Chapter 641: [Event] [The Beauty And The Beast] [21] Amael VS Earth

"Who are you?" Braham asked, his eyes narrowing as he leapt back, parrying the latest attack with a loud clash of steel.

He shouldn’t have had to ask.

That presence.

It has to be Roda. He was sure of it. And yet...

Something felt wrong.

It had been a while since he’d last seen her—years, maybe—but the sheer power she now radiated made his skin crawl. That wasn’t the Roda he remembered. This version of her moved like someone far beyond her years. The way her blows landed, how precisely she dodged—she wasn’t just fighting; she was reading him, reacting before he even moved.

And her strength. It was terrifying.

"Ninth Ascension..." Braham muttered under his breath, disbelief flickering in his eyes. That level of power? At seventeen?

No. That shouldn’t be possible. Not even the greatest prodigies had reached that state so young. He’d seen monsters rise through the ranks before, but this... this was different.

But there was something else.

He noticed it.

She wasn’t just fighting him—she was desperate to end it.

"You can’t hold this form for long, can you?" He asked.

Roda didn’t answer.

Instead, she launched at him again.

This time, she moved faster—noticeably faster. Her form shimmered mid-sprint, and in the blink of an eye, she shifted into one of the Bestial Forms. Her limbs seemed to blur, her feet barely touching the ground.

Braham’s instincts screamed. He wasn’t about to underestimate her.

With a grunt, he let loose all the prana he’d been holding back. His energy exploded outward in a radiant storm, wild rays of prana lashing out in all directions. The ground below cracked. Buildings shattered. The people caught in the blast radius screamed and scattered, some too slow to escape the reach of his overwhelming power.

For a split second, Roda paused—hesitation flickering across her movements—but it didn’t last. Gritting her teeth, she surged forward, her twin daggers slicing through the storm of prana with uncanny precision. Each step was fluid, her motions fast and precise as she carved a straight path toward him.

And then she was there.

Up close.

Her white hair whipped in the wind, her eyes focused like blades as she gripped her daggers tighter and swung with full force.

-BOOOOM!

A shockwave burst through the sky as her attack collided with Braham.

But instead of the blades sinking in, Roda’s eyes widened.

Her daggers had landed—but they hadn’t pierced.

Braham stood, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. His skin—thick, hardened like reinforced steel—had caught the blades.

"Nice try," he growled.

Then he countered.

His clawed hand whipped through the air with monstrous speed, aiming straight for her skull.

Roda reacted on instinct, jerking her body backward. She barely avoided the fatal blow, the tips of his claws slicing through the air where her face had just been. But not without cost.

As she landed, half of her mask crumbled away, falling to the ground in pieces. A streak of blood slid down her forehead, just below her left eye—an eye now revealed as pure, glowing white.

"Now we’re getting somewhere," Braham narrowed his eyes.

***

I sprinted forward, my feet pounding the ground as I pushed through the battlefield haze. Just up ahead, I finally caught sight of them—locked in combat, prana flaring around them like a storm.

And there she was.

Roda.

Her prana flared with intense heat, rising in wild torrents like a bonfire about to go out of control. She was clearly prepared for this fight—more than prepared—but she was burning too much, too fast. I couldn’t let her keep going like that. She’d tear herself apart at this rate.

Gritting my teeth, I accelerated, the world narrowing around me as I reached for Perseus. The blade surged into my grasp, humming with gathering mana. But just as I was about to intervene—

A flicker of danger, sudden and sharp on the back of my neck.

Instinct took over. I pivoted, bringing Perseus up to guard my flank.

-BAM!!

A powerful impact struck my shoulder like a freight train. The blow launched me off my feet, hurling me like a ragdoll through the air until I slammed through the crumbling facade of a nearby building. Bricks and dust exploded around me, burying me in rubble.

"Ugh..." I grunted, coughing through grit and smoke.

I rose, brushing aside the debris. My gaze turned cold, cutting, as I stared out through the settling dust.

And there he stood—Earth.

"Are you pissed, Nyr?" Earth said, flashing a smirk.

"Get out of my way," I snapped, extending my hand. In a flash of silver light, Perseus returned to my grip.

"Yeah, no can do, Nyrel," he replied with a shrug. "Don’t you have better things to do? Like, I don’t know, take care of your women?"

I snorted. "I’m pretty sure whatever I waste my time on is still more productive than your existence."

He chuckled. "See, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m enjoying this way too much. No Ephera, no Elizabeth to save your ass this time—just you, me, and a good ol’ fashioned beatdown."

-BOOOM!

Golden fire exploded around him, roaring into life. Flames licked the air, radiant and wild. A wave of heat blasted across the street, washing over me like a solar flare.

"It seems Heldora’s got a bone to pick with your Dragon too," Earth said, grinning wide. "So let’s wrap this up, shall we?"

He lunged.

A punch—flaming and fast—came hurtling toward me. I caught it, but the impact sent me skidding backward, my boots tearing through the street until I slammed into another wall with a grunt.

Before I could steady myself, his other arm—wreathed in golden flames—swung down.

"Heldora: Solar Claws!"

I barely had time to raise my shoulder to shield myself before pain tore through me. My sleeve ignited, fabric disintegrating as his blazing claws ripped into my arm. The heat bit deep, searing into flesh.

I groaned, staggering back.

"Vysindra," I muttered through clenched teeth.

A wave of purple fire surged from within me, answering my call—and then some.

The flames burst out, wilder and more intense than I’d intended. Vysindra was reacting, stirred by something more than just my will. Her fire wasn’t just mine anymore—it was alive, furious.

Earth leapt backward with a smug grin etched across his face.

With a lazy flick of his wrist, a sword materialized in his hand—wreathed in blazing golden flames. The heat from it was intense, and even from a distance I could feel the night air warping, turning stifling and dry.

"You know what’s funny, Nyr?" He said, lifting the flaming blade high. Its light blazed brighter and brighter, the fire wrapping around him in chaotic spirals. The golden inferno twisted like it had a mind of its own, casting long shadows that danced across the broken street.

His pupils narrowed into sharp, vertical slits, glinting like molten gold. A subtle shift rippled through his arms—scales, shimmering and golden, began to surface along his skin.

"After all these years," he continued, "you’re still playing the same tired game. Losing... again and again. It’s like some twisted cycle you can’t escape. You pull people in, get them killed, and when they’re gone—you just start all over again with new faces."

I said nothing.

"Are you working with Behemoth?" I asked, ignoring his jab.

That wiped the grin off his face—for just a heartbeat.

Then he shook his head slowly, the smirk curling back onto his lips. "Leon Grimlock."

My eyes narrowed.

"Ahaha! There it is," Earth laughed, pointing at my face like I was some kind of amusing show. "That look. I just say his name, and you get that pissed-off expression. Priceless."

His tone turned darker.

"He killed your parents, right? And me? I killed Shayna. Guess that makes us comrades in making your life miserable, huh?" His smile flattened into something colder as he raised his sword with both hands, bracing himself.

Then the ground beneath us trembled.

A massive magic circle—a golden, glowing sigil ancient in design—flared to life in front of him. Not just one ring, but eight distinct layers each rotating in opposite directions, humming with raw mana.

The air exploded with heat as a monstrous roar ripped through the silence.

From the center of the circle, something took form—jaws, enormous and fanged, forged entirely from golden fire. A dragon’s maw. It snarled and thrashed as if it were alive.

The sheer force of the mana knocked my hair back, whipping around.

But I stood my ground, purple flames curling protectively around me.

Five glowing purple rings spun tightly around my right arm, crackling with unstable mana. I steadied my breathing and tightened my grip on Perseus, now burning with the dark glow of Anathema’s Fire.

Earth’s eyes glowed.

"Take this, Nyr!"

He swung.

The dragon’s maw surged forward, a comet of scorching fire, roaring as it flew straight at me.

I met it head-on.

With a shout, I slashed upward, Perseus cutting through the air in a trail of purple flame. The impact was immediate—like trying to cleave through a mountain.

The jaws clamped down against my blade. The force hurled me backward as my boots scraped and skidded across the cracked stone. I gritted my teeth, arms trembling from the effort, refusing to let up.

Perseus shuddered violently in my hands, the metal groaning, fangs of golden flame biting into it.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the blade, glowing with heat and stress.

-BOOM!!

The pressure reached its limit.

Perseus shattered.

The sword exploded in a spray of golden embers, fragments vanishing like dying stars into the night.

Earth appeared right in front of me in a flash and brought his flaming sword down toward my head in arc.

I twisted my body, the blade narrowly missing as I dipped low, spinning on my heel. My foot snapped up in a counter-kick aimed at his side, but Earth reacted fast. He caught my leg mid-strike and hurled me away.

My back scraped against the stone as I skidded across the ground, but I regained balance, landing on both feet. The moment I looked up, he was already advancing.

"You can’t beat me, Nyr," he growled. "I told you before—your hatred only makes me stronger. The more you hate, the stronger I become!"

He lunged, but this time I moved first. Faster.

Before he could react, I closed the distance, appearing just inches from him. His eyes widened in disbelief.

I grabbed him by the collar.

Then slammed him hard into the ground.

-BAM!!

"Aghh!" He coughed, blood spraying from his mouth as he hit the dirt with a bone-jarring thud. But he didn’t stay down. His eyes flared with rage and he swung his flaming blade straight at me.

I caught it.

Bare-handed.

His expression froze—utter disbelief etched across his features. "W—What?!"

With my right hand still gripping his shirt, I clenched my left hand tighter around the flaming blade, ignoring the searing heat. My palm crackled with embers, skin blackening—but I didn’t flinch.

I could feel his breath ragging as I shifted my grip, wrapping my fingers slowly around his throat.

His face began to flush red as the pressure increased. He thrashed, coughing and sputtering. "Heldora! Burn him alive!!"

His mana exploded.

A column of golden fire erupted from his body, engulfing us both. The heat was hellish—like being swallowed by the sun. Flames licked my skin, yet I didn’t scream, didn’t even groan.

I just stared at him.

Earth’s eyes filled with disbelief as he watched the fire devour me—and I didn’t even blink.

"What I feel toward you, Jayce..." I started narrowing my eyes, "isn’t hatred."

He choked, his face twisted in confusion and panic.

"It’s pity."

"Y–You!!"

I lifted him up, holding him by the throat. My other hand—still wrapped around his flaming sword—tightened. Anathema’s Fire surged, wild and hungry, and began to consume his golden flames.

His blade dimmed and cracked as the purple fire overtook it. Inch by inch, the golden flames died—devoured by the flames in my hand—until the sword transformed, completely overtaken. A weapon of deep purple flame, flickering like cursed flames, now rested in my grip.

"You bastard!!"

"Shut up," I muttered.

Then, with a single heave, I hurled him into the sky.

He flailed midair—just as I hurled my flaming sword with all the force I had behind it. The blade spun, trailing a comet of violet light, and struck straight through his chest.

-BOOOOM!!

A violent explosion bloomed high above, purple fire swallowing the sky for a heartbeat. A deafening shockwave followed, ripping through the air. And then—

-Thud!

Earth’s body hit the ground like a ragdoll, coughing up blood as he lay sprawled, eyes barely open.

I didn’t kill him.

Someone else deserved that privilege.

"W–What... are you going to do now?" He wheezed, blood bubbling from his lips.

I turned to walk away, saying nothing.

But then his broken voice clawed after me again.

"Find Ephera, huh?" He rasped, letting out a bloody chuckle. "Y–You’re the one who killed her."

My footsteps stopped.

Slowly, I turned my head over my shoulder, my gaze meeting his. He was grinning, crimson staining his teeth.

I raised my index finger.

A small sphere of Vysindra’s fire, condensed, swirled.

"You psycho monster—"

-BOOM!

The fireball hit him point-blank in his forehead knocking him out leaving a burning dot burn on his forehead.

"Don’t speak her name."