Drift Of The Multiverse: [Marvel] [Resident Evil] [DC] [Bleach] [DB]

"A little rough… and a lot more time wasted than I'd like."

Ethan stowed away his weapons, the battle cross returned to his storage space, while the staff clicked back into its designated slot on his belt.

Now, it was time to rely on something else.

The bracers on both wrists activated, exerting their true power. In this underwater battlefield, control over the water element was the most suitable magic, and right now, it was Ethan's greatest advantage.

The purification spell he had used earlier had been powered by these bracers, but their capabilities went far beyond that. Unfortunately, he had only briefly tested them after their creation, leaving him unfamiliar with their full potential. That unfamiliarity had already cost him precious time.

Now, however, the surrounding water elements were completely under his control. With just a slight exertion of his mental energy, the currents obeyed his will.

More importantly, he had learned something new, how to move at high speed underwater with the bracers' assistance.

"Should've designed more than just the bracers..."

At the moment, the bracers functioned like thrusters, propelling him forward at high velocity, much like the repulsors on Tony Stark's Iron Man suit. However, this restricted the movement of his hands, forcing him to stow away his weapons while advancing. The extra moment required to re-draw his weapon mid-charge had cost him his chance to land a fatal blow.

A miscalculation.

"Damn it!"

Christina glared at him, her fury intensifying as she examined the thin gash on her robe, evidence that he had come dangerously close to cutting her down.

Fuming, she gathered a mass of death energy between her hands. The swirling power coalesced into a twisting gray sphere, its surface rippling like liquid shadow. Within it, a faint, twisted face contorted in agony, a sight both eerie and unsettling.

With a flick of her wrist, the orb shot toward Ethan.

Reacting instantly, Ethan extended his left hand. The surrounding water obeyed his command, forming a fluid barrier in front of him.

The transparent shield, constantly replenished by the surrounding ocean, could continuously absorb and neutralize hostile energy as long as Ethan supplied a small amount of magic. As the swirling waters met the death sphere, the two forces clashed, eating away at each other in a silent battle of attrition.

Then, something unexpected happened.

The death energy sphere flinched.

It paused, as if it had a mind of its own and then, instead of forcing its way forward, it retreated slightly, shifting course before launching itself at him from a different angle.

"The hell is this thing?"

Ethan wasn't expecting an answer, Christina certainly wasn't going to explain her own spell. Even if she weren't preoccupied with trying to kill him, she had no reason to help him understand its mechanics.

Still, the observation alone told him enough.

He quickly assessed his options.

Flame Cloak?

Useless.

Fire-based abilities were completely ineffective underwater. Maybe if he reached a point where he could manipulate elements freely, ignoring environmental constraints, it would be different.

But right now?

Activating the cloak would just destroy it outright.

Water purification?

Not enough.

While his earlier purification spell had been powerful against weaker undead, it lacked the raw intensity needed to cleanse something this concentrated with death energy. Given enough time, he could purify it, but Christina wouldn't give him that time.

Even now, she was still accumulating more energy.

There was only one option left.

A head-on clash.

The battle cross in Ethan's right hand flared to life, its transparent blade igniting with a pale golden glow. The light it emitted carried a distinct aura of life, a direct counter to death energy.

This wasn't just any random effect.

Ethan had anticipated encounters with undead enemies when designing his weapons, so he had specifically built an energy-attribute conversion enchantment into the battle cross.

Now, with just a thought, he shifted its properties to directly counter undead magic.

"All that preparation for this exact moment."

Ethan had always believed that the key to victory was preparation. The more he planned ahead, the smoother the battle. He had proven it before, and today was no different.

As soon as the light-infused energy blade emerged, the death sphere reacted again, this time with fear.

It froze in place, almost as if it was alive and experiencing terror.

Ethan immediately understood the nature of Christina's magic, she had embedded a soul within the spell, granting it a degree of autonomy. This made the attack more unpredictable and adaptable, while also reducing the mental burden on the caster.

But, like all techniques, it had its drawbacks. The spell's autonomy meant it wasn't fully under her control, leaving room for miscalculations.

Just like now.

Had the death energy sphere not hesitated at the sight of Ethan's holy-infused blade, he wouldn't have had the chance to glance at Christina's position and in that moment of distraction, her hidden death ray might have struck him head-on.

"Damn it!"

Christina had prepared another high-speed death ray, counting on Ethan to be completely distracted by the floating death sphere. The spell was devastatingly fast, if an enemy wasn't anticipating it, they'd have almost no time to react.

But thanks to that brief hesitation, her plan fell apart.

Her frustration only grew as she stared at the glowing white sphere surrounding Ethan.

He was proving far more troublesome than expected. It wasn't just his raw strength, his gear was absurd. Every tool he pulled out seemed custom-built to counter her abilities.

"No wonder Wilson died to you."

She mistakenly assumed that Ethan had been just as powerful back then, not realizing that when he had fought Wilson, he had barely scraped by with a last-minute improvisation.

Had Ethan back then faced her instead of Wilson, he would have been utterly outmatched, unless he had stored enough space-time energy to escape using teleportation magic.

But the past didn't matter.

Right now, Ethan was far stronger, and he had no intention of letting this fight drag on.

Still gripping the Book of Inheritance, Ethan didn't put it away. That last moment had been far too close had it not been for the book's instant-cast magic, he might have suffered serious injuries.

"I need to end this. Fast."

Keeping the book in his left hand, Ethan swung his blade, striking the death energy sphere mid-flight. A wailing shriek echoed as the entity was forced backward.

Then, adjusting his stance, Ethan rushed toward Christina.

With both hands occupied, his movement speed was reduced, he couldn't close the distance instantly. This gave Christina enough time to react.

Summoning more death energy, she compressed it into blade-like mist, launching a barrage of razor-sharp projectiles directly at Ethan.

He didn't dodge.

Instead, he activated his shield again, forming another radiant white sphere around himself.

Then, as Christina's attacks vanished into the golden glow, Ethan focused his mental energy on the Book of Inheritance, a brilliant magic circle materialized in front of him, pulsing with divine light.

The moment the golden light touched the shield, the entire barrier shifted in color.

Christina's eyes widened in horror.

Her attacks weren't just being blocked, they were disintegrating the moment they touched the golden barrier. The once-potent death energy was melting away, dissolving as if it had been exposed to direct sunlight.

For the first time in ages, she felt fear.

"Get back!"

Panic overtook her as she shouted the command aloud forgetting that she could simply will the undead creature beneath her to retreat.

But it didn't matter.

The moment the golden sphere made contact, the creature was erased completely.

"AAAAH—!"

A long-forgotten sensation surged through Christina's undead body.

Agony.

Her entire being felt like it was burning, a searing pain she hadn't experienced in so long that she had almost forgotten what it was like. Even though she had managed to escape beyond the shield's radius, the lingering energy remained inside her, eating away at her very essence.

Her own death energy was disintegrating from within.

"What… what is this energy?!"

Ethan narrowed his eyes as she backed away, still reeling from the effects of the attack. Then, without missing a beat, he collapsed the shield and hurled it toward the death energy sphere once more.

The sphere tried to escape, but before it could flee, the small golden orb expanded, consuming it entirely.

Moments later, the sphere shrank back down and once the death energy within was fully eradicated, the orb disappeared.

"Holy Light… probably."

Christina's skeletal face twisted in confusion.

Holy Light?

She had never heard of such an energy before.

Her gaze locked onto the Book of Inheritance.

It had to be that artifact.

She assumed that the strange energy Ethan wielded was a unique property of the magic stone within the book.

But one thing was clear, this energy was far too dangerous.

"I can't let something like this exist."

Christina's mind raced. This wasn't just a threat to her, if Ethan possessed this power, then it could also be a threat to Lord Beckford.

Her eyes burned with renewed hatred.

"Now, even if you beg for mercy… I will never let you live."

She cast one last look at Ethan before abruptly turning and swimming toward the surface.

Ethan's eyes narrowed.

She's running?

Without hesitation, he stowed the battle cross and the book, then used his water-controlling bracers to propel himself forward like a torpedo.

The chase was on.

In mere moments, Ethan caught up, but Christina never slowed down.

Ignoring him completely, she shot out of the water and into the sky.

Ethan broke the surface seconds later. As soon as he did, the enchantment in his boots activated, allowing him to stand atop the ocean effortlessly.

His gaze locked onto Christina, who was still ascending into the air.

What is she trying to do?

Then—

"Become pure death with this body!"

Her voice echoed across the sea, and at that moment.

A massive surge of energy erupted from her.

***

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