NOVEL NEXT Chapter 777: Soul Battle [Part 3]
Chapter 777: Soul Battle [Part 3]
A terrible sound—like a thousand hurricanes clashing against a tsunami-reverberated across the Limitless Void. The colossal pillars of the void palace groaned, shuddering under the strain of the tremors as the Shadow Enthrall continued its relentless assault.
Seven heads blurred in a frenzy of battering darkness, obliterating the ground beneath with merciless abandon, a wraith of madness unleashed upon the battlefield.
After seconds bled into minutes. The monstrous entity hesitated. Not in exhaustion, but as if acknowledging the need for confirmation-had the soul been fully subdued?
A cloud of black dust choked the air, thick and impenetrable, swallowing the entire expanse that had borne the brunt of its rampage. Then, subtly, it began to shift, dispersing like ink diluted in water.
From the vanishing obscurity, he emerged.
A boy with olive skin, smooth and lustrous-pristine as though he had just been unboxed. His unsettling azure gaze gleamed upward, impassive, carved from an emotion far beyond fear. His hands rested inside his pockets, a wicked grin dripping from his face.
The Shadow Enthrall's seven heads recoiled, pooling back into the air. A moment of stillness, then-a screech. A bone-rattling, ear-splitting howl of unholy resonance, all seven mouths unhinged in unison, an omen of death.
This time, however, Northern was not going to have it.
His figure blurred-vanished-and then reappeared in the air, in a swift streak of motion. His muscles coiled, tightened, strained-and in the same breath, his fist whipped forward, cleaving through space itself.
A punch.
A single, devastating blow collided against the first head-a shockwave erupted outward, ripping through the air like a hurricane turned inside out. The first head flew backward, crashing against the second. The second against the third. The third against the fourth. And on, and on—until all seven were sent spiraling, their screeching cacophony stifled in a perverse, almost satisfying rhythm.
The Shadow Enthrall reeled, staggering sideways. Seven heads dangled, swaying, momentarily lifeless.
Then-it froze.
A brief second of hesitation, a sinister gleam flickering within its pools of darkness. Casually suspended in the air, Northern shrugged, hands still buried in his pockets. "What? Don't be so shocked..." his voice slithered through the air, lazy yet sharp. "This is a soul battle. In here, both of us are subjected to the same manner of damage. It doesn't matter how the hit is made... we are beaten the same way. You win, you take over my soul... I win, you die."
The he paused raising his chin before he continued:
...Brace yourself bastard. I will beat nonsense and bastard into your body."
His grin stretched wider-feral, merciless, absolute-as he shot toward the abomination
once more.
Within the soul, a physical attack was non-existent, no matter how physical their battle seemed, there was nothing physical about it. All of it was a direct confrontation on one's soul, with the monster supposedly supposed to have the upper hand because of its semi-tangible body.
With any other soul, it would definitely have gotten the upper hand, but Northern was a bad match. The reason being the Limitless Void.
The Limitless Void was an existence shaped and controlled alone by Northern's will... the potentiality of that very fact alone leaves many rooms for exploration of certain and unthinkable impossibilities.
Northern and the Shadow Enthrall collided-a brutal clash of flesh and force, a storm of sheer devastation.
The seven serpentine heads struck with the might of boulders heavy enough to drown the sky, a relentless, chaotic onslaught.
Each terrifying punch-each devastating blow-was met by just two hands.
Northern's arms whipped and flowed with imperceptible speed, a ceaseless blur intercepting every crushing strike. His fists crashed against the creature's metallic snouts, shattering the air with force equal to its own, an unrelenting tide of counterforce.
Their exchange was a frenzy of blurred motion, a violent symphony of snapping necks and battering fists, all crackling through the battlefield with a thunderous roar trapped within a barrel of storm clouds.
It was both breathtaking and terrifying.
Two short hands against seven monstrous heads-yet Northern never faltered.
His expression remained unmoved. Unbothered. Even bored. His eyes never wavered, never flinched, locked onto his opponent with a gaze of absolute control.
Then-he sighed.
A quiet, almost casual exhale-right in the midst of the chaos.
And in that very moment, he broke the pattern.
One hand withdrew. The other lunged a sudden, jarring shift-diving upward in a perfect,
chaotic arc.
The execution was flawless and unpredictable, a mastery of discordance.
The impact was imperceptible until it landed.
An uppercut—so sudden, so devastating-it sent one head careening backward, reeling violently through the air, completely off-course.
In that single misdirection-Northern took control of the battle.
The rhythm shifted. No longer a synchronized pattern of strikes and counters-but a disaster
of disflow, the fight scattering into pure, uncontrolled chaos.
And that was exactly his intention.
Northern blurred forward-a streak of movement weaving through the air, each head snapping toward him with ruthless pursuit. But his body was already a step ahead, twisting, shifting-leading them further into their own destruction.
Then he landed.
His boots screeched across the polished, reflective floor of the Void Palace, friction hissing like a blade scraping against steel. With an effortless dusting of his hands, he smiled.
'There...'
The Shadow Enthrall-the abomination of darkness-was stilled.
Its seven serpentine necks, once wild and ferocious, were now twisted and entwined, tangled
into an unsalvageable knot of mangled limbs. Breaking free was impossible.
Northern studied the trapped creature, his grin shifting into a small nod of acknowledgment.
'Training with Bairan did pay off.'
A sudden tremor quaked through the very air.
The Void Palace shuddered-not from the battle, but from something deeper, something far
worse.
The pleasant look on Northern's face faded, sinking into a river of stern caution.
A silent chill rippled through the atmosphere.
Then the air itself shivered.
A crackling surge of darkness consumed the Shadow Enthrall, its form unraveling, dissolving
into a mass of shifting, writhing shadows.
And then-it reassembled.
But this time, it was no longer the same.
The beast re-emerged, its form bigger, sharper, more monstrous. Its sheer size alone
eclipsed the battlefield, three pairs of newly-formed legs slamming into the ground with
rigid, monstrous force.
A pair of wings-massive, jagged, and terrifyingly vast-unfurled like a collapsing darkness, spanning over a hundred meters. With a single swing, they crashed through the towering
pillars, sending fractured debris plummeting like meteors.
And its serpentine necks-thicker now, lined with coils of muscle as rigid as twisted cords of metal-shifted and flexed with newfound, unrestrained power.
Northern's expression hardened, his face turning cold. Wary.
He shifted his stance, foot sliding back, muscles tightening-ready to charge.
But-something was wrong.
Before he could react-before he could even see it-
The monster moved.
Its head blurred, moving faster than its massive size should have allowed, a nightmarish blur
of shadows and steel.
And then-pain.
Unstoppable. Merciless. Real.
A savage snap—and Northern's flesh tore open.
The Shadow Enthrall's brutal, blackened maws ripped a chunk of his chest away, fangs
shearing through muscle and sinew with terrifying ease.
A shockwave of agony crashed through his body.
Northern staggered forward, the world twisting around him.
Blood.
A river of crimson spilled from the gaping wound, soaking his body, cascading down his arm
in heavy torrents. A thick droplet trailed from the corner of his mouth, his breaths ragged and
shallow.
He looked down.
And for the first time-horror flickered in his gaze.
He staggered back-his mind racing, his body failing-his vision shaking.
Before him, the Shadow Enthrall did not advance.
It did not rush to finish the job.
It only watched.
Its massive form shifted slightly, moving with the grace of a supreme predator, its endless,
abyssal eyes drinking in the sight of its wounded prey.
And at that moment-
The winner of this soul battle had been decided.