At the same time, Emmanuel, who had entered the Astral World before he realized it, was going through a desperate struggle. Skeleton birds flapping their bony wings were flying everywhere. Their bones were translucent, and they let out a faint smoke like dry ice in water. Emmanuel exhaled the breath he had been holding. He stared at the giant skeleton bird before him. Wisps of white smoke rose from its nose and mouth. It was ‘Wraith’, one of the Seven Chasms of the Abyss. Emmanuel was able to recognize Wraith right away with the information he’d been given in advance.

Wraith was not a good match for Emmanuel. Wraith mainly used magic as his main specialty, but his physical capabilities were also not to be easily overlooked. Moreover, despite his physical prowess, his body was 100% spirit, so his opponent could only damage him with divinity or mana infused with exorcism powers. Given how dire the situation on Liber was, priests were incredibly rare, and not everyone served the White Horse General so that they would be able to damage Wraith and his minions with the latter method. In the first place, they were at a disadvantage because their numbers weren’t just cut in half, but by almost 80 or 90%.

In the end, there was only one method left. Emmanuel needed to defeat Wraith, who controlled the other specters. Only then could he win this battle. However, Wraith was not an easy opponent, and he was even trickier to deal with than as Evelyn said. It was only thanks to Emmanuel’s Lightning Fire, which had a strong evil expelling property, that he was able to barely fight back. If he didn’t even have that, there would be no way for him to defeat his opponent. Emmanuel glared at Wraith for a moment and hit the ground. Then the spirits that had been flying in all directions immediately flew and clung to him.

Bam, bam, bam! However, they all exploded as soon as they came into contact with the blazing comet tail his Lightning Fire had left in its wake. It was truly a formidable force. Then Emmanuel saw Wraith, who had been standing still, suddenly open his mouth wide. Emmanuel narrowed his eyes, sensing an ominous feeling. At that moment, his body turned into a lighting rod mid-rush. Crackle, with the sound of thunder, the distance between Emmanuel and Wraith was shortened in the blink of an eye.

Before Wraith could expel the energy gathering inside his mouth, Emmanuel’s fleuret pierced into him like a ray of light. At that moment, Wraith’s wings spread out and wrapped around his body in an instant. The bones in his wings blocked Emmanuel’s fleuret. A tremendous discharge emerged at the collision point. As they pushed and pulled each other in a fierce game of tug-of-war, small thorn-like icicles began to sprout on the surface of Wraith’s wing bones.

Emmanuel quickly returned to Wraith’s blind spot and tried to attack him from the rear. However, as soon as he turned around, an intense groan escaped his lips as Wraith’s long, thick tail bone struck Emmanuel’s waist as if he had been waiting for this opportunity all along. With a loud smack, Emmanuel’s body flew through the air. Thanks to Chi-Woo sharing his intuition ability with Emmanuel, Emmanuel was at least able to slightly turn his body away just before the attack, and the AI Armor greatly offset the impact. In the end, he couldn’t completely mitigate Wraith’s spiritual attack.

Although he managed to get into position, Emmanuel frowned as he felt a burning pain in his left. However, Wraith didn’t even give him a break. As soon as Emmanuel put more distance between them, Wraith spread his wings wide, and the sharp icicles that he had just produced poured out from his wing bones. Emmanuel gritted his teeth and activated Eustitia’s 12 Special Arts, Lightning Pattern. A thunderbolt struck the ground and exploded, and the area was covered with zigzag patterns in an instant. As a result, a web of lightning blocked Wraith’s ice thorns, but not all. Some of them broke through the AI Armor and flew past Emmanuel.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Blood spattered all over Emmanuel’s body. Emmanuel endured the attack even when it felt like his entire body was being cut, and he looked up. Then he had to raise his head further as Wraith spread his wings and flew in the air. Emmanuel held his fleuret and swung it at the sky as hard as he could.

Crackle, a lightning bolt shot from the sky and aimed at Wraith. It was the Sound of Thunder, one of the Eustitia Family’s twelve arts. However, Wraith was able to evade the lightning with aerobatic maneuver alone, and he soon straightened both feet downward to descend straight down before moving diagonally, aiming directly for Emmanuel with greater velocity.

Emmanuel had to withdraw once again, and thanks to his quick reaction, he was able to avoid the disastrous result of being ripped into shreds by Wraith’s claws, but—

Bam! He wasn’t able to avoid the impact of Wraith’s fall. As soon as Wraith landed on the ground, a huge shockwave shook the earth. It was so strong that Emmanuel, who had firmly settled his footing in preparation, lost his balance for a moment and kicked the air. Wraith didn’t miss this opportunity and opened his mouth wide. He shot a breath attack that he had been gathering since earlier at the stumbling Emmanuel. A liquid emitting cold air came out of his mouth in a straight line. Even while stumbling, Emmanuel responded with a bolt of lightning and was able to knock the breath’s trajectory slightly awry, but that was all he could do. As soon as the breath struck Emmanuel, a tremendous amount of steam rose, and the spreading white smoke froze everything it touched, including the atmosphere.

Emmanuel instinctively stopped breathing in the terrifying coldness as he had a strong feeling that something might seriously go wrong if he even took one breath in. As if to mock Emmanuel’s concern, Wraith immediately made his next move. His already translucent appearance vanished into the smoke. With the fog added into the mix, he not only disappeared from Emmanuel’s sight, but also from his senses. Then—

Swiiish! With the sound of air tearing, Emmanuel suddenly recoiled dramatically, and as if cut by a sharp blade, a long gash was left on his forearm, splattering blood.

“Ugh!” Emmanuel groaned and quickly looked around. However, he still couldn’t see anything, and the thick fog was still hampering his vision. While looking around, Emmanuel heard another sound of air tearing, and his body shook while splattering blood.

“Fuck! Fuck!” Emmanuel spat out harsh swear words and corrected his posture first. Though he felt awful because his opponent was playing with him, he tried to calm down and use his head. Under the current circumstances, his Lightning Fire was his only way to damage Wraith somewhat, and it was a power derived from his bloodline, namely the blood flowing through his body. If that was the case…

Emmanuel focused all his attention while standing in place. The moment he heard the sound of air tearing once again, he twisted his waist to scatter the blood trickling down his body in all directions. Blood droplets containing the energy of Lightning Fire scattered all over the place. Then he heard a sharp, sizzling sound, and Wraith, who had opened his mouth wide to bite Emmanuel, was partially revealed.

At that moment, Emmanuel drew himself back and thrust his fleuret with all his might at the same time. The sharp blade containing powerful lightning directly struck Wraith in the side. From his hand, Emmanuel felt the strong sense of cutting into something. Then the next moment, his intuition rang a fierce alarm, and Emmanuel quickly backed away when he felt a dull sensation overtake his body. It was a fatal attack, and it felt more like Wraith had swung his wings reflexively in shock. Emmanuel quickly rebalanced himself thanks to Wraith’s miss, and he tried to make a counterattack with the opportunity he finally grasped. However, the other spirits had sensed Wraith’s danger and hurriedly surrounded Emmanuel, preventing him from moving.

Emmanuel swung his fleuret like mad and defeated the spirits one by one, but during this time, Wraith had already moved back into safety. Emmanuel, who had cut and pierced until he felt burnt out, covered his mouth with his hand then coughed a few times. A burning and piercing sensation filled his throat; it felt as if blood that had been about to come out was frozen instead. Only then did Emmanuel realize his physical condition; it wasn’t just his skin. His internal organs were also slowly freezing; it felt as if he was being frozen in real time. It seemed that he had accidentally taken a breath while moving violently. Emmanuel gradually felt himself losing control over his body, and he scowled. He had no idea he was being pushed back this far. At this rate, he saw no chance of winning.

‘Teacher…’ Emmanuel reflexively thought of Chi-Woo when he was in a desperate crisis before his train of thought came to an abrupt halt. Then he soon let out a self-deprecating and hollow laugh because of how pathetic he thought he was being. Chi-Woo had awakened his Lightning Fire and even gave him a rare ability called Intuition. Emmanuel had thought that his time had finally come. Yeah, that was what he had believed, but… ‘If Teacher were here…’

If Chi-Woo were here, no matter how difficult the situation was, he would have overcome it in the end, since he must have reached his current position after solving crises many times more difficult than this. Emmanuel wanted to be like Chi-Woo, or at least follow his footsteps. However, once he was on stage, he couldn’t even touch Chi-Woo’s shadow. At this rate, he would be too ashamed to see his teacher. Even though he was called the second star of the Seven Stars, he was being a disgrace to that title. Emmanuel struggled to breathe out and slowly closed his eyes. The cold air emitted by Wraith was so frigid that his body was no longer moving at all. In the end, this was his limit. He was only worth this much…

Do you know the meaning behind Seven Stars?

Then, a snippet of memory suddenly crossed his mind.

It means the seven stars who’ll save Liber and remove the darkness from Liber.

And who’ll shine brighter in the night sky than anyone else.

Chi-Woo’s words rang inside his mind.

I think I finally found my second star.

‘Are you talking about me, sir?’

Yes, I’m talking about you, Mr. Emmanuel.

‘No. Not me, Teacher. I don’t deserve to be the star you’re thinking of—’

No, you do, Mr. Emmanuel. I’m confident.

‘…’

I have a pretty good intuition, you see.

Emmanuel’s eyes, which had been about to close, burst open. He didn’t know why. By all accounts, it was difficult to continue the battle under the current circumstances, and there was a very low chance of winning. However, when he thought about Chi-Woo, his eyes opened automatically.

‘I…’ He had been going about this the wrong way in the first place. He had lived with the determination to return home in glory after being acknowledged on Liber. Yes, he was trying to survive. He was already lacking compared to his opponent, yet he was fighting with the desire to live in his mind. There was no way he would win with that kind of mindset when it wouldn’t be enough even if he put his life on the line. Thus, he abandoned his desire to live.

From now on, he was not going to care if he lived or died. Even if his body broke down, and he died like this, he would fight until only his soul remained if that was what it took. Since they said the Abyss was such a place in the first place, only one thing mattered to him. Whether he lived or died, he was going to end this bastard here. This was the only way he could repay the person who believed in him.

“Ughhhh-!” A rough groan rushed out of Emmanuel’s mouth. When he tried to force himself to move, his already frozen skin began to split with cracking sounds. Though Emmanuel felt the pain of his skin and bone splitting both inside and outside his body, he endured with superhuman will. There was only one thing in his head right now. All he could think about was slamming that damn Wraith on the ground even if he had to burn his lifeforce, and Emmanuel did just that. Sparks crackled along his body as he began to move again. One of Eustitia’s 12 Special Arts, Lightning Door, was an ability that stimulated the Lightning Fire instilled in Emmanuel’s blood and forcefully caused it to burst. Obviously, it was a great burden to the body and was deemed a forbidden art.

However, Emmanuel no longer hesitated; his mind was made up. The electric current discharged from his entire body and oscillated like a wave on water. At the same time, the world became darker. As if responding to Emmanuel’s energy, dark clouds begin to fluctuate wildly. Thunder and lightning accompanied by thunderstorms struck in all directions.

Wraith sensed the foreboding energy and flew into the air, hovering and waiting for the right moment to strike. Emmanuel paid no attention to him and raised the fleuret high in the sky. Then the Lightning Fire flowing inside his body and the electric current descending from the sky all transformed into particles and gathered at the tip of his fleuret. Meanwhile, Emmanuel’s face repeatedly turned blue and then red as blood gushed out of his nose.

Soon after, a ball of light as small as a flower bloomed at the tip of his sword. And at that moment—the world stopped, even the sky that had been flashing nonstop and the earth that had been trembling along were no exception. As if an unspoken deal had been struck, all activities ceased. Amongst this stillness, only one person moved. Emmanuel pulled his fleuret back and swung it with all his might as if he was going to pierce the sky. Pebble-like beads fell off the edge of his sword and floated up, flying far and wide. The tiny particles that were already broken into small pieces were shattered again. Then it scattered across the darkened sky like the Milky Way. Though the movements were simple, Wraith stopped circling around Emmanuel and hurriedly tried to increase their distance as he sensed unprecedented power from every electric particle in the air. However, it was already too late for him.

The moment the particles flowing in the air glowed in unison, the moment the frozen world showed signs of moving again, Emmanuel’s tightly shut mouth opened again. “Striiiiikkkkke!”

Crackkkkkkkkkkkle! The heavens and earth shook. The world fell into such chaos that it was hard to tell between the sky and ground. This was the final one of Eustitia Family’s 12 Arts, Raging Thunder and Lightning. As the name indicated, it literally meant an attack of violent thunder and lightning. The electric particles exploded simultaneously and shot lightning in all directions—not just once, but one after another. And the lightning struck not only upward and downward, but indiscriminately destroying everything in the front, rear, left, and right, giving the impression that the god of lightning had descended upon the world.

Wraith was no exception. There was no way he could escape from such a wide range of attacks that decimated everything between the ground and the sky. Soon after, he was buried under the massive series of destruction that his form was obscured. Even an outside would only see the world flashing on and off dozens of times like a broken fluorescent lamp. After an unknowable stretch of time, something translucent fell from the sky helplessly. It was torn, melted, and brutally destroyed. Though it was clearly Wraith, Emmanuel did not stop his attack. Even after Wraith crashed to the ground, thunderbolts hit his landing spot without a break as if Emmanuel was determined to completely crush him at all costs.

Thus, when the broken and crushed Wraith was extinguished without leaving anything but a handful of ash, the raging and tumultuous thunderstorm, which had mercilessly attacked its enemy, gradually died down. Dark clouds dissipated, and the sky cleared up. The spirits that once disturbed the world disappeared as if they were all washed away.

Watching that play out, Emmanuel turned a full circle and slowly toppled forward. Warm steam rose nonstop from his red-hot body. Though he looked thoroughly damaged and in tatters, one thing was clear. Following the first star, the second star had also successfully achieved a victory. What even the Abyss King couldn’t predict was that the snowball, which Ru Amuh had gotten started in the beginning, was fiercely rolling and paving the way for it to grow much bigger in size.