"You gave me a hard time." - Savan holds tight the bone sword while parrying the multi-shot spells from The Stellar Grand Sage of Wisdom.
But on the contrary, Loye shows nothing related to the same pathetic situation that her opponent is in. Not even a blink, without an incantation and magic circle, she points the staff toward Savan and everything after that is hundreds of magic bullets.
*Vsh* - Savan sheathes his sword temporarily and runs through the terrains around. He runs on the road of rock in the valley, jumps over the high rock stakes just to throw back some strikes. He dances around those bullets and leaves no wound over the body as a performer, also leaping forward as lightning - shaking all the attacks off.
*Clash* - Three parries all at once, Savan swings his sword swiftly to deflect all the bullets to the ground for defense. He keeps running while those spells are being duplicated even more and more by time.
"I wonder how long you will be able to run."
*Swish* - A fast and small beam of manan was shot straight at Savan with incredible speed. It's fast enough to go beyond the maximum reflex of that old corpse currently.
Zolk? Or Zalt? He wonders.
*Swish* - Again, it pierces through everything in the way and tears down Savan's left arm of bones.
No, none of them!
*Clack* - He rotates himself in the air clockwise swiftly and grabs the floating bone sword right after that. In a short period of time, he performed a horizontal slash to oppose the third shot from Loye.
*Clash* - Even though he has successfully done it, the weapon has also been broken apart - half a blade remained. But after all, none of them panic, they are all strong and experienced. And being panic is not a part of their life surviving through a lot of bloody wars.
Savan strokes his hair, actually his absolute white skull and lights up the blue flame in the entire corpse, "That spell, it contains the attack speed of Zolk but also the piercing properties of Zalt. Yet, how can it even be possible to add the destructive power of Ultrak? 5000 years, it seems like I've been buried for too long."
"Long enough for you to forget that even humans can thrive beyond their ridiculously set limits." - Loye points her staff at Savan, one more time, she unleashes the same spell.
Yet, this time it is about ten thousand shots instead of three or four previously.
"Do you want to know its name?" - Loye still stares at him as a predator's targeting its prey.
"Yes, please?" - The last word sounds quite provoking.
"Then survive first."
*Fwoosh - Boom* - Fast as lightning, Savan instantly activated the second move of Hea Sword Style to draw one flying slash straight toward those strikes. Yet, one can't beat one thousand, he could only eliminate ten beams of them. The rest keep flying straight toward Savan without intention to spare his life.
*Vsh* - After a foot step, he has already leapt backward for miles. Continuously, by combining rotating around and stepping on the ground swiftly, Savan has also stayed away from Loye's attack range.
Even if those five millennia were enough for humanity, you all to improve that hodgepodge of magic into a higher form, ultimately, it would still be nothing more than an ornate high-rise, built by cobbled together from countless elements - resting upon a foundation that had long since crumbled. He silently smirks the whole achievements of mankind to the ground in the mind.
*Fwoosh* - Something just cut through the wind and left on himself a perfect emptiness in a circle shape.
"+1 donut for this year."
*Fwoosh* - Those nine thousand nine hundred and eighty nine beams still chase him through the terrains as torpedoes. They don't become slower but even faster time by time, it's the consequence of the process of non-stop supplying mana for those attacks from the ten thousand magic circles behind Loye.
She shows no mercy, she chants something swiftly.
Not good! The emergency alarm instantly pops up inside his brain. Savan instantly uses the third move of Hea Sword Style - Embodied Sword to call out the azure flame dragon around him.
Fusion Technique isn't limited in the range of Aura Abilities, but also the sword moves. Within the condition of non-conflict in sword trajectories and movements, in theory, everything related to Sword Styles can be combined for countless variables.
Flowing Water Doctrine - Stillwater: Parallel Severance.
Savan swiftly swings his broken sword toward those beams with incredible speed. His ability allows him to set the separated layer into the space structure. And his second move in the unique sword style was only created just to fit this power.
*Fsh* - All of those strikes are eliminated right in the air before they can really do something.
*Vsh* - Again, he keeps the distance between them always over a mile, at least, with this gap, he can really react to the sudden attack from Loye's spells.
"Zodyl."
"Its name is Zodyl" - Loye announces.
And then, the grin bloomed, "Thanks." - Savan covers his broken sword inside the azure flame of hell.
*Fsh - Clash* - As unlocking something, Savan reflected that surprise attack delicately enough to draw an illusion in Loye's vision.
Did he… just redirect it by rotating that broken blade right before they all collided? She murmurs voicelessly.
"In your rank system, does 'Saint' title still exist?" - Savan points the blade toward The Sage of Wisdom.
"Yes, but only one can hold that crown."
"Crown? Whatever, the time flew and the era changed. I admit that you are strong."
*Clack* - That sound of weapon grabbing is too dangerous.
*Vsh* - Unlike the other times, Savan chooses to rush toward the opponent without hesitation. Holding the sword tight, he swiftly dashes left then right and keeps going until the gap between only remains a hundred meters.
*Boom* - The shockwave massively bursts around, the after impact even cracks all the rock blocks around. Taking advantage of that smoke veil, Savan shifts himself to the right side of Loye for a fast assault.
*Clash* - A quick Zodyl was released in the close range, instantly knocking away that sword. Yet, the true strike is the one coming from the left. Savan only baited her with a clone of himself, and right now, his right fist has already landed straight toward The Grand Sage of Wisdom.
*Clash* - A mana shield is built up instantly. Of course, his strike was blocked right after that.
"Zodyl."
*Splash* - A barrage of mana beams is shooting straight to that corpse. They devastated everything in the way, like crushing a crumb of bread.
*Clash* - Again, that mana shield has blocked the fangs of azure flame dragon gnawing that cyan half-transparent circle. Loye also points the staff toward it, consequently, with that close range, nothing remains.
"LadeYul." - She clearly calls out the name of another spell.
What should it be? Savan swiftly checks everything around him by any movement in air flows.
*Boom* - Falling from the sky dyed in twilight above, the countless starlights all flow down as a hazy wonder. It's the zone interwoven into this sky corner by the power of Loye. Just imagine it's like the barrierless domain directly carved itself into this world without resistance. Of course, the rules inside that zone are also set by the caster - The Stellar Grand Sage of Wisdom.
"Zodyl."
*Fsh* - Beneath the power of her own buff zone, those beams are even faster and faster by time. That's even excluding the fact that the gap between those two opponents is only about eighty meters, there's no room to breathe.
*Vroom* - Among the screaming shrieks out of nowhere, a slash divided the space into two parts. No! It's the special ability of Savan, Split Stream, which allows him to control and twist a part of spatial laws.
*Crack* - The fragments of space are floating over his head, in his own confusion, Savan can't do anything but open his eyes wide and carve everything into the mind.
"Beneath my power, yours is just nothing." - Loye points straight toward Savan with her staff.
*Fsh* - Again, those light beams keep strafing everything on the ground as smashing peanuts to its powder form - seen over it a dense smoke and dust.
*Vsh* - Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, running away is the best policy. Savan right before taking those strikes into his old spine, he had already built up a temporary azure blazing shield - buying him a little bit of peaceful time. And within that short moment, he just had enough of a chance to dash away with his maximum speed.
Don't think that he's a coward. Use your brain and try to analyze the issue, he can't compare to Loye while his attack speed, attack range, damage and attack chances are all overwhelmed beneath her movements.
A wise man always chooses wisely, he isn't running away, he is just doing a tactical withdrawal. No one will join into a gamble when the loss was set on them already. Savan covers himself inside that azure flame and bursts his speed twice in a short period of time just to escape from those torpedoes.
*Clash* - Five strikes have been launched toward, they successfully deflected seven beams at first, but then, five others just passed through his fist and pierced through his bone corpse.
*Tch* - He unconsciously clicks his tongue, it seems like Savan's really bitten off more than he can chew this time.
*Whirr* - That flame rises again, they split too many dots in the air, Savan grabs them both in two hands and pushes them all forward.
Would he pull out his ultimate move? Or even a domain that can clash straight toward the Zone of Loye? Or…
*Vsh* - Nah, he'd run. The reason that he doesn't want to use the Aura Shifting Technique is the reaction speed of Loye. Its principles are about rendering the coordination and moving the space between two spots to switch the location - as known as teleport. And even that overpowered technique can be countered by reading the movement in space flows, let alone to "scroll" the space as usual - normal Aura Shifting Technique.
So, in order not to put his neck to the blade by himself, Savan can't do anything but physically run away… I mean to do the tactical withdrawal. His eyes shine brightly, Savan is running not only his legs but also his mind to figure out at least a good enough plan to escape from that calamity.
*Crack* - As I said, that calamity has come as an inevitable punishment. Loye instantly summons a bunch of ice stakes falling down onto his head as running a minigame. They're big as a normal hill, but that pressure carried by each of them can even smash everything below to crumbs without wonder. It's also the consequence of gravity power and buff from the Twilight Zone.
As a Grand Sage, it's a shame that Loye can't use the Light Dash - spell level 8 in the light element. As I said, the more she splits the process, the freer her spell is. By rendering the whole terrains over thirty million times per tick, Loye can boost herself to the speed of 71% light speed without the risk of crashing herself into other objects.
Teleport - spell level 9 in the same element. After a shifted light, Loye instantly approaches Savan right behind him with only a gap of a meter between them.
Are you kidd–
*Crack* - Without any mercy, within a crushing smash, his skull crashes straight into the ground by her beautiful right hand.
*Fshhhhh* - The sound of melting again clangs around, obviously, it's Lazer, the spell level 4. Yet, different from Rudy, the caster this time is Loye. Which means the total energy can't be stopped at the capacity of 100 MJ. It's hot enough to blow everything away to form a bottomless deep giant hole right at that point. Measuring it? Such an impossible mission.
Oh, what is she doing?
Only see Loye grabs her staff by both her hands and raises it to the sky above. She chants something secretly and points it back to the hole below. With such a merciless look, she gazes straight through the darkness far away inside it.
"Albha." - This time, she casts a spell that totally fits the whole deep - leaving no space for Savan to struggle.
"Repent!"
Floating over that hole, a golden light gate slightly spreads itself out as opening something. All of sudden, everything collapses and descends straight toward the deep below as a death sentence.
This spell contains the Holy power, which directly eliminates the evil beings, non-life beings and demons. Unfortunately, Savan is considered as an Undead, a non-life being.
Is he going to be taken down?...
Gluttony: The Bottomless Hunger - RampThica instantly appears right over that gate and releases a dark purple tornado through her wide-opened mouth. It slightly covers the whole light pillar collapsing downward and slightly applies erosion on that entire attack.
Yes, it is the power coming from one of the seven deadly sins - Gluttony.
Hm? Seven Deadly Sins? Aren't they sealed…
*Clash* - An assault strike instantly hits her mana shield from behind. It's strong enough to leave on that protection a light crack.
Huh?
*Clash* - Giving her a bonus strike, he instantly dives straight to the ground in order to dodge all those attacks. Yet, he doesn't think that they can chase him this hard. Passing through the terrains, he runs straight toward the hole far away with the maximum speed.
"Zodyl." - A plenty of them chase that guy and the rest aim straight toward RampThica, the floating chimera in the air. Her plan is pretty obvious, why does she need to waste her time on a moving object while she can hit the standing still one?
Nevertheless, suddenly, five light gates appear in the sky - right at the trajectory of those beams. Aren't they similar?
No doubt, he is Har, The Unholy Entity.
"Long time no see, Savan. Why are you so pathetic right now?"
*Roar* - The wrath has been unleashed and that blazing dragon again spreads out its wings, rises from that bottomless abyss - ascending to the high sky.
That azure flame covered skull gazes straight at Har with an opened mouth, he laughs, "You make me wait for too long, brat."
*Heh* - "If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to witness this dilapidated side of you, old corpse."
*Hahahaha* - The laugh has sung and this match must be ended. The flame dragon, the boosted blazing corpse, the chimera and The Unholy Entity, all of them have stood right at the opposite side of Loye.
"Great. Now, let the massacre begin." - She raises her sky and the whole place is replaced by a zone full of twilight and astral beings flying around, LadeYul.
*Clash* - Three materialized chained swords are shot straight toward her, yet, the mana shield just parried it. From now on, it is tacitly understood that Har is no longer the fraud one with that shadow gate ability. No one knows exactly what he achieved through that time shift trip, but everyone should acknowledge that he has changed his own self all at once.
He swiftly points straight at Loye and those chains again lock up her inside a bunch of moving fetters.
*Crack* - A crunchy sound clangs around, obviously, if it's just that easy for him to stun the Grand Sage, Savan would be nothing but a fraud with that great portfolio.
Zodyl was unleashed, those beams all destroyed everything around and continuously chased all of her enemies.
*Splash* - Something has been crushed into scraps of meat. No, it's Lamti, the muscle eagle. It was summoned by the shadow gate hidden in the air by Veil and that shot was another assassination blow, yet, still nothing but a blockable strike.
*Plop* - Twisting its body from hips to shoulders, RampThica instantly crawls out of that shadow gate and throws a strike toward the Grand Sage. Unfortunately, after a blink, nothing remained but her two swinging arms powerlessly touched the shield.
*Crack* - Rage! The fist breaks the shield and its shockwave crumbs it into particles. Har stabs the blade on his left gauntlet straight toward Loye's heart - aiming for a decisive strike in the first attack.
*Clash* - They both stare at each other, fast as lightning, that blade is deflected by just a mana beam of Loye. She takes that chance pretty well, one, two, five, ten, fifty spells have been casted within that short moment.
"Zodyl."
*Boom* - Swiftly, Har opened the shadow gates all around him just to swallow all those strikes. Yet, you heard the sound, which means he just failed.
"Manipulate the space rules in my own zone, wise choice."
*Fsh - Boom* - After a second, it's just enough for her to blow everything away with an enhanced beam.
"Farewell."
"You always be that reckless." - Savan drives his dragon forward, aiming straight at Loye as a blazing meteor.
*Fshh* - Surrounding Loye, a plenty of mana beams directly shoot toward that fire breath, which is being thrown forward by that blazing dragon. The Grand Sage chants another spell and the starlights start falling down as a shiny rain.
"Ynaht." - Starfall.
Flowing Water Doctrine, First Move: Mirrors on Water.
*Vroom* - An oscillation in space flows, all those strikes are reflected straight back Loye without any explanation.
*Crack* - Right after that action, they all fall down as usual.
"As I said, this space is manipulated by me, not you."
*Clash* - Even though Savan tried every way to pull out his second sword style move, the more effort he spent in adding layers into the space, the more times they're crushed into fragments beneath the power of Twilight Zone and Loye's vision.
*Clash* - Three, three is the number standing for how many beams he could be able to parry, five is the total number of the strikes that he deflected, and the rest is what he took into himself - up to the number of five thousand and eight hundreds.
*Swish* - Gorilla on an eagle, that's the easiest way to describe them. Lamti is shooting itself toward Loye while Gala's holding its legs as average Tarzan in his daily moment.
*Vroom* - Concentrated by the pressure while the heat is inside non-stop bursting, the fire orb that dragon contains is something that can't be looked down upon. That heat just bypassed the requirement to make the materials change to their fourth form already, that energy might be able to blow everything away without a trace left behind, honestly.
"It seems to be boring." - Loye glances at Savan first, in her opinion, he's the biggest problem here.
"I shall send you to the graveyard for one more time. One-way-ticket; not a round trip; non-refundable. Good luck."
Can't you believe it? She declared that thing, yet, she just didn't wait to act after finishing it as usual guys. The first strike is always the strongest. Loye spammed the whole twenty thousand beams toward her enemy without any hesitation.
"Lord have mercy on you, so I'll send you to meet him, fair enough?"
"Nah, which god you mentioned?" - Har jumps out of nowhere, actually the shadow gate attached on Savan, and parries those strikes for him.
"Oh? Reversed Ability, you've reached that level."
*Clash* - A beam swiftly deflects a chained sword shot to Loye right before its blade touches her skin.
"Seems like you are a specialist. But I haven't heard about a specialist who can abuse all six elements like playing around. Are you sure you don't belong to the seventh element?"
Har only smirks, "I don't get what you mean, so sorry then."
Har's ability is called Shadow Gate, which allows him to open a portal leading straight to his shadowverse to call out the existences inside it.
And when he rewrites it back to forth, he receives the reversed function - Light Gate. Which was used by that Crownless God when the elements of Manifestation, Manipulation and Emanation were added all at once.
Indeed, light and shadow can't be overwritten on each other. Yet, the "fuel" of that "imaginary machine" is the essence of those two elements. Consequently, the output is nothing but an existence that's not supposed to be allowed to appear in this world. Thus, it is called Aberration - the imaginary function technique. The power that can distort the rules temporarily, nothing but a wonderful devastation.
So cruel, don't you have a heart? A mocking voice, Har asked.
Where's your manner, lowborn wretch? That "Har" gazed at him.
He just laughs, Har didn't care that much. So what is your plan right now? He asked.
I need to go back to that cage again.
What do you mean?
You can't see it, right? He pointed to the sky above them, even though they were in their subconsciousness.
Of course, when Har looked in that direction, nothing but a white blank, nothing existed at all.
I see a white blank, what's wrong? Har was confused.
*Sigh* - It doesn't matter right now. You will face nine deadly challenges, and I'm here to prevent any kind of dumbass thing you'd take into yourself. Conversely, this time, he was really chill.
And from that moment, Har instantly realized that "the other side" he'd been mentioning was the NPC training him before the Royal Duels.
You!?
Don't be that ridiculous. It's me, and this is the first but also the last message I can send to you as a sober individual. He took out a weird-looking gray stone.
It's Bephemorth, The Crying Stone of Broken Limbo. The light won't guide you through the darkness, but it, the darkness will always accompany your desires.
He looked at Har, then threw that sacred item into his hands.
I know you want to know everything, curiosity is the core of humanity, isn't it? As mocking himself, that guy grinned terribly.
But you don't meet the requirements, also your full power is currently locked by the volition of the world.
Did you just say… Aurorize? Har swiftly switched his mood to the more serious one, he just got back to the perspective of a player, no longer a "human" in this world.
Yup, there are many things waiting for you. Reveal the truth and we will see each other at the end.
Wait! Har called.
How… I mean, what did you want to say when you mentioned "sober individual"?
… I only have one chance to guide you thoroughly without madness. For the next time, I'll no longer be this mighty self, that guy will rise again.
You mean… The Crownless Pro-Claimed God?
[Error!!!]
What do you mean? Har asked.
You only need to know that you mustn't lose yourself. Don't touch the field of souls and don't fall to the deepest appetency in that Abyss.
I'll take it. Har compromised, the curiosity was lingering but the reason was still able to overwhelm that desire.
Good, when I leave, the other "me" will be unleashed. He's not an easy-going guy, also an extremely arrogant one. But I can promise to you that he is the best support you can rely on when I'm no longer here.
And then, he looked at Har, that smile bloomed and disappeared forever… At least…
Until the day we meet again.
"And this is–"
He points that twisted orb straight at Loye, aiming to give her a present, "The first feat on my great path!"
Aberration! Twisted! Twisted! Twisted! All exploded like a balloon. That power even devastated everything in the radius of five miles into dust. If there's a word to describe it - it would be calamity.
Different from cracking something, to absolutely vanish an object to nothingness requires not only a great amount of bursting energy but also the power to break through the limit. Usually, no one can "actually convert" mass to energy with 100% efficiency. One kilogram mass can reach the level of destruction from a massive atomic bomb explosion, can you imagine that devastation?
And that's still obeying the law of conservation of energy, but the third function of Har really allows to bypass the Rules of The World to directly "erase" any kind of object out of this place. Are you really aware of that problem? It's an erasion, direct abolition of everything, just from that orb.
And when I mentioned "any kind of object," it obviously contains humans.
*Vroom* - A screaming shriek growling from the twisted space, the singularity took place right at that coordinate. Even light was distorted at the edge of that zone, they were all bended, dragged and absorbed inside that singularity without a trace left.
*Vroom* - Tingling and shivering, there's something that isn't right.
*Vroom* - Oh, it seems really obvious just for right now.
"Time's up, checkmate." - Loye, at the point no one knows, she has already been right at his rear.
Har knows exactly that he's just cooked, he raises his hands over his head, "Can I ask for an explanation?"
"That's easy as pie. I bet that you used the imagination of 'functions' on your abilities."
"Yes." - Har admitted.
Loye continues, "If you can rewrite your function into the reversed way for reversed ability, why can't I do the same thing on your third function?"
Something is blooming. That question, also a claim, has opened up a brand new view of his mind into this world.
"Reverse…" - Murmuring through the unconsciousness, something has been achieved.
Savan swiftly cuts through the space and sets a layer right in front of Har as a protection. Within a step, he has already rushed forward a mile in a really short period of time. At this point, he can't even make sure if he's going to save Har successfully or not. Due to the fact that he hasn't been contributing too much to this fight, Savan's hesitation is rising, slowly but surely.
We can't deny the fact that he's only holding 10% of his power, yet, we also can't ignore another fact that Savan's being overwhelmed.
This is not good, not even a sign of paeon. If Savan still had his eyebrows, they might all be frowned merging into each other already.
*Crackle* - He binds his Aura to that flame and reforms everything to a longsword with the total length of the blade reaching two meters. Grabbing it, Savan instantly bursts himself through Ignite to boost his speed. Twice then thrice, that blade has become really close to its destination.
Nevertheless, no matter how much he tried, Har's blown away already. Nothing was left, even a scrap of meat.
"LOYE!!!"
*Clash* - That flame blade heavily clashes itself to that mana shield and breaks it apart. He gazes straight at Loye with a look of declared death sentence. It's just fine to be set at a disadvantage during the fight, it's fine to be thrown away as a ragdoll but to witness the valuable "thing" evaporate in front of his sight, Savan can't bear it.
It's been years since the last time he admitted someone's really strong. Especially in this slope of the era, he gave Har the promise of companionship. And right now his plan is wiped away just because of that Grand Sage - Unpardonable!
"HAR!" - RampThica instantly and madly drives her massive hands toward Loye as a hammer. Those fists clash into the mana shield, yet, nothing changes. Her attacks are still parried and the damaged thing is only herself.
"You, the chimera, don't belong to this battle."
*Clash* - Iron spears were instantly materialized by The Grand Sage and they swiftly stabbed through RampThica's neck, shoulders, head and heart. They all pin her to the ground with plenty of chains locking around - she has been sealed.
*Grrr* - It keeps growling like that? For its master was gone? An emotional individual chimera? Right at this point, after experimenting with RampThica for a while, Loye's finally aware of this problem.
Chimeras, as known as fusion beasts, are the consequences of merging many kinds of creatures into one corpse. Yet, to successfully make a chimera, the price must be set at the
level of sacrifice that a normal person can't afford.
Let's compare it to what Har used to abuse with Necrosec - Undead Summoning. Undeads, they are called like that because of their nature - they are already dead. By merging a corpse and a high quality soul, in a perfect or imperfect state, we can create a moving dead existence. The higher resonance between the corpse and soul, the better their power is, naturally.
Yet, this process doesn't follow the natural rules of the world, so the creators must pay a price. Nevertheless, if they are strong enough, they can abuse it to have an army with a pale of corpses and souls. It sounds quite overpowered, yet, the more puppets they control, the less effective it is.
But chimera merging is another field compared to the undead one. Because… its input materials must be all alive. Indeed, Chimera is fusioned beast by all living creatures via a special ritual that 's called the Circle of Metabolism.
"This world is created on an equilibrium." - As I said, thousands of years ago.
Based on that rule, the stronger the chimera is, the greater the price you must sacrifice. There are two units that you should focus on, EV or Existence Value and Life Force. Life Force, which was contained in Kura's food at the Castle of the Vampires, is known to make others' life span longer. In other words, Life Force is the "numbers" that set the length of one's life and it gives those chimeras the "energy" to keep living.
EV, the "number" standing for the importance of one's existence in this world. It's the total of power, energy and even causality that one's carrying.
It's such a complicated problem that shouldn't be explained thoroughly just at one time, so I'll split it into many cases for future.
So! With this path of challenging the natural rules, the creators must also follow the rule of equilibrium and also other rules. Of course, Alchemists know this list the best:
First, they can't coercively convert everything into a chimera without a sacrifice at the same level of the output.
Secondly, the resonance between soul and merged body must be over 95% at least.
Third one, the souls used for this ritual can no longer continue their own paths to Heaven or Hell or even Abyss. They must pay a price.
Lastly, the creators must carry the resentment of their victims. All those negative forces will form a seal - Karma - locking them up into a prison of sins. A seed of a curse, or even an anomaly.
Basically, choosing to step on this path against nature, it mustn't be a sacrifice of two or three lives.
"Disgusting." - Loye points straight toward RampThica, without any mercy, she shoots all the explosive beams toward the cage built by herself.
"Commending this lowborn self to your hands. O The Almighties, please lend me your glory when the stars align."
She chants the incantation that doesn't belong to any element in the Codex Arcanum - The Almighty Scroll of All Spells.
Savan instantly notices what it is. He rushes toward RampThica with his maximum speed. No time to waste, nor time to wait. Savan's aware of the up-coming calamity dropping on their heads.
Divine Song: The Hymn of Absolute Purify
The blessed and unique spell of Saint level that had been made before that fence was built up and isolated the whole Great Continent from the outer lands. It contains the authority to delete any kind of "strange" existence like chimeras or anomalies, also the power of sure-death to all the creatures belonging to the Hell or Abyss Creature System. Which means beneath this strike, RampThica will remain nothing actually, not a trace will be left to be a witness of her subsistence.
Reverse! An echo clanging to the current moment from the past, he has returned.
The reversed function of Shadow Gate makes The Gate of Light, literally. And back to days ago, didn't Har abuse his ability to fuse his flesh, in order to erase the wound? Yes, he did it, many times for obvious evidence. So, the question is "can he even reverse that technique?"
By converting himself to light essence, which works similarly as a light element, Har has achieved an ability to move with a part of light speed.
As mentioned, to perform a light speed movement by functions, the spell casters must pay a specific amount of mana based on the chosen level of speed each 0.001 second, also calculate the coordinate for each time turning and prepare for the up-coming situations. Those principles are necessary to learn and practice if mages want to perform this high level technique. As such, Har needs to do the same thing with the cost of Aura as a payment.
Space and time are one thing and the faster you move in space, the slower you are in time. This is the basic fact you should know to lay your hand to the very beginning of this field of magic. And from that principle, we can easily claim that it takes a creature a "long trip" to finish maybe a minute, a second or even a tick with the speed of light. Yet, this kind of light speed shifting technique directly shifts the object to the coordinate, as I mentioned before. So literally it gives the object no actual speed, so the length of reacting time can't be that long, one on one thousand, that's the maximum.
Which means this technique can allow the casters to move with incredible speed, yet, they are locked in "per-tick-counting." In general, if the reaction of the opponents is better than 0.001 second, they can observe the movement of the spell casters and attack right before the next tick counts. This deadly weakness doesn't belong to Aura Shifting Technique by the way, also no one knows why they are separated into two kinds of techniques even though the principles are the same.
After all, everything I've tried to extend is the 73% of light speed movement of Har and another three beams of Loye. She foresaw, predicted and canceled him immediately in the air.
"Petty tricks."
*Fshh* - He's again blown away without a trace left behind. Yet, it's an intentional strategy. The true Har has already jumped out of the shadow gate attached to Savan's back. His hands swiftly grab both his companions and drag them into the hole of darkness set before. It instantly links to another gate located right at Har's previous death location, far away from the current battlefield over eight miles in general.
*Clash* - Three light gates were created to shoot plenty of arrows toward Loye. As usual, it's such an in vain effort. It took her 0.01 second to react and cast spells negating those attacks and even tracking them all.
Yet, the time doesn't wait for anyone, within 0.01 second, the gap between them has been lengthened to over 2.4 million meters. Obviously, Har worked as a payer for that light speed Aura shifting power, which was up to 80% of the light speed.
*Vroom* - The space around her is bent to trace for Loye a line leading straight toward her prey. Only see a trail of gleaming yellow hue and she disappears immediately. Her acceleration even reaches up to 95% the speed of light, which means she's moving with the speed of 285 million meters per second.
On the other hand, Har's speed is only 240 million meters per second. So literally, the difference of speed between two sides is 0.15c or 45 million meters per second. With the gap at the start is 2.4 million meters, we can easily do a calculation to get the number of 0.064 - the total amount of time Loye needs to bypass Har in the same direction.
As I said, Aura Shifting Technique doesn't apply to its casters the set delay of 0.001 second during the whole process like Light Dash spell. Yet, I didn't claim that the spell casters can't do anything to appropriately eliminate that delay.
Back to the principles that I mentioned when this spell first debuted via the mage professor of Clara… Oh, I didn't do it.
Back to the principles that I didn't mention when this spell first debuted via the mage professor of Clara at Miladous Tower - I forgot to tell you that mages can shorten the 0.001 delay tenfold, centuple, thousandfold or even millionfold if their supply of energy and brain pressure durability allow them to load that kind of CPU explosion multi-scenes. Of course, the price must rise with the same multiply too, yet, with twentyfold divided delay, Loye has already blocked all the escape chances for Har.
Within that 0.064 second, Loye has chanted and casted thousands of spells provided eventually from the start to the end. Sniping beam spells from far away have already tracked the targets, following them, many chains spells are just ready to launch toward them for tightening up. And right at the final destination, Loye points her staff toward Har and from all the angles around them, plenty of explosion spells are set together.
In short, with this dead end situation, if Har hesitated, the beams would shoot them all dead with explosions blowing them away later. If he chose to parry the beams, the explosions would be activated immediately. If he chose to run, nothing would work due to the locked space around him. This is truly death, this time he actually uses his true self to run.
There's a detail that I forgot to mention, to teleport alive creatures through the shadow gates, the true Har must do it by himself. He can't abuse Puppet Manipulation to stack that feature to all the techniques of Shadow Gates. The explanation is pretty easy, Shadow Gates attached straight toward the existence of Har and those puppets are just the clones he marks with a tag "Har" on it. This kind of trick only bypasses the first layer of causality in Aurorize System, which can trick the Eye of Elite. Nevertheless, when Abilities are strong enough, like Har's situation, they attach themselves not only to the body, but also to the soul - reaching the second layer of causality.
The requirement isn't met, so basically it's no use.
"We are done." - As a fact, Savan just accepted the truth and declared it clearly.
"C'mon dude, your profile is really big man, do something." - An elbow nudge, Har said.
"Nah, with only this 10% of my power, I'm done."
"Hell nah."
He seals his hands while yapping as much as he can, as if this is the last time he can do it arbitrarily. Consequently, Savan and RampThica all protect him with their maximum output in defense, just to buy him a second.
And then, the shadow became darkness and flew through the gate around them. Lamti, Gala, Hamung all release themselves from the shadowverse just to block a part of the explosion impacts.
Not enough. He thought and kept sealing his hands.
Materialization - Har directly shapes the shadow essence to form plenty of shadow creatures to isolate himself and all his companions into that dark veil. His intention is really obvious, he changes the hand gesture again.
Wormhole! The technique that he used against Aetheria for the first time dragging someone into the shadowverse. And this time, the targets are himself and the companions, just to escape from the claws of that Grand Sage.
*Crack* - The light interweaves into the dark orb and the cracks are carved on it, leaving the light piercing through the night veil. It instantly canceled the action of the caster - Har.
*Whirr* - A blazing sword swings in the air, it's Savan and he just tries to parry a beam from Loye.
Flowing Water Doctrine: Second move - Stillwater: Parallel Severance.
He again moves himself with the stacked momentum of the slashes…
*Crack* - A space attack and the layer has been broken apart. Following it, all the slashes are forced to release themselves before the perfect chance may come.
*Fshh* - Another beam of Zodyl has been shot and Savan's right arm is crushed into bones. He's now disabled from holding the sword again by his arms.
*Whirr* - Yet, he doesn't give up, by materializing the flame into his two new arms, all good.
"Run away!" - He yells at Har, who is still sealing his two hands.
The reason for that action is Har's trying to activate Wormhole, a technique that allows him to drag everything into his shadowverse despite the controlled space locking them up. Yes, because of Loye, who locked the space around them, the shadow gates are disabled in that old trick.
"Hold on! Just a second more."
In spite of his effort, the beams are already shot and they all break the shadow veil covering Har and his companions just in a tick. This is a truly dead end.
"F* off!" - He uses the same finger gesture as expanding his domain.
Domain Expansion: Abyssal Gluttony!
The dark barrier is instantly built up around their place - instantly isolating all the casted spells outside. This is a gamble whether Har or Loye will fall down first.
He's really confident of his domain sure-hit strikes, which takes away the abilities of others. With this power, he can disable Loye until this domain is broken by the spells outside.
*Vsh* - Savan rushes toward Loye with the blazing sword on hands, perhaps it's going to be a vertical down slash. RampThica also follows him, in this domain, she can actually fly by controlling the darkness around as support bases. Har doesn't play around, he also jumps into the floating throne over their heads and takes a seat. With this amplification, he believes that she will be locked totally. And if spells are the power of mages, what would they be without them?
*Crack* - It's just been a second, and that barrier is taken down beneath one strike.
"Time's up."
*Vroom* - "Ye, time is actually up, I guess."
*Crack* - Another cracking sound overlaps the previous one, "It's been a century since the last time I saw the beauty of you, Lady Loye."
A familiar voice to Har clangs around, it's Aetheria. Yet, there's something wrong, it seems like there's another voice overwritten on that original voice of his partner.
"Aetheria? Is that you?"
"Nope, you can ask him after I leave. Now just get back to the base and stay still until everything's done."
He flicks his fingers and the battlefield only remains him and Loye - The Stellar Grand Sage of Wisdom. They both float over the sky, changing the location and scale of the battle, and both stare at each other as if they're aiming to kill the opponent by just a glance.
"You are not invited."
"Don't be that heartless, Lady Loye. We aren't that distant, right?"
"My old wounds are still itching dully when I see you. Perhaps you are right." - She points the staff straight toward him, the fateful enemy of her entire life, and declares a death match.
"Alright, it's just been a while since that day. It's absolutely famished already."
He takes out a blade of deformity and slightly plays with it a bit. It was a cleaver forged in the absolute black of a moonless night. Along its blade, veins of dark crimson flesh coiled and intertwined, like dead arteries long stilled… yet suffocatingly present.
At its center, an eye was carved from coagulated blood.
It stared wide open, distorted, its twin pupils misaligned, overlapping imperfectly, as though a malformed existence had been forcibly fused from two opposing extremes – never truly becoming one.
Then the "veins" pulsed.
Once…
Twice…
A slow, heavy throb echoed outward—yet each beat struck like a war drum against the mind, relentless… inescapable.
The eye… moved.
No longer an engraving, it became something real – fixing its gaze upon Loye, brimming with killing intent and maddened frenzy. From the serrated edge, a mouth tore itself open. Rows of jagged teeth emerged – grotesque, as if countless fragments of eroded bone had been crudely aligned into two warped, almost-parallel lines.
*Blegh–*
A tongue lashed out, woven from layers of rotting flesh, its cracked surface slick with filth and viscous decay. It extended… slowly. Then twisted – splitting apart into six slender strips of meat, cleaved cleanly from root to tip.
No—
Not "it."
Them.
From within, a black, barbed tail revealed itself—formed from countless identical segments, tapering into a razor-sharp point. At its end, it blossomed grotesquely into a cluster of pale bone-spikes, embedded within a mass of dark, pulsing flesh like a rotting flower in bloom.
It… has awakened.
NeHyenthanaph — The Flesh-Devourer of Maddened Consumption.
"It's still that ugly." - Loye frowns a bit, while pointing her staff straight at that blasphemous being.
"Can you just stop being toxic and admire its beauty? I especially made it just for you." - Slightly caressing it with his bare right hand, that guy affectionately stares at the blade and the eye as if they're a couple.
"I wish I could, yet, unfortunately that beauty doesn't stay on the side of that blasphemous being." - As a smirk, she says.
"O poor Loye, grant me this honor to enlighten you, as a savior." - Not even arrogance, no reverie, he declares it as a true believer to that far future scene.
"I don't have that honor to be a heresy like you, idiot."
"Nedyna." - He raises that blade upward to the sky and chants a forbidden rune to unleash its true power.
On the contrary, Loye also opens a massive gate behind her with an incantation, "Fentis."
A scream, a madness and a great existence, below them, a giant mouth with thousands rotted teeth is tremblingly ascending.
*Vroom* - The space around them is instantly distorted and bent to an undefined shape, as if it's being forced to twist itself just to erect a stage for only these two existences.
…
Something's humming…
…
Something's talking…
…
Something's interacting…
…
But whom? What is it?
…
Something… something… something is…
Don't look at it!
*Gasp* - He instantly took back the sanity and consciousness… and he saw it:
A gigantic entity, it has a flower-like shape for its head, a patched body with plenty of moving rotted and separated scraps of meat. Its arm, the four of them, they're massive as the four sky-supporting pillars covered by the gray dense thunderous clouds.
And that flower-like head starts opening itself by tripping barely the true appearance inside. The four massive meat petals slowly but surely spread out and reveal an orb surrounded by three much smaller but brighter pearls flying around. They are too fast, fast enough to leave an illusion inside his mind of three shining rings.
Don't look at it!
*Huff* - It has a massive pressure floating over my mind just via a slight glance of mine to its appearance.
What even is it? That existence, so overwhelming to any kind of human, monsters, phoenixes… creatures like Fixer, incredibly terrible, it's so terribly grandiose.
Those eight pairs of flesh wings made of countless arms and hands and fingers, they are flapping - waving him to come closer. Closer… closer… that's all wandering inside Har's subconsciousness over and over again, as a curse, he's stepping closer to it.
Don't look at it!
Incredible… A trembling oscillation of Har's mind. He's coming closer.
He sees it, the lightning dancing over the misty firmament over its head. As a requiem, they scream, they explode and they growl throughout all the broken vestiges floating in the sky - a magnificent spectacle, isn't it?
Don't look at it!
Lovely… Isn't it the true nature of divinity that we're all pursuing? This is incredible, lovely… lovely - He steps even closer, this is bad.
And right before his hands reached the runic seals in the air, a plenty of heavenly chains had broken through the bottomless abyss below that entity. They're intertwined by a power of greatness - swiftly wrapping all around that massive flesh. Neck, arms, elbows, face, claws, tails, wings and the entire entity were all hidden under those countless heavenly chains - buried inside a celestial coffin.
Har witnesses that silhouette. He's a grave person, covering himself with a red long cape. It wraps his left arm and hangs on the right shoulder as a veil hiding the most unique treasure that he grants no honor to others to admire.
Looking like an emperor, he slightly takes a seat on the mighty throne of authority - sitting there as a true sovereign.
"It's still too early for you to come to this place." - He emotionlessly declares.
Who… are you?
*Bling* - A golden Aura instantly bursts and shoots straight toward him - clearing all the stained curses haunting his mind.
"Listen close. You've lost yourself once and I can't always protect you. Be wise." - He raises his right hand to the sky to call ten holy spears stabbing through the eldritch entity locked by the chains.
"Who–"
"Not this time, Har. Come back to the safety where you belong."
"At least tell me what's going on!"
"The madness is rising." - Last words before this scarce meeting comes to an end.
He slightly looks back and lets his eyes stop at the creature he protects, "If you want to know everything, you must be stronger - strong enough to save this world."
*Bling* - He flicks his fingers and the entire realm is twisted into a small point, then slowly it evaporates as if nothing exists. Still that same absolute blank, Har is dragged back to the base of Aetheria - escaping from the divine battle of that undefined dimension.
"Oh, finally wake up?" - A soft voice wakes him up again from the loss of thoughts. It's pretty beautiful to hear and it's way familiar to Har. Yes, it's been a while he hasn't heard this voice.
"Ah, Zela? It's been a while." - He smiles coercively to hide away the worriness inside his mind, yet, it's too fake to believe.
"Alright, whatever. If you have something challenging, let me share it with you." - She puts the warm water bucket beneath his legs and gives him a towel.
Taking it, he thanks her as usual. Nevertheless, he again lost in his thoughts for another five minutes of doing nothing. Just like that, he sits on the bed and looks forward to the wall - for nothing, such a waste of time.
You've escaped from the jaws of death, idiot.
You? Ah finally, I need an explanation right now.
Alright, I guess it's time for you to know a bit of yourself already.
Don't say I know nothing about myself.
So can you explain the last experience?
No.
Good, now, shall we begin?
*Tack* - He flicks his fingers and immediately drags Har back to the inner(mental) world, where they first met each other. Well, actually it's been five minutes since that moment by the way, not that long.
Hmm, so this is my inside world?
Actually, Inner World, for a better call.
Aight, whatever. Explain everything for me.
Split it to small questions, I don't have that hobby to yap from heaven to earth.
Alright, alright, alright. You're an emperor, you have that commander manner, alright, alright.
So tell me, why did my power instantly and abruptly sublimate during the fight with Yu–
Ay ay ay ay, don't call or mention that name during this era. It's a taboo at this time.
Alright, the Fixer.
Great. He takes out a model of a human, a model of a core and a model of a monster.
For the first thing, you were playing around without the limits of a human being. He uproots all the attached chains around that figure. And then, that human figure instantly expands itself thrice without any signal.
This represents the released power of your body during that fight.
So my increased power was related to my unlimited physique? Har claims.
Yes, but your physique wasn't unlimited.
Oh… quite disappointed, he thought that he just got butterflies, yet, life is still life.
The emperor slightly damages that human figure by his hands.
This is the damage He left over your body by the power of cutting, and…
On his hand, that figure all of a sudden expands itself again, this time, it's even larger than the previous time.
Is that…
Yes, it's how your power kept increasing after each time you recovered from your wounds. And don't forget that you can't figure out your limit, doesn't mean that you can abuse it infinitely. Be wise and stay alive. The model on his right hand also got swollen and exploded right after that.
So how about my domain appearance? What were those ninety-nine runic pillars even about? And that headless nun? Also the floating throne.
It belongs to your secret, I can't tell.
Which secret? I don't care, reveal it.
I refuse, it belongs to your hidden layer of mind. You'll need to face it directly by yourself but no one else. He slightly seals Har up.
Don't try to look at your true existence right now, you don't want to lose yourself again, right?
But I can tell you one thing. He makes a gesture of number one.
At the same time, Har also raises his head up until their eyes meet each other's. The determination in his eyes shines like the bright stars. It's a bit strange to see him like this, isn't it?
You can achieve the treasures through those runic pillars, yet, the more you abuse them, the less of them will remain by your side.
Which kind of treasures?
The one that you'd hold tight until you die.
That's suck.
So how about my reversed Shadow Gate? Different from it, Gate of Light doesn't contain any special power. All was related purely to the six elements of Aura instead of a true special ability it has. Finally, Har has asked the most important question.
That's a wise choice to dig deeper into your power right now. Witnessing you abuse both reversed and third functions like a creep, I can make sure that you are the biggest fraud.
Can you just focus on the problem? Har's quite dissatisfied.
So, why do you think reversing your ability can make another ability?
Isn't it normal? That guy told me.
Yes, he did tell you. Yet, why do you think you're going on the correct path? Why don't you think that you just misunderstood his lesson?
Stop beating around the bush, say it straight to me.
*Sigh* - So hopeless. Remember the first day you got this ability, and compare it to the current time, what's the difference?
… A silent moment and then, he claims.
The evolution of my Shadow Gate.
So do you know how many abilities can be evolved like yours?
Har slightly shakes his head, surely, he doesn't know the answer.
Only the abilities held by the greediest users madly chasing the apex on their own paths, only them can be nurtured, transformed, thriven in their own evolutions. And those kinds of abilities, they can't be reversed totally before the final form is made.
Which means…?
The Gate of Light of yours, isn't its true form.
And my Shadow Gate is thriving even stronger?
Also its attached techniques.
Incredible… Har rarely sits down and wonders like this. He feels like he's not going to catch up with the current power granted to his hands.
Don't be a foolish idiot, Har. Where's your pride?
It doesn't matter, it makes no sense if I lost control of my own abilities.
I told you, don't be a fool. He instantly shoots three spears toward Har without warning.
*Clash* - Har only does the same thing, it's such easy work. Yet, it's just started.
Following the first three strikes, the emperor instantly opened the tenfold of the original amount of gates - maximum output.
What are you even doing? Har also does the same thing again, all of nonsense.
*Clash* - But this time, the final result has been decided within three seconds. Yes, Har just lost to the emperor, fast and clearly.
How…?
This is not my ability. The emperor claims and also glances straight at Har with a look of a true sovereign.
Even a stranger like me can use it better than you right now, so why can't you in future do the same? Where's your greed?
Enough, the last time I chose to dig in–
Objection. He looks at Har, silently smirks.
What makes up yourself? The abilities or your decisions?
I… Surely, Har can't ignore this kind of question. Sometimes he really wonders, he wonders about the reason that he should continue this path. It's no longer just playing games as a player anymore.
Are you afraid of losing yourself again?
… Silence is the answer of Har, he doesn't want to face the truth.
Answer me, are you afraid of it?
Yes… I do. He looks at the emperor as a wish for guidance.
It's your nature, not yourself. He takes out a dark orb.
Finding out your true wishes and desires. Slowly, the orb is wrapped by a layer of light color.
Don't ignore your instinct, but also let it have no chance to control you. You're just yourself, that's it. The orb is already dyed yellow.
But what should I do?
Follow your desires. Pointing straight to Har, he said.
Alright. Compromising, Har accepts the truth that he's nothing right now. Seems like the defeat beneath that Grand Sage was too overwhelming to him.
Also, when the two moons and seven stars align, you should enter the Mausoleum of Alacia. As a hermit, he draws the light on the road that Har will step forth.
I see, who will I meet?
Your best friend, also your fateful rival.
Sounds great, I'm looking forward to that day. He leaves the inner world at the end of that conversation - getting back to real life.
*Sigh* - A sigh, obviously. Har seems like isn't satisfied with this situation. After facing Loye, he for the first time witnessed death that close. Different from Aetheria, he was able to escape, perhaps Har's strong enough, or perhaps Aetheria did it intentionally. Whatever, Loye is standing on a whole different level, she gave him a sense of hopelessness and the end of his life.
"What are you immersed in right now, Har?" - that voice wakes him up from the loss of thoughts. Oh, surely, she is Zela - the partner of Har. She looks quite in a hurry, it seems like something just happens.
"What's wrong? Did the sky just fall down?" - Har lazily replies.
"Quick quick quick quick! If you don't be quick right now, we'll miss it!"
"What just happened? Our base just got attacked?"
"There's a base attacked, but not ours. That Aetheria, he declared war and broke into the Holy Council Sacred Palace already."
"Are you serious? It's not Christmas yet." - That news surprised Har, he still thinks that the war will begin on December 24th due to the latest up-to-date data.
"No no no no, his inferior, Ian, was captured by the priests and pontiff."
*Haha* - "That's funny. Alright, let's go. This event may not occur the same for the next millennium."
"Go go go." - Zela seems really excited for this kind of event. What a wicked little girl.
"I see, it seems like you won't yield to us." - A prison guard holds his spear tight, with the merciless look, he stabs it through Ian's left shoulder.
*Splash* - His right shoulder also gets the same treatment from another prison guard. Let's take a look at him. A disheveled, tangled hair, a worn bloody outfit damaged by fights, two pierced shoulders and all his hands and legs are chained.
Yet, those eyes are still closing, as if all those wounds are nothing but ant bites. Ian still sits there like an ascetic, despite the worm draining Aura time by time inside the beating heart, caring not the seals over his body - Ian is still waiting.
"Astral Rage" (2) - He covers his right hands with his left palm.
"Adomeus" - The winds start moving around him.
"Twilight" (1) - Aetheria puts his right closed fist at his eye height level.
"Platinus" - Same posture but his legs are spread wider a bit to two left and right sides.
"Moonlight" (1) - He starts raising it, higher and higher.
"Eronimus" - The fist is over his head already, and the two fingers are pointing straight to the sky.
"Sun and Moon" - The Aura of himself even swiftly switches between shiny starry night theme and blazing sunlight day theme. This is the strongest normal term he can chant right now.
"Astral Rage" (2) - He points those fingers toward the Cathedral steadily reigning over the land.
"Endless Night" - The two Auras start being intertwined and forming the brand new one, shining the color of aurora.
"Twilight" (1) - The same posture, yet, the purple lightning starts dancing around.
"Parademyk" - Right now, the devastation has come as an inevitable consequence.
"Moonlight" (1) - The winds again burst and the purple lightning converts themselves to thunder.
The space around him is bent absolutely, twisted madly and broken definitely. Yet, after a second, those desperate things instantly disappeared as if nothing happened.
But it doesn't mean that he just failed the incantation. Those eyes close and open again, with the trails of starry lights inside, they spread the power of Arcane Flows from the other dimension.
He chants the last term, "Andrazyvalis." - The grade 10 special term.
*Whirr* - The winds, the leaves and the dust, all of them are bursted and blown away in the radius of two miles around him by just the pressure released from that guy - an absolute destruction through the terrains. He points those fingers to the Cathedral - where all his enemies are preparing for the shields.
"Let's start this fateful banquet of doom and despair." - He shoots it.
And the thousands of cosmic beams were released from his side - shooting straight to the set destination as a massive starfall rained on the earth through the night sky.