Chapter 440: Invasion [6]
Caius gritted his teeth.
The damage from the gravity field was far worse than he had anticipated.
It wasn’t just the crushing weight; every muscle in his body felt as though it had been dragged through a grinder, his bones ached, his joints screamed in protest, and even drawing a full breath sent pain coursing through his chest.
He forced his body to move, but although his legs obeyed, they simply weren’t fast enough.
Not against Evangel.
"I’m impressed you managed to evade that," Evangel’s voice echoed through the battlefield. "But your tricks end here."
The words had barely faded when [Foresight] screamed a warning, but this time it came too late.
A blade flashed across Caius’ face, and agonizing pain exploded through his eyes as steel tore across them, sending blood spraying into the air."Argh!"
Caius staggered backward, both hands instinctively flying to his face.
Warm blood poured between his fingers no matter how tightly he pressed them against the wound.
Several meters away, Evangel slowly came back into view, a broad grin stretched across his face as he watched Caius struggle.
He laughed.
"So this is all the infamous Caius has?"
He twirled one of his blades idly.
"What happened to that so-called domain of yours?" His grin widened into open mockery. "The one people say becomes the grave of anyone foolish enough to step inside?"
Caius clutched his face tightly, a pained groan escaping through clenched teeth.
He couldn’t see.
Not even the faintest trace of light.
Darkness had swallowed everything.
He tried to steady his breathing and activate [Foresight], but the pain refused to let him focus. The wounds to his eyes burned like fire, while the lingering effects of the gravity field continued to crush his battered body, making it nearly impossible to gather his thoughts.
Each attempt to concentrate ended with another wave of agony.
Meanwhile, Evangel began walking toward him.
The amusement that had been on his face moments earlier gradually faded, replaced by open disappointment as he watched Caius struggle to remain standing.
"Pathetic," he spat.
He shook his head.
"I thought I’d finally found an interesting opponent. Someone I could actually enjoy playing with."
His lips curled into a sneer.
"But it seems I gave you too much credit."
He stopped directly in front of Caius.
Without the slightest hesitation, he raised both daggers.
Caius sensed movement.
Acting purely on instinct, he swung his sword in a desperate horizontal slash.
The blade cut through empty air.
He had missed.
Evangel casually leaned aside, allowing the strike to pass harmlessly before countering in the same motion.
One dagger drove deep into Caius’ chest.
The second thrust went upward through his jaw, the blade punching through flesh with a sickening crack before emerging from the other side.
Caius let out a hollow gasp as blood spilled from his mouth and ran down his chin, the last of his strength leaving his body.
Evangel watched without expression before calmly withdrawing both daggers in a single motion, allowing Caius’ body to crumple to the ground with a dull thud.
It remained completely still for several long seconds, without so much as a twitch.
Evangel let out a disappointed sigh as he flicked the blood from one of his blades.
"So much for that."
Without sparing the corpse another glance, he turned his attention toward the rest of the battlefield, already searching for his next victim.
He had barely taken a single step before he stopped, a faint crease forming between his brows as an uneasy feeling settled over him.
Something wasn’t right.
He hadn’t received a kill notification.
Slowly, he turned back toward Caius’ motionless body, suspicion creeping into his mind.
Was he still alive?
The corpse lay exactly where it had fallen, completely still, without so much as a twitch.
Yet before he could investigate further, the body suddenly began to change.
Its flesh turned a deep crimson.
Then, without warning, it lost all shape, collapsing into a thick puddle of blood that spread rapidly across the shattered ground.
Evangel instinctively leaped backward, putting several meters between himself and the strange phenomenon as his eyes remained locked on the pool of blood.
A heartbeat later, the crimson liquid rippled violently, and when he blinked, the figure lying on the ground was no longer Caius.
In his place lay the corpse of an orc.
"What...?!"
The word escaped Evangel before he could stop it.
For the first time since the battle began, genuine confusion appeared on his face.
His eyes darted around the battlefield.
More orc corpses.
They were everywhere.
Some had been cleanly decapitated. Others had been carved apart so completely that it was difficult to tell where one wound ended and the next began. Even the area where he had unleashed his gravity skill was littered with blood, shattered flesh, and scattered chunks of armor.
None of it made sense.
He was certain those orcs had still been alive only moments ago, yet now their corpses littered the battlefield instead.
Evangel grabbed his head, his thoughts spiraling as he desperately tried to make sense of what he was seeing.
"What..." he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper. "...what the hell is happening?"
"Looking for me?"
A calm voice suddenly answered from behind him.
Evangel’s head snapped toward the sound, and what he saw made his breath catch.
Standing exactly where he had been at the beginning of the fight was Caius, sword in hand, his posture as composed as ever.
There wasn’t a single wound on his body.
The slash across his cheek was gone, his clothes were free of blood, and most importantly, his eyes were completely intact, their familiar golden glow fixed calmly on Evangel’s stunned gaze.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Evangel could only stare as the confusion on his face slowly gave way to utter disbelief. His grip tightened around his daggers before he finally managed to force the words out.
"What... what the hell did you do?"