Chương 115: CHAPTER 112 – Maximum Potential

The metaphysical steel plummeted onto the gray ground, carving away a portion with surgical precision. The rock split for hundreds of meters, lifting one part and letting the other sink. The swordsman, with equal force, twisted his body, swelling the muscles beneath his uniform. The sharp black block in his hands rotated, completing a half-moon. Everything in its path was sliced through. Amid the slashes, dust, and blood, a vibrating silhouette slid. Instantly, a piercing, deep pain shot through the boy's side.

He smiled, slamming the blade into the ground, shattering the terrain.

"The Lance Klint I met back in Arden would have swung it like a frightened child…" Laure landed on the debris, gathering the violet blood from her chest onto the back of her hand, licking it away. Lance, on the other hand, regenerated his wounds one after another, leaving only the tears in his uniform in their place. By now, his muscles and pale skin were clearly visible, exposed to the freezing wind. Part of his coat was torn and ruined, tied around his waist to give the semblance of armor.

"I'm good at borrowing others' strength." The sword vibrated as he tore the rags from his body, revealing every scar on his bare skin. Laure grinned, hurling a small crystal at him. The only sounds were that of the air stretched by the blade and the two violent bursts behind him. That piece of ancient, demonic iron had moved faster than any senses could perceive, at least those granted to a human. The weapon reflected his golden gaze, occasionally animated by a reddish shadow.

"I had no doubt, but are you also ready to receive the hunger that comes with power? The thirst to soar in a sky like this?" He didn't answer; he simply brought his fingers to the nape of his neck. In an instant, a gigantic crimson mantle materialized in the air, moved by the wind. It transformed color, blending with the shadows until it resembled pitch. It shredded and began to bind itself like bandages around the boy, tight on his waist and limbs, from his abdomen to his collarbones.

The only exposed point was where Lachesi was, loosening as if repelled and left free to flutter like a red and black ribbon. Laure smiled immediately when she saw him, grinning until her canines showed. The Frequency of those objects was all too familiar to her, all too intimate, all too akin. Lance gripped the hilt with only his left hand this time, and in unison all the bandages followed his motion. The slash swept away the clouds around Icarus, opening a new gash across the entirety of the floating island.

Laure leaped from one cliff to another, avoiding the numerous cuts until she closed the distance. Their eyes met, never breaking away as crystalline claws and unknown iron clashed. One saber strike after another, they advanced, sowing destruction along their path. They quickly emerged from the original crater, reaching the floating remains of the ancient palaces. One claw strike after another, they twisted in the air, spilling blood from wounds that had already vanished.

Laure lost one of her limbs, but continued to pummel him, feeling the euphoria of false death being washed away from her face. The two ended up inside an ancient apartment, worn by time. Lance's heavy blade swung, carving new doors in the walls and new entrances from the floor. In less than an instant, the entire building was torn apart, leaving the two to hover among the rubble. Swarms of crystals coiled around him, bending the energy of the singularity to multiply.

"Not here, not now." Lachesi shone, channeling into the weapon. Imago made the air vibrate as if it were a roar. In a fleeting instant, the crystalline clouds vanished, pulverized along with the region by a cross of slashes. Laure didn't wait. She sank her claws into Lance's abdomen, squeezing his innards as she hurled him downward, toward the blue oblivion. She landed, waiting with her gaze lowered. Immediately, Lance emerged, spinning like a black vortex, shredding the floating rocks.

Like a mechanical saw, he approached her, hissing ferociously as he cleaved the air. The sharp mass clashed against the crystal of her limbs, swirling in the dusty breeze. Laure retreated, leaving furrows in the ground, smiling. No matter how much bone and skin could be shredded, they regenerated, burning even the blood.

"This is supposed to be a hunt?!" She hurled away the vortex, letting it maul the buildings behind her. Without warning, countless reddish filaments, permeated with black patches, exploded from the blade, anchoring themselves like taut ropes to the rock.

"Karmesin..." The blade stopped, then a single red gleam. Laure found herself kilometers away, with the entire right side of her body eroded from existence. In its place was his colossal incandescent blade, and before her were the craters left by her passage.

"I see… All those acrobatics were to distract me." She chuckled, lifting herself as crystals emerged from the wounds, opening to release flowers of flesh. The laugh became a grimace and then a grin, while she frantically searched for him with all her senses. Her nose caught a strange odor, but she had no time to analyze it before Lance appeared before her. His knuckles struck the back of her skull, sending her to the layer below.

"Magnificent…" Beneath the rock ceiling, the two continued to fight, this time exchanging punches and kicks. Her strikes became precise, ever closer to his heart, while he continued to dismember her with every audacious offensive: first she crushed his fingers, and before she could regenerate them, the boy tore off her arm. Lance's gaze began to cloud over, while his body grew heavy.

"Shit… Lachesi, Imago, and the veil together are..." In that moment of hesitation, Laure pierced his throat from side to side. She smiled as she saw reddish foam spurt out from his teeth.

"It's a shame... I liked your voice." Lance yanked her wrist, raising Lachesi. Immediately, the ground above them opened, and Imago plummeted onto them, severing her other arm. The sword vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving her stunned. Lance had already regenerated his throat and now held back his free fist with his hand.

"EINBRAND!" Her abdomen exploded from the uppercut, catapulting her upward again. Lance immediately emerged from the hole, panting. Before him, Laure sat smiling with legs crossed, without even a visible scratch. She spread her hands and applauded, licking her lips.

"I believe I've died a couple of times since this fight began. I've never felt so much pain since that day. You and that colossus have been fantastic." She pushed herself off the concrete column she was sitting on, landing delicately.

"Did those relics choose you by merit or by hunger? They have the same Frequency I possess. You must have taken them from Hel itself." Lance raised his guard, calming his breath.

"You held back, and this is the result. If your heart had truly been aligned with your deeds, this conversation would never have taken place. You even had to give up that blade. I deduce you prefer keeping Lachesi and that mantle active, right?" Lance brought his fists to his face, smiling.

"Far too perceptive, but you're right. Imago was supposed to kill you, but since I held back with Aufprall, I had to dampen the impact to avoid Overload... If I now had to even dissolve the bond with the mantle..." Laure snapped her fingers, shaking the air.

"Enough paranoia. Think about what I'm about to tell you rather than worrying about the next clash." Lance immediately turned pale, stepping back.

"Relax, I can't read your mind. I have no memory of my existence as a Helspawn, but know that I can sniff out Frequency, and it tells me enough. Yours is murky... Perhaps a little greasy?" Laure appeared at his side, aiming one of her claws at his flank. Lance read the movement, violently cleaving the air with the edge of his hand. Laure retreated, bloodied once more.

"Is that enough for you to recharge a bit?" Lance lowered his arms, keeping his gaze fixed on her.

"If you have to speak, speak. I'll just wait for the moment to erase you from this world, bête." Her cheeks reddened, without warmth behind them.

"Do you know where I ended up after the Gevaudan massacre? I wandered for decades, devouring and relaxing in the bloody freedom I had built for myself. In the end, I enlisted, or rather, I was forced. I was promised joy, so I followed Changeant. Up until now, everything has been gray, but since I saw you, I felt a thrill. Finally, I stopped thinking I was caged, and that all those chains that broke my knees were all meant for our meeting."

A trickle of drool fell from the corner of her lip as she smiled ecstatically.

"Lance, I love you. Let's devour each other until nothing but blood remains!" Laure panted as she spoke, voluptuously swelling her chest while writhing. Without warning, Lance moved with a grim look. His fingers pierced her abdomen, hurling her back into the debris. Numerous eruptions of grayish smoke appeared in patches across the region. One island fractured in the middle, separating and tilting. Laure slid, laughing with that disgusting blush.

From the fissure emerged Lance, carrying an entire residential complex with tendrils of blood and Frequency. The sphere of debris was hurled, carrying away what remained of the ancient landscape. Her tail rose, accumulating crystalline fragments. A beam of light pierced through the meteorite, cleanly separating it.

"Come on! You're not going to let your flame die out right now, are you?" Their fingers collided, shaking the floating rock. Laure was hurled backward, followed by shards of concrete. The two found themselves staring at each other again, separated by the void as their rocks floated above the gray expanse.

"Is wickedness what forms your nature, Laure?" Lance stared at her with eyes contracted by rage, grinding his teeth behind his lips. Her tail struck the ground a couple of times as she thought with a smile.

"I believe that in that case, being wicked is my nature... Simply, freedom is the extension of one's nature, and the views others have of it are chains that aim to keep it controlled." She stood up, dusting herself off.

"Every perspective is a label, and labels are chains. What afflicts the mind is not being able to explain why a person behaves a certain way, so we unconsciously chain them to prevent our own ignorance from hurting us. People are afraid that their ideals might turn out to be useless or incomprehensible." Lance lowered his arm, clenching his fists stained with dust and blood.

"But now... Why do these words come from someone who is just like me?" Immediately, Lance drew Supplicium, aiming between her eyes. Laure smiled, tilting her head.

"Come now, don't make that atrocious face. Don't tell me you think you're human? You're not even a Meta! In reality, you're much more similar to me!" A roar exploded in the wind, erasing Laure's figure. A wisp of smoke rose from the weapon's barrel, along with violet flashes. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Every individual has an origin Frequency, valid for every living being... Except for those whose origin has been corrupted by the Hel." Laure had appeared behind him, completely undamaged.

"It's right in the core... It has a different color, but you and I both have one of pitch-black. In fact, your sequence is decidedly more rancid." Lance found himself catapulted among the building remains, crashing through several walls before stopping in an underground hollow, perhaps a warehouse.

"I have two syringes... I don't know how much longer I can hold Lachesi and the mantle." Footsteps echoed in the dark, along with loud, measured clicks.

"What I wonder is whether there truly is something that really belongs to you." Laure sat beside him, while she noticed Lachesi retreating.

"There's nothing you desire, nothing that gives you the chance to free yourself of those chains. You're a spark of a revolt that is now ash." Lance kept his gaze low, chuckling sporadically.

"I think I... can't answer." He raised his head as a faint metallic creak echoed in the room.

"After all... It's a secret even to myself." Lance violently yanked his arm, tightening chains around her ankle.

"Another relic?!" Laure's body was hurled outside, passing through layers of concrete and metal until emerging on the surface. The tension increased, catapulting her to the ground.

"The crosses of Abbondius... They're not genuine relics. They're more like Supplicium, since the bond is artificial. I didn't imagine they would be so hard to locate." He lifted a heavy concrete block, feeling the cold breeze stir once more. On his wrists, the sharp silver weapons were now bound, extending outward.

"You should have run out of tricks, unless you want to call that thing here." Laure appeared behind him, sitting on the debris kicked up by the blow. Lance turned, shaking his head.

"There's no need. The more you power up, the more your core will incarnate. All I care about is tearing it out of you." The woman smiled, clapping slowly.

"You've matured, but how do you expect to succeed when you're on the verge of collapse?" Lance had understood that the mantle couldn't slow the Overload for long.

"She is right... I can't stop the overload, but I can overcome it!" Ignoring the call of the syringe, he smiled, swinging the chains toward her. Laure dodged them while he closed the distance. The iron was stretched, tightening around them like a cage, while claws and crosses hissed against each other. As the blows accelerated, the prison of chains drew closer, restricting their movements.

"Are you trying to deny my agility? Clever, but... Not sufficient." No matter how hard she tried, Laure understood. Lance's movements were becoming uncoordinated and increasingly slower. In that confined space, dozens of slashes were thrown at such speed that no living being could follow them. In that exchange, through the ceaseless cuts of the crosses, Laure saw a single opening. She extended her index finger, aiming the claw at his forehead. Lance smiled, tightening the crosses and chains.

"Karmesin..." Only then did Laure notice, in the middle of the chains, a silver glow kissed by strings of blood. A terrifying boom swept away the platform of ruins where they stood, tearing away part of her abdomen and chest. Her eyes met Lance's as he rapidly closed the distance. What remained of her arm mutated drastically, erupting into countless crystalline tentacles. The mass expanded across the plain, almost creating a second island.

"Not now! Her core has almost manifested!" Lance broke through the crystalline barrier, emerging above the new expanse of matter. A few dozen meters ahead of him, Laure displayed her renewed crystalline claws adorned by the faint light emerging from her chest. She smiled, careful to emphasize her bestial attributes.

"If this is what you desire... Come!" She pointed her sharp index finger at her chest before bursting the crystals to hurl them at the boy. Lance launched himself, sliding on the smooth surface while swinging the silver chains. A storm of metal spread around him, as the bandages that made up his armor tightened ever more, hoping to stem the contamination in his body. A sea of violet sparks spread between the two as he advanced, surrounded by iron. Laure darted forward, trapping both of them in a crystal vice.

Inside, dozens of multicolored reflections as their Frequencies clashed. With each offensive, Laure's claws tinged red, while Lance's relics tinged violet. Every wide movement of his arms tore away a strip of skin from him. Voraciously, Laure licked her lips, accelerating. The chains clanged against the smooth surface, making his movements clumsy.

"Another plan? This time it will be impossible for you to move a finger without being torn apart!" Despite the bandages, his arms were being mangled to the point of exposing the bones branded with violet beneath. Suddenly, one of her claws took out his eye, splattering blood across the dome. Lance clenched his teeth, grabbing both her arms with all the strength left in his mangled limbs.

"Didn't you think I could use myself as an anchor?" Supplicium emerged, bloodied from the bandage on his abdomen, with the barrel pointed downward. The cylinder rotated, with a sound far too clean. Click The entire dome erupted, making both of them spit blood, caught full-on by the shockwave. The crystal slab exploded, fracturing into dozens of hundreds of fragments, instantly eroded by the grim wind of Icarus.

"He's crazy! He used his own body to shoot? In that condition?" Ecstatic, Laure smiled while regenerating the abdomen and legs lost in the explosion. Suddenly, she found herself blocked, imprisoned by bloody filaments. As she tried to regain her senses, a harpoon pierced her glowing chest. Before him, a colossal broken sword darkened the little light filtering through the clouds.

"Imago... and Lachesi, come." The bandages tied themselves to hold together that mass of bones and flesh that should have once been an arm. His entire body was exposed, in some places devoid of skin, in others completely burned and corrupted. What remained of his fingers, stiffened by the perverse blood, gripped the hilt. His back was straight, even as he held the weapon well above his head. Despite everything, he smiled, holding the colossal relic. The black bracelet exploded with power, radiating a sinister glow.

"I thought you had understood... That even with borrowed talents... I would have killed you." They exchanged a grin before all the accumulated energy collapsed from the black thread, completely slicing through the island. The sky opened, even surpassing the boundaries of the singularity, violating the laws of that small world suspended in the clouds. The largest region of Icarus was now reduced to a pitiful block of floating slabs, corrupted by Frequency.

The sea beneath swelled and thrashed before being split into two. Lance landed on the dust, checking the bullets left inside Supplicium: only 2 black shapes occupied the weapon's chambers. Lance panted, staggering toward the mutilated body before him. Laure was right there, or at least half of her. The other part had been directly hit by Lachesi, almost liquefying in its attempt to reform.

Crystals sprouted only to dissolve and explode, while the fluids of her spine and lungs mixed with the violet blood pooling at her feet. Suddenly, a pulsing eye fell into the mush with a sound like shoes in a puddle. In the middle of her chest, a luminous, crystalline flower, golden in color. Lance shook his head, taking aim.

"I won…" All his capillaries exploded. His left arm fell and splattered on the ground as he vomited what remained of his internal organs. His body desperately tried to keep him alive, regenerating without awareness what had been saved from corruption. The boy staggered, trying to aim, when suddenly his fingers also fell to the ground along with the revolver.

"Damn it… The syringe." While slumped over, with reddish drool at his mouth, he desperately tried to grab the small needle emerging from the undone bandages. He was just about to let it pierce his flesh when a crystalline tail snatched it away. Instantly, the tail withdrew to its owner, delicately piercing the crystal flower. Lance was horrified as he watched Laure reassemble herself, bone by bone, ligament by ligament. The core he had so longed to destroy was now hidden by flesh again, healthier than ever.

He tried to get up, pressing his palm on the damp ground, only to be kicked away. He tumbled until he stopped against a mound of iron and crystals.

"Do you know why you can't beat me? Because this body keeps enduring?" Her tail tightened around his neck, lifting him off the ground. He noticed her smile, decorated with splashes of blood. He was thrown to the ground again and again. Strength was beginning to abandon him, and his consciousness slowly rotted under the weight of the Overload. Laure looked down at him, his eyes completely flooded with blood and slime. She left him lying on the ground, forcing his mouth open with her tail.

She sat on top of him, impaling his hands with thin crystal shards.

"Because I have already suffered enough for my freedom. I had to live as a servant to pain before I could spread my wings. No piece of flesh in the world can compare to me in suffering. This body has already endured far beyond its limit." Laure bit her tongue, careful to pour the violet blood into his mouth. As soon as Lance came into contact with that substance, he regained consciousness and immediately began to thrash to push it away.

"Calm down, it's just the right dose to keep you from dying. Despite appearances, I'm not so prone to watching others suffer, and besides, we need you alive." She stretched her fingers toward one of the crystals piercing the skin of his hand, freeing it. With force, she grabbed it, guiding it toward her chest. His bloodied, weak hand rested on her breast, pulsing with the miasma of that hellish place.

"You see, we are similar." Lance tried to squeeze, attempting with a grimace to tear that last veil of flesh separating him from killing her. She smiled, chuckling as she dismissed his futile attempts.

"Rest now…" She leaned toward him, caressing his face with her clawed hands. A tear fell on his face as he smelled that woman, so rich in blood and salt that it made him thrash. He bit with all the weak strength he had left, but the bloodied tail kept his jaw shut. Laure narrowed her eyes, laughing, as she moved her hands lower. A violent boom split the air. Laure stopped, trembling.

"What…" A gush of blood exploded from her right eye, or rather, from the cavity, since there was now a massive hole in her head. She staggered, lying down beside him, victim of convulsions. Behind her, a smoking, partially melted nail. A shadow loomed over them, kicking Laure away with enough force to shatter the ground.

"Sorry… for the commotion." The figure didn't respond to Lance's faint words. He simply smiled and plunged another syringe into his chest. Lance trembled in pain as his organs rebuilt themselves instantly.

"Don't mention it. You did the unthinkable, keeping her here." Noel stood up, scratching his head as he watched her rise, with part of her brain matter exposed and covered in crystals.

"You really should learn about discretion and consent. Find a place before doing certain things!" A column of vibrating crystals emerged from the ground, aiming at the armored colossus's chest. His body temperature skyrocketed, lifting whitish steam from his skin. His eyes turned red and black as the attack shattered.

"Noel!" He grabbed Lance's hand, helping him up. The injection had taken effect, and he could now return to fighting. He reactivated the bandages, tightening them around his body once more. Lachesi vibrated, almost as if snorting, before falling quiet.

"Lance, this is your first dose. We don't have another chance. Even if we could split the last syringe, we still wouldn't be in condition to beat her." They both slammed their fists in unison, assuming a guard. The Frequency began to overflow beneath Noel's muscles. The man tore off his armor, drawing Sazerac. He connected it to an iron block, extending and curving it. Black smoke emerged from the new mechanism, as the chains inside roared. His resolute gaze settled on Laure.

The woman grinned, biting her finger hard. Not a word escaped her lips, but the morbid obsession she felt for that moment was palpable in the air. Lance stomped the ground, raising his clenched fists before him. He gritted his teeth to fight the pain, sketching a smile on his face. The Frequency Vergehen emitted coated his hands, hardening them with reddish slime. Lance Klint, Laure De La Croix, and Noel Rayes would fight, from now on, at 100% of their potential.

While the clash between the three raged on, in the far forest that had emerged in the laboratory, a pleasant aroma caressed the leaves and the flowers. A smoking hot cup rested on the fragrant vines. Jeanne stared at the lardy man, smiling and chuckling. The thread of the conversation was lost, and all that remained was the nervous tapping of a fingernail on wood.