Chapter 211: Finale
The Avatar roared.
Not a sound, an earthquake, a hurricane, a tidal wave of noise and force. Entire blocks collapsed under the pressure, towers leaning like they’d been shoved by a giant hand. Glass shredded into storms.
Lucen laughed over it. Blood streaked his face, his teeth red when he grinned. "...Damn, you’re ugly."
[Corruption Load: 75%]
[Stability Warning: Severe.]
The Avatar brought its fist down.
Varik met it. His blade rose in a silver arc, one cut arresting a blow that could’ve flattened ten city blocks. The shockwave cracked every window in the district. Hunters staggered, blood streaming from ears, but Varik stood unflinching.
Selindra’s staff blazed, runes layering into lattices of emerald force. Barriers wrapped around the Avatar’s arm, slowing the next strike just enough for Varik’s blade to meet it. Sparks of mana detonated into flares brighter than sunlight.
Hunters screamed. Civilians fled. The city’s skyline bled light.
Lucen just tilted his head back, let the mantle flare wider, abyss fire peeling away from his shoulders like wings. "...Alright. My turn."
[Skill Use: Riftstep.]
The world tore. Lucen vanished in a blur, reappearing at the Avatar’s knee.
[Skill Use: Crater Bloom.]
The ground detonated upward. Asphalt spiraled into the air as a concussive blast launched straight into the Avatar’s leg. The giant staggered, just for a heartbeat.
Selindra seized it. Chains of runes wrapped its ankle, glowing emerald-green as she anchored it into the broken street. "Now!"
Varik moved. His cut wasn’t a slash, it was an execution. His blade sang, a single stroke that carved through abyssal crystal, leaving a canyon of molten white in the Avatar’s thigh.
The giant screamed, falling back a half step.
Lucen was already laughing, throat raw, his mantle screaming in resonance.
[Skill Use: Abyssflare Lance.]
Another spear of annihilation screamed from his hands, ripping through the sky to bury itself in the Avatar’s chest. Black fire detonated outward, peeling crystal away in chunks that rained like meteors into the city below.
[Entity Damaged. EXP +30,000.]
The blast nearly folded him. His knees buckled, blood spilling hot from his nose. His system flickered, vision glitching.
[Corruption Load: 78%]
[Critical Instability Approaching.]
Lucen wiped the blood with his sleeve, smearing it into a red grin. "...Still upright. Still better than most."
The Avatar swung again, faster this time. The air cracked as a clawed hand sliced downward, splitting the avenue like a canyon. Hunters in the distance screamed as shockwaves shredded their formations.
Selindra shouted, barriers snapping like glass. "We can’t hold perimeter!"
Varik didn’t look back. His blade caught another blow, shoulders set, unyielding.
Lucen staggered forward, half-laughing, half-choking on blood. His mantle pulsed like a heartbeat, each throb louder, hungrier.
’This’ll kill me.’
He grinned wider.
’Worth it.’
[Skill Use: Cataclysm Vector — Abyssborne Variant.]
The ground ruptured. Red lines tore through asphalt, jagged glyphs scarring reality itself. Air bent inward, spiraling into a funnel of black and violet light that screamed louder than the Avatar.
Selindra’s eyes went wide, horror sharp on her face. "Lucen—don’t—!"
Varik didn’t speak. He just braced.
The Vector collapsed inward, dragging half the street into nothing before detonating outward in an explosion that erased sound.
The Avatar reeled, chest ripped open, abyssal fire pouring from the wound. Its roar turned broken, staggered.
Hunters across the square were thrown like leaves, slamming into walls, tumbling across pavement. Barriers shattered. Civilians screamed.
Lucen stood at the center, smoke rising from his body, his mantle devouring itself in arcs of black fire.
[Entity Severely Damaged. EXP +50,000.]
[Level Up: 49.]
[Corruption Load: 82%.]
[Warning: Mantle Collapse Imminent.]
His laugh was ragged, blood bubbling in his throat. "...Not bad for level forty-nine, huh?"
The Avatar staggered, one knee hitting the ground with the sound of collapsing towers.
Varik’s blade gleamed. He stepped forward, aura heavier than iron. Selindra’s runes spun faster, chains thickening, binding the giant’s limbs as it roared in rage.
Lucen swayed, every nerve screaming. His mantle crackled like glass ready to shatter. His system blinked in frantic red.
[Recommendation: Immediate Disengage.]
He looked up at the colossus, grin cracked, blood soaking his collar.
’Disengage? Not my style.’
He raised his hand again, mana flaring wild.
The Avatar locked eyes with him, pits of white flame narrowing on the smallest thing on the field.
Lucen laughed harder. "...Yeah. Look at me."
The square drowned in black light.
The Avatar rose.
Even on one knee, it towered over the skyline, chest leaking black fire from the Vector’s wound. Abyssal crystal reformed, jagged spines crawling over its ribs like the city itself was being woven into its flesh.
Selindra’s runes snapped and screamed. Chains cracked, her staff blazing as she forced another lattice into place. "Varik—finish it!"
Varik’s blade was already moving. Silver light carved the sky, an arc of steel so vast the air warped. It slammed into the Avatar’s shoulder, severing half an arm in a thunderclap of molten crystal and abyss fire.
The Avatar shrieked, staggering, the wound spraying light that burned through rooftops and street lamps like acid. Hunters screamed, scrambling to drag survivors out of the blast radius.
Lucen staggered too, every nerve on fire. His mantle pulsed out of rhythm, arcs of black lightning chewing through the air around him.
[Corruption Load: 84%]
[Warning: System Instability Approaching Critical.]
He wiped blood from his chin and laughed hoarsely. "You two can nick at it all day. Let me show you how to kill something ugly."
Selindra’s voice snapped like a whip. "You can’t—"
He didn’t listen.
[Skill Use: Abyssflare Lance.]
The sky itself split. The lance screamed down, abyss fire spiraling into a single spear of annihilation. It punched into the Avatar’s torso, through crystal and bone, erupting from its back in a fountain of black flame.
The blast rolled across the district. Towers fell. Entire streets buckled. Hunters threw themselves to the ground.
[Entity Damaged. EXP +40,000.]
Lucen dropped to one knee, coughing blood, his vision flickering into static.
[Corruption Load: 87%.]
[Stability: Collapsing.]
The Avatar reeled, body cracking open, abyssal light leaking from every fracture. It was dying, but it wasn’t dead.
Varik moved again. His blade was a comet, arcs of pure mana searing into the Avatar’s neck. Crystal split. Flesh tore. The giant roared, clutching at its throat.
Selindra’s staff spun, chains of emerald binding its arms wide. "Lucen! One more—now!"
Lucen could barely stand. His mantle screamed, black fire eating into his skin. The system window bled red.
[Recommendation: Immediate Release.]
[Warning: Cataclysm Variant Use May Result in Death.]
He grinned through the blood. "...Then let’s call it even."
[Skill Use: Cataclysm Vector — Abyssborne Variant.]
The ground split. Reality tore into jagged glyphs of crimson and violet. The funnel widened, shrieking louder than thunder, pulling the Avatar’s torso into its collapse.
The giant screamed as half its body folded inward, shredded into the Vector’s spiral. Its other half convulsed, crystal shattering, limbs tearing free.
Lucen screamed with it, the mantle devouring everything, mana, flesh, thought. His knees buckled, blood pouring from his ears, eyes, nose.
[Entity Terminated.]
[EXP +100,000.]
[Level Up: 50.]
[Corruption Load: 92%.]
[Critical Threshold Breached.]
The Avatar imploded. Its chest caved inward, its head wrenched sideways into the Vector’s maw, and in a burst of black fire it ceased. Not death. Erasure.
Silence fell.
The rift above flickered, sputtered, then collapsed inward with a scream of air, leaving only a gouge in the skyline where it had been.
Hunters across the district staggered to their feet, staring at the ruin. Civilians sobbed in the rubble. Towers leaned, streets buckled, glass buried half the city’s heart.
Varik lowered his blade. His shoulders didn’t move with exhaustion, but his eyes turned to Lucen.
Selindra’s staff dimmed, her barriers falling to dust. She whirled on him, voice sharp with fury. "You, absolute idiot! You nearly collapsed with it—"
Lucen was laughing. Hoarse, broken, but laughing. "Nearly. But not quite."
He swayed, mantle flickering, arcs of black lightning still snapping around him. His system screamed in red.
[Warning: Abyssal Resonance Unstable.]
[Recommendation: Purge Sequence Immediate.]
’Purge sequence? That sounds boring.’
He dragged himself upright, blood soaking his collar. Hunters all around stared at him like he wasn’t human. Whispers spread in the smoke:
"What the hell was that?"
"He’s not normal—"
"Did he kill it?"
Selindra’s eyes narrowed, fury trembling against something else. Fear. "Lucen. Drop it. Now."
Varik’s voice was low, even. "Enough."
Lucen grinned wider, mantle still blazing, abyss fire curling into wings of smoke. He let the silence drag, let every hunter’s eyes burn into him.
Then he laughed again and snapped his fingers. The mantle guttered, fading back into ash.
The sudden absence was worse than the fire. Hunters flinched as if something had been ripped from their bones.
Lucen rolled his shoulders, coughing blood into his hand. "...Level fifty. Not bad for a side job."
Selindra’s eyes could’ve cut steel. Varik just watched, unreadable, blade dripping black ichor.
The city burned. The Avatar was gone. The rift sealed. But the silence that followed wasn’t victory, it was dread.
Because everyone on that street knew what they’d seen.
And only Varik knew the truth.