Chapter 267: Dark magic of Rax'ashs - 7

Words : 1633 Updated : Oct 14th, 2025

Jolthar breathed out heavily and decided to unleash the chaos sword technique. The grip on the sword hilt tightened, the chaos energy increasing again. Jolthar felt time slow as he entered the mindset of the Chaosbane's first form. Eclipse Slash—the strike that exists in the space between moments. Horgath's chaos darkened, absorbing the blue aura and green energy. It was feeding on those two energies, strengthening itself. Jolthar was surprised by this new ability of chaos. He had no time to dwell on it, so he focused on the chaos energy building up in him. The blade's edge seemed to disappear, becoming a void in the shape of a sword—a cut in reality itself. Lodawg sensed the shift in energies. His bronze face contorted in sudden alarm as he recognized what was happening. "That damned chaos!" he yelled, bronze hands moving in intricate patterns as he hastily constructed layers of crimson barriers before him. He wasn't attacking; he was setting up a barrier to block the attack. He knew it would deal him great damage if he went near him now. Evading the attack wasn't possible, as he couldn't guess the range of the attack. Judging the amount of chaos Jolthar was building up, Lodawg could vaguely guess the amount of destruction it could unleash. He chuckled, "I must have really pissed him off." Jolthar didn't respond. Words were meaningless now, in the space between moments. Horgath had enough chaos stored in it, and it was starting to shake. Jolthar held the sword in both his hands, feeling the faint hum of the sword. The chaos had the sword trembling, and it was different than before. Maybe because of the absorption of the other energies. He held the sword firmly, the buzzing noise increasing as he swung the sword. Horgath moved in a perfect arc, trailing absolute darkness. The Eclipse Slash had begun. The attack released a wave of negative space—not energy, but its absence, a vacuum that consumed everything in its path. Where it touched the earth, matter simply ceased to exist, erasing rather than destroying. Lodawg's crimson barriers shattered one after another, their magical essence devoured by the slash's hunger. The magician's golden eyes widened in genuine fear as he threw everything into defence, drawing on the dragon heart's power within him to erect additional layers of protection. He truly was terrified of the chaos, and once touched by it, the damage it causes cannot be repaired, no matter what. From the clearing's edge, Johamma recognized what was happening. She could see the vast amount of chaos building up; the radius wasn't limited to them. So she quickly made way, away from the blast radius. As she was moving away, she saw Cleora and Maelruth standing frozen, watching the battle. "What are you still doing here?" Johamma shouted at them. Cleora turned to Johamma, unable to tear her gaze from Jolthar. She pointed at Jolthar, but Johamma shook her head, "He'll be fine, but we won't be if we don't leave this place now." She turned to the battlefield; she could see the giant dome-like energy building around Lodawg, and it wasn't stopping. "We have to hurry!" Cleora hastily got on the drake, and so did Johamma. The silver-haired woman glanced at the confrontation, clearly wanting to help, but she tore her gaze away and urged Maelruth to take them away from here. Maelruth reluctantly moved from the spot. Cleora's gaze never left Jolthar as he was still unleashing the chaos energy into the attack. They retreated rapidly away from the scene. The Eclipse Slash continued its expansion, growing beyond Jolthar's control. This was the danger of the first form—once released, it followed its own laws, indifferent to its wielder's intentions. The attack tore through the ground in an ever-widening circle, consuming stone, soil, and remnants of the dragon's corpse with equal indifference. Lodawg's final barrier fractured as the attack reached him. He twisted with inhuman speed, his bronze body contorting to avoid the full force of the attack. But even his enhanced reflexes weren't enough. The edge of the slash kissed his right arm, and where it touched, bronze simply ceased to be. The severed limb fell to the ground with a heavy thud as Lodawg leapt backward, golden eyes wide with shock and pain. There was no blood—the wound had been cauterised by the very absence of matter, leaving a perfectly smooth surface where his arm had been. The Eclipse Slash continued to expand, carving a perfect crater into the earth. Only at the centre, where Jolthar stood within the eye of the void storm, and at the edge where Lodawg had been thrown by the force of his own desperate evasion, did the ground remain intact—two small crests in a sea of perfect emptiness. The explosion caused by the attack lasted for a couple of minutes, and the sound it produced shook the very ground and the surrounding lands too. The tremor felt like a mini earthquake. The dust rose a lot higher into the sky, visible to the barony people. And they did see the blast, and also they felt the tremors caused by the attack. Roblan was making his way towards the lake with a couple of soldiers. The chaos energy gradually dissipated as the dust settled, leaving a crater dozens of metres in diameter, its edges unnaturally smooth, as if that section of reality had been precisely excised by a divine surgeon. Jolthar remained standing, but only just. His lungs burned as he fought to control his breathing, each inhalation a struggle against exhaustion. The first form of Chaosbane demanded a terrible price from its wielder and the energy drawn from his powers. It was a lot different than before, and it was powerful too. Across the crater, Lodawg stared at the stump where his right arm had been. Bronze fingers scrabbled at the severed edge, golden eyes wide with disbelief. "What in the devil's name are you, boy?!" he roared, voice cracking with a mixture of pain and fury. He was no longer smiling. He was angry and terribly annoyed. The bronze golem concentrated, crimson energy flowing toward the wound. The magic that had allowed him to adapt and control his form after consuming the dragon heart now focused on regeneration. But where the void had touched, nothing happened. The smooth surface remained unchanged, magic sliding off it like water from glass. "It won't grow back," Jolthar said between laboured breaths, forcing himself to stand straight despite the bone-deep weariness. "The chaos severs more than flesh and bone. It cuts the very connection to existence." Fury contorted Lodawg's bronze features. "You are nothing but a pest. How can you wield that power?!" he snarled, still attempting to channel regenerative energy to the stump. "The dragon heart's power—" "Cannot restore what no longer exists in any realm," Jolthar finished. Lodawg's golden eyes narrowed, reassessing Jolthar with new wariness. "Mad sovereign," he repeated slowly. "The old crook left behind such a treasure. In the hands of losers." "A complete loser who doesn't know the importance of what it is." Jolthar smirked, "If I were one, he wouldn't have left alive for touching his sword." "Don't be a fool," Lodawg said, reading his intention. "You are merely lucky. Yes, it is luck." Lodawg had no idea of what he was saying at this point. His monstrous side was starting to take effect, showing its effect. The transformation had been done in haste. Jolthar frowned, seeing as he was able to withstand such an attack. The transformation was really powerful, making him quite strong. Then abruptly, Lodawg roared as he slammed his remaining fist into the ground. Cracks spread outward, glowing with internal crimson light. The ground beneath Jolthar's feet suddenly erupted in a pillar of dragon-fire, drawing on the same power that had nearly overwhelmed him during his battle with the actual dragon. Only the instinctive flaring of his voidwrath saved him, silver energy forming a shield at the last possible moment. Even so, the force of the eruption sent him flying backward, landing hard at the crater's edge near where Johamma had been. Jolthar quickly got to his feet. Lodawg advanced steadily around the crater's edge, each step leaving molten footprints in stone. "I should thank you, in a way," he called. "I didn't realize the limitations of this form until you removed my arm. It's... instructive." He raised his remaining hand, examining it thoughtfully. "I'll need to consume more dragon hearts, I think. Perhaps three more will be sufficient to reach the transcendent state." "Do you think I will let you leave?" Jolthar said. he knew he had to end this quickly before his power ran out. Lodawg's bronze features twisted into a smile. "I know; that's why I will kill you before I leave here." Lodawg started running towards Jolthar at great speed, even though he was wounded. Just as Lodawg's talons were about to close around his throat, Jolthar moved. Not the calculated motion of formal combat, but the pure, instinctive reaction of survival. The Beast King's green energy propelled him sideways while telekinesis formed a battering ram that struck Lodawg's midsection. The bronze golem staggered but recovered quickly, golden eyes tracking Jolthar's movement. "Just how long can you endure?" he spat. "No matter what, you will run out of your strange energy soon, then I will kill you." "Then let us end this quickly, ugly mutt," Jolthar replied, the chaos aura now visibly emanating from his skin.

Chapter 267: Dark magic of Rax'ashs - 7

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