Ashen Ascension: The Divided Flame-Chapter 95: Labyrinth Of The 9 Realms: 9th Realm

Another projectile shot toward his shoulder.

Ivor lifted his sword and deflected it. A second ball followed immediately after. This one struck his forearm guard instead of the blade, sending a painful vibration through his arm as the metal sphere bounced away.

The chamber did not slow.

More balls fired from the walls. Some came high toward his head. Others shot low toward his legs.

Several arrived nearly at the same time from opposite directions. Ivor adjusted his stance slightly, keeping his feet close together inside the circle. His sword moved constantly now, redirecting the projectiles whenever possible. When a deflection was not possible, he relied on small shifts of his torso or shoulders to let the metal spheres pass by him.

Even so, he was not able to avoid every ball despite using his Soul Sense.

One ball struck his upper arm.

Another slammed against his ribs.

The impacts were heavy and painful. The chamber clearly allowed damage, but it expected him to endure it.

He was not sure whether the test was about avoiding every strike or about surviving within the limit.

Ivor steadied his breathing and narrowed his Soul Sense until it covered only the space immediately around him. With the chamber firing projectiles from every direction, sensing the entire room would only drain his energy.

Instead he focused on the next attack approaching his body.

The movements became smaller and more controlled with each passing moment. Instead of wide swings, he relied on precise angles of the blade, allowing the metal spheres to glance away from him rather than stopping them outright.

The storm of projectiles continued.

Time passed slowly as the chamber forced him to maintain his defense within the tight space. His arms began to ache from the constant deflections, and several impacts slipped through when two balls arrived too close together.

One struck his shoulder hard enough to stagger him.

Another clipped his jaw.

Ivor gritted his teeth and kept his stance centered.

The chamber did not care whether he blocked with his sword, shifted slightly to dodge, or simply absorbed the strike with his body. It demanded only one thing.

That he remain standing within the circle.

Gradually the rhythm of the projectiles began to feel familiar. Soul Sense warned him of each incoming object just before it entered the narrow space around him. His blade moved with sharper efficiency, and his body adjusted instinctively to the timing of the attacks.

The storm of metal continued for what felt like many long minutes.

Then, without warning, the firing stopped.

The chamber fell silent.

The last metal ball rolled across the stone floor before settling near the wall.

Ivor remained standing inside the circle, breathing heavily. He kept his Soul Sense active for a few moments, waiting to see if another attack would come, but nothing moved.

A blue light appeared along the far wall and another doorway opened.

He did not walk toward it immediately. Instead, he sat down where he was and began absorbing ambient mana, letting his stamina recover while slowly refilling his core.

Almost fifteen minutes passed before the door began closing again. Ivor stood up at once and moved quickly, slipping through the doorway before the stone sealed shut.

The next passage was short. As he walked forward, the surroundings slowly changed. The ceiling rose higher and the floor returned to rough rock instead of the polished stone from the previous chamber. With every step, the Labyrinth felt less like separate rooms and more like a path guiding him toward a final destination.

The corridor ended at a massive door.

When it opened, the space beyond was enormous.

A vast dome-shaped chamber stretched before him, so tall that the ceiling disappeared into shadow. In the center was a deep pit, and a wide stone platform circled its edge.

Ivor stepped onto the platform and immediately sensed a presence.

It felt similar to the skeletons he had fought before, empty yet solid, but this one was far heavier. Even standing still, it carried the feeling of lethality. Ivor tightened his grip on the sword Nara had forged, steadied his breathing, and walked toward the center of the platform.

From the first realm until now, the Labyrinth had been leading him here. This was the last realm.

The bones of the skeleton were darker and thicker, the joints reinforced with dense black bone that looked almost like forged metal. Its sword was long and perfectly straight, carved from polished bone that carried a faint dull sheen.

The skeleton moved first.

It crossed the distance in an instant, the blade cutting straight for Ivor’s neck.

Ivor’s sword came up immediately. Steel met bone with a heavy crack that sent vibrations through his arm. The force behind the strike surprised him. This enemy was far stronger than any skeleton the Labyrinth had thrown at him so far and even the other awakened he had fought outside.

He stepped aside and slashed toward the skeleton’s ribs. The blade struck but barely chipped the surface. The bones were reinforced far beyond normal.

The skeleton responded instantly. Its sword swept low toward Ivor’s legs, forcing him to jump back before the edge could reach him. The follow-up strike came immediately, a fast thrust toward his chest.

Ivor twisted his body and let the blade slide across the side of his tunic. The fabric absorbed most of the force, but the impact still pushed him back two steps.

This opponent wasted no motion.

Ivor exhaled and pulled mana from his core. The blue energy flowed into his sword, forming a dense coating along the blade’s edge. He stepped forward again and swung harder this time.

The skeleton met the attack head on. Bone sword and steel collided again, both weapons reinforced with mana. The clash echoed through the chamber like striking metal.

The skeleton pressed forward without hesitation, forcing Ivor into a direct exchange of blows.

Their blades met again and again. Each impact carried enough force to jar Ivor’s arms. Soul Sense flared around him as he tracked the skeleton’s movements, but even with the warning the speed of its attacks pushed him close to his limit.

A diagonal slash came for his shoulder.

Ivor dodged it and drove his fist forward, coating it in a dense layer of umbra shadow. The black energy wrapped around his knuckles like a second skin as his punch struck the skeleton’s ribs.

The blow cracked bone and pushed the skeleton back. The skeleton retaliated instantly, its elbow smashing toward Ivor’s jaw. He barely twisted aside in time and countered with a thrust aimed at the hip joint.

The blade slid between the bones and scraped against the reinforced structure beneath. The skeleton kicked forward, forcing Ivor to retreat again.

The fight quickly became brutal and direct. There was no space for careful positioning, no pillars or terrain to manipulate. The skeleton pressed constantly, driving Ivor backward with relentless attacks.

Ivor increased the flow of mana through his sword. Blue energy surged along the blade as he struck harder. The next collision between their weapons exploded with force, the shock running through both arms.

The skeleton did not slow.

It advanced again, striking faster now, forcing Ivor to block, twist, and deflect within fractions of a second. Soul Sense strained as it tracked the skeleton’s blade again and again.

A strike slipped through and clipped Ivor’s shoulder. Pain flared, but the tunic absorbed the worst of it. Ivor stepped forward instead of retreating.

Shadow surged over his forearm as he coated it with umbra again and slammed the limb against the skeleton’s weapon arm. The impact knocked the blade slightly off line.

He used the opening instantly.

Mana gathered along his sword edge and he drove the weapon forward with all his strength. The strike landed across the skeleton’s elbow joint with a sharp crack. The reinforced bone split slightly.

The skeleton staggered for the first time.

It recovered immediately and swung again, this time with even greater force. Ivor blocked, but the impact drove him backward across the stone floor.

His mana core was draining quickly now. Maintaining the coating on his sword while reacting at this speed demanded everything he had.

The skeleton lunged again.

Ivor met it head on. Mana surged from his core in a powerful stream, reinforcing his blade completely. At the same moment he pushed Soul Sense further than before, expanding it outward just enough to read the skeleton’s next movement before it began.

The two collided again.

Sword met sword in a violent crash. Ivor stepped inside the skeleton’s reach before it could recover. Umbra flooded his left arm as he drove his shoulder forward and smashed into the skeleton’s torso.

The impact disrupted its balance for a moment.

That moment was enough.

Mana compressed along the edge of his sword and he swung upward with every ounce of strength he had left. The blade struck the neck joint and bit deep into the reinforced bone.

The skeleton tried to retaliate, its sword already moving toward his ribs. Ivor ignored the attack.

He forced the blade deeper and twisted.

The neck joint cracked apart. The skull separated from the spine and flew sideways across the platform. The skeleton’s body staggered once before collapsing into a heap of bones. Ivor stood still for a moment, breathing hard. His mana core felt nearly empty and his arms trembled slightly from the strain.

Then the heavy presence vanished. The final soldier of the Labyrinth had fallen.