r18novel Zenith and Resonance
Zenith and Resonance
The blast was not silent...(BOOOOM!!)
Instead, it was a roar of monochromatic energy that swept through the cavern air, evaporating the miasma and forcing the pitch humanoids to recoil as their bodies unraveled into shreds of black vapor.
(Flaaash!!)
The fluctuating and blinding light acted as an absolute filter, rewriting the laws of ambient pressure within a constantly expanding radius.
(VROOOOOOOOOM!!)
However, the Guardian of Trauma was not a creature of simple instinct.
(KRRRA-BOOOOOM!!!)
Upon hearing the word "Resonance," the crimson runes on his obsidian armor flickered violently, sensing the danger in a split second...
(VROOOOOOO-OOOOOOOM!!!)
Therefore, he did not wait for the glow to dissipate, nor did he allow the bonding process to conclude.
(CLANG!!)
With a metallic thrust that caused the marble beneath his feet to collapse into a crater, the knight launched himself into the air, spreading his cape like bat wings and raising his sword high to cleave through the radiance.
(SHHHHH-KRRRR-ACK!!!)
Seizing the brief lapse of vulnerability, the black flames of his blade compressed, becoming a line of absolute darkness capable of slicing and consuming atoms in unquenchable fire, as he aimed directly at the neck of the human form beginning to take shape within the radiance.
(ZIIIIII-ZAP-VUM!!!)
The knight descended like an obsidian meteorite, the tip of his blade inches away from intercepting the metamorphosis before Shija could even open his eyes in his new state...
{Here we go}
... But unfortunately for him.
(SHRRRRRR-IIII-ACK!!!)
It was too late; in the split second when the edge should have severed head from body, reality underwent a technical correction.
(Vvvvvvvvv-shhhhh...)
The silhouette did not move; it simply ceased to be there.
(KRA-TA-KOOOOOOOOM!!!!!)
As a result, the serrated blade slammed into the floor in a strike so deep and devastating that it split both the ground and the wall alike, opening an abyssal crack that stretched across the entire cavern.
"Kyōgetsu Style..."
But the guardian had no time to process his failure...
(ZIP-ZIP-ZIP-ZIP-ZIP!!!)
At the exact instant of impact, before the dust could even rise, Shija appeared standing a few meters behind the knight.
"... Kasukana tsuki no kirameki."
Unleashing a series of omnidirectional slashes, striking the black armor from every possible angle.
(CLANG-CLANG-SHHH-KRA!!!)
As a result, hundreds of simultaneous slashing impacts, with a power and precision unimaginable compared to before, struck home, enveloping the knight in an unstoppable flurry.
"Fuff..."
In turn, Shija exhaled a sigh of luminous vapor.
"....."
In that situation, Shija raised his hand as the light faded around him, beholding the scene with eyes reflecting a stellar glow.
"... This is it."
Opening and closing his fist, Shija analyzed the changes in his body.
"Is this what you had in mind?"
His fingers were no longer tiny or fragile; they were those of a warrior in the prime of his existence.
{Yes... I did what I do best.}
Shija, standing upon the fractured marble, wore a luminous, tight, and functional garment whose fibers seemed woven from the very essence of the color spectrum, vibrating with an organic cloth texture.
{I brought your existence to its peak, or rather...}
Scraps of vibrant ribbons trailed from his waist and shoulders, waving as if they had a will of their own, acting as extensions of his nervous system.
{I released your maximum future potential, manifesting it in the now.}
His height and musculature were now those of his purest form, the zenith of his being, where his body had reached the full maturation of its potential.
"....."
Hearing the doll's response, Shija felt his strength overflowing, and a sensation of omnipotence flooded through him.
"If this is the maximum potential..."
There was no friction, no pain; only a capacity for absolute destruction waiting to be directed.
"Then now there is a real chance."
But despite his new state, Shija did not let himself become intoxicated, clenching his fist as he fixed his gaze firmly...
{Did you notice?}
His expanded senses captured something that had been impossible to process in his infant form.
"Yes... In this form... I can understand it clearly..."
Shija had understood the real magnitude of the abyss that separated the guardian from any ordinary being.
(It’s... overwhelming!!)
His eyes, now charged with stellar clarity, dissected the knight's silhouette amidst the rubble.
"Now I can see it..."
He understood, with a pang of icy realism, that before the union they weren't fighting to win, but simply persisting because their opponent was "holding back."
(ROOOOOOAAA-RRRRR!!!)
And so, suddenly, the dust cloud covering the knight, instead of dispersing, turned into a storm of cold fire that expanded in all directions, seeking to devour every corner of the cavern and wither the light.
(FSSSHHHH-KRA-FSSSHHH!)
In response, amidst the flames, Shija did not take a single step back.
{I don't have as much combat experience as you... I've seen that much by now... So, I'm leaving you in charge!}
Hearing the doll's words echoing in his mind, Shija, in his zenith state, felt the world moving at a different speed.
"....."
To him, the black heatwaves that would have previously been his end were now revealed as predictable flow lines.
(... I wonder... Is this the level you were at...?)
With slight, imperceptible movements of his head, shoulders, and torso, Shija allowed the tongues of fire to pass within millimeters of his new garment.
(... Master)
There was no agitation in his actions; he read the disturbance in the air and the intent of the surrounding energy flow before the heat could even strike.
{You aren't just getting carried away to farm aura... Right?}
It was an exhibition of absolute mastery: a tilt of the hip, a subtle shift of the foot, always keeping his guard at its peak, eyes fixed on the epicenter of the disaster...
"Not at all..."
And at the doll's question, Shija only smiled.
(FSHHHHH-WHOOOOOM-SSSHHH!!)
But at the same time, the black flames that had scattered everywhere began to be sucked back toward the knight, as if he were a black hole thirsty for his own destruction.
"... After all, in the face of something like this."
The fire swirled with fury, forming a dome of pulsating darkness that hid the guardian within a high-pressure shell.
(VUP-VUP-VUP-VUMMMM!!!)
As a result, the sound of the air being devoured by the dome was unbearable—a frequency that sought to fracture one's will.
"I will never lower my guard."
However, Shija did not budge, even as the silk threads of his tunic began to glow with monochromatic intensity, bracing for the impact of whatever was about to emerge.
(ZAP!!!)
Finally, as the dome of black flames contracted upon itself, crackling with the intensity of a dying star as it burst in mid-air and the fire dissolved into thousands of dark particles that dissipated into nothingness...
"...."
A figure emerged.
"... It hurts."
It wasn't the obsidian armor.
"It burns..."
Instead, standing in the center of the crater created by her impact, was a young woman.
"... No more... Pain..."
She possessed an ethereal, almost ghostly beauty.
"... Go away."
Long, flowing silver hair cascaded down her back and shoulders, peppered with jet-black locks that contrasted with the purity of the silver.
"Get out of here..."
Her eyes, a blue so deep they seemed to absorb light, shimmered with hazy shadows of a lightless black, as if the void of the abyss had nested within her pupils.
".... I can't stop... I..."
Her face, pale and delicate, was marked by complex linear patterns that looked like tattoos or scars; lines that radiated a faint crimson glow, identical to the runes that had adorned the knight's armor.
"... Ugh... I'm sorry..."
The marks extended from her cheekbones to her forehead, giving her an expression of ancestral pain and implacable determination.
"... Only... Thinking... Killing... I don't want to..."
She wore no heavy armor, but rather a form-fitting ash-gray combat outfit that seemed to merge with the shadows, revealing snow-white skin and a slender yet tense build, promising superhuman agility.
{... Do not waver}
In her right hand, she held the same serrated sword, now devoid of black flames, but with an edge that pulsed with a dark, frozen energy.
"...."
Her left hand, bare, displayed the same crimson marks as her face, emanating a cold authority.
"I will kill you."
The figure of the obsidian knight had not vanished; its remains, fractured and shattered, crumbled around her feet like an empty shell, revealing the residues of a ghost from the past.
(ROAR-RRRRAAAGHHH!!!)
And with a silent cry, yet charged with immeasurable pain and fury emanating from her very being, the battle resumed its course.