Chapter 50 – Battling a true genius
The air cracked.
A ripple of pressure blasted through the altar chamber as Reivan stepped forward, eyes locked onto Jin. Poison essence surged around him like a living shadow, tendrils licking the floor and walls, melting stone with each touch.
"You've been hiding," Reivan said, voice low. "But now… I see you."
Jin stepped in front of Lyra. "Stay behind me."
She hesitated, hand tightening around her blade. "You can't take him alone. He's peak Adept—"
"I'm not alone," Jin said, and the dark orb inside his soul pulsed.
Reivan's smirk twisted. "Oh, I know. That thing inside you... it is known as a curse and a blessing at the same time, the previous owner wasn't limited to planet detrox. I've only felt this aura from the relic left by the ancestors" Seeing what can be considered a myth made Reivan's eyes shine red with greed.
With a flash, he vanished.
Jin's instincts screamed. He spun, ducked—and barely avoided a venom-tipped claw slashing toward his throat. Wind exploded outward as the altar cracked beneath their feet. Jin retaliated, launching a burst of water laced with slicing wind, forcing Reivan to dodge.
The rogue cultivator snarled. "You'll give me that orb—willingly or not!"
He slammed his palm into the ground.
A poison field erupted, flooding the chamber in green mist. Statues melted, stone warped, and Lyra screamed, leaping away as droplets hissed on her skin.
Jin summoned a cyclone of wind, forming a protective barrier that pushed back the toxic cloud. But Reivan was already moving—appearing above him like a ghost.
Claws met stone.
Jin summoned twin blades of hardened earth, parrying the strike mid-air. Sparks exploded. Jin flipped back, landing in a crouch, sweat trickling down his brow.
He was faster. Stronger than before.
But not enough.
Not yet.
Reivan descended again, this time shrouded in poison wings. The air warped as he launched dozens of compressed venom bolts, each whistling with fatal intent.
Jin growled and threw up a layered earth wall, reinforced with steam and heat from fire and water essence, the barrier rippling as the bolts struck with explosive force.
*BOOM!"
The altar chamber trembled. A massive fissure split the ground. Lyra screamed from across the room as the floor caved under her feet.
"Lyra!"
Jin lunged, catching her hand at the last second—but Reivan was already on him, slamming a boot into his ribs.
Jin flew backward, slamming into the wall.
His vision blurred.
The orb inside him throbbed dangerously.
> Unleash me.
No. Not yet.
He rose slowly, blood on his lips.
Reivan chuckled. "You're stubborn. I'll enjoy tearing that power out of you."
Then—
BOOOOOM!
The far wall exploded inward.
A figure burst through the smoke and rubble like a meteor, slamming into Reivan and sending him crashing into a pillar.
"Get your hands off my brother," Gorr snarled, eyes glowing faintly with spatial ripples.
He stood tall, wrapped in a soft halo of space essence, the air around him shimmering as if torn between dimensions. The floor beneath his feet fractured, warped by the bending of reality.
"About time," Jin coughed, grinning.
"You were about to die without me," Gorr said.
Reivan rose from the rubble, face bloodied. "You again."
"Surprised?" Gorr cracked his neck. "I heard you were still breathing. Thought I'd fix that."
Without warning, Gorr teleported, leaving a shadowy afterimage.
He reappeared behind Reivan, slamming a fist enhanced by a condensed spatial ripple into the rogue's back. Reivan flew forward—only for Gorr to blink again, appearing in his path and landing another blow.
The chamber shook with each impact. Poison and space clashed, warping the air into a kaleidoscope of destruction.
Reivan snarled and summoned a giant serpent of pure venom. It lunged, fangs bared—but Jin reacted, forming a spinning vortex of wind and fire, incinerating the beast mid-air.
Steam hissed. Stone cracked.
Now it was two-on-one.
Reivan gritted his teeth. "You vermin! You think numbers matter?!"
He drew from his core.
Dark wings of toxin burst from his back, and his body expanded, muscles bulging. Veins turned black, eyes glowing. He entered a half-demonic state, overflowing with corrupted essence.
Lyra shouted, "That's a forbidden technique!"
Jin didn't care.
He launched into the air, riding compressed wind currents, trailing flames, zipping across the room like a firestorm. Gorr followed suit, vanishing and reappearing in a flicker, bending space to trap Reivan in a corner of the chamber.
Still, Reivan held firm.
He grabbed Gorr mid-punch and slammed him into the altar. A shockwave rippled through the chamber, knocking Jin off course.
Blood splattered.
"GORR!"
Reivan didn't stop.
He formed a massive poison halberd and raised it, preparing to stab through Gorr's chest.
Jin roared—and the orb answered.
"ENOUGH."
His vision dimmed.
And then—light exploded from within.
Everything stopped.
Dark tendrils lashed outward from Jin's body, swirling like a storm of stars. Time slowed. The chamber darkened. Reivan froze, eyes wide, halberd trembling in his hands.
Jin floated forward, cloaked in shadows laced with starlight.
His voice was not just his own.
"You were warned."
A single finger extended.
The halberd crumbled.
A pulse of force erupted from Jin's body—Reivan was blasted across the room, smashed into the far wall with a sickening crack. Blood poured from his mouth.
And yet…
He stood.
Barely.
"You… monster," Reivan hissed.
Jin lowered his hand, essence dimming. His eyes flickered—back to normal.
Gorr coughed. "That… was new."
Lyra nodded, stunned. "He wasn't just channeling it… the ruin obeyed him."
But the ruin wasn't done.
The ceiling finally gave in.
Stone rained down.
"Collapse!" Lyra shouted.
Jin grabbed Gorr. "Hold tight!"
Lyra activated a jade talisman—space warped around them.
Just as the ruin imploded—
They vanished.
---
They reappeared miles away, on a cliff overlooking the ruin site. Smoke rose from the earth as the ground caved in, swallowing the ruin whole.
Jin dropped to one knee, gasping.
Gorr was bruised but alive.
Lyra was pale but conscious.
They were alive.
But Reivan… was gone.
And the orb inside Jin now pulsed softly… as if satisfied.