Ascension of the Dark Seraph-Chapter 340: Orchestrating a Dilemma

Leandra panted.

Her lungs burn from all that running she did.

Along the way, seven students were accidentally killed by the golden feathers, so she had to leave the populated area. She was thinking of the parking lot, or even going back to the abandoned building near the Bastion of Blades.

But she was intercepted.

Guarding either side of the main street were twenty students who were under control.

Controlled like a puppet.

All of them had one eye glowing golden.

And upon focusing on it, Leandra noticed this golden eye also changed shape.

It doesn’t look like a human’s eye, but a bird’s, a falcon to be exact.

"I can’t kill them," Leandra frowned, a drizzle of blood trickled down—the side of her face. "I can’t hit them hard too or else there’s a chance they’d be crippled even with the academy’s healers help. There’s no other choice..."

Swoosh!

Leandra glanced over her shoulder and saw the flock of golden feathers charging at her again.

She gritted her teeth and instantly dashed away.

Deciding that going to the parking lot is a lot closer and safer than going to the abandoned building near the Bastion of Blades, she charged at one group of students to her right. And in response, these students also charged at her.

Gathering ether into her hand, she locked onto the incoming group and made a palm thrust.

A wave of telekinetic waves burst forth, knocking three students out of the way and staggering the rest.

It was her first ability as a Star Witch Hybrid, telekinesis.

Then, she tapped into her starlight attribute and created a sphere of starlight between her hands.

Just like earlier, she knew the flock of golden feathers wouldn’t care whether there were students on the way, so she needed to push these students away lest they get impaled and killed. ’Focus, focus! It’s my first time doing it in a battle, but I can do it. I have to!’

Just like earlier, she knew the flock of deadly golden feathers wouldn’t care who stood in their path.

Be it Leandra or other students—everyone will be overrun.

So, she needed to push these students away lest they get impaled and killed.

’Focus... focus! It’s my first time trying this in a real fight, but I can do it. I have to!’

Leandra struggled to retain the shape of the starlight sphere while her focus wasn’t fully on it.

It had only been recently since she reached the Chrysalis rank.

Her mastery over her attribute is low, but she has to make it work, or these students would die.

Before she could finish casting her new ability, a crushing force slammed into her.

A small grunt escaped her lips as she tumbled to the side—recovering a few meters away, but the starlight sphere was forcefully—cancelled. In front of her were two students, both women with pale silver hair, who were clearly only at the Acolyte rank.

For a second there, Leandra was stunned.

She grabbed her throbbing arm as she looked at these two students incredulously.

"No Acolyte-rank Hybrid, even with a high-grade bloodline, could hit that hard," She mumbled in shock, surprised by the force these two could produce. "I am a Chrysalis-rank Hybrid... The boost these two got is incredible."

Swish!

Leandra raised a telekinetic barrier once again, blocking the rush from the golden feathers.

Once the feathers passed, she turned to the other students.

Even though she pulled back her punches earlier, an Acolyte-rank Hybrid would’ve found their bodies reeling—from her push earlier. But now, all of them were standing up fine, showing that her attack did little to no damage.

Before she could make her move, the students had already attacked.

Both silver-haired women moved the fastest, turning into ghosts that rushed with incredible speed. ƒrēenovelkiss.com

One that is clearly beyond the speed of an Acolyte-rank Hybrid.

Despite that, Leandra’s eyes turned sharp.

’I’m not going to hold back anymore.’

Leandra’s eyes followed the two ghosts who came attacking from either side, swiping her with their claws.

Expertly, she blocked the two attacks.

Then, without letting go, she kicked one right on its face before grabbing the other with two hands and hurling it towards the other students. As soon as she did that, three students attacked him from all sides, using their own enhancement abilities to bolster their strength and speed.

But Leandra’s combat intuition was immaculate.

She engaged against the three of them at the same time in hand-to-hand combat, blocking and counterattacking their sloppy movements without much difficulty. Each attack was calculated—and measured, and with each second that passed, the intensity of her attacks grew stronger.

One could tell that she was slowly amping up her power output, making sure not to hurt these students.

Bam!

Leandra stacked two students together and made a spinning kick, sending them hurling away.

Her purple eyes flicked to the side, seeing that the other group was approaching.

In one swift motion, she gathered ether into her palms and struck the ground.

Swoosh!

A distorted telekinetic wave burst from her body, pushing the students around her with force.

Once she did, she immediately began casting the starlight sphere again.

An ability that she got recently from her Snippet of Bloodline called Chain Constellation.

The Chain Constellation ability could only be effective during the night, as it needs direct starlight and ether to create. It’s a powerful ability because of that, but controlling it was difficult, as controlling the starlight from the sky was something she wasn’t used to.

But with focus, the starlight sphere, though crude, was good enough to use.

Leandra raised her gaze to look at the incoming group and hurled the sphere towards them.

Swoosh!

It cuts through the air like lightning.

Due to how inconsistent the harmony within the sphere was, it wobbled, slowing down, allowing most of the students to avoid the sphere easily. However, one of the slowest ones wasn’t able to leap out of the way in time.

As soon as the sphere hit, the student was enveloped in starlight that scorched his skin.

Gradually, the starlight grew brighter and brighter.

And before anyone could react, it detonated—not with a forceful explosion, but by unleashing a beam of starlight that struck the nearest student, then ricocheted to the next, and the next, until all ten students in the opposing group were hit.

Each one was paralyzed in place, their nerves overloaded by the starlight beam.

Leandra looked around, finding that the students were all down.

But before she could celebrate, her head snapped to the side.

"Keuhk!!"

Leandra forgot about the golden feathers, and she got struck from behind.

Several feathers pierced into her flesh, each one drawing sharp arcs of blood as they struck.

She crashed onto the ground, hissing in pain.

Despite the reeling, stabbing pain on her back, Leandra climbed back to her feet, struggling.

Then suddenly, she heard clapping sounds.

Groaning in pain, Leandra turned around—and saw a figure seated on a bench, one leg crossed over the other, clapping slowly as he watched with a smug grin. His presence was overwhelmingly profound—golden aura spilled from him like living ornaments, regal and effortless, even as he sat still.

He suppressed his aura perfectly, but the divinity of his aura couldn’t be hidden.

Leandra properly faced him as he stood up.

Once his entire form was illuminated by the moon, she could properly see him.

A man who’s well above six feet with tanned skin, broad shoulders, and piercing golden eyes.

One thing that stood out the most was a thick swirling golden tattoo on both arms, gleaming with power, the exact same as his eyes. He put down his arms and tilted his head, looking at Leandra, who was now riddled with cuts and blood.

"Impressive. You took all of your empowered friends down."

"Who are you?"

Leandra didn’t entertain the man’s word, keeping her alert high in case of a sudden attack.

Since this man is Lucivar’s enemy, he must also be wicked.

"Me...?" The man chuckled in hubris, approaching closer but stopping when Leandra flinched, almost as if he was respecting her safe space. "The real question is, who are you? I was hoping to meet with the one called Ravenna. But you... You’re clearly not Ravenna."

"Ravenna...?"

Leandra’s eyes widened for a second.

Now she realized that the target wasn’t supposed to be her, but Ravenna.

She was in Ravenna’s room earlier, so this man mistook her for Ravenna, his real target.

Just then, the man continued with elegant poise.

"My plan is immaculate," He began, pacing slowly to the side. "I throw the spear. Ravenna either dodges or blocks it. Then, she’ll be pitted against these students whom I controlled. With her ability, she’ll have a hard time controlling her bloodlust and eventually lose control. She’ll kill them. That was the plan."

"What-?" Leandra shook her head, a deep frown creasing her brow. "Why do you want her to do that?"

Hearing this, the man smiled faintly.

"I’m glad you asked." He turned back to face her—his voice was calm, but laced with malice.

"I want to give that damned avatar a dilemma", He continued, raising a finger. "If Ravenna is arrested for slaughtering innocent people, will he come to her rescue, knowing it’s obviously a trap? If he does... how would that look? The rising star of the public eye, aiding a murderer? And if he doesn’t, then how’d that fare with you and the others? All of you must surely be disappointed in him if he didn’t help, especially knowing there was a God inside him."

"Why-Why do you want that?"

"To gauge if he’s strong or not, of course. Caring for others is weakness, after all."

Leandra swallowed hard.

She looked to the side, glad that she didn’t kill the students.

If she killed even one student, that would be playing right into this man’s hands.

Lucivar would also be in a dilemma.

’He seemed to know a lot about us... In the first place, how did this guy know where we are?’

’How did he know Lucivar was not around to fend him off?’

Just then, the man’s eyes glowed brighter.

"Since it has come to this, I’ll have to improvise." He grinned meaningfully.

Leandra raised her arms, ready to defend herself.

But she noticed the man stealing glances at the students who were slowly recovering from the battle.

It was then that her eyes widened in realization.

Seeing the realization dawning on Leandra, the man chuckled humorously.

"Since you didn’t kill these students, I’ll kill them for you," He said with a fierce glint behind his eyes, ready to spill blood. "After all, I’m never here..."

Swoosh!

Gliding with the wind, the man moved incredibly fast.

Leandra has no time to react as he has already brushed past her without much difficulty.

But as he was about to reach the nearest student, a sharp, clinging sound echoed as three coins dropped.

For a brief moment there, the man looked at the three coins in confusion.

Boom!

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