Against The Eternity Chapter 36: [35] Chapter - 16: Weight of a decision (Part - 2/2)

Read chapter 36 of Against The Eternity by Phoenixfly_steller on NovelPedia.

[35] Chapter - 16: Weight of a decision (Part - 2/2) Deeper within the vast wilderness, where the forest thickened and the canopy formed a suffocating veil overhead, Anshvi and Eklavya sprinted across the wet earth. Their footsteps splashed in shallow puddles, the mud clinging to their legs as they cut through the undergrowth with desperate speed. Every branch seemed to bend under the weight of rain, and every gust of wind felt like it might tear the leaves from their stems entirely. Eklavya had already stopped absorbing soul power earlier, just after the battle, but he still hadn’t deactivated his supreme body. Even so, fatigue gnawed at him. The ten-chakra shield didn’t consume much ki, but his actual cultivation realm was still that of a practitioner warrior, and such movement, such strain, and such constant tension left a faint trembling in his limbs. The rain soaked him completely, chilling his skin, but it also kept him awake enough to push forward. Anshvi ran ahead, no longer teasing him or chatting as she usually did. Her focus was sharp, narrowed entirely on escaping. Her purple hair, now fully hung loose, flowed heavily as the rain drenched it completely. Strands clung to her face and neck, yet even soaked and disordered, her movements remained graceful, almost ethereal, like someone carved out of moonlight and sharpened by the storm. For a brief moment, Eklavya forgot to breathe. He watched her as they ran side by side through the rain, and something inside him shifted quietly. He had always known Anshvi was beautiful; that much had been evident since the day they met. But beauty alone had never persuaded him, never swayed his determination or altered the distance he kept between them. He had rejected her twice, not because he disliked her, but because he could not allow himself to feel something he didn’t understand. But now, under the relentless storm, seeing her running beside him with her hair spread out like a dark, flowing veil, her eyes determined yet hiding fear for him, his heart skipped once. Not a gentle flutter, but a hard, unmistakable beat that made his breath falter. A faint warmth crept into his cheeks, quickly erased by the cold rain. He shook his head almost violently, forcing himself to look away. “No… I can’t,” he whispered under his breath, burying the feeling as quickly as it surfaced. This was not the time. Not for such emotions. Not when death chased them from every direction. Then he sensed it—the surge of ki approaching them from the left. Another wave on the right. Dozens more from the direction they had originally fled. Thunder cracked above them, shaking the air like a warning just as Anshvi skidded to a halt. Eklavya stopped beside her. They exchanged a single glance, and in that instant, both understood the same truth. There was nowhere left to run. Anshvi tightened her grip on Eklavya’s hand. Rain dripped from her lashes as she spoke with a smirk that did little to hide her worry. “Since we can’t escape this way, we go deeper. No one will chase us there.” Without waiting for him to respond, she pulled him upward, her ki lifting both their bodies above the treetops. The rain lashed harder at them now, accompanied by a thunderclap so loud it made the forest tremble. One side of the mountain sloped downward, offering paths that could have been traversed. But the opposite side led into an abyss—a deep valley whose depths were almost invisible even in daylight. Beyond it, another mountain rose like a shadowy giant, surrounded by mist. They flew toward the deeper forest, the air becoming colder, the wind sharper as if nature itself was warning them to turn back. Yet Anshvi didn’t hesitate. Her ki flared in violet arcs around her, cutting through the wind with effortless control. But their pursuers were faster. As soon as they crossed above a cluster of narrow cliffs, the sky around them filled with the aura of master warriors and grandmaster warriors. Several flew after them, using their ow