novelblue
Chapter 137: The Wrath of Varcen
Chapter 137: The Wrath of Varcen
The night was heavy with storm clouds, thunder rumbling like the growl of an ancient beast as rain began to fall in slow, deliberate drops. The world seemed to hold its breath, as if sensing the coming battle.
Their next target was Varcen—a high-ranking sorcerer whose name carried the weight of nightmares. Unlike the others, Varcen was not a zealot nor a warlord. He was a scholar of destruction, a man who had turned magic into a weapon so devastating that entire cities whispered his name in fear.
His stronghold lay deep within the ruined city of Eldros, a place long abandoned after one of his “experiments” had gone awry, leaving nothing but twisted ruins and lingering shadows of the dead.
Tonight, that ruin would be his grave.
The Approach
Seraphis and Theia moved through the remains of Eldros, their footsteps silent upon the cracked stone. The wind howled through the skeletal remains of buildings, carrying with it the whispers of those who had perished here.
"This place stinks of old magic," Theia muttered, rubbing her arms as if brushing off an unseen chill.
Seraphis nodded, her white eyes scanning the ruins. "Stay sharp. Varcen isn’t the type to fight fair."
As if on cue, the air shimmered, and the world around them shifted. The ruined city blurred, twisting into a maze of shifting corridors and towering walls of black stone.
A labyrinth.
Theia gritted her teeth. "Damn illusions."
Seraphis smirked. "Illusions only work if you trust your eyes."
She flicked her wrist, sending one of her metal playing cards spinning through the air. It sliced through the shifting scenery—and the illusion shattered like glass.
The ruins returned to their true form, and standing at the heart of it all was their target.
Varcen.
The Warlock’s Entrance
He stood upon the crumbling steps of an ancient tower, his form shrouded in a robe woven with living shadows. His face, half-covered by a silver mask, was devoid of expression, but his eyes—deep, swirling pools of blue fire—burned with intelligence and cruelty.
"Impressive," he mused, his voice smooth as silk. "Most who wander into my illusions never leave them."
Seraphis did not waste words.
With a flick of her fingers, her cards lashed out, cutting through the air like silver streaks of death.
But Varcen barely moved.
He raised a single hand—and space itself distorted.
The cards halted mid-air, their edges trembling as if caught in the grip of an unseen force.
With a slow twist of his fingers, he sent them hurtling back toward Seraphis.
She darted sideways, barely avoiding the deadly barrage of her own weapons.
"I control the very fabric of reality within my domain," Varcen said, descending the steps with an eerie, gliding motion. "Your little tricks will not work here."
Theia snarled and lunged forward, her twin daggers wreathed in dark energy.
Varcen sighed as if bored—then snapped his fingers.
A maelstrom of blue fire erupted from the ground, swallowing Theia whole.
Seraphis’s heart clenched—but a moment later, Theia burst free from the inferno, her daggers glowing with ward-breaking runes.
"Takes more than cheap tricks to burn me, bastard!" she spat.
Varcen tilted his head. "Good. Let’s see how long you last."
The Battle Begins
With a wave of his hand, the air rippled—and suddenly, the ruins of Eldros vanished, replaced by a vast, endless void of swirling stars.
They were no longer in the physical world.
"A pocket dimension," Seraphis muttered, scanning the endless horizon of black and silver.
"Here," Varcen said, "I am God."
He lifted his hands—and the stars themselves began to move, shifting into spear-like formations, each one aimed at Seraphis and Theia.
Then they rained down.
Seraphis moved like the wind, her body twisting and weaving through the deadly downpour.
Theia deflected some with her daggers, but several grazed her arms and legs, drawing thin lines of blood.
"Enough playing," Varcen intoned. He clenched his fist—and the space around them collapsed inward, the very fabric of reality folding like paper.
Seraphis felt her body being pulled apart at a molecular level, her vision warping as gravity itself shifted.
She gritted her teeth. "Not. Yet."
With a mental command, her cards reshaped, forming into a single, massive blade.
She drove it into the ground—and a shockwave of magic rippled outward, breaking Varcen’s control for a split second.
That was all she needed.
Theia’s Strike
Theia vanished in a blur, reappearing behind Varcen with her daggers plunging toward his spine.
But Varcen anticipated it.
He twisted, his hand crackling with dark lightning, and caught her by the throat mid-strike.
"A shame," he murmured, his grip tightening. "You’re fast. But I am faster."
Theia struggled, her daggers dropping from her hands as blue lightning ripped through her body.
Seraphis saw red.
"LET HER GO!"
Her playing cards exploded outward, reshaping into a storm of razor-sharp daggers that hurled toward Varcen with blinding speed.
He released Theia just in time to conjure a barrier—but he had made a mistake.
Releasing Theia left him open.
Seraphis closed the distance instantly, her final card morphing into a spear, and she drove it straight into his chest.
Varcen staggered, his eyes widening.
Blood dripped from his lips as he looked down at the weapon embedded in his heart.
"Impossible…"
Seraphis twisted the spear, ripping through his core.
Reality shattered.
The pocket dimension collapsed, and they were back in the ruins of Eldros—Varcen’s body now impaled on the remnants of a broken pillar.
He coughed, his power unraveling, his body dissolving into dust.
"I was… a god…"
Seraphis watched without emotion as his form crumbled away, leaving nothing but silence.
The Aftermath
Theia sat on a broken stone, panting heavily, smoke still rising from her burned clothing.
"I hate mages," she grumbled.
Seraphis chuckled, wiping the blood from her weapons. "You say that every time."
Theia shot her a glare, then sighed. "Fine. That was… intense."
Seraphis looked at the sky, where the storm had begun to clear.
Another name crossed off the list.
Another monster dead.
But there were still more to hunt.