Chapter 206
Number 2, with a mane made of blue flames and a body composed of bones.
Number 2 had one unique characteristic.
Fwoosh!
Along with the manifestation of that characteristic, Number 2's mane turned into the color of black flame and ignited.
"Hiiiiiing!"
As the black flame burned, a different momentum poured out from Number 2.
That black flame was none other than Kraush's black flame.
Number 2's unique characteristic.
It was the ability to share the power of its rider equally.
In other words.
'Excel.'
The figures of Number 2 and Kraush simultaneously blurred.
Then, the starlight shot by the Reverse Night Star grazed past that spot.
The starlight, with its intense heat, was a destructive ray that erased everything it touched.
However, Number 2, who had equally shared Kraush's skill, Excel, easily evaded it.
Clop-clop-
The sound of hooves striking echoed.
Receiving Kraush's power, Number 2 neighed joyfully.
"Number 2, from now on, I'll leave all evasions to you."
"Prrr."
Number 2 neighed in response.
With Kraush's Excel and Annihilation Erosion, Number 2 was capable of avoiding the Reverse Night Star's attacks.
Thus, Kraush entrusted his life entirely to Number 2.
In exchange, Kraush's eyes slowly closed.
Kraush had entered a state of focus.
'Annihilation Heavenly Asura alone cannot defeat the Reverse Night Star.'
During the first surprise attack.
Using Annihilation Sky Moon Fire, Kraush had severed three of the Reverse Night Star's wings.
That was undoubtedly a favorable move.
However, because of that attack, Kraush became certain.
Annihilation Heavenly Asura alone cannot bring down the Reverse Night Star.
To extract the Four Seasons from the Reverse Night Star, it must be completely subdued.
For that, Annihilation Heavenly Asura was far from sufficient.
Especially since the Reverse Night Star, which had turned into starlight, possessed strong immunity to physical attacks.
Naturally, the damage would also be halved.
'Therefore, I must increase the output even further.'
White smoke began to flow from Kraush's mouth.
Under the influence of Nox, his hair color was once again dyed with ink.
Annihilation Heavenly Asura is a technique that forcibly breaks through the limit by combining the state of Annihilation Asura with an Instant Enhancement Elixir.
If so, the limit must be surpassed once again.
Fwoosh-
Deep within Kraush's inner self.
Ignis, which burned with World Erosion, fiercely flared up with Annihilation Erosion.
The blazing flames filled Kraush's body and ignited various parts.
Those intense flames were now something Kraush was very familiar with.
Beneath the already dark Unending Night Sky.
Kraush's night was scattering even deeper darkness.
A night where not even an inch ahead could be seen.
On such a night sky, stars began to appear one by one.
It was the Heavenly Slaughter Star.
Eventually, when all seven stars were hung in the sky.
The seven stars began to pour out starlight one after another.
Thump!
Accordingly, Kraush's output increased once more.
This was thanks to the unique power of the Heavenly Slaughter Star further amplifying the power of World Erosion.
Cold sweat formed on Kraush's forehead.
The blazing heat radiated outside his body, rapidly increasing the surrounding temperature.
The space around Kraush appeared distorted.
But this was still far from enough.
With smoke flowing from his mouth, Kraush ground his teeth.
At the same time, another power began to be added to Kraush's body.
Excel.
A skill that accelerates anything.
That skill was added to none other than the Annihilation Erosion burning within Kraush's body.
It was already a flame ignited by the power of the Heavenly Slaughter Star and World Erosion.
The moment acceleration was added to such flames, an absurd result began to emerge.
Crrrrk!
Kraush clenched his teeth so hard they seemed to break.
It was because the heat pounding inside his body was growing stronger and stronger.
The flames of Annihilation Erosion were already circulating rapidly throughout Kraush's body to ignite various parts.
The moment Excel was added to that circulation.
The flames began to course through Kraush's body at an entirely different level of speed.
As a result, the power of the flames intensified as if gaining acceleration, heating Kraush's body further.
Like forging iron repeatedly to turn it into a blade.
Kraush's body was being endlessly tempered, drawing out even more intense output.
The surrounding airflow began to change.
The night started to distort.
And at that moment, the Reverse Night Star began to sense something unusual.
The Reverse Night Star, which had been shooting starlight to kill Number 2 and Kraush.
Now, the Reverse Night Star felt something strange about its starlight.
The starlight that had been steadily flowing from its hands was gradually being sucked in somewhere.
As if a storm had arisen, pulling everything into its center.
The Reverse Night Star's starlight was also slowly being drawn somewhere.
The Reverse Night Star felt an inexplicable sensation.
It was a feeling the Reverse Night Star experienced for the first time in its life.
As if all the starlight that made up its existence would disappear, ultimately erasing its very being.
This bizarre sensation began to evoke a sense of crisis in the Reverse Night Star.
The Reverse Night Star's starlight sparked with a crackling spark.
The Reverse Night Star's pupil landed on the boy sitting quietly with his eyes closed atop Number 2.
A heat so intense it seemed to distort the surroundings.
That heat grew even stronger, transforming into a single light.
The Reverse Night Star, looking at that light, recalled why it scattered starlight.
Under the Unending Night Sky, something it had never seen before in its life.
To see that, the Reverse Night Star had continuously scattered starlight to brighten the night sky.
That was Morning.
Morning that awakens the night.
The Reverse Night Star wanted to see Morning.
But now.
There was someone awakening that night sky.
Someone emitting an intense light it could never produce.
Shiver!
The Reverse Night Star's starlight scattered once more.
At that moment, when a bad premonition surged, the Reverse Night Star's starlight began to radiate an even stronger light.
"―――――――――――!"
Without a sound-producing organ, the Reverse Night Star's starlight let out a silent, monstrous scream and poured down even more fiercely toward Number 2.
That starlight was akin to a bombardment.
The reason was that the starlight, splitting into thousands of rays, indiscriminately scorched the surroundings.
The intense bombardment continued, to the point where the starlight dyed the night sky below.
However, there was something the Reverse Night Star did not know.
The more Kraush's output increased,
the stronger Number 2 also became.
Number 2, exhaling Black Flame far more fiercely than before, performed acrobatics with Excel.
Amid the pouring Light Cluster, Number 2 evaded all the light at high speed, accompanied by Neighing.
It was a movement that was nothing short of Divine Power.
"――――――――!"
The Reverse Night Star, growing even more enraged, poured a torrent of light toward Number 2.
But the more it did so, the more Number 2 obstinately increased its speed.
The Reverse Night Star's attacks and Number 2's evasions repeated endlessly.
And above such Number 2,
Kraush's body continued to surpass its limits.
The heat of Annihilation Erosion was now burning so intensely that it clouded Kraush's mind.
In the intense heat, strong enough to make one lose their mind if they faltered,
'More.'
Kraush was still pushing his output even further.
'More!'
Surpassing limits beyond limits.
That alone filled Kraush's mind.
To surpass that limit, he had to do his utmost.
At that moment, pure white Cold Air flowed over Kraush's body.
It was the Curse Snow Devourer.
To forcibly extend the limits of his body,
he borrowed the power of Snow Devourer to endure the heat.
Thanks to that, the interior of his body, slightly cooled,
could draw out even stronger heat.
Before long, the night sky was filled entirely with Black Flame.
Within the storm-like Black Flame,
as if drawing a final conclusion,
Crack-
The Instant Enhancement Elixir shattered in Kraush's mouth.
Whoosh!
The blazing flames instantly engulfed Kraush's entire body.
Finally, Kraush's body, which had surpassed yet another limit, reached an entirely different realm.
A realm beyond Annihilation Heavenly Asura.
Within the blazing Black Flame,
two Red Eyes shone vividly.
Annihilation Heavenly Rakshasa.
It was the new realm Kraush reached after relentlessly breaking through his limits.
Faced with that, an unprecedented sense of crisis struck the Reverse Night Star's mind.
Kraush had reached a realm so absurd that even a 9th Class Erosion Species felt threatened.
However, as if to prove that its reign as a 9th Class Erosion Species was not a lie,
the Reverse Night Star spread its arms wide.
If escape was impossible, kill the opponent.
To embody that simple truth, parts of its arms and body, made of starlight, began to disappear.
The starlight left in its vanished body converged into a single light.
In front of the Reverse Night Star,
a small sphere of starlight formed.
However, this sphere of starlight possessed a power on a completely different level than before.
The sphere of starlight, endlessly absorbing light as if devouring the surrounding space, was visibly dangerous.
But whether Kraush knew this or not,
lightning formed a scabbard for Kraush's Rain Thunder Prime.
Within that scabbard, the power of Black Flame, incomparable to anything before, was being contained.
Even the Black Flame within the scabbard was accelerating under the power of Excel.
Kraush could not imagine reaching the Reverse Night Star and unleashing his sword in this state.
He couldn't even take a single step forward in his current condition.
"Number 2."
But there was someone here who could replace his legs.
Number 2, who showed no fear even after seeing the Reverse Night Star's sphere of starlight, began running with a leap.
That speed gradually accelerated, cutting through the wind as it closed the distance with the Reverse Night Star.
Following that, Kraush gripped Rain Thunder Prime tightly.
His arms and entire body trembled.
The power of Black Flame contained within the lightning scabbard was so heavy that it seemed he might drop Rain Thunder Prime at any moment.
Kraush's hands gripped Rain Thunder Prime with relentless determination.
"Send it with all your might."
With those words, barely exhaled, Excel once again enveloped Number 2's body.
Number 2, scattering Black Flame as it sprinted, accelerated to the point of becoming invisible.
Within that accelerated world,
the Reverse Night Star's sphere of light was finally completed.
In an instant, all the surrounding light condensed into the Reverse Night Star.
And the condensed light resembled the explosion shown in the final stages of a star's life.
Even in the face of such a stellar explosion, Number 2 charged forward without hesitation.
Everything was entrusted entirely to Kraush.
Kraush, trusted by Ebelasque.
A servant had no reason to doubt the one trusted by their master.
In front of the exploding starlight,
Kraush, for some reason, felt as if all sound had disappeared, and even the light seemed to move slowly.
The surrounding scenery appeared pure white.
The Excel, spinning so intensely it caused an overload, had even accelerated his thoughts.
Within his accelerated thoughts, atop a serene lake,
a single droplet of water slowly fell.
The moment the falling droplet touched the lake within Kraush's heart,
the rippling waves spread across the entire lake.
At the center of the ripples, the boiling water surged upward.
When the whirlpool reached the end of Kraush's consciousness,
Crackle!
The scabbard of Thunder Energy that had confined Kraush's Black Flame finally cracked and shattered.
Whoosh-
The belated sound of Black Flame filled the surroundings.
Witnessing this before its eyes, the Reverse Night Star saw a Red Moon rise above Kraush's head.
That Red Moon shone so brilliantly that, for a moment, it made the Reverse Night Star recall the Morning that would brighten the night sky.
"――――!"
A soundless roar resonated from the mouth of the Reverse Night Star.
And then, the Black Flame, which consumed everything including that roar and the explosion of Starlight, descended upon the world.
The Black Flame stretched out, tearing apart the explosion of Starlight, and finally, at the moment it reached the Reverse Night Star.
Through the flames of the Black Flame, Number 2 and Kraush emerged, reflected in the Reverse Night Star's eyes.
The Reverse Night Star's sense of helplessness and Kraush's determination for victory intersected simultaneously.
"Take a rest."
And with that single phrase, the sword, which had heated up explosively, was thrust forward.
Annihilation Erosion
Sixth Style
Heaven-Destroying Flame Net
The Demon's Black Flame engulfed the Reverse Night Star.