The Ashen Keeper

Chapter 137

She could not muster up enough power quick enough to tear through the fabrics of reality that surrounds her. Reality is not an easy thing to burn. In fact, it is probably one of the hardest things to damage.

Unlike what most people imagine, reality is not a fragile thing hanging on a balance ready to go to Chaos. It is similar to nature. It could get twisted, wrapped and destroyed but in the end, it always return to what it once was just like nature.

Since burning through reality is not achievable on a short notice, she turned her attention to other things. Heat started generating from her feet as smoke rises from there, the unknown liquid that was drowning her was also quickly starting to heat up.

Wisps of smoke start rising from her feet as the liquid that binds her starts heating up. She could hear bubbles popping up as it begun boiling. Making liquid evaporate is easier than burning through reality.

Wanda seemed to have realize that her bindings would not last long. A huge pillar appeared right on top of her as it fell straight at her. If Selph or Falkor were present, there was no doubt they would come out to hold it for her but alas she has to make do with herself.

She created a pillar of fire herself as it bursts from within her. It blew upwards like an erupting volcano as it pushes the pillar out of her way. The liquid that binds her was also becoming increasingly easier to get out of.

That was not the only thing she was doing at this time. Using the intense heat that came out from her, she was also actively trying to find Wanda by using the position of the smoke and scanning the temperature.

She might be able to allow gas to pass through her or make her temperature equal to that of the surrounding using her reality powers. Making yourself indistinguishable from your own surroundings was far too easy when you could manipulate with a wave of your hand.

Her surrounding reality might be changed to suit her needs but she cannot change the flame that comes out from her. So, it seems that her disciple opted to change herself instead to become fire and smoke.

Wanda had always been a very versatile and powerful girl and she could no longer take advantage of her inexperience. In fact, she might even be more experienced than her at this point in the end of time.

And it seems as if her manipulation on herself was working. But, she has forgotten one thing. Wanda has never used her fire and thus could not replicate it completely. She rushed over to where the girl was hiding and grabbed her by the collar.

This made it so that she could not fly away. Teleportation has already been blocked by her. Grabbing her collar, she clenched her fist and slam it into the right side of her ribcage. She could feel and hear her bones break.

The girl was still struggling to get out of her grip. She was by no means stronger than her when it comes to physical prowess. In fact, she might even be weaker than a trained athlete when it comes to physical power unless enhanced by magic.

Not feeling satisfied with a single blow, she clenched her fist again and threw it at the same place she hit earlier. The sound of something cracking was loud in her ears. The right ribcage of her disciple was being destroyed by her repeated blows.

Blood flow from her mouth as they trickle down her mouth down to the her feet. She kicked her in the stomach once more as the girl flew away. The was nothing to block the blow so she kept fleeing till she made it to the ground.

She bounced like a ball till finally stopping. The human body works in mysterious ways but that was still not enough for Wanda to escape her final fate. Nonetheless, she still tried to resist. This wasn't a match. It was one-sided slaughter.

Sure, things were a little troublesome at first but it was not something she could not manage. Healing was not her forte. Manipulating reality is like two-sided blade. Against opponents weaker than yourself, it is basically a slaughter.

Against stronger or even equal opponents however, it was practically useless as reality manipulators are usually weak without their powers. Her disciple has already become the scarlet witch yet she seemed content with powers to alter reality.

Where were the various magic?

What of the wonders of sorcery?

Where were her spells?

Time magic?

Space magic?

Dark magic?

Holy magic?

What of tricks?

Where were the various elements a mage could call forth?

Enchantments?

Weakening an opponent by closing their senses?

Where were the summons she could call forth?

What of poison?

Manipulation?

Recreating the environment into something even slightly more dangerous?

Curses?

Affiliations?

Or even straight forward-beams of pure arcane and sorcery?

Where was the mastery over her magic?

It appears she was more a manipulator of reality than a sorcerer. The scarlet witch is destined to be stronger than the sorcerer supreme but she had no doubt that the ancient one would have given her a better fight.

She looked down on her disciple clutching her wounds as she kept throwing bolts of magic at her. She has yet to seen an ounce of intelligence put into these bolts. They were just chaos energy shaped into a bolt.

Her powers to manipulate reality was indeed impressive. It was honed to the extreme but that was all she had. She understands that getting stronger physically is not very useful for her but, was runes all she had?

Runes are powerful indeed but every single one needs strict conditions to pull off. She shoved aside those useless bolts as she approached her disciple. She swept over Wanda using her legs as she fell to the ground.

"How boring...", she couldn't help but muse out loud.

Non-physical and non-magical. Her disciple got her move cracked and she crumbled instantly like deflated can. Her resistance utterly weak and useless. It seems she did not use her head in combat. It was as if she was fighting against a construct like machine.

She held her hands like a claw over the face of her disciple who looked like a Victorian child dying of the flu with blood as decoration. Her intent was the crush the skull of Wanda and finish this boring fight right away.

Pain shot through her stomach just as she covered the face of her disciple with her hands. She looked down to find out that there was huge slash in her stomach. Her intestines would have flown out if she were not clenching it with pure will at this moment.

That wound would not heal as chaos energy floated around it like red smoke. In the hands of her disciple was a sword. It was unremarkable and looked to be created just recently. She had let her guard down thinking this was over.

Between the gaps of her finger she saw the red light in the eyes of her disciple dance around like a fly on a windy day. The edges of her mouth could be seen as her disciple was grinning with no intention to hide.

"Not so boring now is it, my dear teacher?"~♡

.

.

.

.

.

This is chapter 137.

I am back as my finals are over.

Although I still have summer courses, I will be uploading as much as I can from now on.