There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 605 - 599. Cosmic Fire

Chapter 605: Chapter 599. Cosmic Fire

From the moment Bassena opened his eyes, dashed out to punch the winged figure, and fell to the ground--everything happened in a second. It took the other another two to realize what was going on.

"Bas!" Zein jumped off the ship and ran toward the dock.

"Commander?!"

Half of the port city was burning from the Eastern Sun’s attacks, and the two fell at the edge of the sea of fire. The ground shook and exploded; in the middle of the crater they created, Bassena in his black scale armor stepped on the cloaked figure’s back, pressing its body to the ground. With the hands that were coated in a new type of energy, he grabbed the wing and ripped it.

Khieeeeekk!

It howled; half in fury and half in shock that a human could ’touch’ it.

Ignoring the dizzying howl that made the other espers stumble and close their ears, Bassena continued to pull out the other wing, ripping it without hesitation and summoning a giant stake to pierce the open wound.

Unfortunately, the stake made of mana dispersed when the tip touched the Fallen Star’s skin.

"Not yet, huh?"

The Eastern Sun and her assistant, as well as Gus and Zhan, rushed toward the crater to see Bassena press the cloaked head hard to the ground and start to punch the barrier. They could feel a different kind of energy from his fists, and the untouchable barrier slowly cracked.

Again and again and again, the fists wrapped in cosmic energy broke layer by layer until finally, amidst the ear-piercing shriek of the struggling figure, the sound of something shattering could be heard.

The four espers around the craters widened their eyes, but instinctively gripped their weapons and raised their mana. Bassena jumped out of the crater and spoke calmly. "Attack."

As a flurry of fire, wind, and lightning poured into the crater, Bassena stepped back and managed his breath. Using this cosmic energy was harder than he thought, not to mention draining so much stamina--both mental and physical.

Espers’ normal mana usage, on average, only had one percent of cosmic energy infused inside--if not less. So using raw cosmic energy was like doing a hundred attacks at the same time, casting a hundred spells simultaneously. The only difference was that it did not sacrifice mana, and there was no side effect of corrosion when using it.

"Bas!" a familiar voice broke his light breathing exercise. "You managed it!"

Bassena flinched and turned around, flashing to grab the guide’s face. "What did you do? Why are you here?"

He had no chance to check on the surrounding conditions when he woke up from his meditation earlier. The fact that Zein was in front of him meant that the guide was alright, but that didn’t diminish the concern he had for that ’don’t panic’ message.

"I was grabbing the sea shard," Zein said while careening his head to signal Cohen to help the attack. "And I’m here to guide."

"I don’t need--"

"Not you, silly," Zein patted the esper’s cheek before pushing Bassena’s hands away from his face. "They had been fighting hard while you’re meditating."

Bassena looked around--the sea of fire had partially died down and he could see the level of devastation that could only be caused by several rampaging high-level espers. To produce this much damage that made a whole city look like a landfill of debris and part incinerator, they must have been pumping skill after skill. While Zein had guided them for a bit on their way, it would have accumulated again while attacking the Fallen Star.

"Anyway, you did it," the blue eyes sparkled slightly. "The cosmic energy."

"Yeah," Bassena raised hand. "But it’s kind of hard, and releasing it from my hand is still a challenge."

"But you only need it for breaking the barrier," Zein patted the esper’s upper arm. "And I guess to pry it open later," he turned toward the crater, which had become a cooking pot of attacks, with narrowed eyes. "I can still feel the shard’s presence."

Bassena clenched his fist and nodded, before getting back to his breathing exercise to maintain his stamina. "Should we start calling them back one by one to take turns with your guide?"

"Yeah," Zein nodded. "I think Gus hadn’t received any guide since the start of the batt--"

Graaaaah!

With the sound of a beast’s roar, a storm of dark purple energy, much like the first fragment they ever met, burst out of the weakened Fallen Star. It got bigger and bigger, sending out a fume of burning poison around.

"Get back, back!" Gus grabbed Zhan’s collar and yanked the spearman back while shouting at the Eastern Sun and her assistant, while Cohen slammed his shield on the ground and created a wall of barrier between them and the storm of energy.

The Eastern Sun threw another fireball toward the storm of corrupted energy, but it scattered into nothing at contact. "What the hell?!" she spat as she landed on the ground again. "It got the invincibility back?"

"Just while that storm is happening," Bassena told her. "I think this is its last effort. I can feel the diminishing energy."

"So, we can only wait?" the Eastern Sun clicked her tongue as she watched the storm getting bigger until it took up the whole central district, before turning toward Bassena. "In that case, show me how to use the cosmic energy."

Bassena nodded and turned to the other esper. "Gus, regroup and cleanse the rest before that bastard eats them."

"Roger that~" Gus made a lighthearted salute and jogged back toward the ship.

"You’re happy you’re not in charge anymore, huh?" Zhan grinned as he followed the swordsman.

"Naturally."

They cackled together and Gus pressed his commlink. "Gather on the dock!" he shouted to the commlink and also the surroundings. Zein followed them with Senan in tow and spoke to the swordsman.

"Tell them to gather around me, the one on the ship too."

Gus gave the order to leave the ship, which was already secured with the Sea Serpent getting rid of all the underwater beasts. The only ones they needed to take care of were the remnants of the last dungeon breaks, and there were no longer any beasts streaming from the cliff, so it seemed like the guildmaster had sent some teams to take care of it.

"Zein!"

"Captain!"

As he stepped into the dock, Zein saw Senia run toward him, as well as the guides he sent to be in the ship’s team. "Hey," he gave them all a pat on their head--including Senia--before he took out the Saint’s staff and struck it to the ground. He activated it without wasting time, and the crew who had yet to lay sight on the staff gasped at the effect.

"Whoa..."

"Concentrate," Zein warned them firmly and they straightened their back immediately.

"Yes, Sir!"

It was the first time Zein tried to enhance the guides while guiding espers simultaneously, and it needed a considerable amount of concentration--like stirring two glasses in two different directions. He felt his mental burden climbing up, but they had no time to consider any rest at this point.

Just a bit more. Bassena already had the weapon, and Radia would be on his way after organizing the dungeon cleaning. They just have to hold on a bit more. He just had to hold on a bit more.

Zein had no idea what kind of phase the Fallen Star would be in after that storm of energy dissipated, but--

Wait...

What exactly did that Fallen Star do inside the storm of energy?

"Bas!" Zein opened his eyes and summoned his lover, who arrived even before the echo of his voice died down.

"What? What’s wrong?"

The esper left the astonished Eastern Sun behind, looking at the guide urgently. But Zein did sound like he had some emergency, and he spoke in an agitated manner. "I don’t think we can wait; we have to breach that storm right away. I’m worried about the shard."

Bassena widened his eyes. "You think...it’s trying to absorb the shard at this moment?"

"You said it’s getting desperate..."

Bassena clenched his jaw and turned around, coating himself in black armor. He returned to the Eastern Sun and said the most absurd thing. "Aunty, burn me."

"Huh?"

"Just do it," Bassena said urgently while taking a deep breath. The black armor climbed into his face and created some kind of helmet. "Read my mana pattern and cast your fire in the same way."

"Hmm?"

The Easter Sun frowned for a second, but she had enough experience to see what Bassena envisioned. And thanks to this experience, it wasn’t impossible for the Eastern Sun, a seasoned magician, to change her spell’s mana pattern. She felt the change right away; her fire fused seamlessly with the cosmic energy coating Bassena, and she could feel her energy drained so much more than her usual spell.

"What...are you trying to do?" she asked with a bated breath. "Crash it?"

"Yeah," Bassena bent his knees.

"What?!"

"Desperate time needs desperate measure," the man spoke such an absurd thing with such seriousness that baffled the Eastern Sun. And before she could respond with anything, Bassena already rushed toward the storm with a body enveloped in white flame like a berserker. "This crazy kid..."

In five seconds, the human wrapped in cosmic fire crashed into the storm that immediately tried to shred and melt him. But the flame raged around him and staved away the encroaching poisonous fume as he stuck his armored hand against the storm and let the cosmic fire eat it.

The white flame flared and climbed high into the sky, crawling all over the storm and reminding the other esper of the fight against the clone that day. Senia gasped and sent the elemental spirits forward, infusing themselves into the white flame and helping to concentrate the attack even more, until--

Boooom!

The guides flinched and Leehan grasped Zein’s sleeve in reflex. "Ugh--" they covered their eyes as an explosion, caused by the clash of cosmic energy and corrupted one, shook the entire city and evaporated the debris around the storm.

"Commander!" Zhan caught Bassena, who was flung back by the recoil. Fortunately, the armor did its job and Bassena was more or less unharmed--at least on the outside.

It wasn’t just the armor though--the cosmic fire also did its job of breaking the storm. Just like Bassena, the Fallen Star was thrown back, creating a deep path on the ground, stretching out of the crater.

At the end of that path, there was no longer a humanoid cloaked figure. As if throwing off its robe, what greeted their eyes was a pulsing flesh with eyes stuck together to create a grotesque sphere. Tendrils sprouted between the eyes and either struck the ground like limbs or whipped the air like flailing weapons. In the center of the eye legions, were two diagonal slits crossing each other that slowly opened with a disgusting squelching sound and deafening shriek.

Instinctively, everyone could feel it.

This is the last phase