Chapter 1059. Today, You Will Simply Bleed

Chapter 1059: 1059. Today, You Will Simply Bleed

Rex didn’t run; he glided. He moved through the streets of Aethelgard like a predator through tall grass, the temporal distortion around him making his approach silent and unnerving.

Theo was a mess of panicked motion; one moment he was sprinting down an alleyway, boots pounding against stone, the next he was desperately taking to the air, his wings of golden light flickering erratically as he tried to escape the gravity of his own failure.

"Running won’t change the ending, Theo!" Rex’s voice boomed, not from his mouth, but from the very air around Theo’s ears. "You can fly to the heavens, but I own the space between the stars!"

WHOOSH BOOM!

Without warning, Rex snapped his fingers. A lance of concentrated cryo magic materialized midair behind Theo, streaking forward like a comet.

Theo twisted his body in mid-flight, the ice grazing his ribs with a sound like shattering glass CRACKLE and leaving a trail of frost that burned his skin.

"Fuck you! Stay away!" Theo screamed, his voice cracking as he pushed his flight to its absolute limit, leaving a trail of golden sparks behind him.

Rex’s eyes gleamed. "Too slow."

Rex raised both hands, weaving his fingers through the air as if playing an invisible harp. Telekinetic Force slammed into Theo’s back like a battering ram.

THUD.

The boy was hurled downward, crashing through the thatched roof of a tavern.

CRUNCH.

Before Theo could even scramble out of the debris, Rex unleashed a barrage of elemental fury. From his fingertips shot three distinct streams: a spiraling vortex of pyromancy, a jagged bolt of lightning, and a crushing wave of gravitational pressure.

FWOOOOSH ZAP KRA KOOOOM!

Theo screamed as the fire singed his hair, the lightning arced across his nervous system, making his muscles spasm uncontrollably, and the gravity pinned him to the broken floorboards. He lay there, gasping, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth.

"Get up," Rex commanded, walking leisurely into the ruined tavern.

The wooden planks groaned under his weight. "I haven’t even started the real lesson."

Theo tried to summon a shield, his hands shaking as he attempted to channel Kaeleth’s power. A weak, translucent barrier flickered into existence.

Vrrrrm.

Rex didn’t even flinch. He simply extended a palm. "Let’s see how your ’divine’ protection holds up against raw entropy."

Rex unleashed a Void Pulse. A sphere of pure black energy erupted from his palm.

When it hit Theo’s shield, there was no explosion, only a sickening sound of something being erased.

Ssssssssss.

The shield didn’t break; it simply ceased to exist, and the void energy tore through Theo’s shoulder, sending him spinning across the floor.

"Why won’t you die?!" Theo wailed, crawling backward on his elbows, his eyes bloodshot and wild. "Just kill me and be done with it!"

"Because death is too merciful for a coward like you," Rex sneered.

He raised his hand again, and this time, the air itself seemed to crystallize. "I want you to feel every second of your inadequacy."

Rex began a complex series of hand seals. The air temperature plummeted while simultaneously igniting with static.

He launched a Chain Lightning Storm fused with Magma Cores. The attack came in waves. First the lightning struck, paralyzing Theo’s limbs BZZZZZT, and then the molten projectiles followed, exploding against his flesh like miniature grenades.

KABOOM. KABOOM.

Theo was tossed around like a ragdoll in a hurricane. He tried to fly again, desperate to reach the sky, but Rex used Telekinetic Snare, invisible tendrils of force wrapping around Theo’s ankles and wrists.

YANK.

Theo was jerked back down to earth, his body slamming into the cobblestone street with a wet THWACK.

Rex stood over him, the shadows stretching unnaturally long.

"Look at you," Rex said, tilting his head as he watched Theo convulse in pain. "The Apostle of the Time."

"Those who said that you’re going to be the savior of Aethelgard... but in reality... you’re just a broken, sobbing wreck bleeding in the dirt."

Rex’s hands began to glow with a sickly purple light, Soul Crushing Gravity. The pressure increased exponentially.

The cobblestones beneath Theo began to crack and spiderweb.

CRACK CRACK CRACK.

"This is the choreography of your defeat, Theo," Rex whispered as he increased the power, watching as Theo’s bones began to creak under the magical weight. "Every strike, every element, every ounce of pain... it’s all designed to remind you that you never belonged here."

The cobblestones beneath Theo were no longer stone; they had been ground into fine powder by the sheer pressure of Rex’s magical presence.

Theo lay in the center of a crater, his breathing coming in ragged, wet gasps. His ribs were shattered, his vision was swimming in crimson, and every nerve ending screamed in agony.

Just as his eyes began to roll back, just as the sweet darkness of unconsciousness promised an end to the pain, Rex intervened.

"Not yet, little mouse," Rex whispered. "We haven’t reached the climax."

Rex raised his hand, and a sickly green glow erupted from his palm.

"Supreme Healing."

Theo’s body convulsed violently.

SQUELCH.

The sound of bones knitting back together was nauseating, like wet wood snapping. Skin fused over open wounds with an agonizing heat that felt like molten lead being poured into his veins.

The pain of healing was worse than the pain of the wounds themselves; it was an invasive, violating sensation that forced his consciousness back to the surface with brutal efficiency.

"Nnngh... ah... HAAAAAH!" Theo screamed as his lungs inflated painfully.

His heart hammered against his chest like a trapped bird. "Stop... please... just kill me..."

"Kill you?" Rex laughed, a cold, melodic sound that cut through the ringing in Theo’s ears. "You had a second chance, Theo."

"When Kaeleth gave you that spark, when you stood there thinking you could challenge the inevitable, you wasted it."

"You thought you could fight me with borrowed divinity? The result was always going to be this: you, bleeding in the dirt, while I stand above you."

Rex moved with terrifying fluidity. He didn’t just attack; he performed a symphony of cruelty. He raised his left hand, conjuring a blade of Pure Plasma.

With a flick of his wrist, he sent a crescent wave of superheated energy slicing through the air.

SHIIIIIIING.

Theo scrambled to his feet, his legs still unsteady from the forced healing. He threw up a desperate Light Shield, but Rex’s plasma cut through it like a hot knife through butter.

The energy sliced across Theo’s chest, reopening the wounds that had just healed, sending blood spraying across the crater.

SPLAT.

"KAELETH! "Theo shrieked toward the heavens, his voice breaking into a raw, guttural howl. "KAELETH, HELP ME! I’M SORRY!"

"PLEASE, I’LL DO ANYTHING! JUST MAKE HIM STOP!"

The sky remained silent. The golden clouds of Aethelgard didn’t part; the divine light didn’t descend.

There was only the indifferent wind and the mocking echo of his own desperation.

"He’s not coming, Theo," Rex said, stepping closer, his boots clicking against the stone. "He’s already moved on."

"To him, you’re just a broken toy. And I? I’m the one who gets to play with the pieces."

Rex’s hands began to move in complex, overlapping patterns. Elemental Convergence.

The air around him began to warp and bend. Suddenly, he unleashed a storm of shattered glass—thousands of razor-sharp shards of crystallized mana, each imbued with lightning and frost.

K K K K SHHHHHHHH!

The shards rained down in a deadly spiral. Theo tried to dodge, but Rex used Telekinetic Guidance to steer the shards mid-flight.

Each crystal found a mark. One pierced his thigh, another his shoulder, and another grazed his cheek.

THWIP. THWIP. CRUNCH.

Theo fell to his knees, the magical shards embedded in his flesh glowing with malevolent energy.

"Please... no more..." Theo sobbed, blood streaming down his chin.

"No more?" Rex’s eyes flared with silver light. "We’re just getting to the best part."

Rex clenched his fist. Gravitational Collapse.

A localized field of intense gravity slammed down directly onto Theo’s shoulders.

BOOOOOM.

The impact forced Theo face-first into the rubble. As Theo struggled to lift his head, Rex unleashed a continuous stream of corrosive acidic fire.

FSSSSSSSSSSSS.

The flames didn’t just burn; they ate. They hissed as they touched Theo’s flesh, turning skin to blackened char. Theo’s screams became inhuman, a continuous stream of agony that seemed to vibrate the very foundations of the city.

He tried to summon one last burst of power, a desperate solar flare, to blind Rex.

VROOOOOOM.

The flash was brilliant, but Rex simply walked through it, his eyes unblinking. He caught Theo by the hair, yanking his head back to expose his throat.

"Look at me, Theo," Rex commanded, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Look at the man who took everything."

"Your power, your family, your dignity... Tomorrow, they will forget you ever existed."

"Today, you will simply bleed."

Rex raised his other hand, gathering a sphere of Void Energy that hummed with the sound of a thousand dying stars.

HUMMMMMMM.