Three blurs streaked across the battlefield, one white, one green, and one black. The air trembled under their speed, each motion tearing through space with sonic burst. The white and black figures clashed against the green blur, their impact detonating through the field with bone-rattling shockwaves. Yet, despite their unending assault, the green figure refused to falter, not even for a heartbeat.

'Few seconds left,' Asher thought grimly, mentally counting down the time remaining on his Star Form.

He appeared before the Goblin once more, his speed surpassing the hypersonic threshold, his rapier a streak of blinding white. In the span of a fraction of a second, he thrust three times, each strike aimed with surgical lethality at the creature's vital points: heart, brain, and throat.

But the Goblin, driven by monstrous instinct and years of battle experience, did not even attempt to block. Its feet blurred against the ground in an almost lazy rhythm, its movements so refined they appeared insulting in their ease. With deft, graceful steps, it evaded every thrust with insulting finesse, the blade grazing the air where its flesh had been an instant before.

But Asher had anticipated that. Pivoting sharply, he adjusted his rhythm to match the Goblin's movements, his body twisting with deadly elegance as he redirected his next strike. His rapier came down in a vicious horizontal arc, the slash cutting for the Goblin's legs in an attempt to cripple its mobility.

The Goblin clicked its tongue in irritation, sidestepping once more. The air where its leg had been moments before was shredded by the speed of Asher's swing. But the Goblin was no mere prey. It was a predator, a killer born from chaos, and it had no intention of simply defending.

With an almost imperceptible snarl, the Goblin raised its katana. Dark energy flared along its edge as it brought the weapon down toward Asher's neck with murderous intent.

But Asher had already seen through it. His sharpened perception read the movement even before it began. To him, the Goblin's deadly motion was as slow and predictable as the fall of a leaf. He didn't parry. He didn't block. He dodged, his body weaving aside in an elegant, effortless motion that made the strike seem clumsy in comparison.

In the same breath, he retaliated, his rapier sweeping upward diagonally toward the Goblin's jaw. The gleaming edge of his weapon whistled like a divine instrument, but the Goblin's reaction was just as sharp. It tilted its head aside, the attack grazing by in a flash of white light and displaced wind.

Asher prepared to follow up with another attack, but suddenly, everything changed. His perception flickered. The radiant light surrounding his body began to dim, his strength bleeding away like sand slipping through his fingers. The world seemed to accelerate, his speed diminishing as his limbs grew heavier.

He didn't need anyone to tell him what was happening.

He knew.

The Star Form had ended. Two minutes were up.

He had managed to stand toe-to-toe with a peak Grave Rank monster for a fleeting moment, an achievement that would have been unthinkable for someone of his rank, but he hadn't been able to finish the fight within that narrow window of godlike power.

"Shit!" Asher cursed aloud, his voice tight with frustration.

The Goblin noticed the change immediately. The blinding white light had faded, and the creature's instincts screamed that the threat had weakened. Its lips curled into a cruel smile, and with a surge of killing intent that warped the air itself, it swung its katana downward with apocalyptic force.

Asher reacted purely on instinct. Though his enhanced senses were fading fast, he tapped into the final remnants of his reaction speed, moving before his body could protest. His rapier shot upward in a desperate block.

The collision was cataclysmic.

The force behind the Goblin's strike was beyond comprehension, like a mountain collapsing onto a single point. The impact sent a deafening shockwave across the field. Asher felt it through every bone in his body, pain flooding through him as his arms screamed in agony. He was flung backward as though struck by a divine hammer, his body shooting through the air at terrifying velocity.

He smashed into a hill with bone-shattering force. The entire formation exploded upon impact, sending dust, stone, and debris surging into the sky. The air filled with choking haze as the world disappeared in a storm of smoke and pulverized rock. Boulders rained down like meteors, threatening to bury him alive.

But before that could happen, the earth beneath him shifted. Sand erupted from below, wrapping around his broken form like a living cocoon. The sand dragged him underground, creating a tunnel that whisked him away in an instant.

A heartbeat later, the sand reemerged beside the Baron, its form unraveling to reveal the battered figure of Asher within.

The Baron stood hunched, bloodied and exhausted, his breathing ragged. As the sand receded, his black eyes fell upon the young man who had saved his life earlier. The moment he recognized Asher, his expression darkened into a deep frown.

Asher knelt on the ground, drenched in blood. His arms were mangled beyond recognition, flesh torn apart, bones jutting through in several places. Blood oozed from his body in rivulets, painting the ground crimson. The Baron wasn't overly concerned about the wounds themselves, he knew such injuries could be healed, but what troubled him was the sheer strength of the Tenth Sun and why the Tenth Sun had involved himself in this fight.

Still, there was no time to question it.

Without speaking, Asher summoned Virelass, his soul bound rapier. The moment she materialized beside him, the air shimmered with silver flash as she hummed gently. The Crimson Pact ability activated instantly, its healing power surging through his body.

His arms began to reform, flesh knitting, muscle reconnecting, bone realigning. His shattered back mended, and the fractures across his legs disappeared. In mere moments, his body began to recover from what should have been a death sentence.

But the Goblin didn't intend to let him recover.

In a blur faster than thought, it appeared before them, like a ghost stepping through reality itself. Its katana glowed with lethal intent, the air around it distorting as the blade swung downward. The monster ignored the Baron completely. Its sole target was Asher, the child whose potential terrified it.

It didn't know what that white form was, nor when the boy might activate it again, but it didn't care. It would kill him now, before the chance arose.

Asher couldn't react in time. Even with his Omni Perception, the Goblin's speed now existed beyond his comprehension. His Omni Perception could sense danger but not sense something that was beyond it.

The katana descended.

But the Baron, driven purely by instinct, moved. His battered body flashed forward, his katana intercepting the strike mid-swing. The two blades collided, sparks exploding in all directions. The sheer force sent the Baron flying backward through the air. His already weakened state and blood loss left him no strength to resist.

Yet he did not relent. Even as he was hurled through the air, he reached out with his sand manipulation bloodline ability. The ground beneath the Goblin erupted as sand shot upward like a storm, coiling and twisting into spears that lunged for the creature.

But the Goblin ignored them. Its focus remained fixed on Asher.

The katana sliced forward once more.

And this time, it connected.

The blade cut through Asher's neck as effortlessly as a knife through silk. His head flew skyward, spinning slowly before hitting the ground with a hollow thud. His body collapsed seconds later, lifeless and limp.

"NOOO!" The Baron's anguished cry tore through the air as he watched the Tenth Sun's body fall. His voice echoed across the battlefield, filled with rage, disbelief, and sorrow.

But before anyone could even process what had happened, a sickening sound echoed, a wet, tearing noise like flesh being ripped apart. A blade had appeared out of nowhere, plunging straight into the Goblin's heart with demonic precision. The Goblin froze, its eyes widening in disbelief. Slowly, it turned its head, and there, behind it, stood the human child it had just decapitated.

Asher.

Confusion and horror flickered in the Goblin's black eyes as it glanced down at the corpse lying before it, the same body it had just slain moments ago. But as it looked upon it, the corpse shimmered, and dissolved into motes of vanishing light.

Its regeneration could have saved it under normal circumstances, but not now. It had exhausted all its Astra energy during the fight and healing of previous wounds. It could not recover. Its fate was sealed.

"F… fucking humans," the Goblin muttered weakly as the light drained from its eyes. Asher withdrew his rapier with calm ease, the corpse collapsing heavily to the ground. The thud echoed through the silent battlefield, signaling the end of the monstrous foe.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Super gifts? Normal gifts? Golden tickets?

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