Chapter 511: We Have Common Enemies
As Konstantine continued his work of destruction, cutting down angels and demons alike who crossed his path, Lucifer and Aeshma desperately tried to survive in this chaotic environment, as did the archangel.
"Damn it, there’s no point going on a rampage here!" Konstantine exclaimed. He understood that violence wasn’t the solution. The angels and demons kept slaughtering each other around them, and his own attacks were only fueling this senseless chaos.
He then performed a series of complex Mudra, his fingers interlacing into positions impossible to achieve normally. The space around them folded, tore open, and in a blinding flash, they were transported out of the battlefield, into a spatio-temporal zone suspended between worlds.
In this white and sterile void, where time seemed to flow differently, there were four figures.
Aeshma, the Princess, gently laid Lucifer against an invisible surface, taking care not to strike his wounded head. Her veils of black silk floated in a nonexistent wind, and her gaze fixed on Konstantine with a hatred so palpable it seemed to condense the air around her.
Lucifer lay unconscious on the ground; his armor of dark plates was broken in several places, and his blood stained the immaterial floor with blackish streaks that smoked faintly as they burned away.
Beside him, Loriel unfurled her silver wings with a sharp snap, and an aura of frost and storm began to saturate the space, causing ice crystals to crackle across her feathers.
"Where have you taken us?" Aeshma asked, furrowing her brow.
"I want to talk to you calmly," Konstantine replied.
"After attacking me?" Loriel roared, her wings bristling with anger. Stalactites of ice spontaneously formed around her, crackling with celestial energy. "You’re just going to die!"
Without waiting for a response, Loriel struck first. She raised her sword of light toward the sky and invoked the power of the firmament in an incantation that made the very foundations of the dimension tremble.
"< Arcane Magic: Blizzard of the Septentrion >!"
A glacial wind, capable of freezing mana itself, swept through the dimension. Hundreds of ice lances, sharpened by pressurized air currents that howled like starving wolves, hurtled toward the sorcerer. Each projectile was a cubit long, carved from eternal ice crystal that shimmered with lunar light, their trajectory tracing deadly arabesques through the air.
Konstantine didn’t move his torso. His fingers interlaced into a Mudra of absolute defense.
"< Mystic Art: Aegis of the Void >!"
A grey wave spread around him like a tide of shadow, annihilating the momentum of the ice projectiles, which vaporized into shimmering dust before even reaching him. The crystals melted with a sharp hiss, turning the air into a frozen mist that briefly veiled the view.
But Aeshma didn’t wait. Taking advantage of Loriel’s cover and the mist obscuring vision, she leaped with the fluidity of a shadow. Her bare feet made no sound on the immaterial ground as she crossed the space in a flash. Her right hand wrapped itself in a pearly flame, an iridescent energy that didn’t burn flesh but devoured the very existence of whatever it touched.
She struck Konstantine in the solar plexus with deadly precision. The sorcerer blocked the blow with his forearm, but the blast of the destructive flame was so powerful it tore his sleeve, revealing the starred runes pulsing ink-black on his skin. Complex patterns, inherited from the old world, briefly animated under the assault before stabilizing.
"Your magic is impressive, Aeshma," Konstantine remarked as he stepped back a few paces, a grey burn mark like a scar of smoke marking his arm. "But it lacks structure. You scatter too much energy into spectacular effects."
Loriel returned to the attack, combining wind and ice into a devastating symphony. She spun on herself, her silver wings beating frantically, creating a cyclone of frozen blades that encircled the sorcerer in a deadly whirlwind. The ice fragments, sharpened like razors, buzzed in orbit around him, searching for a gap in his defense.
Konstantine activated his < Eye of Spirit >. To him, the Seraph’s movements became slow, almost predictable. He saw the arcane mana currents intertwining to sustain the spell, each luminous filament connecting the ice blades to the source of Loriel’s energy. The connections formed a complex network, but he perceived the weak nodes, the points of tension where the magic gave way.
A shockwave of pure aura sliced clean through Loriel’s cyclone. The wave of black and white energy crossed the space like a celestial crescent, disintegrating the ice blades in its path. The Seraph was thrown backward, her wings losing a few silver feathers that fell slowly, like snowflakes in a summer sky. She hit the ground with a dull thud, stifling a cry of pain.
Aeshma intensified her flame. She burned her own blood, transforming her power into a pearly blaze that seemed to groan under the strain. Luminous veins ran along her arms, radiating patterns resembling mandalas of destruction. The heat emanating from her warped the air, making the contours of the dimension ripple.
She charged Konstantine in close combat. Aeshma struck with claws of grey fire, each blow aimed at a vital organ. Her attacks were precise. Each time she struck him, he used the momentum to pivot and counter, creating a cycle of defense and attack that left her off balance.
A knee strike from Konstantine hit Aeshma’s abdomen, knocking the wind out of her. The demoness folded under the impact, her eyes widening in surprise as the air left her lungs.
Loriel tried to intervene with an < Arcane Mana Lance >, a projectile of celestial energy that hissed through the air, but Konstantine used a < Targeted Attraction > to send the Seraph straight into the path of Aeshma’s pearly flame. Loriel suddenly found herself in the middle of the explosion, her own lance shattering against the demoness’s blaze. The resulting explosion of arcane and demonic mana shook the foundations of the spatio-temporal zone, creating cracks in the invisible walls holding the space stable.
"You should have gotten out of the way, idiot!" Aeshma said, clicking her tongue. Of course they weren’t allies, but since Konstantine was their common enemy, they wanted to kill him first before resuming their own fight.
Loriel and Aeshma, powerful as they were, realized they were facing an anomaly.
Konstantine didn’t fight like a mortal. He absorbed the wind and ice magic with a terrifying < Adaptation >, his body strengthening with each impact. His muscles thickened, his skin toughened, and the runes on his arms glowed more intensely as he absorbed and neutralized the hostile energy.
Konstantine suddenly appeared between the two women, having crossed the space in the blink of an eye. His heterochromatic eyes shone with divine authority, and his aura spread out around him like a cloak of shadow and light.
"Enough," he decreed, his voice carrying a resonance that made their bones vibrate.
He joined his hands for a mudra. A pulse of pure void spread out in concentric circles, instantly neutralizing Loriel’s mana circles and Aeshma’s flames. Both warriors dropped to their knees, drained of their energy, gasping and covered in grey dust that clung to their armor and wings.
"I believe you’ve calmed down..." Konstantine murmured, sheathing his swords back into his ring, the chains retracting with a metallic hiss. He wiped the sweat from his brow, adjusted his torn tunic, and crossed his arms in a posture of patient waiting.
Aeshma raised her head, her features tight with humiliation. "What do you want from us?" she spat, her voice hoarse from the effort.
Konstantine turned his gaze toward Lucifer, still lying on the ground, his breathing ragged. The wounded demon groaned faintly, his fingers twitching as though fighting invisible nightmares. "Is he the one the Usurper chose?" Konstantine asked with a scientist’s curiosity, tilting his head slightly to observe the unconscious body.
Aeshma’s eyes widened, a shiver of pure terror running through her abyssal soul. Her fingers clenched against the immaterial ground. "H-How do you know?" she stammered, her voice breaking on the words.
"I know the Antichrist created you to find someone compatible with him..." Konstantine continued, approaching Lucifer’s body as he cracked his knuckles. He crouched down beside him.
Aeshma stayed silent, her lips pressed tight. She couldn’t refute those words. ’So that bastard is actually an underling... of my creator...’ The thought chilled her to the bone. If the Antichrist found out she’d hesitated to give the system to Lucifer, her punishment would be eternal. She had seen what her creator did to those who strayed from his plans.
Konstantine sensed her unease and gave a smug smile. "You can relax, I don’t like him as much as you do. He imposed conditions on me, but I’m no one’s slave." He stood back up, brushing the dust off his clothes with a careless gesture. "You and I have common interests, even if you don’t see it yet."
He turned away from Aeshma to face Loriel. The Seraph watched him warily, her hand still gripping the hilt of her sword.
"As for you, Loriel..." Konstantine began. "I know you didn’t kill your lover, Sulyvhan. Tell me where he is."
Loriel flinched violently. "I need your help for what comes next... We all have common enemies, and it’s neither the angels nor these stupid demons."