Bloodline Evolution: I Can Choose Opposing Paths-Chapter 35: The First Defiler (2)

The alley went quiet after the last strip of Linen sealed over Aren’s eyes, completely encasing him.

The Defiler let out a slow, satisfied breath, brushing water from his sleeve where he was hit by Aren’s attacks before.

"A Dragon-type and the Core," he murmured. "This’ll get me a promotion for sure!"

His gaze shifted toward Luna.

She had barely managed to push herself up onto one elbow, breath still uneven from being choked. Blood trickled faintly from the corner of her mouth.

He took a step toward her slowly.

"No need to be frightened, dear," he said mildly. "It will be quick and painless."

"Just like getting pricked with a needle, that’s all."

His fingers lifted, dark ether beginning to gather at his palm. But Luna didn’t waver, slamming a hand against the pavement.

A sharp surge of cold erupted outward, frost racing across the stone in branching patterns before spears of ice shot upward from beneath the Defiler’s feet.

The alley temperature plummeted in an instant.

A spear managed to tear through his torso, or rather, through where his torso should’ve been. The impact shattered part of his robe, but instead of blood, sand burst outward from the wound, scattering across the ground before reforming seamlessly back into shape.

"Ugh, did you really have to ruin my new clothing?"

Luna clenched her teeth and fired again, ice shards bursting through the air in rapid succession. But each hit was dispersed by sand around the point of impact.

She was wasting her own ether while dealing no damage to the man himself.

The Defiler stepped forward through the frost.

"Unfortunately," he said, brushing shattered ice from his shoulder, "you’re using the wrong medium."

With a flick of his hand, the sand that was just blasted from the pavement coalesced, turning into linen wraps that bound Luna’s feet together.

"Arghh...!" she tried squirming, but the bandages were bound too tight.

"Stop resisting," he said mildly, raising one hand as dark ether coiled lazily around his fingers. "It’ll just make it harder for me."

He reached Luna in a couple of steps. Her eyes widened as the hand engulfed in black got closer and closer to her face.

"No...Aren!"

"Dragon’s Claw."

Instantly, three arcs of water sliced through the air and right toward the Defiler. His eyes widened as he dissolved into a puddle of sand right where he stood, reforming a bit further away.

"How did you escape!" he cried out. "It should be impossible!"

Aren appeared right beside him, a sword raised up in the air before slashing him right in the abdomen.

"Tch," Aren clicked his tongue as the man barely managed to get out the way.

But this time, he’d struck true, as dark blood poured out from the man’s side. The Defiler clutched at the wound, his eyes going bloodshot.

"You asked how?" Aren said evenly, stepping forward, twin blades at his sides.

"It’s because I know your weakness."

And he hadn’t been lying at all.

Curse element drained an obscene amount of ether when maintained at that intensity. There was no way the man would continue maintaining his curse on Aren.

So he waited, and as soon as he felt the connection slip, it was time to break free.

Aren’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"You can’t maintain both elements at full output," he said quietly. "And you needed your hands free to siphon her."

The Defiler staggered back another step, one hand pressed against his abdomen as dark blood seeped between his fingers. But what caught Aren’s attention wasn’t the wound.

The man’s skin looked duller than before. His cheeks had hollowed out in the span of seconds, the bags under his eyes got wider.

Aren knew what was happening immediately, he’d seen it before.

Demonic cultivators thrive off other’s ether, but can’t make their own. Once they run out? Well, their Bloodline ate through their vitality to supplement.

There it is, a chance!

Aren shifted his stance without taking his eyes off him. "Luna," he said quietly, not looking back.

"Can you still fight?"

Silence passed by for a few seconds before he got his answer.

"Yeah."

The bindings around her legs had loosened when the curse connection snapped. She pushed herself upright, hand rubbing faintly against the red mark on her neck.

The Defiler’s gaze flicked between them.

"You think this is enough?" he rasped, sand beginning to churn violently around his feet. "You think you’ve won?"

Instantly, sand grouped together at his arm to form a sand gauntlet of some sort. He instantly charged at Aren.

He raised both swords up in a cross to defend, fully expecting to block the attack and counter. However, just at the last second, he caught the man’s smile.

Instantly, the Defiler pivoted, going straight for Luna.

"Shit!" Aren yelled out. He was too far away from Luna to make it on time.

Yet Luna didn’t retreat. The skin along her forearm hardened instantly, turning translucent as crystalline structures layered over her skin.

Crystallization.

The sand fist collided and instantly shattered, sand exploding everywhere as the crystals reflected the force and dispersed it.

The Defiler’s eyes widened as his momentum broke against her reinforced arm. In that split second of imbalance—

Aren appeared right at his side, his twin blades aimed for the kill. Both blades descended on the man, one from the left and the other from the right. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The Defiler tried recoiling but it was too late. The blades met at the centerline of his neck before...

SNAP!

For a fraction of a second, the body remained standing. Before the head slipped free.

Dark blood erupted everywhere as his torso collapsed, sand spilling uselessly to the floor and into the alleyway.

The hollowed face that had once smiled rolled across the ground, his eyes were still wide in confusion, even to his last breath.

Aren landed behind the collapsing body before letting the blades disappear in his hands.

Then, immediately, he ran toward Luna.

He crouched down at the bag, quickly tucking the Core inside before zipping it right up. Aren paused just for a second to check the mark on Luna’s neck before grabbing her hand.

"We have to run."