Ascenders Rift

Chapter 17: Evan's Defeat? An Unlikely Ally!

At Arelith's core, far within the depths of its major city, a stunning scene had occurred. It's buildings now scarred by a huge gash that created a series of rubbles and dust, seeming to have been cut open by a large sword. Looking carefully, one would see a giant figure that stood menacingly with a vicious weapon his hand. His eyes glared fiercely at the gash that spread out across roughly three buildings as if seeking something.

"This human... to think he could have narrowly escaped that slash... no matter, he doesn't have long left to live, I'll find him and bear witness to the end of his story. Hahaha!" Aperehs said with a laugh as he found it quite entertaining. His body then leaped from the ground reaching a few dozens of meters in the air, as he landed on top of the tallest building seeking to track Evan's location.

A distance away, a critically wounded young man had crashed in between the center of a building. His arms gripped a badly cracked cutlass that he shakily held before his chest. The blade seemed as if it would break at any moment as each time his arm shook, chips of its edge would fall apart onto the ground that was roughly a few dozen meters below him.

Evan was severely wounded, his body covered in blood as he coughed out a few chunks now and then. He gritted his teeth as his eyes became a bit hazy as he cursed, "That... bastard... shit, if I... had risked it... to... the final moments... of the last... day... and achieved... level... 3... then... maybe... maybe I'd... have fared... better... cough..."

Evan spat out a bit of blood once again, which splashed over his chest, his eyes stilly hazy as his consciousness was now fading.

"Damn... a single moment... of carelessness... is all it takes... to ruin... one's... advantage..." Evan said in an even weaker tone.

Soon, his arm grew even weaker as the cutlass fell towards the ground. In moments, it crashed into the earth, shattering to pieces along with the hope for victory. At this sight, Evan who was angry couldn't even curse; he had now lost the means of speech as he could only bitterly glare at the world. Yet, even in this time of despair, a hateful voice had arrived.

"Haha! Human, I've found you. You did get blown quite all the way; sorry I should have held back more." Aperehs resonant voice sounded across the area as his towering figure landed on a nearby building, causing it to make a booming noise.

Aperehs then began to file his teeth with the executor sword as he casually spoke as if he was talking with a dear friend, "You know... it's been many eons since I've had a chance to stretch... every age my strength grows even weaker, but I have to say that the last guy put up quite a fight I tell you. He wasn't a human, of course, but a Sentonian Being. I can tell you now; I had a good match with him for one day and one night, his skills were far above the likes of standard lifeforms. Yet, it's a pity that he couldn't kill me in the end, as I had latched off his head with my sword amidst our final strikes. The look of terror and regret on his face was priceless ah, now that I recall it, that was such a wonderful scene..."

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After Aperehs spoke to here, he had put the down sword and shifted his eyes towards Evan, noticing that the latter couldn't speak. He smirked as he spoke, "Oh... multiple deep wounds, and an injured throat, yeesh not a good sight at all. I don't know what they were thinking, a human of all things. Sigh... humans are less than average beings with their maximum potential limited to Stage 4 and Stage 5 Ascended Beings at best. Rarely, would there be one to arrive at Stage 6, much less Stage 7? Yet, they want humans to partake in this conflict between Superior Beings, along with Apex Lifeforms."

When he said this, Aperehs expression soon changed to one of regret and helplessness as he thought with a deep set of eyes, "Yet, who even cares? I suppose it's but only a game in the end..."

Not long after saying this, Aperehs cleared his thoughts as he looked at Evan once more. Noticing that the latter was about to die, he spoke, "Human, fare not, I shall at least give you the respect of a warriors end..."

Aperehs then got to his feet and slowly made way over to Evan at a nearer structure, once he had arrived before him. He then raised his executor sword and smirked as he spoke, "You see, I'm only an executor, and my duty remains the same even if I'm a fallen..."

Evan, who listened to all that crap, couldn't help but curse as his mind continued to grow hazy, "Bastard... if I live, I will certainly have... my revenge..."

Soon after thinking those thoughts, Evan's mind had begun to lose its consciousness. Yet, it was at this time, the blood-red pendant on his chest had started to give off a burning sensation. Evan feeling this was shocked as he inwardly exclaimed, "This... how's this possible? It's awakened at such an early stage!"

As Evan's mind was reeling in shock, Aperehs resonant voice sounded in his mind, "It's time to go..."

Evan, hearing this cursed in his mind as he started to grow anxious, "Damn! If only I had time, just a bit of time is all I need... and maybe, I'll be able to turn this around..."

While Evan was in turmoil, it was at this very moment, a similarly hateful but well-needed voice sounded in his ears.

"Evannnn! I've found you..." The excited voice of Ralph sounded throughout the area as Evan, who was too weak to even talk, was alarmed. However, his face soon turned to one of excitement as he made a slightly audible chuckle as he said inwardly, "You fool..."

Aperehs was a bit surprised by the noise; he turned his sights from Evan towards the distance. There, he saw a tall man in with glasses, garbed in a business suit, carrying an arrogant smile on his face.

"Hmm, what's going on here? There was another human? Well, it looks like I'll have to let this one accompany me for a little while longer, there too easy to break after all..." Aperehs said out loud without care of if anyone heard his disdain.

Ralph was stunned as he heard this, but his eyes soon shone with excitement as he shouted happily, "Hahaha! Good! A boss from a Level 3 Lesser Space is certainly the most excellent reward; once I kill you, I will be able to advance into the upper tier of the organization. This is my chance, my road to climb to the heavens!"

Aperehs showed a look of disdain towards Ralph, he then spoke without even adopting a proper combat stance, "That mouth of yours is a bit troubling, I'll deal with it first..."

"Huh? You're nothing but a useless mob, meant to be slaughtered for my evolution, how dare you talk back to m---eh?" Ralph was about to unleash a slur of words, but it was at this time that he noticed Aperehs was gone.

Soon, a shadow had arrived above Ralph, causing his scalp to go numb; he wanted to react as he yelled, "Nooo!"

However, it was too late; the shadow was, in fact, Aperehs palm, which had already descended on Ralph's body.

Bang! With a loud boom, the building on which Ralph stood was destroyed, as his figure descended into its rubbles. A shockwave then scattered about the area, causing a few nearby buildings to show cracks while even Evan's figure had started to fall from his previous location.

The gigantic form of Aperehs now stood within the cloud of dust and debris, only showing his sinisterly glowing red eyes as one hand gripped the executor sword, and the other slowly began to throw away the rubbles.

Not long after, he had pulled the severely wounded Ralph from out of the wreckage by his leg; his body was twitching as he couldn't even open his mouth to speak. Yet, if one were to look into his now hardly recognizable face, they would see that deep within his eyes was an abundant amount of fear.

"Excellent! That's the look, the feeling... it's been such a long time since I've seen that look. I'll add you to my collection..." Aperehs said with a look similar to that of an appraiser as he looked at Ralph's face.

As Ralph heard this, his face grew even more fearful, causing Aperehs to show a please smile. He then turned around to look for Evan but saw that Evan was falling from the air.

"Oh, that's not good. We can't have that now, can we? I promised you a good death after all..." Aperehs said as he made a jumping motion vanishing like a blurry shadow as he quickly approached Evan's location. Yet, before he could arrive, a strange change had occurred.