Chapter 84: Apostle Of Death.
"What’s that? I do hope it’s poison... and that you’re the intended recipient."
Naomi paid him no attention. She uncorked the vial and slowly poured its crimson contents onto the frozen ground. Then she simply stood there, staring at the pool of blood in silence.
Neither of them spoke.
The blood remained for a few moments before the freezing temperature gradually sealed it beneath a thin layer of ice. Vincent couldn’t see Naomi’s expression beneath the curtain of black hair covering her face, but two silent streams of tears slid down her cheeks.
She slowly clenched her fist before tossing the empty vial aside.
Vincent had no idea what the blood represented, but for some reason, Naomi felt different.
It was as though she had finally put down a burden she had been carrying for a very long time.
"Vincent, I may not be able to prove it, but I’m certain my sister’s death had something to do with Damien and Andrea."
Vincent glanced around before giving a dismissive shrug.
"And what exactly does that have to do with what’s happening here? I want you dead, so I’m going to kill you. It’s really that simple. Damien isn’t the one killing you, and Andrea doesn’t even know we’re fighting beneath the ice, so why involve either of them?"
Naomi slowly nodded.
"You’re right. This has nothing to do with them. I should’ve seen this day coming." A faint smirk appeared on her face as she looked down at Vincent. "You’re a killer. That’s all you’ve ever been... isn’t it? The Apostle of Death."
Vincent lazily spun his cane through one hand before catching it again. Hearing his status spoken aloud didn’t bother him in the slightest. If anything, it only deepened his curiosity.
"I am the Apostle of Death. I was chosen the day Earth fell by a divine being. The Emissary cradled my soul as though it were its own child and bestowed upon me a grace unlike any other, the authority to extinguish the souls of my foes. My path has already been decided, and I intend to walk it to its very end... whatever that end may be."
Naomi let out a quiet snicker.
"A destiny built on death and destruction is nothing to be proud of."
Vincent’s smile lingered.
"And yet... I find it rather fitting of a lost soul, but don’t worry, after I’m done killing you, Damien can bring you back, then perhaps in servitude you will be free of your heavy burdens, Naomi".
Naomi’s expression darkened.
The mere thought of her corpse wandering the world as one of Damien’s undead made her skin crawl. She could accept death, but that. anything was preferable to that.
Her body suddenly dissolved, black sludge spreading across the entire ice boulder beneath her feet.
Vincent’s brows drew together, he wondered what she was planning.
As far as he was concerned, this battle could only end in one of two ways. Naomi escaped, or she died. There was no third outcome where she somehow emerged victorious.
It wasn’t arrogance.
He simply knew.
Her physical condition had deteriorated far beyond his own, and with every passing moment, the risk of his Dormant Ability extinguishing her soul only continued to grow. One careless mistake was all it would take.
Vincent smiled ambiguously and took a slow step forward.
Before he could make the first move, a black tentacle suddenly lashed out.
Vincent’s jaw tingled. He instantly twisted away, the tentacle missing him by a hair’s breadth before continuing through the frozen landscape. Several enormous ice boulders were sliced cleanly in half, the cut surfaces hissing as they rapidly dissolved, collapsing into thick white mist that quickly began to spread around the battlefield.
Vincent raised a brow.
That single strike wasn’t meant for him.
When his eyes returned to Naomi, hundreds of black tentacles suddenly erupted from the sludge beneath her feet. They snapped outwards like whips, carving through the frozen world in every direction. Massive boulders were cleaved apart one after another, while countless pillars gave way beneath the relentless barrage.
Vincent’s figure blurred across the battlefield.
He leapt from one shattered boulder to another, weaving through the storm of black tentacles as each strike narrowly missed him. Wherever the tentacles passed, more ice was destroyed, and with every collapse, thicker clouds of white mist rolled across the battlefield.
Only then did Vincent understand.
Naomi wasn’t trying to hit him, she was trying to take away his vision..
The white mist rapidly swallowed everything between them until the frozen cavern became nothing more than shifting silhouettes and drifting frost. Visibility fell with every passing second.
Vincent remained perfectly composed.
"If you intend to blind me, then I hope you’ve remembered one rather inconvenient detail."
A faint smile crossed his lips.
"If I can’t see you... then neither can you. There is, however, one difference between us."
Vincent’s smile widened.
"I don’t need to see you the way you need to see me. Even dissolved, your soul remains exactly where it should be. Your little schemes are of no consequence."
Vincent kept his guard up. His pitch-black eyes narrowed as the black sludge lashing out at random gradually became easier to follow.
To Vincent, Naomi’s dissolved state wasn’t invisible. Amidst the endless white mist, a hazy blue presence drifted through the darkness, that was her soul.
Vincent snorted and shot forward.
He tore through the mist at full speed, his cane rising and falling with ruthless precision. Every tentacle that reached him was shattered before it could touch him.
Naomi immediately realised he was coming straight for her.
The countless tentacles suddenly withdrew before surging towards Vincent all at once. They snapped through the mist from every direction, desperately trying to stop his advance, but Vincent didn’t slow down. His only concern was bringing this long, exhausting battle to an end.
The instant he entered striking distance, Vincent launched himself into the air.
He raised his cane high above his head as the enchanted runes engraved into its base flared with a soft white glow.
His figure burst through the mist.
Only then did Naomi see him.
She remained rooted to the same ice boulder, her dissolved body still wrapped tightly around it.