded.

The flames of the Solar Attribute and the silver aura of the Lunar Attribute enveloped Bernice’s sword. With every swing, cataclysmic devastation spread through the surroundings, as if an apocalypse had descended upon the world.

From time to time, magic circles of various sizes appeared around her and fired spells capable of destroying everything in their path.

Atlas and Vahelra immediately combined their strength to counter every spell Bernice unleashed.

And every time Bernice swung her sword, Atlas could barely block her attacks while Vahelra used support Traits to enhance his abilities.

Thus, the battle continued in a frantic exchange of attacks and counterattacks.

In the blink of an eye, barely thirty seconds had passed since the beginning of the battle.

Clank! Clank! Clank! Clank!

The figures of the three combatants had already moved from the ground into the sky.

They flew at absurd speeds, moving as if they were traveling at the speed of light as they crossed the skies of the Sixth Heaven.

Their figures constantly vanished and reappeared, yet the clash between sword and spear never stopped.

Every collision between the two weapons produced such violent vibrations that the clouds shattered across a radius of thirty thousand kilometers.

Boom!

Atlas’s figure was sent flying as half of his body was sliced apart.

His legs were blown to pieces, and the rest of his body crashed into a mountain range.

The mountains simply vanished beneath the impact as Atlas tore through them, laying waste to everything in his path.

Almost simultaneously, Vahelra was sent flying behind him.

Black blood gushed from his mouth as he tore through the sky after taking a direct kick to the abdomen.

Finally, his body crashed into the ground.

Whoosh!

Bernice stopped for an instant as she mentally calculated the amount of time that had passed.

’Forty seconds... almost fifty.’

That was how much time had passed since the beginning of the battle.

Bernice took a deep breath before thinking:

’Time flows differently here. One second is equivalent to one minute in the outside world.’

Of course, the difference in the flow of time only existed in the Sixth Heaven and the Eighth Heaven.

In the other seven Heavens, time flowed at the same rate as in the outside world.

The Eighth Heaven was known as the Spiritual Realm.

Bernice knew that the Sixth Heaven was the only place where no civilization such as Spirits or Elementals existed.

Fighting in the other Heavens meant becoming enemies with their Sovereigns.

Each Heaven that housed a civilization had its own Sovereign.

For example, the Spirit Queen was, in terms of strength and power, comparable to a Ten-Star Awakened.

"You’ve made me waste too much time. It’s time to kill you two."

As Bernice spoke those words, Atlas was still regenerating his legs, while Vahelra slowly got back on her feet, her body trembling.

Suddenly, both of their expressions turned pale.

Atlas reacted immediately and shouted:

"Vahelra! Use the Relic and let’s escape!!"

Atlas’s shout echoed throughout the Sixth Heaven.

Bernice, who was about to launch her next attack, stopped for a thousandth of a second.

’Don’t even think about it.’

Her gaze instantly locked onto Vahelra.

The next second, Bernice’s sword became enveloped in Magic and a thin layer of Mana from her two Attributes.

Then, she swung her sword toward Vahelra.

Boom!

".....!"

Vahelra’s eyes widened as she watched the approaching attack.

She did not blink.

The image of Bernice’s attack was clearly reflected in her eyes.

And just as the slash was about to reach her...

Vahelra’s figure disappeared.

Atlas disappeared along with her.

Boom!

The Sixth Heaven trembled violently as the sky and earth were split in half.

Bernice’s attack had been powerful enough to cleave an entire continent in two.

The slash from her sword extended all the way to the edge of the Sixth Heaven, reaching an endless sea whose brilliance and color resembled diamonds.

A massive canyon stretched from the point of impact and pierced dozens of kilometers into the diamond sea.

It was as wide as it was deep.

As she gazed at the result of her attack, Bernice wore a terrifying expression filled with rage.

She wasn’t even tired.

Her Mana reserves were still around sixty percent.

However, anger flooded her thoughts as she realized that the villainous duo had narrowly managed to escape.