The Extra's Rise-Chapter 264: Bishop Vale (3)

Five stages of swordsmanship.

Sword Intent was the first level, imbuing one's blade with purpose. I had mastered that years ago, forcing my will into the metal until the blade became an extension of my thoughts.

But this—this was different.

As I slashed forward, the blade seemed to sing, a high, clear note that cut through the chaos of battle. My sword vibrated with each strike, not from impact but from something deeper, something more fundamental.

Sword Resonance.

The second level of swordsmanship, where the blade began to vibrate with the swordsman's intent, amplifying each strike through harmonic frequencies that existed between wielder and weapon.

It shouldn't have been possible for me normally.

But Reika's Gift had pushed me temporarily into Mid Integration-rank, and with it came access to techniques that would normally be beyond my reach.

The Bishop blocked my first strike, his staff intercepting my blade with precision—but this time, the impact was different. My sword hummed against his weapon, the vibration traveling through the staff and into his hands. I saw a flicker of discomfort cross his features, his grip adjusting to compensate.

"Sword Resonance?" he murmured, genuine surprise coloring his tone. "At your age?"

I pressed the advantage, not wasting breath on words, each strike flowing into the next in a continuous sequence of motion. The Purelight that surrounded my blade pulsed with each vibration, creating a strobe-like effect that made tracking the weapon's path difficult even for someone of the Bishop's caliber.

For a brief, glorious moment, I matched him—strike for strike, step for step, our weapons blurring as we exchanged blows at speeds that would have been impossible for me just minutes before.

But it wasn't enough.

The Bishop's initial surprise faded quickly, his movements adjusting to counter my newfound technique. His staff blurred, intercepting each strike with precise counters that diffused the vibrations, neutralizing the advantage of Sword Resonance through sheer skill and experience.

"A temporary boost," he noted, his voice calm despite the increased pace of our exchange. "Impressive, but fleeting."

He was right.

I could already feel Reika's Gift burning through my system at an alarming rate. The black symbols on my skin pulsed faster, some already beginning to fade as their power was consumed. The borrowed mana was a wildfire, beautiful but unsustainable, burning too hot and too fast to last.

And the Bishop knew it.

He began to press forward, his attacks becoming more aggressive, more calculated. No longer satisfied with simply countering my strikes, he launched his own offensive, each movement flowing into the next with the precision of someone who had mastered their craft centuries ago.

I parried a thrust aimed at my throat, the impact sending vibrations up my arm despite the Sword Resonance. My next counter was a fraction slower than it should have been, the borrowed power already beginning to wane.

The Domain around us was collapsing faster now, the Lich's power stretched to its limit as it tried to maintain the altered reality while simultaneously feeding energy into the Erebus Bone Armor that protected me.

I needed more.

The realization hit me with cold certainty—I was still losing, just more slowly than before.

"Erebus," I whispered, the name passing my lips like a prayer.

The Lich's spectral form wavered, its hollow eye sockets fixing on me with an intensity that transcended death itself.

"Release your full power."

I felt rather than heard its response—a warning, a caution, the knowledge that my body wasn't ready to channel that level of energy, that doing so could tear me apart from the inside.

"I know," I said, my voice steady despite the blood dripping from the corner of my mouth. "Do it anyway."

For a heartbeat, nothing changed.

Then, everything did.

The Lich's form seemed to implode, collapsing in on itself until it was nothing more than a pinpoint of darkness, a singularity of negative space that defied perception. Then, that point expanded, not outward but into me, merging with my being in a way that the previous Bone Armor had only hinted at.

Darkness flooded my system, cool and ancient, bringing with it memories that weren't mine—centuries of existence, of watching civilizations rise and fall, of accumulating knowledge that was never meant for mortal minds.

The Erebus's Bone Armor transformed, no longer simply covering my body but becoming my body, the distinction between armor and flesh blurring until there was no clear separation. Plates of midnight-black bone sprouted from my skin, forming an exoskeleton of impossible geometry.

The Domain, rather than collapsing, stabilized—but changed. The space around us darkened, stars appearing in the void above, a cosmic emptiness that swallowed sound and light alike. This wasn't just an alteration of local reality anymore; it was a pocket dimension unto itself, a space where the normal rules of physics bent to accommodate the will of its creator.

"A higher Domain of a Lich," the Bishop whispered, and for the first time, I heard a note of genuine concern in his voice. "A death space."

I lunged forward, my movements blurring beyond what should have been possible even with Reika's Gift. The sword in my hand had changed too, its blade now wreathed in a combination of Purelight and shadow, opposing forces that should have annihilated each other instead coexisting in impossible harmony.

The Bishop raised his staff, blood magic surging to counter my attack—but I was already elsewhere, appearing behind him in a flicker of shadow, my blade descending in an arc that would have severed his spine if it had connected.

But it didn't.

Even with Erebus's full power flowing through me, even with Sword Resonance amplifying each strike, even with the Domain warping reality to my advantage—the Bishop was still faster, still more skilled, still more powerful.

He twisted, his staff intercepting my blade at the last possible moment, the impact creating a shockwave that rippled through the Domain itself. The force of the collision sent me skidding backward, my feet leaving trails in the ground as I struggled to maintain my balance.

"Impressive," the Bishop acknowledged, but there was a new tension in his stance, a readiness that hadn't been there before. "You've forced me to take you seriously."

He raised his staff, and the air grew heavy, thick with the scent of blood and decay. His astral energy manifested fully now, a crimson tide that swirled around him like a hurricane, distorting the very fabric of the Domain with its intensity.

I knew what was coming.

I could feel Reika's Gift fading rapidly now, the black symbols on my skin dissolving one by one, the borrowed power returning to its rightful owner. Erebus's full power was consuming me from within, the price for channeling such energy without adequate preparation becoming evident in the way my vision blurred, in the way blood vessels ruptured beneath my skin.

But I couldn't stop.

Not now.

Not when I was so close.

I charged forward, sword raised, Purelight resonating along its length as I poured everything I had into one final attack. The Sword Resonance reached a fever pitch, the blade vibrating so rapidly it became a blur even to my enhanced perception, the sound it produced rising beyond the range of human hearing.

The Bishop met my charge head-on, his staff whirling in patterns too complex to follow, each movement precise, each angle calculated to maximum effect. Blood magic surged forward, a tidal wave of crimson energy that threatened to consume everything in its path.

Our weapons met.

The collision was cataclysmic.

For a single, breathless moment, we were evenly matched—his overwhelming power against my borrowed strength and desperate techniques, a perfect equilibrium of opposing forces.

Then the balance shifted.

I felt it first in my arms, a tremor that started in my fingertips and spread upward, my muscles failing under the strain of channeling too much power for too long. The Sword Resonance faltered, the blade's vibration becoming erratic, disharmonious.

The Bishop smiled, sensing weakness, and pressed forward.

His staff whirled, striking my sword with such force that cracks appeared along its length, the metal groaning under pressure it was never designed to withstand. Purelight flickered, dimming as my concentration wavered, as exhaustion and pain threatened to overwhelm me.

I was pushed back, step by step, the ground beneath me crumbling as the Bishop's power overwhelmed my defenses. The Erebus Bone Armor began to fracture, pieces falling away like autumn leaves, the connection to the Lich weakening as my own strength failed.

Blood magic seeped through the cracks in my defenses, burning wherever it touched, eating away at flesh and bone with equal hunger. I gritted my teeth against the pain, refusing to cry out, refusing to give him the satisfaction of hearing my suffering.

But it wasn't enough.

It was never going to be enough.

The Bishop approached slowly, unhurried, his staff tapping against the ground with each step. There was no triumph in his expression, no gloating—just the calm certainty of someone who had known the outcome from the beginning.

"You understand now," he said, his voice soft, almost gentle. "The gap between us."

I tried to rise, to defy him even in defeat, but my body refused to obey, muscles spasming as the last of Reika's Gift burned away, as the consequences of channeling Erebus's full power made themselves known in agonizing detail.

The Bishop raised his staff, astral energy gathering at its tip, a sphere of condensed blood magic that hummed with deadly intent. "A valiant effort," he acknowledged. "But ultimately futile."

I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.

But then—

Suddenly, I felt it—something deep within me, stirring. A pulse of energy that wasn't my own. It was faint at first, almost like a whisper in the back of my mind. But then it grew louder, stronger, like a heartbeat hammering inside my chest.

'What...?'

I staggered, clutching my head as the world around me seemed to shift. The air felt different, heavier, almost bending under the weight of something I couldn't quite grasp. Time itself seemed to slow, the edges of reality warping around me.

It was now or never. I grasped at everything before me and peeled it away, uncovering the truth. The truth that I simply could not lose. The truth of my second Gift.

Read 𝓁at𝙚st chapters at ƒrēenovelkiss.com Only.