Despite his handicaps, Agrias charged with strength befitting a high-level Host. The force of his dash alone would have killed weaker men, but as he thrust the Hallowed Spear into the chest of the Ichubyr, he could only smile wryly at how futile it was when it landed.
He immediately pulled back and swung the weapon again.
Allan eyed it coming from the side and stopped it with the back of his hand. Parry or block; these were not words that could possibly describe the action.
Yet, Agrias did not stop. He jumped back in the air and with a grunt, he overfed his weapon with mana and hurled it just in time to displace the explosion that followed. A discharge of energy so pure it surpassed holy energy itself.
Such was the material that composed that spear; raw life and purity.
It swallowed Allan within its judgment and Agrias clasped his hands immediately after. Just as he claimed, his Nirvana Skill wasn't a mere funnel for weapons.
"[Heaven'sFall,]" he chanted coldly. A dot appeared in the sky and traced a circle. In the blink of an eye, it became a pure white halo the size of a mountain. It shattered, and from its confines, a pillar of black, yet holy light smote the ground.
The waves of holiness resurging as excess would have been capable of vaporizing entities of sin and evil several times over. Oddly, something that should have been a weakness, albeit minor, to a Téras, didn't affect Agrias.
Though, he wasn't the only one.
"That's fun," Allan's voice echoed as he stepped out of the light unscathed, while his hair swayed from the force rebounding from the ground. "That 'holy' light… was it meant to emulate a Fallen Angel? I suppose that could subvert my inherent divinity."
Agrias huffed and landed on the ground, summoning a new Hallowed Spear. "So, even that is not enough…" He mused. "Is that the Abyssal Void you wanted to show me? Because I was observing you earlier," he added. "I saw your 'Gentle Void'. My attacks should have been able to overwhelm its capacity just now."
"The Abyssal Void takes a page out of your book," the Ichubyr scoffed. "Abyssal, as in it cannot be filled. No matter how much you throw at me; there will be a place for more."
"That's ridiculous," the Téras snorted and shook his head. "But… I have already discerned most of your weaknesses. First, while your Ki is not spent to maintain the technique, it is being sapped away every time you absorb or eject something. You cannot last forever by that logic."
"…"
"Second, you are doing something to restrict what you absorb," he stated. "Otherwise, you'd be a black silhouette; blind, deaf, suffocating, sinking into the ground, and trapped in space-time. It's likely that in this state, you are incapable of sensing aura signatures unless you specifically allow them to reach you."
"Third, you are still vulnerable to indirect threats. That is to say, curses, non-offensive magic like illusions, and such," Agrias looked at his three fingers and waved them alongside his spear. "And there's more."
"If you are attacked by Ki of greater strength, or any force that disrupts its motion, your defense will fail. If a conceptual attack that skips physical harm or was created to cut void as a concept hits you, it will hurt. If--"
"Are you done?" Allan interrupted him, visibly unimpressed. "You really think I don't know there are limits to my Vajra? Rakna made sure to hammer that into me. How about you start worrying about my offense rather than a passive defense I don't even spend that much focus on."
Agrias tilted his head. "…I suppose that's fair," he shouldered his spear. "Even now, my Nirvana is feeding me new weapons and spells tailored for your Void. But, please, tell me this; how did you recover from my ambush?"
The Ichubyr scowled.
"I'm serious," he insisted. "My skill has a secondary feedback effect; it's telling me that you are still weak to consecration. And while I understand if you have First-Degree Immortality, and that you are an Ichubyr, it shouldn't have mattered when I staked you with a vampire-killing spear."
Allan huffed. "Let's say I'm a very righteous person."
The Téras made a confused expression before it dawned upon him. "Oh! Virtue Series. You must have received Fortitude to all types of damage; enough to offset your Achilles heel. Brilliant."
"Brilliant; sure. And the end of pleasantries," the Ichubyr retorted and adopted a proper martial stance for the first time today. As soon as he did, the circulation of his Void Ki became far more aggressive and Agrias stiffened.
Leaving him no time to think, he was overtaken by the instinct to dodge. He raised his spear as a defense and stepped back at the same time. In the end, only the latter ever mattered.
A swipe of abyssal black ate through the Hallowed Spear and nearly his head with it. Allan's eyes flashed right in front of the Téras, appearing there as if teleporting. His extended fist only stayed there for a split second before a frontal kick was thrown at Agrias' stomach.
Hurriedly, he summoned a new armament that leaped to the surface of his mind; the Staff of One Truth. As soon as the white and golden blunt weapon appeared in his hand, he managed to block the Ichubyr's claw.
"Hm. Good reaction," Allan commented.
If Agrias could sweat, he would be soaked right about now.
"Just as you said, I would be sinking into the ground. Sadly, for you, SpiritualUnity is a skill that exists on my Sub-Path's side of things. My Intent is also the vehicle of my Void Ki's control. And it allows me to control it to precise levels."
As he explained, the Ichubyr kicked the ground and absorbed the air around him to move. With a nervous step, Agrias blocked the second fist that soared toward his head.
Despite his missing arm, the Téras didn't struggle in doing so. A literal child could have blocked these attacks. The staff he had conjured was conceptually indestructible as long as only one part of it was hit. But most importantly... there was no weight behind Allan's attacks.
When the Ichubyr struck, the physical shock that should have resulted from it flowed back into his arm without pressuring his opponent. In other words, it was like being hit by a feather.
A feather that could devour your flesh if it touched you directly.
"Hey, that's cheati—!" Agrias couldn't even complain in peace, interrupted by a flurry of fast and methodical strikes. He was a weapon master himself, and he had to give credit to the boy. While inferior in martial prowess, the weaponized rigidity of Allan's movements was hard to predict.
Agrias deftly spun his staff, taking cautious steps and turns to parry the attacks. At first sight, it would seem as if he was in control, but it was far worse than it appeared. Normally, he should be using the natural bounce of the staff to kickstart the next motion, but Allan's body just nullified it completely.
He couldn't make a mistake either. If he did, chunks of his body would disappear.
This resulted in this stressful and quiet exchange. For a battle between Hosts, whose powers can match up to some of the strongest, it was eerily silent and innocuous.
One of them would need to interrupt the stalemate, and Allan was more than happy to do it.
"[Bane of Mortality…]" He chanted and his clenched fist began to vibrate with the white hallow light of Agrias' spear. The kinetic energy accumulated by the Void until now came out as well and joined as one with the skill he was invoking. "[Evil.]"
With just one word, the peaceful rhythm of the battle was disrupted by killing intent so profound that the world itself was caught in its illusion. The cruelty of evil painted the sky red and made the ground bleed.
Agrias' eyes widened as Allan stomped on this illusionary blood, splashing it upward. Behind the drizzling blood, a fist filled with a paradoxical light of salvation pierced through. The evil dyed its color crimson and transformed it into bloodlust incarnate.
The Abyss Ruler instantly dropped his staff and summoned another weapon. This time, while it was still half-formed, he swung it at the incoming punch.
In the repercussion that followed, the Staff of One Truth was crushed to bits and a merciless light as vivid as blood briefly inundated the world before completely disappearing.
The illusions were gone; the sky was freed and the ground bled no more.
"You madman…" Agrias rasped out as glowing orange blood spilled out from his mouth. His skin was fuming from the consecrated energy he had himself 'given' to his opponent, and the ground behind him was hollowed out as if excavated by precise machinery.
Furthermore… a fist was firmly wedged through a hole in his torso.
But the Téras hadn't happily allowed it to happen either. In his grip, a beautiful silver dagger was lodged deep inside the Ichubyr's shoulder… after having cleaved through the entire arm; starting from the knuckles where they had initially clashed.
Yet somehow, with his limb split in half, Allan had ignored common sense and landed the attack without a loss in momentum or bearing. His flesh and bones did not shift forms when the dagger tore through it. Only when the attack was over, did the arm go limp.
Agrias groaned as the white blood spilling from the arm began to melt his insides. He twisted his dagger, causing the Ichubyr's shoulder to inexplicably burst. He then immediately retreated into the air and pulled out the mangled limb sticking out of his chest.
Soon after, the Téras' wound began to be stitched up by black tendrils. It only took a few seconds before his chitin shell was restored as well. Only his left arm, still cursed, saw no improvement.
"This dagger… is called Ever Far; crafted by a Silver Emperor," he grunted. "It can reject matter from approaching its blade. It bends, warps, and crushes everything that gets close. That arm of yours should have opened up like a banana peel, not been cut."
Allan glanced at his right shoulder with a small grimace and scoffed; allowing it to regenerate as well; a process that didn't go unaffected by the HollowVajra. The missing flesh and bones grew back unnervingly smoothly. It was consistent and clear-cut; as if the arm was emerging out of an invisibility spell.
The Ichubyr flexed his arm. It consumed quite a lot of Ki to regenerate like this, but it was either this or making himself vulnerable by temporarily releasing Vajra.
"If you say so," he eventually replied to the Téras. "I'm not going to argue with you if that's what you say it does, even if it's about my void," he smirked. "But… evil is inescapable. It always harms you, no matter how hard you try to stop it. It may not win, but by nature, it will spite you. "
Agrias narrowed his eyes and sighed loudly. "Goodness," he rubbed his head. "This is just getting out of hand, isn't it?" He groaned and dismissed the dagger. "Can't help it… your girlfriend is out of my 'bounds' already. Eventually, she'll shake off the residuals and alert your comrades to our location."
Allan's eyes briefly looked to the side, trying to sense Marie. Whatever this isolated space was, it could block off his sense of smell boosted by Resonance.
"So, I'll stop being careful about it," Agrias added and the dark miasma unique to Abyss Téra was combusted to form magic circles with irregular shapes.
Right away, the Ichubyr's ears and nose twitched. For a moment, the scenery was displaced by a few centimeters before snapping back in place. 'Is this how he sneaked up on me earlier?'
"[Bane of Mortality,]" without waiting, Allan unleashed another aspect of his skill. This time, the world was overcome with the illusion of an arid desert. "[Hunger.]"
In its wake, Agrias' eyes visibly dimmed in brightness and some of his chitin shell splintered. His body became stiff and hard to control as if he had lost all energy.
And in that state of weakness, Allan flapped his wings and flew to him in the blink of an eye. With a fist coated in beige aura, he swung at the Téras' skull. The outcome was practically set in stone for anybody who would see this.
However, as the Ichubyr's attack was about to hit Agrias, the latter grinned and warped.
"…!" Allan shuddered as his fist phased through the Téras. He fully spread out his wings as fast as he could and invoked his Abyssal Void magic. "[Negative Impact,]" he chanted and a bubble of inverted colors expanded from his body.
He looked around and waved his hand, grasping the air and twisting the inverted field, springing it like an elastic just in time to fend off an anomaly that appeared within it.
"Hah," Agrias cackled as he reappeared out of nowhere, flying away from the strange spell. There was a flaming purple sword with a golden hilt in his hand. "I see. Your ears…? No, it's your sense of smell, isn't it?" He commented. "It's too strong for me to trick as I'd like."
Right after, the Téras lifted the unknown sword and traced the flat side with his hand. "[Ô Cursed Be Thy Name,]" he intoned and yellow flames erupted from the blade. "[Tyrfing!]"
A deluge of golden-yellow flames descended at blinding speeds and burned away the field made of Void Magic. In fact, they disregarded it entirely.
Allan watched the flames travel through the air with almost impossible zeal. These flames were cursed to kill; they would not linger on something that could not die. The Void would not seize them before they could lay claim to a life.
"[I divest what no longer serves me, embracing the deserter's vanity,]" the Ichubyr chanted, his voice echoing, each word inexplicably reverberating at the same time. The sentence was spoken as fast as a single word would. "[Hermit'sMantra – Abdication]"
His words rang out like a bell. The yellow flames abruptly halted their advance as if they had lost their aim. Allan promptly flew through them, with not a single ember even trying to hurt him.
"[Blood Diamond,]" he followed up right to Agrias' face, who smirked and switched out Tyrfing with a large Christian Cross made of Hallowed Wood and drenched in golden blood.
Allan's fist dripped with his own white ichor as he punched forward. It collided with the cross in an unexpected cacophony, bursting with holy energy. White and golden blood mixed and rained down, melting through the ground.
At the center of it, the two combatants pushed each other back.
Agrias smirked from behind the cross acting as a shield. "Divesting yourself of 'death' through a mantra… how creative."
"Thanks. Though I'm more curious about how you're going to deal with it," Allan retorted, and on cue, the flames he had left behind suddenly surged again, making their way back. But this time, they crept toward Agrias. "If I remember correctly, Tyrfing is fated to kill when used."
The Téras chuckled and jumped off the Hallowed Cross right as it gave out under the continuous exposure with the Ichubyr's Void Ki. Tyrfing's flames were soon on his tail as well.
"Good thing I kept this close at hand," Agrias remarked and rotated his wrist, summoning a new magic circle. The air nearby glitched like a faulty display and a certain giant Téras, who had been turned into a thrall not long ago, emerged.
'What…?' Allan's eyes widened; he couldn't understand what he just saw. It felt as if his thrall had always been there and never at the same time. It didn't make sense; he should have been able to sense its presence.
Whatever magic Agrias was using, it wasn't just about concealment and barriers. It messed with the mind or senses in some way. And with the Ichubyr's most recent ultimate skills immunizing his spirit from anything that could disrupt it, it probably wasn't anything simple.
"Hah, here. An offering," the Abyss Ruler snapped his fingers, and the yellow flames turned away from him, devouring the tiger-headed monster until nothing remained.
"…you fucker. That was a good thrall," Allan grumbled.
"Hahaha, my bad," Agrias smiled. "Still, there's really something about you. I've been trying hard since earlier, but I cannot interfere with your deeper consciousness. Is your 'blessing' protecting you?"
"Interfere…?"
The Téras, instead of answering, wordlessly smiled and once again glitched out of view.
'Again,' Allan frowned and cranked his echolocation to the maximum, to no avail. His nose could pick up the scent of Agrias' blood, but whenever those visual interferences popped, it would get erratic; changing in intensity, location, and type.
"…!" He abruptly detected an air disturbance from behind and stepped aside just in time for an arrow made of Hallowed Wood to tear through the air and explode on the ground next to him.
The shockwave ruffled his hair as he narrowed his crimson eyes to the sky. '…in short, there is a spell strong enough put in place here to escape the senses of other Hosts on this Plateau. And with that same magic, he can alter my perception… 'Interfere'… Is he cutting off the effective product of my senses rather than controlling them?'
Allan clicked his tongue as he flapped his wings to dodge a hail of arrows. His assumption would explain the reason why he could still feel something was wrong. He wasn't caught in an illusion; he was quite plainly being lied to.
'Also… he's shooting these arrows despite my Vajra,' the Ichubyr glanced at the projectile as it flew past his face. '…can he 'interfere' with my Art too? Seems like I can't let him hit me anymore…'
With that said, he didn't wait to get an answer to his questions. He promptly overclocked his Ki, causing his Spiritual Intent to bubble up from his hands to his shoulders.
"[Bane of Mortality,]" he chanted and for a moment, he forgot everything around him. His body became dust dancing in the wind and the world quieted down. "[Ignorance.]"
As the word resonated, Allan reappeared somewhere else and arbitrarily punched at empty air, colorless energy coating his fist. Despite there being nothing, it did hit something and revealed Agrias' figure holding a hand ballista.
The Téras clicked his tongue and defended himself with a hastily summoned cross. Alas, it paled in comparison to the Ichubyr's attack and shattered immediately. Agrias' expression though was far from surprised at the collapse of his construct.
But what he did feel was intrigue.
'Evil, Hunger, and Ignorance,' the Abyss Ruler thought as he leaped away, reactivating his magic and obscuring his existence from his opponent's senses again. 'Evil spited me; hunger weakened me; and ignorance found me.'
Each attack carried an allegorical aspect of its name.
Agrias couldn't dwell much on that discovery as Allan disappeared. Immediately, he dropped the siege weapon in his hand and switched to a short sword gleaming with runes. Straightaway, he used it to parry a fist coming from behind.
"And you can do it at will, of course," the Téras huffed and retracted his weapons before the Void Ki started eating at them. But before he could retreat again, Allan suddenly accelerated.
"[Berserkr High Drive,]" the Ichubyr activated one of his few Excelled Skills. White blood began to flow from his eyes in an eerily uniform and symmetrical manner, drawing patterns from his cheeks to his collarbone. The light it gave off drew outlines in the air as his body entered a self-mongering state sustained by his regeneration.
Unable to react, Agrias couldn't stop the Ichubyr's leg from hooking his neck. His attributes were pitiable in comparison to his level, especially now. The Hollow Vajra failed to devour his body for some reason, but that didn't stop the blow from shattering his chitin shell and nearly breaking his neck.
The Téras fainted for a split second and then woke up carving a fissure into the metal land. Bits and pieces violently scraped his shell and face.
"Kuh…!" He grunted and stopped himself with a burst of aura. He snapped his gaze upward right in time to see a golden light shine through the hole he had created.
"[Celestial Diamond.]"
That was the last thing Agrias heard before the entire area was smitten by a golden fist as large as the sky itself. The land curved onto itself like wilting plants and was torn into fine dust, as the light bloomed like a lotus.
It took no more than a few seconds for the repercussions to settle. Allan slowly descended as the golden energy dissipated. With his wings wide open, he glided back to firm ground, which had been crushed into a flat surface by his technique.
The markings of his berserk skill were still vividly glowing, attacking its user's rationality. Allan did not even blink at the effects, ignoring them. He didn't even need to suppress it; his strength of mind was just too high to even bother with the skill's drawback.
"…it's still up," the Ichubyr remarked as he noticed a few locations in the environment exhibiting the same glitches as Agrias himself. And it was getting stronger by the second.
"[Bane of—!]" Allan swallowed the rest of his words as his skill suddenly failed before he could even get it out. It was as if the flow of his mana and Ki had rippled due to an external force.
He couldn't dwell on it as his nose and ears picked up something. First was a bloody scent that made his spine shudder and the other was a clicking noise that he found awfully familiar. Moving on its own, his body reacted by throwing a punch in the direction he thought it came from.
A gunshot resounded.
"…!"
The Ichubyr staggered as he was hit from his right, a bullet digging into his flesh and causing his flesh to burn. It was silver. But it wasn't even blessed; it shouldn't have hurt him.
In the first place, the reasons why silver became popular for hurting werewolves and vampires alike were coincidences. The metal was once mistaken for another material called 'moon tears', and the Church perpetuated the misunderstanding by bathing both silver and gold in holy water to consecrate wealth.
Or at least, that's what Koden had told him. A mere bullet shouldn't have hurt him.
No, more importantly, how had it come from his right when he was sure he sensed it otherwise? Had the 'interference' twisted his perception of directions? Not to mention it shot right through his Vajra.
Regardless, a second later, Allan could feel his Void Ki consuming that bullet whole. Gritting his teeth, he turned his head whilst his side healed. He didn't even look at the wound as he glared at the new figure which he did not recognize.
It was not Agrias. It was a tall human man hoisting an old carbine fuming from the muzzle. There was no doubt that the click he heard had come from the hammer.
This new figure wore a whole black, armored leather outfit. A large trench coat capable of hiding his entire silhouette hung from his shoulders, while a wide-brim hat sat on his head low enough to shadow his eyes yet allow the long-haired man's dark irises to shine through.
"…who are you?" Allan questioned, but he did not respond.
With brusque and sharp movements, the man reloaded his rifle, flinging a cartridge into the air, and kicked the ground. His left hand reached for something on his back and pulled out a sword with saw edges and dried blood all over the blade.
Allan hardened his expression and met the incoming attack with his fist. But as his knuckle came close to the bloodied weapon, he shuddered and shifted his punch at the last second. He created a gauntlet of Spiritual Intent for his arm and used his elbow instead to deflect the sword.
The dark-clothed man then pointed his rifle at the Ichubyr's heart; point-blank.
"[VoidRelease.]"
But right as he pressed the trigger, a torrent of black flames exploded from Allan and melted the bullet right as it left the barrel. The marksman was forced to leap away from the danger.
"[HellBlaze,]" the vampire said coldly as the flames coiled around his arm and were sucked into his Void Ki. He stomped forward and glared at his opponent, building up a blow that combined the powers of Magic, an Internal Art, Intent, and a Path Skill.
"[Unity Craft – Red Frontier.]"
The air ignited like plasma and Allan's fist manifested a black and red aura that shrunk to a dot before blasting forward. The ground below his feet splintered instantly and everything right in front of him melted and then disintegrated.
The strange man could only raise his sword in defense before the energy swallowed him whole, shaking the land and causing the entire area to further deteriorate into glitches.
Countless debris rose into the air following the shockwave but the Ichubyr didn't even stop for a second to admire his handiwork. His eyes flickered to the side and the berserk marks on his face glowed ominously.
A magic circle popped up around his wrist like a shackle and formed a whirlpool of void. Without time to blink, he used it to catch an ornamental sword about to cut off his neck. It was as if it had appeared out of thin air.
But the visual interferences that stuck it eventually revealed Agrias' figure once again.
"Hm… your magic is as tricky as your Internal Art," the Téras grinned as the weapon in his hand radiated light that seemed to be prowling toward Allan; its presence even seemed to be affecting the glow of the berserker marks.
The Ichubyr narrowed his eyes and tightened his fist. The magic circle rotated.
"[VoidRelease,]" he repeated and, this time, the black flames left place for lightning of the same color. The sight was shocking enough to startle Agrias. "[EternalNight.]"
A pillar of black lightning descended from the sky with a rumble. Electricity coursed through the terrain of the 250th Plateau. It magnetized the metal, liquefied each bolt and plate, and ultimately forced it all to detonate.
Agrias jumped away from the explosion with wide eyes, his torso charred and his hand devoid of the sword he had been holding. Allan flew after him and swung his hand, spilling his own blood again and conjuring a white claw.
The Abyss Ruler promptly expelled mana from his feet to jump in the air. Then, right before the claw could reach him, half of his body distorted out of view.
Allan groaned and killed his momentum by unfurling his wings. Without being allowed to rest, he heard another gunshot. But he was prepared for it and accelerated his Ki Circulation, linking it to his berserk skill to the point that it nearly drove it out of control.
The silver bullet aimed at his right shoulder sunk into the Vajra and into the oblivion of void. But soon after, a second shot echoed, followed by another.
Again, Allan failed to locate the source; he could only use his Vajra, as well as his aura to alleviate the Ki consumption. The sounds came from different directions than the bullets themselves.
"…a vampire hunter," the Ichubyr eventually muttered and the shots abruptly stopped. "You can summon appropriate methods to kill an opponent… I heard it while half-conscious. That man is the quintessential stereotype, isn't he? His silver bullets and cursed sword harm me on the basis that he is conceptually a hunter."
Silence answered him.
"But that Nirvana Skill must have limitations, other than basic output. It probably reacts to your knowledge of your opponent. Otherwise, a proper 'solution weapon' would have killed me when you ambushed me the first time."
At those words, the air displaced and Agrias reappeared a safe distance away. His insectoid eyes were firmly fixed on the Ichubyr. "…you are much sharper than what our investigations suggest."
"Hah," Allan snickered. "Rak once told me something like that too," he said and squinted his eyes at the Téras. "Regardless, I suppose I'm lucky. One of my most recent skills masks my status from even Rak and Hans… if you could see it, you might have successfully killed me."
Agrias scoffed and waved his hand, "As if. We Téra are bad with appraisal skills. The System does not like us, remember?" He shook his head. "We have stats and all that… but it's more of a hard-coding issue since things like Quests are denied to us. Appraisals, which pass by server exchange, are tedious because Eva gridlocks the connection and we have to overpower it. "
Allan raised an eyebrow at the new information. Meanwhile, as they spoke, the vampire hunter could be seen walking below them, steadily approaching in silence. His coat had been singed by the Red Frontier, and his sword-wielding arm lay limp. Yet the hunter marched emotionlessly.
Agrias glanced at his summon before continuing, "Amongst us, Verias was the best at it and yet his skill level wasn't even that high. Furthermore, the higher a Host's level is, even if lower than ours, the harder it is to see anything."
"…"
"That's why we usually hire people like the Scorpions to collect information," the Téras shrugged as if trying to look dejected. "It's discrimination, I tell you. If it wasn't for our Empress, we would even be unable to travel through Plateaus."
"Discrimination implies an initial right for parity," Allan snorted.
Agrias' smile widened. "I suppose so."
"…"
Silence fell between them and the vampire hunter was the first to break it. Uncaring of even his summoner, the man's coat fluttered as he dashed at Allan with the sole desire to hunt his prey.
"[Bane of Mortality.]"
However, those words alone froze both Agrias and the Hunter. It wasn't like the previous ones in the slightest; this time, the illusionary scene transformed Allan into a monster with more than a hundred wings; fangs nailed into his own jaw; eyes bleeding light; and a swarm of bats forming a cape over his shoulders.
Despite knowing it was nothing more than a mirage, Agrias felt his body tremble.
And it only got worse when Allan released the rest of the black lightning he had 'borrowed' from Nyx. The magic of Eternal Night suffused into the skill, enhancing its nature.
"[Fear.]"
The second strongest bane of mortality was confined within a short word. Thunder boomed and the Ichubyr stepped forward. He didn't charge in or wind up his fist. He merely walked, and with every step, the illusion worsened and a gnarly weight descended upon his enemies.
Agrias buckled, slumping his shoulders more and more with each step. The vampire hunter had succumbed to the second step, helplessly falling to one knee despite fighting against it.
"To think… you can incorporate… Nox Aeterna into your own skills…" The Abyss Téras remarked with a shaky grin, struggling to look up at the 'abomination' that ironically reminded him of his kin. "Did you know…? Your current 'appearance' resembles our Abyss Skin."
The illusional monster didn't answer, but his final step caused the world to call down a deluge of lightning and void energy. A bolt found its way onto the vampire hunter who melted down into a skeleton without being able to react. As quick as the lightning that hit it, the bones that were left behind disintegrated.
The ground gave out all around Agrias and a void was about to swallow him from below like an eternal well. With a laugh, the Téras released every ounce of power he had left.
"[Come…]" He whispered and a flash of red descended from the sky. It pierced through the fear and landed in his grip, embodying war, courage, and battle. A red, bone spear carved with yellow patterns, of which the blade was pronged into seven heads coiled in barbs.
"[Gáe Bulg,]" Agrias tightened his grip and thrust the weapon. The illusion of terror coming from the Bane of Mortality was banished by its crimson hue as a fist clashed against its tip.
Like a veil being lifted, Allan's appearance reverted and at the same time, the spear not only tore open his hand but also firmly ran through his shoulder.
And like several times in their battle now, the Void Ki's absolute protection was interrupted by an external force. Red barbs resembling thorns burst out of Allan's flesh, brutalizing it.
"I am weak," Agrias spoke up, locking their current stances, as he looked up at Allan's narrowed eyes. "Not just Typhon's curse. My attributes are low, my magic is not offensive, and even if my Nirvana Skill is insane, it rarely gives me the edge in frontal battle."
"…"
"But… that changes when I'm about to die," the Téras pushed forward and Allan gritted his teeth as he used his remaining arm to hold the red spear's shaft. "Right as things seem hopeless to me, I'm given enough to survive… enough to win. In that single instant, my Nirvana Skill becomes the strongest retribution. And then… I interfere with the defenses and senses of my opponents. The perfect reversal; that is my modus."
"…so, what?" Allan snarled. "You want a fucking cookie?" He uttered and forcefully wrenched out Gáe Bulg. Even as his arm refused to heal, either because of the weapon itself or Agrias' magic, he indifferently closed the distance further.
Spiritual Intent flowed in mass toward his shoulder and then unexpectedly was filled with color. A white-outlined whirlpool of void burst out of his body and constructed a new arm over the old one. At the same time, gravity lost its grip on him, his silhouette hazed, and the light reflected on his body dimmed.
In the blink of an eye, Allan had unleashed Intent Manifestation, recreated an arm with one of his sub-path skills, and undone some of the last limits imposed on his Vajra. Now, he was constantly stockpiling gravity, air, light, and space.
Agrias silently looked at him in the eyes even as that happened, his blood-red spear vibrating as if eager to fight the full power of its opponent.
"Make your last struggle, bastard," the Ichubyr's fists crackled as he tightened them. "One slip-up and I'll rip your other arm. Blink, and I'll take your damn head."
The Abyss Ruler cackled. "But of course… brethren," he taunted and the two vanished.
A beat later, the vacated spot caught up with their movement, and a cross-shaped crater opened violently enough to fling a mountain's worth of scrap metal into the sky.