Published at 21st of August 2026 8:17 am

Chapter 1008: Scream Of The Innocent

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

If you haven’t read the former Chapter, I’ve corrected and replaced it. So, go back and read it before reading this.

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As Arianna vanished, ’Z’ arched an eyebrow as he saw that he couldn’t move anymore. But he didn’t panic; just because he couldn’t move didn’t mean he had no other means. With a thought, his Astra Energy hummed around him as he formed an Astra Shield around himself. And with that, Asher’s StellarFlame attack collapsed upon the barrier with a titanic impact as what seemed to be the explosion of a nuke tore outwards, encompassing everything within a three-hundred-kilometer radius with unforgiving madness.

Asher’s figure appeared beside Arianna as he teleported towards her and waited for the dust to clear, as jumping directly into the fire was an idiotic move.

And as the smoke cleared, ’Z’s figure appeared as he stood uninjured, not even a speck of dust or fume could be seen on his body. While floating, he stared down upon them as though he was a god or something addressing his subjects.

Although Arianna and Asher now possessed the physical attributes to match a Voidstar Life Ranker, clearly, the Alphabets weren’t just any group of Voidstar Life Rankers, as even the weakest among them, ’Z’, was toying with the two most talented people on the planet.

But did Arianna and Asher care? Absolutely not.

Instead, smiles could be seen on their faces. What was the fun of battle if it was going to be easy and they were one-shotting their enemies?

Besides, this fight showed them that while they might possess the physical strength to match a Voidstar Life Ranker, matching one in a fight wasn’t so easy, as even ’Z’ at this moment wasn’t even enhancing his body with Astra Energy, nor was he using his katana.

Deep down, they knew the man was toying with them, using the gap that existed between them to play with them.

{It seems he is trying to take us alive}

Asher suddenly heard Arianna’s voice in his mind, and he was stunned for a moment. Although Asher didn’t know how to perform thought-based communication, as he had only ever done this with his Photon Clone, he was sure that Perfect Astra Control could allow him to do something similar.

{I know. His attacks have been to inflict critical injuries, but never ones that kill. He is holding back}

He replied calmly, his eyes still fixed on ’Z’, who stood in the sky.

Arianna’s own thought-based communication was through a skill of hers, not through Astra Energy control.

’Z’s katana appeared again in his hand. He raised it as he unsheathed it ever so slowly with a smile on his face. The moment he was done unsheathing it, he vanished from where he stood as he appeared before Asher and Arianna as though he had always been there from the beginning.

His katana sliced through the air like a knife through butter as he aimed at their four limbs in a singular slash.

Asher’s Accelerated Thought Process stretched as it dragged Asher’s Perception to match such ridiculous speed. Seeing this, Asher grinned as he didn’t take a step back.

Injuries? What was Virelass for?

He took a step forward as his body moved instinctively, Virelass moving as he unleashed his own attack, his hand a blur, his rapier a silver flash. And with that, a chaotic symphony of metal met head-on with the thunderous storm of an impact.

The force slammed into Arianna once more, shooting her backwards as she hadn’t been able to follow the attack, neither had she been able to follow the swordsmanship.

Asher didn’t focus his attention on her as he couldn’t afford to break concentration at this moment. In a blur, both he and ’Z’ vanished from where they stood, katana and rapier meeting endlessly throughout the battlefield as they transitioned into a battlefield of pure swordsmanship.

Their bodies turned into flickers of pure white and black light, their speed never relenting as they fed off each other’s intensity, their scale of destruction increasing with each passing split second.

Asher’s purple eyes danced in their sockets as he read through ’Z’s swordsmanship like the genius he was. Battle Intuition and Instinctive Adaptation blazed through his body as he kept up with the man before him. His own Swordsmanship improved in real time as he siphoned what he learned from the katana and adapted it to the rapier.

’Z’ didn’t seem to notice. He unleashed a cunning slash at Asher’s kneecap as though he wanted to cripple the boy. Asher’s rapier moved to defend, but the moment he did, ’Z’s katana changed path as his earlier kneecap attack had been a feint, his katana now screaming towards Asher’s chest.

But who was Asher? A feint? Please.

His rapier moved with expert control as though he had seen through the attack from the beginning and had just played along, and indeed he had. His body twisted to the side at the very last moment, his body moving with the wind as he dodged, but not without unleashing an attack of his own, as he couldn’t waste such an opening.

Virelass blurred through the air in a silver streak as she sang towards ’Z’s ribs. But before Asher’s rapier could tear through flesh, ’Z’s katana appeared just in time, and with that, a metallic echo erupted between them, both of them shooting backwards, their eyes fixed on each other, a smile and a grin.

’Z’s battle instinct and experience had saved him in the nick of time.

Asher didn’t rest. The moment he stopped skidding backwards, he launched off his feet like a missile, his form closing the distance once again. This time, he tapped into his Lightning Armor, his body transforming as he moved as an armor of purple Lightning bathed him, covering his face and body, as horns grew from his Lightning mask.

As he closed the distance, he immediately unleashed a Lightning-powered attack, the scale of his attack increasing with his new enhancement.

[Song Of Virelass: Lightning Stanza: Lightning Domain]

Star Energy and purple charged Lightning rippled from his body as a colossal dome of pure purple surged from his body, covering everything within a five-hundred-kilometer distance. Then, within the dome he had created, his stance changed as he instantly unleashed an upward slash with Virelass, who was covered with raging Lightning. And with that movement, the empty colossal dome transformed as an endless amount of Lightning-formed slashes appeared in an instant, filling the entire dome.

The air screamed, the ground shook, the dome quaked as this was the first time Asher was using this particular technique through Star Energy. Then, without missing a beat, every Lightning-forged slash converged and collapsed upon ’Z’, who was also within the Lightning Dome and could only watch with a stunned expression.

But he didn’t dare just stare, as his body screamed, knowing that if he did nothing, he would be injured by this attack. His katana adjusted in his palm, purple Lightning surging through his body and katana as he instantly raised it towards the sky, then brought it down in an overwhelming slash.

[Mad Katana Technique: Screams Of The Innocent]

The moment he activated his Katana Technique, purple Lightning burst forth to meet Asher’s. And when a catastrophic Lightning attack met an apocalyptic Lightning attack, the result was total annihilation.

And with that, everything within a whopping three thousand kilometers was instantaneously consumed with maddening power and force as the power of Lightning tore through everything and anything. Trees? Burned asunder. Earth? Charred and turned into liquid lava. The atmosphere? It collapsed into pure totality as an incomprehensible amount of shockwaves slammed into everything and anything within sight.

Various domes of explosions rang outwards as clouds of smoke in the form of mushrooms rose towards the sky as though begging whatever higher entity was above to come stop this madness.

Earthquakes surged with terrifying magnitude.

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