Chapter 127: Shattered Reality


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    Na''zehra shifted her stance rapidly, trying to block and deflect his strikes. She was clearly frustrated as she struggled to keep up with Alister''s endless attacks.


    "You''re quite a handful," Na''zehra gritted out through her clenched teeth. "But even you won''t be able to keep this up forever."


    Alister''s eyes were fixed on her. "Don''t get your hopes up. I''m just getting started."


    With a final burst of energy, Alister pivoted on his right foot, his entire body twisting as he initiated a high-speed spinning attack. His sword blurred through the air in a wide, horizontal arc, the edge slicing through the wind with a sharp whistle.


    Na''zehra''s eyes widened slightly, and she quickly brought both arms up to guard herself, her forearms crossed as she braced for impact.


    The sh between them vibrated through the battlefield, sending a shockwave that scattered debris and caused distant building to copse to the ground.


    Alister sensed the shift in Na''zehra''s energy, realizing she had regained the ability to shatter anotherw.


    He instantly stopped his attacks, withdrawing his sword with a sharp flick of his wrist. The force of his pullback created a gust of wind that rippled through the battlefield, sending dust and small rocks skittering across the ground.


    His feet struck the ground with a solid thud as hended several meters away, his sword held in a defensive pose.


    Na''zehra lowered her arms, her eyes narrowing as she watched him retreat. Her breathing was heavy, and a smirk began to form on her lips.


    "What''s the matter?" she taunted. "Running already? I thought you were just getting started."


    Alister gazed back at her. "I''m just pacing myself."


    "Wouldn''t want to end this too quickly."


    Na''zehra chuckled softly, a glint in her eyes. "Let''s see how long you can keep up this game, then." She shifted her stance, readying herself for the next round of their battle.


    Alister''s grip tightened on his sword as he prepared his next move.


    Suddenly Alister heard Kan''s voice again, ''Something feels off with the way she is acting, with her strength, the capabilities of her crest, she shouldn''t be this easy to deal with.''~


    ~''A battle with dragon of her n shouldn''t go this way even under normal circumstances.''~ ~''And considering the fact she''s being enhanced by her lord''s power, she should have decimated me by now.''~


    Alister''s thoughts raced as he tried to understand Kan''s words. Na''zehra should be stronger than this.


    He remembered that back when it seemed like Hamerion had sped up time around him, only he and his forces were able to move normally. If so, why wasn''t she able to match his speed now? Why was she letting him take advantage of her weaknesses?


    Her personality would make one expect her to be some battle hungry psychopath, but she wasn''t particrly aggressive with the way she had been fighting.


    The more Alister thought about it, the more off it all seemed now. Besides that, the feeling of using one''s crest-how it elerated the flow of mana in one''s body, the threat that one''s mana veins could burst if they over-circted, all that seemed to be nonexistent. How?


    ''She can shatterws, right?'' Alister''s thoughts raced as his mind began to piece together something. ''Force, motion, stability, and space...''


    ''From what I understand, that isn''t supposed to be her limit. The information I got from Kan''s memories said they could shatter anyw. So why hasn''t she shattered reality, time, or better yet, the mind...?''


    ''But what if she already has?''


    ''Like she did with motion, what if she already shatterd one of those fundamentalws with her mind and I didn''t notice?''


    ''Wouldn''t this battle end a lot more quickly that way...?''


    ''This battle... Is it even real?''


    Na''zehra noticed Kan''s sudden silence and smiled sinisterly. "What''s up with the sudden silence? Don''t tell me you''re done already... Oh, what a bore."


    Her words caused Alert to tense up again. Focusing back on her, he tightened his grip on his sword as he said,


    "This... None of this is real, is it?"


    Na''zehra tilted her head slightly to the left, pressing a finger to her face as she said yfully, "Oh? Seems I''ve been found out. Looks like the fun time is over."


    As she spoke, Alister tensed up further. Na''zehra continued speaking as she slowly began to walk toward Alister.


    "I''m not one to keep secrets anyway..."


    "...so I don''t mind returning everything to how it''s supposed to be."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    As she approached, Alister noticed he couldn''t move; he waspletely frozen in ce. ''Did she shatter thew of motion again?'' he silently wondered, but for some reason, he felt that wasn''t the case.


    She had already walked up to stand directly in front of him. She used the tip of her finger to tilt his massive sword to the side as she said, "Shattering realityw."


    In that instant, Alister noticed cracks suddenly emerge around him. Kan''s eyes widened in shock. The cracks began to ripple all around, soon surrounding everything.


    And then, out of nowhere-


    BOOM!


    It all shattered.


    Alister was no longer standing, holding Kan''s sword defiantly in front of him. No, instead, he found himself on the ground, in a pile of rubble, bleeding. His blood was golden, the scales in front of his chest shattered, the ones on his legs shattered as well, and his sword was


    broken.


    And standing above him, gazing down, was Na''zehra, with a sinister look on her face.


    Alister felt a sudden wave of pain, but for some reason, he wasn''t able to let out a scream. He suddenly felt too tired for that.


    ''Wait... When did...''


    It didn''t make sense. One moment he was having an intense battle, and the next, he was left bloody on the ground, his body covered in massive cuts and bleeding all over.


    A sudden wave of information flooded his mind-what had actually happened. The moment Na''zehra had appeared behind him, she had already shattered realityw, reconstructing the world around her to make the battle go the way she wished.


    The moment her fingernded on Kan''s chest, it shattered the scales there, even breaking some bones. That was the intensity of the pain Alister felt.


    And again, when he was stopped, and his legs were in pain, his bones there had been shattered


    as well.


    The time he threw his sword at Na''zehra, it broke in half.


    Why was he able to continue the battle despite being in such a state?


    The power to go on was given to him in this shattered reality.


    It was Na''zehra sick was of making him fight till he waspletely broken.


    What Alister thought he had discovered, the openings he thought he had exploited, were all


    given to him by Na''zehra.


    [System error detected!]


    [Unauthorized usage of a skill by the yer has been detected!]