Reborn as the Last van Ambrose-Chapter 43: Black Abyss Sword Dao

The words had barely left Rowan's mouth when everything changed.

One moment, his father was looking at him with that strange, alien affection. The next, Rowan's arm blurred as he drew his sword in a single fluid motion.

Grim registered the movement too late. The blade flashed in the dim light, and searing pain exploded across the right side of his face. He staggered backward, blood streaming from a deep gash that ran from his temple down to his jawline.

The cut burned with something more than physical pain. Something dark and cold seemed to seep from it, spreading beneath his skin like poison. Black tendrils of energy traced the edges of the wound, pulsing like a heartbeat.

Before Grim could even call out Cassius's name...

The sound of crashing waves filled the corridor, and suddenly Cassius was there, materializing between Grim and his father. The air around the old man rippled like disturbed water, the aftereffect of movement too fast for the eye to follow.

"Get back," Cassius commanded, pushing Grim behind him with one arm while drawing his own blade with the other.

Rowan tilted his head and smiled. The expression was all wrong on his father's face, like a puppet's wooden grin.

"Who are you?" Cassius demanded, his stance wide and ready. "Release my son at once."

Rowan chuckled, the sound echoing strangely as if coming from somewhere deep and distant. As they watched, his features began to change. His ears elongated to sharp points, and his skin darkened to an ashen gray, faint red veins that pulsed beneath the surface.

"You don't recognize me, little pup?" Rowan's voice distorted, growing deeper and more resonant. "I'm hurt. But then again, we've never formally met, have we?"

His sword, a standard double-edged blade, began to transform in his grip. The metal thickened to one and a half times its original width, its length doubling as black flames licked along the edge. The corridor temperature plummeted, frost forming in delicate patterns across the walls.

"Malaxis," Cassius whispered, his knuckles white around the hilt of his blade.

"In the flesh," Malaxis replied through Rowan's transformed mouth, giving a mocking bow. "Or rather, in your son's flesh. It's quite comfortable, if a bit cramped."

Grim felt his knees weaken, whether from the blood loss or the realization that his father was possessed, he couldn't tell. The voice in his head was uncharacteristically silent, as if shocked into muteness.

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"Never got your light affinity, did you?" Malaxis taunted, twirling the massive blade with impossible ease. "Poor Cassius, the disappointment of the Ambrose line. How it must burn, knowing your father wasted his power on you."

Cassius remained unmoved, his stance solid as stone.

"My goal has always been simple," Malaxis continued, the black flames on his sword intensifying with his words. "To end the line of the most powerful light users ever to walk this land." His gaze shifted to Grim, malice gleaming in eyes that were no longer Rowan's. "And I'm going to end you and this old man. I felt those techniques in the garden tonight. They made my skin crawl."

With no further warning, Malaxis attacked. "Black Abyss: Shatter." He whispered as his massive blade swept upward in a diagonal arc, trailing darkness that seemed to devour the light around it. The Black Abyss Sword Dao made the air itself recoil, creating a vacuum in its wake.

Cassius met the strike with his own blade, but the impact drove him back several paces. Steel screamed against steel, black flames hissing against Cassius's polished blade.

"Celestial Mist: Cross-Cut," Cassius whispered, and suddenly he wasn't where he had been. His form blurred, splitting into three afterimages that each struck at Malaxis from different angles.

Malaxis laughed, spinning in a complete circle with his blade extended. "Black Abyss: Circular Void!" The dark flames expanded outward, forming a perfect ring that dispelled Cassius's afterimages and forced the real swordsman to retreat.

"You've improved your technique," Malaxis noted with mock approval. "But you're still just mimicking true power. Without light affinity, you're fighting with one arm tied behind your back."

He thrust forward with frightening speed, the blade aimed directly at Cassius's heart. "Black Abyss: Piercing Hell!"

Cassius twisted sideways, the blade missing his torso by a hair's breadth. In the same motion, he brought his own sword up in a vertical slash aimed at Malaxis's extended arm.

"Celestial Mist: Serenity's Ascension!"

Their blades collided again, sending sparks cascading across the corridor. Each clash resounded like thunder, the force of their techniques shaking the very foundations of the building.

Grim watched in horror and awe as his grandfather fought with what looked like superhuman speed and precision. But even he could see that Cassius was on the defensive, each of Malaxis's strikes driving him further back.

"Infinite Darkness Cascade!" Malaxis roared, his sword becoming a blur of constant motion. Each strike bled into the next, creating a barrage of attacks too numerous to count. The black flames left trails in the air, forming a web of deadly energy that contracted around Cassius.

"Celstial Mist: Thousand Paths," Cassius countered, his body seeming to dissolve partially into vapor as he wove between the attacks. Where he couldn't evade, his blade intercepted with perfect timing, deflecting rather than blocking directly.

But the onslaught was relentless. A slash slipped through Cassius's defense, opening a shallow cut across his shoulder. Another grazed his thigh. Small wounds, but they accumulated rapidly.

"You can't win, old man," Malaxis taunted. "Your son's body is younger, stronger than yours. And my power has only grown during my... absence."

Cassius didn't waste breath responding. His expression remained focused, calculating, as he continued to defend against the overwhelming assault. But Grim could see the truth. His grandfather was losing ground with each exchange.

The sound of running footsteps echoed from the ballroom. The commotion had finally drawn attention.

Malaxis glanced toward the sound and grinned. "Ah, an audience. How delightful." He raised his free hand, and darkness pooled in his palm. "But I prefer a more private venue for family reunions."

The darkness shot from his hand to the ceiling, spreading like ink in water until it covered the entire corridor. The temperature dropped further, and all sounds from the ballroom became muffled, as if the darkness had created a barrier between them and the rest of the world.

"Now," Malaxis said, turning his attention back to Cassius, "where were we?"

In that brief moment of distraction, Cassius changed tactics. Instead of continuing to retreat, he launched forward with explosive speed. "Celestial Mist: Death's End!"

His blade became a silver streak, targeting not Malaxis but the floor beneath him. The stone shattered in a perfect circle, destabilizing Malaxis's footing just as Cassius's shoulder rammed into his chest.

For a moment, Malaxis's balance faltered—and in that moment, Cassius struck with precision at the hand holding the black blade.

Blood sprayed across the wall, but it wasn't entirely human blood. It moved unnaturally, like living shadow, trying to flow back to the wound.

Malaxis hissed in pain and fury. "First blood to you, White Death. But it will be your last victory."

He raised his wounded hand, and the shadow-blood rose with it, forming a swirling vortex around his arm. "Black Abyss: Consuming Void!"

The darkness expanded outward in a sudden, violent rush, engulfing everything in its path. Cassius raised his blade in defense, but the darkness simply flowed around it, surrounding him completely.

From within the void came the sound of flesh being torn, followed by a pained grunt that could only be Cassius.

When the darkness receded, Cassius stood swaying, fresh wounds visible across his chest and arms. His breathing came in ragged gasps, but his sword remained steady in his grip.

"Impressive endurance," Malaxis commented. "But futile."

He turned suddenly toward Grim, who had pressed himself against the wall, trying to stem the bleeding from his face. "Perhaps I should finish the boy first. Make you watch, old man."

"Your quarrel is with me," Cassius said, his voice stronger than his battered body suggested.

"My quarrel is with the entire Ambrose bloodline," Malaxis corrected. "But I'm happy to accommodate your death wish."

The black blade rose again, darkness gathering around it like a storm cloud. "Black Abyss Final—"

A new voice cut through the corridor, sharp and commanding. "Sundering Slash!"