[Volume 3: The King of the First Floor]
The sky above Seattle rained liquid fire. Dozens of massive, flaming meteors descended like judgment, directed squarely at Kael by the Fallen Seraph's will. The sheer heat was enough to turn the surrounding cars into molten slag.
"Arthur. Shield," Kael commanded, his voice perfectly steady despite the apocalypse hurtling toward him.
The Shadow Vanguard leaped forward. Channeling his spectral energy, Arthur unleashed a massive Energy Wave directly upward. The crescent of blue phantom energy collided with the first meteor, slicing the boulder of fire clean in half. It exploded harmlessly on either side of Kael.
But there were twenty more right behind it.
"Warlord. Take the skies."
The colossal Shadow Warlord crouched low, the concrete beneath it spider-webbing under the pressure. It fired into the air like a pitch-black cannonball, swinging its massive shadowy guillotine blade in a horizontal vortex.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Warlord shattered five meteors in mid-air before a massive pillar of holy fire, shot directly from Azrael's spear, slammed into its chest. The holy damage instantly vaporized the upper half of the Shadow Warlord. Its remaining legs crashed back onto the pavement, dissolving into black mist.
"It regenerated! Burn it again!" Azrael commanded, his voice echoing with thousands of layered, celestial tones.
But Kael only smiled. The Omniscient Shadow title gave him a 300% boost to all Necromancy skills. His shadows weren't just strong; they were functionally immortal as long as Kael had mana.
A geyser of black ink erupted from the ground where the Warlord had fallen. In less than two seconds, the ten-foot giant reformed completely, letting out a static-filled roar of pure rage.
Azrael's glowing, featureless face twitched in visible shock. "What heresy is this?!"
"It's called a glitch," Kael snarled. He activated Shadow Step, sinking into the elongated shadow cast by Arthur.
Instantly, Kael reappeared directly behind the hovering Seraph. He gripped the Monarch's Dagger in a reverse hold and drove it toward the gap between the angel's black glass wings.
CLANG!
An invisible barrier of holy light repelled the dagger. The shockwave blew Kael backward, but he managed to flip in mid-air and land gracefully on the roof of a destroyed bus.
[System Warning: Target 'Azrael' possesses Absolute Barrier. Physical attacks will be nullified until the Core is exposed.]
"A core, huh?" Kael's eyes flashed gold as he scanned the Seraph. Through the blinding holy light, his Death Lines vision finally pierced the veil. There, buried deep in the center of Azrael's chest, was a swirling core of crimson energy.
I just have to crack the shell, Kael thought.
He looked down at his two shadows. "Don't bother defending me. Give it everything you have. Break its shield!"
Both Arthur and the Warlord launched themselves upward with reckless abandon, abandoning all defense to unleash a flurry of devastating, suicidal attacks against the Seraph's holy barrier.