Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Turning Point (Part 2)
*Sizzle... sizzle...*
Dark smoke hissed from the puncture wounds along Aurelia’s arms and legs, the malevolent energy actively preventing her natural regeneration from closing the injuries.
Each wound wept crimson blood mixed with shadow, creating grotesque patterns across her once-pristine white skin.
Despite her impressive VIT stat that should have healed such injuries within moments, the cursed serpent chains kept the wounds festering and raw.
Aurelia’s breathing was labored, her usually perfect posture slumped forward as weakness coursed through her divine form.
Her bluish-silver Valkyrie armor was cracked and broken in multiple places, revealing more injuries beneath.
Her once magnificent wing wings hung limply at her sides, riddled with similar puncture wounds that leaked both blood and that horrible dark smoke.
The radiant silver aura that normally surrounded her had dimmed to barely a flicker.
... For someone who had dominated every battlefield since her summoning, seeing her in this state was fucking shocking.
***
Approximately 30 minutes earlier...
The battle between Aurelia and Vex’ahlia had started with the Valkyrie’s characteristic overwhelming superiority.
*WHOOSH!*
Aurelia’s broadsword skillfully sliced through the air with complex and masterful movements, her divine silver energy coating the weapon as she launched into her opening assault.
Her swordsmanship was flawless as always - each strike flowing into the next with perfection.
*CLANG!*
But Vex’ahlia’s bone staff intercepted the attack with supernatural speed, the sorceress barely seeming to exert herself.
"Oh my, such lovely technique," Vex’ahlia purred with amusement. "But you’re going to need more than pretty sword moves, little bird."
*SLASH! THRUST! PARRY!*
Aurelia pressed her advantage, her enhanced speed creating afterimages as she attacked from multiple angles simultaneously.
The Valkyria Swordsmanship techniques that had torn through every enemy she’d faced were executed with divine perfection.
*CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!*
But every strike was casually deflected.
Vex’ahlia moved her staff with lazy efficiency, like an adult humoring an overeager child’s tantrum.
"Divine Slash."
Aurelia’s voice carried cold authority as she channeled radiant energy into her blade.
*FLASH!*
The silvery AoE attack erupted in a brilliant explosion of holy light, designed to purify and obliterate dark magic.
"Now that’s more interesting!"
Instead of retreating, Vex’ahlia raised her free hand and muttered something in an ancient language.
*CRACK!*
A barrier of writhing shadows absorbed the divine energy completely, dissipating it like smoke.
"But still not nearly enough, sweetie."
That playful tone...
The casual dismissal of her most powerful technique...
Aurelia’s golden eyes flashed with the first hints of waryness.
If her opponent can still play around even with that, it means the opponent is still not feeling the pressure.
*WHOOSH!*
She launched herself forward again, this time burning mana to enhance her speed beyond human perception.
*SLICE! SLICE! SLICE!*
Her blade became a blur of silver light, each strike targeting vital points simultaneously.
But Vex’ahlia simply stepped aside, her movements fluid and unhurried.
"Star Barrier."
Aurelia activated her defensive technique just as dark tendrils lashed out toward her.
*CRACK!*
The temporary spherical shield absorbed the attack, but more tendrils immediately followed.
*WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!*
She was forced to dodge backward as dozens of shadow constructs erupted from the ground around her.
"You’re quite the little dancer," Vex’ahlia observed with that same mocking amusement. "Let’s spice things up, shall we?"
The sorceress finally began to put some actual effort into her attacks.
*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*
Multiple tiers of dark magic erupted simultaneously - curse bolts that tracked her movement, necrotic clouds that ate through divine energy, spatial tears that bent reality itself.
Aurelia’s expression shifted from confident to alarmed as she finally realized the true scope of what she was facing...
This wasn’t just another monster or corrupted human.
This was a master practitioner of dark magic with decades of experience and power that made her own abilities look primitive.
*FLASH!*
"Light’s Wrath!"
Her most devastating technique burst forth in a wave of purifying energy designed to obliterate any darkness it touched.
*BOOM!*
The explosion of a blade made of holy light was so intense it temporarily blinded everyone within a hundred yards.
When the radiance faded...
"Oh my! That actually would have been quite dangerous if it had hit me."
Vex’ahlia stood completely unharmed, surrounded by a complex array of dark barriers and defensive constructs.
Her tone carried the same playful mockery that was beginning to drive Aurelia past the breaking point.
"You really are a remarkable little weapon, aren’t you? Such raw power, such perfect technique..."
The sorceress summoned something from her spatial storage - a collection of cursed artifacts that immediately began manifesting creatures.
Skeletal warriors with glowing red eyes.
Shadow beasts that moved like liquid darkness.
Floating skulls that breathed necrotic energy.
"But power without experience is just a tantrum with better special effects."
***
The battle continued for another 20 minutes of increasingly desperate exchanges.
But despite her supposedly superior stats, her abilities, and her perfect swordsmanship...
Aurelia couldn’t land a decisive blow.
Every wound she managed to inflict on Vex’ahlia after much planning healed within seconds, like time was rewinding around the sorceress.
Meanwhile, the cursed creatures kept her constantly on the defensive while dark magic attacks accumulated small injuries across her body due to some minor slip-ups.
Each cut, each scratch, each minor wound came with a sort of nasty dark curse that prevented proper healing.
*Slice!*
A shadow beast’s claws managed to rake across her shoulder while defending against the multiple incoming attacks from Vex’ahlia.
*Stab!*
A bone spear grazed her ribs just as she dodged a horizontal slash from a skeleton knight’s rusty great sword.
*Sizzle...*
Necrotic energy seared her wing membranes when she flew a bit late from the dark smoke that was shot in her.
Individually, none of these injuries were serious.
But they were quickly adding up.
And more importantly, they were slowing her down...
"Growing tired already?" Vex’ahlia’s voice carried false concern as she watched Aurelia’s movements becoming more labored. "... How disappointing. I was hoping for more of a challenge."
The accumulated cursed wounds were doing exactly what they were designed to do.
Each injury made Aurelia’s body feel heavier, her reflexes slower, her senses less responsive.
"You see, little bird," Vex’ahlia explained while casually deflecting another desperate sword strike, "these aren’t just wounds. They’re anchors. The more you accumulate, the weaker your resilience becomes."
*CLANG!*
Aurelia’s blade was knocked aside with contemptuous ease.
"Your body is fighting off dozens of different curses simultaneously now. Even your impressive constitution has limits."
And this is where Aurelia finally realized...
That playful tone, the casual deflections, the constant stream of minor injuries...
Vex’ahlia hadn’t been trying to kill her.
She’d been systematically weakening her while conserving her own energy.
Like a cat playing with a mouse before the kill.
Vex’ahlia was never fully going out even after all that...
"..."
The realization sent a spike of genuine frustration through Aurelia’s chest.
For the first time since her summoning, she felt truly powerless.
"Heh."
... And during that moment of lapse was all the opening Vex’ahlia needed.
*CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!*
Cursed chains erupted from the ground around Aurelia’s position, their serpentine forms moving too fast for her weakened body to dodge completely.
*SNAP!*
The first chain wrapped around her left wrist, its fanged head immediately biting deep into her flesh.
*SNAP! SNAP!*
More chains followed, binding her arms and legs while their venomous bites injected paralyzing toxins directly into her bloodstream.
"Perfect."
***
Back in the present, Vex’ahlia stood over her captured prize with obvious satisfaction.
"Now we can begin the extraction process."
Aurelia’s head hung low, her silver hair falling across her face like a silver curtain.
Her breathing was labored, each breath a struggle against the cursed chains and accumulated injuries.
But even in this broken state,
"..."
Her golden eyes still burned with defiant light.
Vex’ahlia noticed that stubborn gaze and couldn’t help but chuckle.
"I do admire that fighting spirit, little bird. Such beautiful determination..."
She pulled out a ritual knife, its obsidian snake-like blade gleaming with malevolent energy.
"Unfortunately, willpower alone is useless without the strength to back it up."
*Slice.*
The blade opened a deep cut across Vex’ahlia’s palm, dark blood immediately beginning to flow.
But instead of dripping normally, the crimson liquid moved like living serpents, automatically forming an ominous sacrificial pattern on the ground around Aurelia’s bound form.
The blood sigils pulsed with dark energy as the ritual circle completed itself.
*Squeeze...*
The cursed chains tightened their bites, fangs digging deeper into Aurelia’s flesh.
"Ah...!"
A soft grimace escaped her blossom lips despite her attempts to remain stoic.
"Useless struggling," Vex’ahlia observed coolly. "The more you resist, the more those little darlings will inject their venom. Best to simply accept your fate."
She raised her Nelfier Bone Staff, the skull ornament beginning to rattle with supernatural energy.
"Since dear Vincent has proven himself utterly useless, I suppose I can take my time with you."
The staff began to glow with sickly green light as Vex’ahlia initiated the essence extraction ritual.
*Kieeeaaaa....*
Something invisible but tangible began trying to tear at Aurelia’s very soul, attempting to drag her divine essence from within her body.
The sensation was indescribable.
Like having her heart ripped out while still beating, her memories torn away piece by piece, her very identity dissolved into component parts.
"AGHHHHHH!"
The scream tore from her throat before she could stop it, the pain beyond anything physical torture could inflict.
"...!"
But she immediately bit down her lower lip, hard enough to draw blood, silencing her voice through sheer will.
But the ritual and pain was far from done.
Blood began seeping from her eyes and nose as the extraction continued, her divine essence being slowly pulled away forcefully from her very being.
"Tch."
Vex’ahlia’s tongue clicked in annoyance as she felt the resistance.
"Troublesome little thing, aren’t you?"
"Haaahhh... hahhhh..."
She stopped the extraction temporarily, allowing Aurelia to collapse forward and gasp for air.
"This is taking far more energy than it’s worth. Let me try a more practical approach."
The sorceress’s expression shifted from amused to coldly calculating.
"A near-death state should reduce your resistance considerably. Much more efficient to simply put a hole in your chest and work while you’re dying."
"!!!"
Aurelia’s enhanced senses suddenly perked up.
No, it’s not because her life was in danger. As a Valkyrie, even with her memories mostly missing, she knew that as someone who fights, any day they could lose their lives in a battlefield.
Today is just the same...
Then... What could make her so frantic then?
’Lord Nero!’
It’s because Aurelia picked up a familiar presence approaching rapidly.
The mental connection between them flared with desperate warning.
’Don’t... come! Please don’t...’
But even through their bond, she could feel his strong urgency and rage burning like a wildfire.
Her frantic struggles against the chains intensified as panic overrode pain.
She couldn’t let him face this monster, if even, she was helpless against this woman.
"Still fighting?" Vex’ahlia misunderstood Aurelia’s frantic struggling as simple defiance. "How delightfully stubborn."
She raised her Nelfier Bone Staff, dark energy beginning to coalesce around the skull ornament.
The malevolent power formed into a massive ethereal blade, crackling with curses and malicious intent.
"[Malice Severance]."
The attack was designed to kill slowly and painfully, severing both flesh and soul simultaneously.
Vex’ahlia aimed the spectral weapon directly at Aurelia’s heart, her grin widening with sadistic anticipation.
"This will be a bit painful, little bird... Well, your species are used to sacrificing your lives anyways, so not that it matters."
*WHOOSH!*
The cursed blade launched forward like a spear of condensed hatred.
But just as it was about to pierce Aurelia’s chest...
*CRASH!*
A blood-covered figure suddenly appeared between them.
"!!!"
***
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