PFC Chapter 441: First Floor of Ascension Tower—10
Chapter 441: First Floor of Ascension Tower—10
Leon stood ready for the eighth-layer trial, his entire body radiating condensed power as he prepared one of his strongest offensive techniques.
The black sphere at the tip of his blade pulsed ominously—a miniature black hole that was actively destroying the space around it with gravitational force so intense it warped reality itself.
This will end quickly. Whatever appears won’t have time to react.
Light converged at the center of the arena as the eighth-layer opponent began to materialize.
Leon paused for a fraction of a second—not because there were tens of enemies like the pattern he’d been expecting based on previous layers.
Instead, standing before him was a woman he knew intimately.
Seraphine.
She looked exactly the same. The curve of her smile, the way her amethyst eyes caught the light, the graceful way she stood—everything was perfectly replicated down to the smallest detail.
Even the look in her eyes when she gazed at him carried that same warmth, that same affection he’d come to recognize.
"Leon..."
Her voice called out to him, soft and loving.
"I need a hug. I missed you so much."
Even the voice was exactly the same—the slight breathiness, the gentle inflection, the warmth that made his name sound like a prayer.
Yet Leon felt only pure, burning anger.
He tried checking her information with his cosmic system—nothing appeared. No data, no status, no identification.
I know it’s not her. Seraphine is outside this tower, safe in the dimensional realm.
This thing... dares to imitate MY Seraphine?
The football-sized black hole at his blade’s tip was almost fully formed now, actively destroying and consuming the space around it with increasing intensity.
His face showed absolutely no emotion—no hesitation, no doubt, no conflict.
Just cold, absolute killing intent.
Without a single moment of hesitation, Leon activated Void Step, and his figure vanished, reappearing directly behind the false Seraphine in less than a heartbeat.
Then he unleashed a devastating combination of control skills all at once: Spatial Freeze locked the air around the creature into stasis, Gravity Control crushed down with enormous weight, Root Bind sent ethereal tendrils erupting from the ground to wrap around its limbs, and Arcane Shackle manifested invisible chains that sank deep into its form.
I only need one moment. That’s all.
And it worked perfectly.
Whatever creature had transformed itself into Seraphine’s likeness was completely shocked by how ruthlessly and instantly it had been attacked. This had never happened before in its countless trials. Victims always hesitated when seeing loved ones. Always.
But Leon had heard its words for barely a second before attacking mere milliseconds afterward—no hesitation, no doubt, no mercy.
Die.
Leon brought his sword forward, the black hole at its tip fully formed and unstable, then released it at point-blank range directly into the creature’s chest.
In the same motion, he activated Void Step again and teleported high into the air, getting maximum distance from the devastating attack.
The monster’s body was torn apart at the molecular level as the black hole expanded and consumed everything within its gravitational field. A heart-wrenching scream filled the arena—Seraphine’s voice twisted into something horrible and inhuman.
But somehow—impossibly—it escaped being completely devoured by the collapsing singularity, though at tremendous cost.
Its entire lower half was simply gone, erased from existence. Only its face and half its chest remained floating in the air, internal organs completely missing, including the heart.
Yet it was still alive somehow, suspended by pure willpower or dark magic. Horror filled its eyes as dark purplish wriggling energy began regenerating its body at an absolutely astonishing rate—far faster than anything Leon had seen before.
The false Seraphine’s beautiful face twisted into something ugly and monstrous, revealing its true nature. Anger written clearly across distorted features, it released an animalistic growl.
Its real appearance manifested fully: a winged female-shaped demon with scorched red feathers covering twisted limbs and grotesquely long talons that clicked together. Its face constantly shifted between horrifying beauty and absolute nightmare horror—a technique designed to cause victims to hesitate during critical moments in battle.
Seeing the real appearance, Leon felt only deep disgust.
Disgusting creature. How dare it wear her face?
He didn’t give it even a moment of rest to complete its regeneration. Leon immediately began forming another black hole while simultaneously teleporting next to the recovering demon.
Multiple glowing icy swords appeared around him—seven total, each one crackling with intense purple lightning and surrounded by spiraling whirlwinds. A deadly combination of four elements: light, ice, lightning, and air—devastating in both raw destruction and overwhelming speed.
Leon used Void Step to arrive behind the demon before it could react defensively, and all seven swords attacked simultaneously from different angles, not giving the creature any time to heal or defend properly. The blades cut deep, freezing flesh even as lightning seared through corrupted tissue.
At the same time, Leon was carefully preparing another unstable black hole at the tip of his primary blade—an action requiring his absolute full concentration.
Fighting like this is incredibly taxing. But if I don’t use this opportunity fully while it’s vulnerable, I won’t be able to kill this monster quickly enough. It even escaped my first black hole attack.
While the monster took devastating injuries from all directions, bleeding profusely from dozens of wounds, it wasn’t idle or helpless.
Thick spikes of deadly purple corrupting energy launched toward Leon from the demon’s body. The moment those spikes made contact with one of his attacking ice swords, the blade’s color changed instantly to sickly purple, and the weapon began visibly eroding. Leon could feel his control over it deteriorating rapidly, the corruption spreading like a disease.
Corrupting my techniques? Not acceptable.
He destroyed that compromised blade immediately before the corruption could spread further, shattering it into harmless mist. Six swords remained, continuing their relentless assault.
Gritting his teeth with intense focus, Leon created another sword to replace the destroyed one. But this time, a black-greenish flaming sword appeared, wreathed in flickering Hellfire.
His control over this particular element was still poor—only Level 1 mastery—but the effect was immediate and dramatic.
The moment that Hellfire sword materialized, the demon’s expression, which had shown fear before, transformed into absolute horror as it detected the existential threat posed by these specific flames.
The partially formed black sphere Leon was creating made the creature tremble with genuine dread.
Good. It recognizes real danger when it sees it.
The Hellfire sword efficiently neutralized the corrupting purple energy while keeping the monster constantly under pressure along with the other six elemental swords.
Then the demon’s face shifted again, transforming back to Seraphine’s beautiful features, now covered in blood and tears.