Beyond the Apocalypse-Chapter 983: Five seconds

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

"BOOM!" 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"BOOOOOOOM!"

Explosions tore through the endless void as gray light clashed with black, each collision birthing shockwaves that cracked the fabric of space itself. Swords and metallic fists met again and again, every impact like a dying star screaming across the abyss.

The battle between the True Depravita of Wrath and the Vorometallicae Lord raged with increasing ferocity, each strike sharper, heavier, more desperate than the last.

Vlad’s eyes narrowed as Eligos slipped beneath his guard with terrifying precision. The metallic titan’s movement defied reason — too fluid, too disciplined. A storm-like fist surged toward Vlad’s face, wrapped in coils of dark wind. Space trembled around it, and the power radiating from that blow could have crushed a planet’s core.

Yet, the strike never landed.

Just as the punch reached his skin, Vlad’s body shimmered. The fist passed through him harmlessly, leaving nothing but distortion in its wake.

Hatred twisted Eligos’s features as he saw the enemy’s intangibility. He had poured both physical and spiritual might into that blow, yet again it found no flesh to break. His failed attack threw his balance forward, exposing his back — and in that instant, a blade of searing wrath carved through him.

Pain detonated through his body. Vlad’s sword, alive with the Laws of Death and Space, sliced clean through armor, flesh, and spirit. The weapon didn’t merely wound — it carried the essence of oblivion, sending death itself crawling into Eligos’s soul. His body convulsed, vision cracking under waves of agony.

Yet even through the torment, the Voroe Lord’s reflexes did not falter. He spun, and the black tornado that surrounded his body coiled around his tail, concentrating into a weapon of pure entropy. He lashed out, the tail blurring faster than thought.

The strike connected.

Vlad was hurled backward, tumbling through the void. The impact burned through his chestplate, and when he looked down, he saw decay spreading from the wound, his flesh turning to dust.

That wasn’t mere wind. The tornado was composed of the essence of decay, rotating around a singularity of annihilation. It consumed time and matter alike.

"Clever," Vlad muttered, his lips curling into a cold smile.

His immortal constitution surged to life, repairing his body in seconds. Golden veins of energy raced across his skin as divine regeneration purged the decay. In the span of a breath, the wound was gone.

He launched himself back into the fray.

Eligos was already waiting. His breathing was heavy, cracks glowing across his armor where Vlad’s earlier strike had passed through, but his eyes burned with relentless focus. The Vorometallicae had no regeneration like Vlad’s, but their endurance was unmatched, their battle instincts honed across millennia.

Once again, the two collided.

The void shuddered as wave after wave of destructive force rippled outward. Energy storms spiraled into being and died seconds later. Space itself screamed.

Eligos fought with desperate precision — every strike meant to kill. Vlad turned intangible to evade a flurry of punches, then reappeared behind him, his blade slicing through the Voroe’s ribs. Black ichor spilled into the void.

The Voroe Lord snarled, forcing his life force to burn brighter. The wound sealed in an instant, the pain drowned beneath his rising fury. He retaliated with a barrage of blows, each one shaking the stars.

Vlad blocked the first three, deflected the fourth — and then dissolved into mist again, buying distance.

Eligos paused, scanning him with analytical precision. His glowing eyes narrowed.

"Six seconds," he growled under his breath. "Just as Barbatos reported."

A dangerous grin spread across his metallic face. He lunged forward, committing entirely to offense. Every strike carried suicidal intent — a willingness to take damage if it meant dealing more.

Vlad ducked, dodged, parried — but even with his speed, the ferocity of the Voroe’s assault pressed him to his limits. Then, from the corner of his vision, he saw the tail whipping around once more, aiming for his skull.

He activated Quantum Expanse without hesitation — his body phasing out of sync with reality.

Eligos’s eyes sharpened, brighter than any blade, their crimson light cutting through the void. He roared — and ignited both life force and soul essence simultaneously.

The backlash might destroy him, but he didn’t care.

Dark tornadoes roared around his limbs, tripling in power. Each rotation howled with decay and chaos. He became a black comet, streaking through the void, every blow collapsing the space it passed through.

Vlad’s defenses trembled under the onslaught. His sword met the storm head-on, sparks of crimson and silver bursting with every contact. The raw pressure of each strike cracked his bones and made his vision swim.

Eligos’s grin widened, feral and triumphant as he pushed the sword, leaving the True Depraivta open for a direct attack.

"Four seconds..." he hissed, hammering his fists faster.

He poured everything — every ounce of fury, every fragment of soul — into his right arm. The tornado there condensed, black and howling, dense enough to distort gravity itself. The void shook beneath him as he flashed forward like a meteor.

"Now DIE!"

The strike came for Vlad’s head in the fifth second— a killing blow that could have ripped gods apart.

But Vlad was smiling.

That expression froze Eligos mid-swing. His instincts screamed — but too late.

The killing fist passed through empty air. Vlad’s body flickered, ghostlike, and Eligos’s overcharged attack met nothing.

He’d bet everything on that final strike.

And he’d lost.

Pain exploded through his body as the backlash hit — blood and energy pouring from his eyes, mouth, and every crack in his armor. His soul itself convulsed under the weight of his sacrifice.

Before he could recover, Vlad reappeared behind him. The Soul Blade pierced the base of his neck and burst through his throat, its edge glowing with divine wrath.

"Sorry," Vlad whispered near his ear, voice calm and merciless. "Six seconds was the old cooldown. I’m at five now."

The sword erupted.

A flood of death essence consumed Eligos from within, flooding every nerve, every cell in his mechanical flesh. The light in his crimson eyes dimmed, flickered, and finally went dark.

Vlad held him there for a moment, then extended his hand. His aura flared, and a field of dark light wrapped around the fallen Lord, sealing his soul, mind, and body.

Even if Eligos awoke, he would never move again. He would not fight, not flee, not even die.

Only then did Vlad exhale, exhaustion washing through him like a tide. His vision blurred, muscles screaming from the drain of battle.

It had taken everything — cunning, power, and deception — to bring down a Vorometallicae Lord. He’d even tricked Eligos into believing his intangibility still operated on the old six-second rhythm, when in truth, it had evolved thanks to his newly forged Lord-tier Runic Set.