Crimson blood scattered into the air before splattering across the brown earth and the green grass below. Blue felt the world slow around him as pain struck his mind in that instant, yet he did not truly register it. He knew he was injured, he could feel it clearly, but he did not react to the pain itself. He had been wounded far too many times, on far too many missions, to flinch or falter at every sensation of agony his body had ever produced.

But although he did not react to the pain, he reacted to something else entirely: the injury itself. Not because it was deep or fatal, by his standards, it was nothing more than a wound. But at that very moment, it should have been impossible. The Tenth Sun had injured him. His mind ground to a halt as shock crashed through his thoughts, his perception freezing as reality asserted itself in a way he had not anticipated.

Yes, the Tenth Sun had uncovered a limitation within his Nullification ability, but so what? Even if the Tenth Sun possessed techniques of his own, he too had techniques, techniques honed through years of blood-soaked missions, sharpened in the shadows as an assassin. He was not some inexperienced combatant who would crumble at the first unexpected variable.

'My blood…' His thoughts trailed off for the briefest moment, but then they snapped back into place with ruthless precision. He was an assassin. There was no room for distraction, no space for shock or disbelief. His enemy stood before him, and that was all that mattered.

Asher did not hesitate. He recalibrated instantly, his grip tightening as his rapier, Virelass, tore forward once again. This time, the blade lunged toward the assassin's neck with murderous intent. The wind was shredded apart like fragile paper as Virelass rocketed forward, gleaming with lethal glee, as though mocking the assassin, reminding him that whatever advantage he once held over Asher was rapidly slipping away.

This time, Blue did not dare to take the attack head-on. Instead, he sidestepped sharply, his body tearing sideways in a blur of motion. In the next instant, he vanished entirely, leaving only flickering afterimages behind him. Virelass's edge met nothing but empty air, releasing a violent burst of force that carved through the surroundings. Every tree within a five-meter radius was sliced cleanly apart, their trunks severed into perfect shapes and equal sizes before they toppled to the ground in silent ruin.

Asher's eyes snapped toward the side, locking onto the presence he sensed. Blue stood there, staring at him. For the first time, Asher could clearly see the face behind the assassin's white mask, and what he saw didn't even make his expression shift. Shock was written plainly across Blue's features, along with a desperate struggle to fully comprehend the sudden shift in the battle's tempo. Yes, when Asher injured Blue, everything had changed.

As for how Asher had managed to injure him, the explanation was simple… at least to Asher. During battle, his mind never stopped working, never ceased calculating. He had taken the assassin's phasing technique, refined it, improved it, and applied it directly to Virelass. The logic was straightforward: if human bodies, and even the clothes they wore, could phase through attacks, then why couldn't weapons do the same?

With that newly refined technique, he had wounded Blue, the seemingly legendary assassin who stood before him.

Asher never engaged Blue head-on. Although he knew he currently held the upper hand, he was not foolish enough to let confidence rot into arrogance. He understood the gap that still existed between them. He was using a combination of techniques he had observed throughout his transmigration, stacking them together to amplify his speed and strength just enough to barely keep up. He knew with absolute certainty that if he exchanged even a single direct clash with Blue, he would be the one to lose.

Thus, his rapier and Blue's short sword only met when Asher was the one initiating the attack, nothing more, nothing less.

"It seems," Asher's voice rang out calmly through the air as his gaze met the assassin's black eyes, "that while your Nullification ability is activated, you can't also use your own Astra energy."

Blue's eyes narrowed instantly, sharp as pincers. 'He's discovered another limitation,' he realized, a chill running down his spine.

He couldn't remember the last time he had felt like this, the heat of battle, the suffocating intensity, the cruel despair of believing he held something decisive, only for it to be stripped away. Normally, as an assassin, he was the one doing the analyzing. He was trained to dissect opponents mid-battle, to uncover weaknesses and formulate perfect countermeasures in real time, just as every true assassin was taught to do.

But now, the roles were reversed.

At this moment, he felt as though he was being laid bare, analyzed down to the smallest detail. His chest pounded violently within his ribcage, each heartbeat echoing loudly in his ears. Whether it was fear or something else entirely, even he could not say, but the sound would not fade.

On the other hand, there was little else for him to analyze about Asher. Beyond his absurd battle talent and the terrifying rate at which his abilities evolved during combat, there was nothing he could truly pin down. As far as Blue could tell, Asher possessed only the Lightning element, nothing more.

The abilities of his soul-bound rapier, however, were another matter. Blue had several thoughts, a few educated guesses about what the weapon's second ability might be, but he could not be certain. The Tenth Sun had yet to reveal anything beyond the first ability, and a few things here and there, leaving that question unanswered.

Asher's conclusion had been simple, almost obvious. It did not take a genius to see something standing so clearly in front of him. If his opponent could use Astra energy while Nullification was active, then from the very beginning Blue would have used it to enhance his physical abilities and ended the battle swiftly.

Asher stood calmly, making no move to attack. To him, every second Blue spent hesitating worked in his favor. That time allowed him to further refine and improve the assassin techniques he deemed most critical for the situation. His Battle Intuition, Instinctive Adaptation, and Optimal Movement Efficiency had been saving him continuously throughout the fight, keeping him alive against an overwhelmingly dangerous opponent. Perfect Muscle Memory allowed him to polish every technique on the fly, refining execution with each passing moment.

At this moment, every ability governed by Asher's Absolute Physique flared to its utmost peak.

Time itself seemed to slow as the two stared at one another, silently reading each other's intentions. Asher waited patiently, fully aware that Blue was weighing his options, struggling to come to a decision. And Asher knew, without doubt, that if Blue chose to deactivate his Nullification ability and rely on Astra energy instead, this battle would end decisively within the next minute.

And so, the impasse settled between them.

Would Blue deactivate his Nullification ability and immediately begin using his Astra energy, or would he cling to his Nullification ability until the battle reached its inevitable conclusion?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.