Chapter 389: Devastatingly Powerful  

“[Spellswords of Ruination: Lost Art].”

“[Penultimate Blade of the Chaotic Tempest].”

“[Fragarach].”

With both a malevolent aura and seething power surrounding him, a green sword half his height soon manifested in one of his hands, compressing all of the power he had been emanating until now onto the end of the blade. Soon after, the green sword underwent a massive change as a pitch-black streak appeared in its center, giving off the feeling that anything it hit would undoubtedly perish from the sheer might.

Instantly sensing that her barrier wouldn’t hold up even if she thickened it, Mannelyn was about to warn Vytalis to flee from the vicinity, only to notice the feeling of someone looking at them. Fortunately for her, it did not take long for her to realize that this feeling came from Aurus. His gaze was that of someone looking at prey that wouldn’t be able to escape his clutches, instilling slight fear into Mannelyn as she instead warned Vytalis, “Defend as much as you can!”

“Got it!” Vytalis hastily replied, also feeling Aurus’s gaze at her. From what she could sense from the blade Aurus had manifested, there was no way they were going to escape Aurus’s attack that easily. With that, she hastily condensed all of her energy into a single point before letting it explode, turning into a layer of translucent pink armor that went over her body. Mannelyn had also done the same, forming multiple layers of defensive barriers on her body to the point that, except for her head poking out, her body had turned into the shape of a fat cucumber.

Seeing how Aurus hadn’t made his move yet even though they had already put up their defenses against his next attack, the two of them could not help but look at each other, wondering if Aurus was waiting for something else to happen before he unleashed his attack. Though, it did not take long for them to find out that what Aurus was waiting for…

…was them.

Whoosh!

With a swift slash, Aurus easily cut through the tens of layers of defensive barriers placed on top of him as a dark green blade light was soon released by the sword he wielded. Since the barriers had been cut, the blade light was allowed to expand in size, absorbing all of the energy in the surroundings as the feeling of looming death soon washed over both Vytalis and Mannelyn’s bodies.

At that instant, it had finally become obvious as to what Aurus’s goal was. The reason why Aurus hadn’t attacked at the very instant they had finished putting up their defenses or before they could even put up their defenses was not because he was waiting for something. Instead, Aurus, or to be more exact the primal instinct controlling Aurus, had complete confidence that even if a thousand or a million defensive barriers were placed around the two beings in front of him, he would still find a way to cut them down.

Ksh! Ksh!

In response to this overbearing confidence, the armor protecting Vytalis and the barriers protecting Mannelyn quickly crumpled and shattered under the sheer pressure exuded by the blade light. As for the remaining strength behind the blade light, almost all of it were received by the two, sending both of them flying for tens of kilometers before eventually coming to a halt.Whoosh! Whoosh!

At the very moment they had regained stability over their bodies, they hastily headed back to where Aurus was, using the strongest movement skills they had in their arsenal. While doing so, they could not help but feel a bit of anger against Aurus. Sure, Spiriveritae disliked fighting against other Spiriveritae. But when it came down to a younger Spiriveritas fighting against an older one…then it wouldn’t be surprising if the older one even put its whole pride on the line just to defeat the younger Spiriveritas.

Rustle…rustle…!

Pushing away all of the foliage that hindered from getting them to where Aurus was faster, they eventually arrived at the place where previously was, only to see that he was currently sitting down in silence, as if he was waiting for the two to return. Even the great aura surrounding him a while ago had disappeared, returning his state to how the two first saw him.

Seeing this, both of them could not help but think as to whether they had forced out Aurus to use the strongest move in his arsenal. In any case, they knew that they couldn’t let themselves become overconfident by that fact, knowing that every Spiriveritas, no matter how young, definitely had a trick or two up their sleeves.

With that in mind, the two of them hastily went up in the air as Aurus silently watched them from afar, oblivious to what was about to happen to him. Seeing that Aurus did not bother putting up any defense or whatsoever against what was about to happen next, both Vytalis and Mannelyn could not help but hasten their preparations for the move they were about to unleash, allowing their pride to take control over their bodies instead of their rationality.

Within seconds, a large amount of pink energy particles circled Vytalis while a large amount of cyan energy particles circled Mannelyn. After looking at the amount each other had coalesced within that short span of time, they then allowed the energy particles they had collected to collide with another, forming a new type of energy particle that contained the power of life, as well as mana. Though, if one utilized their senses to the maximum, one would feel another energy being birthed from the collision.

Chaos.

Creating a chamber wherein the new energy particles could be housed, Mannelyn and Vytalis allowed them to compress into a small dot as the former could not help but ask the latter, “Why isn’t Verdante moving? Is his energy all spent after just using that move?”

“I don’t know, but I think it would be safer to create a couple of barriers in front of us using the chaos particles,” Vytalis replied, prompting Mannelyn to nod as she manipulated a small amount of the particles compressing into a dot to form barriers that would shield them from any oncoming attack.

Eventually, the preparations of the two were now complete, with Aurus still not doing anything in retaliation. All this time, he had just been sitting on the floor, as if he was becoming bored of waiting for them to finish. Nevertheless, a hint of cunningness slightly emanated from him as his primal instinct told his body to wait for the right moment to make a move. At this moment, the primal instinct did not prioritize the survival of his body anymore. After realizing how strong he was compared to the two, a hint of the maniacal pleasure from the mass killing he had done so far gradually seeped out, making him let out a soft yet malevolent chuckle as he waited.

After waiting for a few seconds and seeing how Aurus still did not want to do anything against their attack, Vytalis gave a look at Mannelyn, who nodded in response as she shouted, “Since he went all out on us, it’s time for us to pay the favor back!”

Weeengggg…

Slowly but surely, the compressed dot made out of the combined energy particles radiated light, its intensity gradually making it blinding for one to look at. Eventually, once they felt like it had reached its peak, the demeanor of the two instantly went under a change, as a solemn expression appeared on their faces. Not long after, a beam of dark silver light was shot out of the makeshift chamber, heading straight for Aurus as the two shouted, “[Transcendent Spirit-Vitality Unification]!”

“[Energy Overflow Beam]!”

Bang!

Without even giving Aurus a chance to escape, the beam had collided with him head-on, covering the whole area around him in the dark silver light of the beam. Seeing that their attack had worked, Vytalis could not help but look at Mannelyn with a hint of glee on her face, saying, “To think we can still cooperate this well even after going our separate ways for over a hundred years. It kind of feels nice to do something like this again.”

“It definitely is, especially if we’re teaching the younger Spiriveritae to respect those that came before them.” Mannelyn could not help but let out a chuckle in response, prompting Vytalis to laugh out loud as well. Though, before they could continue to laugh any further, a hoarse and grim voice resounded amidst the dark silver light, making the two freeze in place as they looked at the aftermath of the attack.

Although the surroundings now looked like what seemed to be the aftermath of a large war, a being covered in dried-up blood still stood there, radiating the same malevolent aura it used to radiate. At the moment, a dark green barrier was conjured around the being, only for it to disappear as it looked at the two and asked, “Are you two done?”Before the two could even respond to the question, the being had finally made its move, muttering the name of a skill before disappearing in front of their field of vision a split-second later.

“[Zenith Nihility Dash].”

Whoosh!

Just as the two were looking for any traces of Aurus, the presence of a being appearing behind them hastily made them jump back in response. But of course, to the current Aurus, any move they made was useless in front of him.

“[Omnipresence].”

Swoosh!

In less than an instant, the terrifying yet tyrannical aura surrounding Aurus just some time ago had reappeared once more, instantly making the two realize that Aurus was just biding his time. However, it was also at this moment that another question formed in their minds.

“What kind of monster is he?”

With their questions left unanswered, Aurus then went ahead and summoned a blade of wind, similar to the blade of wind he had summoned before. Though, rather than infusing the blade of wind with the malevolent aura surrounding him, he instead summoned hundreds more blades of wind as they gradually formed a large claw capable of making one fall to their knees with just one look at it.

“[Spellswords of Ruination: Ultimate Art].”

“[Millennium Sword Embodiment].”

“[Nine Realms’ Nether Claw].”

Bang!

With one quick swipe, both Vytalis and Mannelyn were sent flying once more. Though, this time around, shock could be visibly seen on their faces as they noticed that the strength behind Aurus’s attack had increased in strength rather than decreased. At that instant, they realized that Aurus was holding back on them, wanting them to feel more and more despair from his attacks that were gradually getting stronger.

“What level of comprehension has he already achieved? Level 40?” Vytalis could not help but ask Mannelyn as they gradually stabilized themselves. In response, Mannelyn replied with a solemn tone, “According to the power he’s shown, he’s definitely gone past Level 50 already. Then again, it’s certain that his comprehension over his Epiphany is already stronger than ours.”

Although they were both the 11th and the 12th Spiriveritas respectively, Vytalis and Mannelyn were only able to increase their comprehension over their Epiphanies to around Level 30 or so, with Vytalis being slightly higher than Mannelyn. If only they knew that Aurus was also around the same level of comprehension as them. Utter disbelief would be written all over their faces.

Just as they were about to head back to where Aurus was, it seemed that Aurus had taken the initiative, appearing in front of them before they could even put up any sort of defense. With the large claw made out of blades still behind his back, he continued to conjure more and more blades, increasing the size of the claw as its color turned gradually darker.

Sensing how much energy was contained within the claw, both Vytalis and Mannelyn could not help but wonder why such a being would take on such a path, even wonder as to why they accepted this task. Nevertheless, they were certain on one thing at this point onward. In their minds, the only being that could defeat Aurus was Erudis.

He was just that terrifying.

“[Spellsword of Ruination: Extended Ultimate Art].”

“[Ten Millennium Sword Embodiment].”

“[Nine Realms’ Gehenna Claw].”