Chapter 973: Absolute Prohibition
Chapter 971 of "Primordial Villain With A Slave Harem" begins with suspenseful moments: "You will not cast. You will not fly. You will not run. You will not... Donât miss it!
"You will not cast. You will not fly. You will not run. You will not hide."
And Sareth stood at its center: calm, grim, and resolute. A one-woman apocalypse.
Her halberd brimmed with power.
The floor beneath them cracked.
The team of predators, tricksters, and tyrants had walked into a prison.
And now, they were the inmates.
Sarethâs eyes swept across the battlefield with the dispassion of a judge, then locked onto the smallest among them.
Feng.
The Gremlordâs knees were trembling violently, her previously untamed aura flickering weakly like candlelight in the wind.
Sareth pointed the Halberd of Stillness at her, all the while not moving one step from her position.
"Dispel this, little girl," she commanded. A taunt and a challenge packed into one.
"Go ahead. Override my powers one more time. I dare you."
Fengâs lips parted after a great deal of struggle, but no sound came out.
The blood in her limbs had slowed, her mana ducts strained to the edge of collapse. Every heartbeat came late. Every thought was delayed.
She was suffocating.
The sheer pressure of was more than just a magical lockdown. It was a conceptual denial, a field of existential rejection.
Feng wasnât just being out-leveled in this battle. She was being unwritten.
Her fingers spasmed, trying to form the mudra for , a defensive reroll spell.
But her hands wouldnât move right.
They couldnât.
Tears welled up in her eyes, unbidden and furious at her lack of power.
This was beyond merely being outclassed. This was her being brought to a state of utter helplessness.
"...S-sorry, guys..." she mumbled through cracked lips. "I-I canât..."
And she collapsed to her knees, barely catching herself with a trembling palm.
Sareth flashed a little cocky smirk at the sight of Feng crumbling to her knees. She wasnât one to boast during her battles, but having her mighty spell dispelled by this child didnât sit right with the woman, leaving a sour taste on her tongue. It had to be corrected.
"I knew you Greenvales were one pathetic breed of human scum," Vex spat out, dragging her blade into a ready stance. Her breathing was shallow, sweat glistening on her collarbones, but her eyes held fire. "But even I didnât dare assume this much... Why donât you try bullying me instead of a literal kid, you saggy cunt?"
Sarethâs emerald gaze slid toward the Hexwitch with a chilling calm.
"As you wish."
She moved.
In less than a heartbeat, the Warden of the Severed Chain closed the gap between them. Her halberd swept low at first, but seeing Vex moving to intercept, she used her immense physical stats to make it rush upward in a brutal diagonal arc.
*CLANG!*
Vex caught the blow, but just barely. Her blade trembled from the force, the impact sending spiderweb fractures of shock through her arms. Her feet skidded back three full meters, which was something this mighty woman rarely had to deal with in recent years.
Sareth was already in pursuit.
*CLANG!*
*CLANG!*
Two more brutal strikes fell down on Vex, testing her guard at inhuman angles. Her blade was fast, and her instincts honed through painstaking effort. But against Sarethâs execution-born tempo, even she was drowning. Already, cuts tore through the sleeves of her white kendo uniform, which now sported patches of dark red, with one blow even slicing across her shoulder and leaving a crimson splash across her collar.
"Gnh!" Vex hissed, grinning despite the blood pooling from her lip.
That was when Quinlan arrived.
He blurred in from the flank of the enemy. A horizontal slash met Sarethâs side just as she tried to go for another halberd thrust, aiming to maim her.
But she had more than enough presence of mind to keep aware of her surroundings, evidenced by her dragging her weaponâs haft behind her like a whip and parrying both of them in one motion.
The three were locked in a vicious, spiraling triangle. Saber. Hexblade. Halberd.
Quinlan and Vex pressed together, doing their best to make use of one anotherâs strengths, but Sareth was immovable.
*CRACK!*
A bone-deep impact left Quinlanâs ribs bruised as the back end of the halberd smacked into his side.
*SHINK!*
A deep cut opened down Vexâs thigh, her balance staggered, her leg barely holding.
Blossom came in from above in a silent, shadowy descent.
But Sareth sensed it.
*THWAM!*
The pommel of her halberd drove straight into Blossomâs gut during her descent.
"Ghhkk!" Blossomâs eyes bulged as she was slammed into a nearby wall with her breath thoroughly knocked out of her lungs, her body twitching before she slumped to one knee, struggling to stand back up and rejoin the fight.
Sareth didnât even look back.
She simply adjusted her grip.
Two more strikes came, one aimed at Quinlanâs throat, one at Vexâs hip.
Quinlan barely managed to sidestep. Vex didnât.
RIIIP!
A massive gash tore through Vexâs side, her uniform falling open in tatters, blood blooming in great streaks on her pale skin.
But she grinned through it.
No, more than that... she laughed.
Her shoulders trembled, half from pain, half from the unrestrained thrill buzzing in her bones.
Their weapons clashed again. Vexâs blade intercepted Sarethâs halberd in a blur of motion. Sparks flew, blood sprayed, and Sarethâs expression remained unreadable.
Vex pouted mid-swing, flipping her hexblade into a reverse grip.
Quinlan parried a sweeping cleave, an action which saw his saber screeching against the halberd. Even the Soul Reaper was put to the test in this battle.
Hearing his words, Vex growled in frustration, shoving against Sarethâs pressure with both arms. Her ankles wobbled under the weight of her own strike, but only for a single moment.
Another exchange. Another cut. Another mad grin from her bloodied lips.