The battle began as Zaren moved closer and closer to Julicious, but Julicious sat without any worry.
Just before Zaren reached him, the battle had already started.
Julicious rushed towards the area where Xenthiour flew. Neothalyan soldiers tried to stop him, but nothing worked against his strength. His red, bloodshot eyes started to fill them with fear, and without any communication, their numbers fell like flies. Soldiers started shouting orders, asking for help, but nothing worked as they couldn't hear a single word, though Julicious heard it all.
Julicious grabbed a person by the neck before he could react. The corrosive energy moving across his body began to destroy the soldier's muscles. As Julicious held him in front of his eyes, the soldier had already died. Julicious threw the body onto others and quickly killed them with punches that went through their bodies.
Julicious shouted Xenthiour's name, but no one could comprehend it. However, some among them understood the source of the despair that had fallen upon them. His eyes turned red with anger, and his blood vessels felt as if they could explode at any moment. He moved towards that feeling.
His subordinates tried to stop him, but their voices couldn't reach him. "Wait, Sleiln, where are you going?" Julicious moved through the soldiers as if they were nothing, grabbing them and throwing them. As time passed, their bodies formed a mountain-like structure. Julicious started to climb those bodies.
Sleiln was frozen in his place, filled with anger, sadness, and helplessness. His friends and relatives had been killed within minutes, but even in death, they had no peace. "You... You are going to pay..." he shouted and started running towards Julicious. His eyes overflowed with the same rage Julicious once had.
Julicious stopped in mid-air and glanced at him for a moment before resuming his climb. Sleiln's body started to discharge black energy, and his head began to grow as something had triggered inside him. "Yo..." his word choked in his mouth, followed by a vomit of blood. But before he could understand, his head started flying and hit something.
As his final strength disappeared, he saw Julicious sitting on top of the corpses, closing his eyes as if he wasn't afraid of anything anymore.
* Back to the present: Zaren rushed towards Julicious but suddenly jumped back. The ground where he had just been standing cracked as something hit it. Zaren moved back in fear, took a breath, and started looking at Julicious very carefully. Zaren quickly released something and dodged another invisible attack.
After a few tries, Zaren clearly identified a thin, blackish energy around Julicious. "Is this what I think it is then..." He looked towards Julicious and resumed his thoughts after dodging another attack. "Then... why would he attack us? That only means one thing: he is using some trick to do the same."
Zaren started closing the distance between himself and Julicious and swung his sword. An invisible slash rushed towards Julicious, but to Zaren's surprise, he didn't move an inch. Zaren dodged another attack and turned to see Julicious. "Did he just move?" Zaren quickly took his stance and was ready for another attack.
* Meanwhile, Xenthiour was preoccupied. "I'm certain I felt it... Does that mean..." He glanced back at a single point of light in the distance and then continued moving forward without finishing his sentence, though his face held the same iconic smile he had always carried.
* Resuming the battle between Zaren and Julicious.
Zaren remained calm and fixed in his stance, waiting for Julicious's attack. Julicious, however, paid him no attention and remained silent atop the pile of corpses. Blood slowly trickled down the bodies, a testament to the recent massacre he had committed.
As time passed, the tension began to grow. Zaren was covered in sweat, his body unmoving for even a second. In contrast, Julicious sat calmly on top, without any worry or tension. Zaren shouted, "If you don't want to move... then I shall!" With these words, he rushed towards Julicious, who remained unaffected.
Zaren increased his speed, dodging any potential attacks from Julicious. As Zaren moved forward, the ground behind him began to crack. Zaren swung his sword to defend against an incoming attack and continued his advance.
When Zaren was less than a meter away from Julicious, Julicious opened his eyes. They burned with a dark red color, yet simultaneously glowed with a calm, milky white light. Upon seeing his eyes, Zaren momentarily lowered his guard in confusion but quickly regained his composure and pressed forward.
Within a fraction of a second, the land beneath him cracked as before. Zaren didn't look back and moved closer, but the closer he got to Julicious, the more intense the attacks became, making further advance increasingly difficult.
After trying for some time, Zaren found an opening and released an energy slash towards Julicious. Julicious dodged it effortlessly, but Zaren used this as an opportunity to leap in front of him.
Before Julicious could react, Zaren unleashed a dangerous swing, an attack that took the form of a black thunder strike, destroying everything in its path. Julicious tried to dodge but was too late.
The area flashed with black and white light. After a few seconds, Zaren began to descend, saying as he looked towards the continuously falling black thunder strike, "If you were the first to strike, perhaps things would have been favorable for you, but your arrogance and ignorance were your weakn..." Before he could finish his sentence, he jumped, but he wasn't quick enough to dodge the attack.
His cheek was cut, and blood began to trickle down. Had he been even a second slower, he would have undoubtedly suffered a vital injury. Before he could hit the ground, an uneasy feeling washed over him, and he moved his sword in front of his body. "I'm not going down that easily... Do you hear me, Julicious?" Zaren said, holding his sword tightly as a dark energy enveloped the blade. In less than a second, his entire blade was covered in that pitch-black energy.
Suddenly, a sound filled the area, like two materials striking each other, but it wasn't the sound of metal; it was strange. Zaren flew and crashed onto the ground a few meters away from the pile.
Zaren looked towards the top of the pile, where a person stood, holding back his attack with a single hand and smiling as he looked down at him.