Infinite Regeneration In The Apocalypse-Chapter 103: Ice Palace!

The moment she activated the ability, Vogue felt as though an entire mountain had suddenly materialized on his shoulders and was pressing down on him with crushing, impossible weight.

His knees buckled slightly before he caught himself. The ground beneath his feet cracked and spiderwebbed outward from the sheer force of him trying to remain standing upright against the gravitational pressure. Each breath became difficult, his lungs struggling to expand against the weight pressing down on his chest.

"Quickly!" the gravity girl shouted to her companions, her voice shaking. "Even with the enhancement from Divine Son Xander, I can only hold Vogue at this level of gravity for one minute maximum! After that, my energy will be completely depleted!"

"That’s more than enough time!" the muscular, burly guy who had protected her earlier roared in response.

He was the one with the scarred face and arms like tree trunks. The golden enhancement from Xander had made him even larger and more powerful-looking. His muscles bulged grotesquely as he channeled all his enhanced strength into his legs.

With a mighty leap, he launched himself over twenty meters into the air in a single bound, soaring up and forward with his sword raised high above his head. He descended toward Vogue like a falling meteor, positioning his blade to come down in a devastating overhead slash the moment he landed.

Vogue’s face changed drastically as he assessed his situation in a split second.

He was currently exerting approximately fifty percent of his total energy just to stand upright and resist the ten times gravity effect crushing down on him. The weight was so intense that even his dragon-enhanced physique was struggling against it. His bones creaked from the pressure. His muscles strained to the point of tearing.

That meant he could only utilize about fifty percent of his actual combat strength at this moment. His movements would be slower, his strikes would be weaker, his techniques would be less effective.

And this massive enemy was descending toward him with a blade aimed to split his skull, backed by both his natural strength and Xander’s divine enhancement.

Vogue growled low in his throat like a cornered animal. He didn’t care about the energy cost anymore. He couldn’t get tired anyway thanks to his Infinite Stamina, so he might as well burn through his reserves if it meant survival.

Just as the muscular youth was about to land on him with his blade descending toward Vogue’s head, Vogue made his move.

"Time Stop!" he commanded.

The world froze instantly. Color drained slightly from everything as time came to a complete halt. The muscular youth was left hanging in mid-air, frozen at the apex of his descending strike with his blade mere meters from Vogue’s skull. His face was locked in an expression of fierce determination.

The other players charging toward Vogue all stopped mid-step, frozen like statues in various aggressive poses.

Even the gravity effect seemed to lessen slightly during Time Stop, though it didn’t disappear completely since it was an ongoing passive effect rather than a moving attack.

"Time Step," Vogue activated his second technique immediately.

With time stopped around him and his own perception accelerated, Vogue became the only thing moving in a frozen world. He pushed through the reduced gravity with determined effort.

His blade flashed four times in rapid succession as he moved among the frozen enemies. He positioned himself behind each of the four players who were closest to him and sliced through their necks with surgical precision.

Four heads began to separate from four bodies, the cuts so clean they would only become visible once time resumed.

Then Vogue turned his attention to the muscular youth hanging in mid-air above him. He bent his knees and leaped upward with all his strength, intending to reach the frozen enemy and slice off his neck before time resumed.

But just as Vogue’s blade was rising toward the youth’s exposed throat, a single word echoed from the sky.

"Break!"

Divine Son Xander’s voice rang out with absolute authority and power.

Instantly, Vogue’s Time Stop shattered like glass being struck by a hammer. The temporal freeze collapsed completely, and time snapped back to normal flow with violent suddenness.

"Slash!"

The muscular youth’s blade, which had been frozen in mid-descent, suddenly continued its downward arc with full force and speed. Vogue had been mid-leap when time resumed, completely out of position to defend properly.

The blade caught him unexpectedly across his left shoulder since he hadn’t anticipated someone being able to break through his Time Stop so easily and quickly. The attack was so sudden he had no chance to dodge or block.

The sword cut deep into his flesh, slicing through muscle and scraping against bone. The cut left a large, gaping gash that went from his shoulder down toward his chest. Blood sprayed from the wound in a crimson arc.

Vogue growled with pain and immediately controlled his muscles with precise focus, tensing them around the wound to stop the blood from continuing to spill out. His regeneration was already working on closing the injury, but it would take several seconds.

He landed back on the ground with a heavy "thud" sound, his feet creating small craters in the cracked floor from the force of his landing combined with the gravity still pressing down on him.

Behind him, the four players whose necks he had sliced during Time Stop all collapsed simultaneously as their heads rolled free from their shoulders. Their bodies crumpled to the ground in spreading pools of blood.

[Humans Killed +4]

But Vogue had no time to appreciate those kills because the remaining players were already converging on him.

"Attack him together! Don’t give him any space!" someone shouted, coordinating the assault.

More than twenty players rushed at him from all directions simultaneously, creating a closing circle of bodies and weapons that left him no room to escape.

Vogue immediately smiled. "Perfect! Just what I was eating for.’

"Ice Palace!"