The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 37

"First, we will get rid of your little minions.", Chthon declared.

"Do not think for a moment that you are the only one with servants.", he said as he summoned demons that crawled out of nowhere. They were numerous.

She estimates their numbers to be around a million. But they were weaker than the dragons. They made up for quality with quantity. Moreover, his powers just seem to be increasing nonstop.

"Suprise? In the soul of the scarlet witch, I can exert my powers to the extreme. Although it is nothing compared to when I am in my domain, it is enough for the likes of you."

The dragons immediately went to war with the demons. The battle should be recorded among legends not history for the dragons were slaughtering demons unopposed. People would not believe that the side with lower numbers was killing demons like ants.

If Chthon was bothered by this, he did not show it. Although the dragons were winning, demons keep continuing to appear. She then felt a sense of intrusion upon her soul.

"Interesting so, you can resist the power of reality. He just tried to change her into something but whatever it was, it wasn't working for she could resist it easily.

"But you are looking upon the Lord of dark magic!", he started to gather his scarlet powers. It started to emit from him like a lantern in darkness. She could feel the power of chaos itself in the aura he emits. He started chanting the language of arcane.

A language that could not be understood. It was when he was starting to chant those two rays of dragon breath blasted towards him from two sides. It was Selph and Falkor. Alduin was commanding the rest of the everlasting dragons.

Chthon was forced to cancel it as the full breath hit him. He came out unscathed. It was at that point when she jumped and slashed at him with a flaming scythe. She could not use burial blade here for the blade was simply a physical weapon.

He retreated and started chanting once again. Red aura started gathering in his hands and he shot them towards her. It came in the form of beams. Not just a single beam but hundreds of them converging towards her at once.

There was no dodging this. She could feel the powers of laws in this. The power of laws is the same with the power of causality or probability. They were irresistible. Chthon was now planning to change reality actively rather than just passively.

The moment it hits her, she would lose but not before turning into something, perhaps a demon under his command, or maybe a chicken.

Nobody except Chthon can tell what it would turn her into. She destroyed the first wave by spinning around her scythe. But the next attack was already in motion.

It would have hit her if it wasn't of Falkor. He used his claws and swung at them to cancel it out. Selph on the other hand was now attacking Chthon personally. There was no trace of childishness in them.

Slamming down her claws on the demon, Chthon merely held it with his bare hands. He threw her away, but she responded with a blast in his face. He came out without a scratch once again. She unmade her scythe and settle for a sword instead.

She would try to get close and personal. Chthon simply strengthened himself with magic when he threw Selph, he did not know how to actually fight.

"Falkor throw me.", she commanded. She stood on his hands as he threw her. This allows her to close the gap between them in an instant. She thrusted it straight towards him, but he dodged once again.

Thousands of slashes and thrusts in a few seconds, but he still managed to dodge them. Of course, he did not just stand there. The entire time, she has had balls of arcane thrown at her.

Not a single one landed as she managed to dodge them. She was beginning to sense something strange. Her strikes were strong, but they were a far cry from the breath of an everlasting dragon.

Her swords were also nothing compared to the claws of an everlasting dragon. He came out unscathed from them, yet he dodged her every strike. Selph seems to have realized this too. She communicated with Falkor in some way she did not understand.

Falkor threw another breath at him. Chthon did not even bothered to dodge let alone block it. He just stood there, received it and came out unscathed.

"The everlasting ones do not affect thee?", she asked.

"Of course not, they are creatures of nature, creatures of eternity and natural magic can never hurt me.", there was no intention of hiding in his words. Perhaps this was the pride of a dimensional lord.

'Meaning he can be hurt by unnatural magic.', she thought to herself. She unleashed her own aura covering Wanda's soul in 'unnatural magic'.

"Such weak aura do not affect the likes of me.", he said as created several scarlet chains and threw them towards her. She deflected them once again.

"Selph, Falkor, just go help thy kin.", she told them. If what he said was true, they would not even affect the demon. She did not try to block them this time. She returned the blows with her own fireballs. Both sides showed no signs of relenting.

If this goes on, she would not last. She could continue hurling fireballs for hundreds of years, but her soul will eventually burn out. Chthon however, had an entire dimension to back him up and he seems to be in no hurry.

She slammed her hands into whatever structure she was currently standing on. That unleashed hundreds of tendrils made of fire.

She also started chanting as flames started to flow everywhere like water. Wanda's soul was basically set on fire. Chthon destroyed some of them and dodged some of them, yet she still did noy manage to land one hit.

"Foolishness! You do not think that I will make no preparations for my own weakness? I may not be able to withstand your magic outside of my domain, but I of know hundreds of thousands of ways to sense them and parry or dodge as I wish."

I can react to whatever you throw at me and dodge them. One hit on you and it would be over.", he declared once again as if he had already won.

She would never land a hit on him at this rate. She was relying on simple technique and instincts to dodge and block them. One would eventually land a hit on her.

"Thou claim to sense all my magic?", she would never land a hit on him as long she used magic. The everlasting ones cannot even hurt him.

She slowly walked at him as she cancelled all magic she had been using. Chthon responded in kind as he no longer made a move. It seems as if he could see her bowing before him and surrendering.

That would not happen. She could set everything on fire to force Chthon to block them, but this was not her soul, and she can't light her disciple's soul on fire.

Wanda's soul was nowhere to be seen as of this moment. She did not even notice her disappear. Perhaps because Chthon was eventually taking over the girl.

"Sense this", she said calmly as she did one of the most common and effective moves in human history.

She clenched her fist and threw a jab.