Ascension of the Dark Seraph - Chapter 282

Chapter 282: Simple but Effective
Barely minutes ago, Leo was suffering from the fresh wound on his stomach.

It was bad enough that he couldn’t even walk straight.

But now, the bleeding stopped, and the wound was nowhere to be seen.

Considering that Leo’s bloodline, a Shadowling bloodline, has no healing abilities, this was extremely odd. Maybe he has an artifact that was capable of healing him, or at least that’s what the woman thought initially, but the wicked smile that curled on Leo’s lips made the truth vivid.

The Leo she was helping right now wasn’t Leo at all—he was an impostor.

Since there was nobody else around here other than Renis and Lucivar, the answer was obvious.

“A Tribrid…?” She rasped in absolute terror.

From the intel, Lucivar was a Harpy Hybrid—for him to mimic Leo to perfection like this meant he had another bloodline inside of him, making him a Tribrid. Of course, this wasn’t true, he was more than a mere Tribrid.

Then again, Lucivar didn’t bother correcting—he pushed her instead.

As the woman stumbled backward, her eyes turned to the side and she saw that the monster was already on her.

At that moment, her survival instincts took over, forcing her to cough up more ether and creating a blast that propelled her forward, propelling her toward the cave. But even then, she wasn’t fast enough as her legs got hit by the charging monster, sending her body spinning and crashing into the cave walls.

Everything was spinning, and her eyes were blurry.

“Hehk… Hehk…”

She gasped for air, feeling numb on her lower body from the impact.

Then, slowly and painfully, she took a look at her lower half and found it had become a bloody mess.

Both her legs were bent unnaturally, and the spikes from the monster tore pieces of her flesh.

Normally, a monster with a Chrysalis-rank power would need multiple Hybrids at the same rank to take it down. It was mainly due to the fact that they have a natural advantage in physical prowess compared to Hybrids.

And seeing how one bump left the woman in this state, it seemed to be true.

Soon, she could hear footsteps approaching from her side.

Lucivar in Leo’s form approached her with steady steps.

“I know you have a lot of questions, so I’m going to at least answer some of them before you die,” Lucivar said as he wiped the blood that got smeared onto him. “Firstly, no, Leo isn’t dead. He’s fine. You can see him there in the corner,”

Upon hearing this, the woman turned to the end of the cave and saw Leo in the corner.

He was on his knees, only in his boxer shorts, and seemingly bound.

Even though he looked as if he was bound with his arms up, there was nothing tying him down.

Of course, it looked that way to the woman because only Leo could see the emerald chains.

Lucivar has absorbed all of his ether in his ether reserve and then cast the Snare ability.

Now, he was helplessly bound and knocked out.

“I also have the ability called Greedy Grasp, allowing me to absorb ether without even needing to touch the target,” Lucivar continued—lifting his hand and showing the woman the ether he collected from her. “Of course, if you paid close attention, you’ll notice. But you’re too busy searching for me that you fail to realize I’m right beside you all along.”

“And, of course,” Lucivar raised his shoulders. “Obviously, I can shapeshift. It’s an illusion, though.”

Lucivar’s plan was quite simple.

From the very start of the tournament, he knew Renis seemed to have also been told to humiliate him by his sponsor, exactly the same as the Blessed Hand Clan told him. Having the ability to sense killing intent is quite handy most of the time, and Renis isn’t the type who hides his killing intent.

Of course, face-wise, he showed no emotions.

But his intent was as clear as day.

So, when the Shadow Clan’s champions attacked, Lucivar decided to lure them away.

Since Leo was the one who caught up to him first, he decided to make use of Leo to take down the other champions. He waited for Caldaros to make a scene, giving him a window of blind spot from the drones, to kidnap Leo.

Then, he used the Minor Morphing ability of his to take Leo’s identity.

Luring the other two became easy thanks to that.

And avoiding Renis, who was also inside this dead forest searching for him, was also easy.

Lucivar could pay attention to the other drone above the dead forest, which was following Renis.

He can’t show his powers to Caldaros, and he couldn’t have the drones see what he did—this plan took care of both problems smoothly. Naturally, the fact that his Minor Morphing ability would he exposed to the public is unavoidable.

But it’s not a big deal—people would only end up thinking that he was a Tribrid, exactly like the woman.

“We… We’re not even aiming to kill you,” The woman whispered.

Upon hearing this, Lucivar looked at her for a second before a chuckle escaped his lips, “Of course, you aren’t. Do you think I’m stupid?” He said sarcastically, applauding the woman’s desperate attempt—to survive. “Even if that’s true, I would still kill you. You see—I’m quite the good guy, not too long ago. I let people step on me for too long, but that’s not happening anymore.”

Lucivar squatted down—his eyes stared through the woman’s eyes, as if he was looking at her soul.

“Or at least—that’s the excuse I would say. But since I’m talking to a dead woman, there’s no need for an excuse, right?” He smirked devilishly, eyes glowing emerald. “In truth, I am starting to get addicted to this… killing.”

“Close your eyes…” He whispered as he reached out his hand to grasp the woman’s face.

Fearing mortality, the woman began to weep softly.

She came to realize that she and the others had been trying to hunt down a terrifying monster.

And worse, in truth, the monster was the one hunting them.

Mercilessly, using the opportune window to do anything he wanted, Lucivar began to absorb what little ether was left inside of her. Strands of pure energy emerged from her entire body and flowed into his hand, as he slowly drained the woman dry.

Lucivar watched as the pure energy began to shift in color, turning into a beautiful crimson.

It was the sign that her ether was exhausted, and now, he was absorbing life energy.

Once she came to pass—Lucivar reveled in the amount of energy he absorbed and instantly closed his eyes, heading to his Inner Chamber. Inside, he turned to Loki’s statue—and saw a gem as big as his hand floating near it.

He wasted no time and grabbed the gem, summoning three leather parchments.

…

[Shade Meld]

A Shadowling ability that allows the caster to merge with nearby shadows, becoming partially invisible.

[Black Pulse]

Unleash a shockwave of negative energy, knocking anyone close back and darkening the area.

[Night Piercer]

Fires a high-speed beam of sharpened darkness that pierces through targets and walls alike.

…

Facing three options, Lucivar scanned all three before finally picking the last one.

His Greedy Grasp ability is already a strong enough defense and support ability—so he decided to go with the Night Piercer to add to his offensive capability. The Radiant Burst spell, though utterly altered by Loki, is still an Angel Hybrid’s spell.

Using that might expose his real bloodline, so the Night Piercer would be a great substitution.

Almost instantly, the parchment turned into emerald light that seeped into his hand.

Lucivar immediately knew how to use the Night Piercer, which was quite a strong neutral spell, utilizing ten ego points. Once he was done, he exited the Inner Chamber again and dragged the woman’s corpse deeper into the cave.

Then, he turned to the cave’s mouth, “I need to be fast. I’m afraid the drone would descend soon.”

Naturally, he doesn’t have much time.

Earlier, while he and the woman were running for the cave, the drone stayed above them since there was that ball monster charging at them. But now that they were inside the cave, it had to come down. Lucivar had already learned of its pattern earlier.

It couldn’t be outrun, it wouldn’t get in the way even if the participants were in trouble, and it always prioritizes capturing the exciting battles—for the crowd to watch. Now that Lucivar, Leo, and the dead woman were inside a cave, the drone was bound to come down.

Now, Lucivar has to finish what he was doing.

Naturally, he wasn’t finished—there’s still the main fish outside, Renis.

Meanwhile, a few dozen meters from the cave, a figure landed and scanned the area.

Renis heard the commotion earlier, and he could also sense that two of his comrades had died.

Since there were no signs of Lucivar’s ether, a monster must’ve killed them.

Moving forward, Renis reached the big tree and realized the flattened corpse of the man nearby.

It was clear that the monster did this, but even then, he blamed it on Lucivar.

“Accidents are fine… they all signed the risk waiver anyway,” He muttered, crouching beside the corpse with a tired sigh. “This is all Lucivar. Clever… maybe too clever.” His eyes lazily scanned the body. “But sabotaging someone during a monster attack? That’s against the rules. He will get booted for that, but there was no announcement.”

Near the tree, he also saw a glowing green mark—it was a hidden lethal zone.

Renis avoided it before taking a look around again.

Just then, his gaze turned to the side when he noticed a figure walking funny.

“Leo…?” He raised an eyebrow, recognizing that person.

Standing up again, Renis dashed at Leo, reaching him with no more than three steps.

“Leo, where are the others?” He asked questioningly. “What happened to you? Did you find Lucivar?”

“Yes, he’s inside the cave. He got one of us there,” Leo answered.

Upon hearing this, Renis nodded his head and swept the foothill until he found the cave.

It was dark inside—he could barely see anything with his raw eyesight.

However, infusing his eyes with ether allowed him to see better, and he instantly saw the remains of the woman and also Leo bound in the corner. Lucivar was the one who did this, that is for certain—and he didn’t even have the decency of fixing them properly.

Renis could see that the woman’s corpse was facing down, a blatant disrespect.

At least, Leo is still alive—his chest heaving up and down showed that her was still breathing.

Just as he was checking Leo, he saw a shadow of someone coming from the cave’s mouth.

“You didn’t seem surprised to see Leo in the cave,” Lucivar said, amused at Renis’ calm reaction.

He should’ve been shocked to see two Leos, but he wasn’t.

“I’m not one for petty tricks, and I know you’re not Leo,” Renis said, turning to face Lucivar. “Leo wouldn’t say ‘one of us.’ He’d say her name—something you clearly don’t know. Even your clothes gave it away. So, is this it? Lure me out here just to try and kill me?”

“And what if that’s the case?” Lucivar asked back.

Renis nodded his head before a light smile crept to his face, “Then I’d say you made a grave mistake.”