Chapter 147 - 149: Link Skill

It slams a claw into the ice and shatters part of it, surging forward with unnatural speed. Then—a boom. Asdri is there. Lightning coils around his blade, his voice a thunderclap. "[Tier 5 – Stormpiercer Descent]!" He crashes down, blade first, lightning turning the monster's shriek into a crackling scream. It staggers back— Only to take Pyke's axe to the side. The monster retaliates. A pulse—pure and devastating—gathers at its core. Black veins ripple across its skin, and its remaining wings snap open, crackling with void energy. The temperature drops. The air trembles. Asdri's eyes widen. "Everyone—brace!" "[Tier 5 – Oblivion Flare]!" The world erupts. A beam of compressed energy, wide as a street and dark as the abyss, tears through the city. Buildings disintegrate. The earth itself fractures. A section of the capital—homes, towers, streets—is gone in an instant, replaced by a glowing trench of ruin. Even the monster seems winded after that. Steam hisses from its body, its own flesh burning from the sheer backlash of its power. Asdri's heart thunders. "We're taking this to the skies. NOW!" With a surge of mana, his body arcs upward, thunder trailing behind like wings. The others follow immediately—Pyke with a burst of hardened earth beneath his boots, launching into the air; Ingra riding a rising column of frost; Famir lifted by the winds themselves; Valia floating on threads of light and aura. The monster snarls and follows—its wings spread, skeletal but strong, beating once and lifting its massive body into the sky with horrifying grace. Up above the ruined streets, far above the city's trembling citizens, the battlefield shifts. The sky itself becomes their arena. From below, soldiers and citizens stare upward in awe and horror. The heavens pulse with light—red, blue, white, gold, green—as spells and strikes ignite across the sky like a storm of gods. "Look at them..." a young soldier breathes, hand gripping a broken spear. His face is lit by a flickering yellow flash as lightning splits the clouds. "They're amazing..." "It's like the stars are at war," someone murmurs beside him. Above, the clash continues. The sky splits again. The monster hovers still, its ragged wings beating a slow rhythm as dark mist pours from its body. It bleeds heavily now—chunks of its armor-like hide torn away, one eye ruined—but its power feels heavier. The air around it warps. Then it happens. The monster lifts its arms high, and its mouth opens—not in a roar, but in a low, guttural chant. A circle appears behind it. No—a ring, made of runes, each one twisting and reshaping itself constantly, too alien to read. A second ring forms around it. Then a third. All of them spinning slowly. Asdri's heart stops for a beat. His voice cuts through the link. "EVERYONE—READY YOUR DEFENSES. TIER 6 INCOMING!" Famir lets out a hiss. "You're sure?!" "Yes," Asdri growls. "Move!" They scatter—still in the sky, but creating distance. The monster raises its hand. The sky dims even more, as though even the moon recoils from what's about to come. "[Tier 6 – Cataclysm Genesis]..." the voice is not one they've heard before. It echoes through their bones. Ancient. Final. Below, in the capital, a soldier drops to his knees. "What is that...? What is that?!" Valia slams her staff forward. "Link barriers! NOW!" "[Tier 5 – Earthward Bastion]!" Pyke bellows, driving his hands forward. Huge walls of condensed stone erupt around them in midair, locking into place like puzzle pieces. "[Tier 5 – Aether Prism Shell]!" Valia chants immediately after. Hexagonal plates of energy spiral outward, wrapping around the entire team like armor. "[Tier 5 – Crystal Bloom Cage]!" Ingra adds, jagged petals of frozen light forming another barrier around the group. "[Tier 5 – Gale Reversal Field]!" Famir roars. Winds spiral inward, meant to deflect and redirect energy away from the city below. Asdri raises his sword overhead. It pulses, overcharged with blue lightning. "[Tier 5 – Thunderhold Core]!" The final layer forms—lightning locking everything in place. Their five barriers snap together, each one built to withstand a strike that could flatten a city. And still, they all feel it. The Tier 6 skill is like a sun forming in the sky. The rings behind the monster spin faster—then collapse inward. A spear of pure annihilation forms. It's not made of fire, ice, wind, or shadow—but of endings. "Brace!!" Asdri screams. The monster hurls it. The spear cuts through the sky—silent, slow at first—then faster than light. It strikes the combined barrier— BOOM. Everything goes white. No color. No sound. Just force. The sky rips. A wave of distortion spreads across the city's horizon like a sunrise. All the clouds for miles are gone. The barriers hold—barely. Each layer shatters in turn—first the wind, then the crystal, then the stone. Pyke roars as blood sprays from his mouth. Famir is flung backward. Ingra collapses midair, caught only by Valia's levitation spell. The lightning barrier cracks. Valia screams something—but it's lost in the sound. Then silence. The spear finally burns out—dispersing into fragments of dead magic, still hissing as they fall like black snow. The group floats, gasping, armor cracked, faces singed—but alive. The capital below still stands. Asdri breathes hard. His body shakes. "We took it..." he says, stunned. Pyke coughs blood, grinning weakly. "You're welcome..." Ingra groans, "Please... never again..." Valia holds her hand out, light trembling. "The link is fading. We need to end this. Now." Famir reloads his quiver, hands trembling but steadying. "While it's winded. While it's drained." Asdri lifts his blade. Lightning returns. "One last push." His voice is steel. "We finish this thing—together." They rise again—burned, bloodied, broken. But not beaten. The link pulses again—thin, fragile now—but still holding. Valia steadies herself in the air, her voice low and urgent. "One more time. Feed your strongest skills into the link. Don't hold back." Asdri tightens his grip. "Channel them through me." "What?!" Ingra gasps, coughing ice from her lungs. "Asdri, no—your body can't—" "I know," he says, voice raw. "But it's the only way. We channel everything. Through the link. Into one strike." Famir stares at him, eyes wide. "That's suicide." "Then it better work," Asdri growls. A long pause. Then Pyke, battered and bleeding, nods. "I'm in." Valia closes her eyes. "Me too." "...Dammit," Famir mutters. "Fine. I'm in." "Don't die," Ingra whispers. The link flares. Glowing threads of gold and silver tighten between them. Then the colors shift—white, green, blue, crimson—spells and essence merging into a single current. Valia speaks first. "[Tier 5 – Radiant Nova Surge]!" Her light becomes a core of blinding fire that also heals Asdri, channeled instantly through the bond into Asdri's chest. "[Tier 5 – Windrazor Tempest]!" Famir adds, his storm compressing into a blade of air that threads through the link, whirling around the surge of light. "[Tier 5 – Cryoheart Lance]!" Ingra's voice cracks as frost pours from her arms, forming an elegant spear of ice and ancient cold, fusing with the others. "[Tier 5 – Stonebreaker Might]!" Pyke roars, and the ground far below rumbles in answer. His force erupts upward, raw and crushing, entering the flow like a heartbeat. Asdri's body convulses. He screams—but doesn't stop. The energy tears through him, rips into him, changes him. His skin splits at the seams of his armor. Blood runs from his eyes, his nose, his mouth. His blade cracks—not shatters—changes, glowing like it's made of living mana. His voice is barely human. "I... can feel it..." Valia's voice reaches him—calm, steady. "Say the words, Asdri." He raises his sword. Everything gathers. His body trembles, twitching under the weight of something beyond what a tier 5 should carry. He speaks the name, through clenched teeth and raw pain. "[Tier 5 Link Fusion—Judgement Arc: Heavenbreaker]!" The sky goes still. Sound disappears. Then— BOOOOOOM. A pillar of light and storm explodes downward. It's not a beam. It's a verdict. Lightning twisted with wind, stone, frost, divine light. It carves the heavens in two. The monster barely lifts its head before the strike hits. The blast is instantaneous. It doesn't pierce the monster. It erases part of it. Wings—gone. A whole limb—disintegrated. The creature screams, flailing, staggering mid-air as parts of it boil away into ash. Its body convulses, black fluid evaporating before it hits the ground. Asdri drops. His blade falls first—still glowing. Then his body plummets like a dead star, sparks trailing behind. "ASDRI!" Valia screams. Famir dives. Ingra follows. Pyke launches downward with a curse on his lips. Valia reaches him first—catching his fall in a net of golden light, slowing him just before the final impact. His eyes are half-closed. Blood pours from his ears. "I... can't hear you..." he whispers, smile flickering. "Did we win?" The monster below, writhing and broken, lets out one last howl— And explodes in a wave of black mist, defeated. The link finally snaps. Silence. Then the sky breaks open again—not with thunder, but with cheers. From the ground, from the towers, from every street still standing. They saw it. They saw gods fight in the sky. And they saw one of them fall—not in defeat, but in victory. From a distant tower balcony, Alix stands quietly, arms crossed over his chest. Beside him, Draya watches with wide eyes, the golden afterglow reflecting in her gaze. "...Your Majesty," she murmurs, her voice laced with genuine awe. "Those humans... they're quite impressive. To bring down a Tier 6 summon with nothing but Tier 5 strength..." She shakes her head, silver strands catching the light. "And that skill. It's my first time seeing anything like it." Alix doesn't answer at first. His gaze lingers on the sky—on the space where the heavens had been split in two. Then, softly, he replies, "It's called a link skill."