Chapter 94: Spirit's Territory (6)
TL/Editor: Rungir
Schedule: 5/Week Wed-Sun
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In the garden, a pathway led to the main gate of the lord's castle.
"Where could he have gone? I must find him before the others do."
A servant with half his cloak removed mumbled, scanning the surroundings.
"Is he here? No? Perhaps here?"
Like one searching for someone hiding, he rummaged through nearby bushes.
"Not here either? Then... here!"
With a swift movement, he finally checked under the tarp of a nearby cart, his face showing a hint of disappointment.
After all, he hadn't found anything.
"Where did he disappear to? I must find him first to claim my reward."
The servant grumbled for a moment before moving elsewhere.
After some time had passed,
"Has he gone?"
"Yes, he's gone."
A faint conversation was heard, and the surface of the tree next to the cart shimmered.
Soon, Rat and Ember revealed themselves.
"Damn it, what are those creatures, and why are they chasing us?"
Rat genuinely seemed bewildered by the situation.
While taking a stroll in the garden, they had unexpectedly encountered those creatures. Realizing they couldn't confront them, they immediately fled. Thankfully, Rat, who always prioritized his own safety, had a few top-tier invisibility magic scrolls, which they had been using to hide.
"But now what? Should we just leave like this?"
Ember pointed towards the lord's castle's exit, hinting at a possible escape. With no immediate threat felt, they could potentially escape the castle.
However, hesitation was evident in their eyes. After all, their employer and Elysis were still inside the castle.
"We can't possibly confront those monstrous creatures."
"I know. If we encounter them, we'd be torn to shreds."
It was clear to anyone that escaping now was the best choice.
Yet, after exchanging glances and sharing a quiet laugh, Rat and Ember turned towards the castle as if they had made a silent pact. From birth, they, along with Elysis, had been inseparable, growing up in the same neighborhood.
"If you were going to choose this, why did you even ask?"
"If you decided to leave alone, I was planning to give you an earful."
As they solidified their resolve and prepared to move, Rat paused.
"…Huh?"
He looked outside the castle, perhaps holding onto a shred of reluctance. A hint of puzzlement clouded his eyes.
"Ember, look there."
"What now...?!"
Following Rat's gaze, Ember's face began to register shock.
A loud scream echoed.
Every inhabitant within the Angelosh territory...
Demons, wearing the skins of the territory's residents, surged towards the lord's castle.
Though the scene was terrifying enough to drain the color from one's face, that wasn’t the sole cause of their shock.
Something was visible beyond the territory's bounds.
"That is..."
A curious light flickered in Ember's eyes as he gazed upon it.
It was one of the techniques under the domain of the Dark Star, equivalent to a sword technique in itself.
A swordsmanship that could only be unleashed by the Extinction Sword, Eclaxia.
As Zion's mastery of the the Dark Star advanced and he utilized the Lunar Eclipse, he had reached a state where he could wield it to some extent.
The breath unleashed by Kezarus was split in two, dissipating into nothingness.
No, not just that. Everything drawn by the Extinction Sword was being sliced away.
And that included,
"Kuaaaaaaaah!"
Kezarus's left arm and leg.
Bang!
'Not bad.'
Without giving an inch, Zion lunged at Kezarus, thinking this very thought.
While it might not be as powerful as the technique he used against Enoch before, it was enough for the situation.
"You damn creature!"
Despite his painful scream, Kezarus thrust out his remaining hand, clenching it.
If Zion was allowed to approach this time, death would be inevitable.
Following Kezarus's gesture,
Space tore apart from all sides, and from within, massive demonic hands lunged at Zion.
It seemed Kezarus had decided not to hold back, for the force emanating from those hands was much more potent than before.
However, no matter how powerful, it would only matter if Zion decided to take the hit.
Zion successively cut off all approaching fingers of the demon hands.
Taking advantage of the gap this created, Zion accelerated once more and vanished from the spot, only to reappear,
Right in front of Kezarus.
A speed incomparable to before.
'I must defend!'
In shock, Kezarus hastily raised a defensive spell around himself.
Considering his previous experience, Zion wouldn't be able to shatter his defense in one blow.
He had to find a countermeasure in that short span.
However, Kezarus's thought process was abruptly disrupted.
Unlike before,
Zion instantly shattered his defense, leaving a fatal sword mark across Kezarus's abdomen.
"Kueeeeeeek!"
In pain, Kezarus tried to cast a spell to widen the space between him and Zion.
But,
With Eclaxia, Zion cut off the spell itself, preventing its execution.
"Crazy!"
Kezarus, unable to believe what he saw, shouted in astonishment.
Shu-ga-ga-ga-gak!
A barrage of attacks formed by the Dark Flash was directed at him.
And so began a one-sided assault.
'I'm going to die.'
Truly, death was imminent.
All the attacks Kezarus launched were deflected, while every strike from Zion landed without fail.
As if he could read his very thoughts.
But that wasn't the only anomaly.
'That darkness.'
The mysterious darkness vanished without a trace the moment it was touched by the spell.
Furthermore, his unique talent with spirits, which was of the same psychic genre, wasn't effective at all.
A natural enemy.
An opponent decreed by the heavens as undefeatable.
To Kezarus, the man before him felt like such an enemy.
'But I can't die here.'
Kezarus still had a mission to accomplish.
He had to turn this situation around, no matter what.
So then...
“Arghhh!”
With that thought as his last resolve, Kezarus unleashed every ounce of power he had left.
A deafening blast emanated in every direction, creating a shockwave.
Boom!
Due to this, the ceiling and walls of the cavity were obliterated, revealing the vast sky.
Kezarus then started to gather energy around him, as if preparing for a final strike.
But Zion wasn't just going to stand and watch.
'I'll finish it now.'
Swish!
Unlike before, Zion maintained his distance, cutting through the shockwave, and thrust the sword he had readied straight forward.
In that instant,
Zap!
The dark energy condensed at the tip of the Destroyer's sword transformed into lightning and was fired.
Another shockwave burst from Kezarus's body.
But that lightning bolt, tearing through the shockwave and all residual defensive magic,
Pierced directly through Kezarus’s heart.
“Gah!”
With that, the aura surrounding Kezarus dissipated in an instant.
His eyes filled with rage and shock.
Zion, with cold eyes, met his gaze and swung his sword once again.
Kezarus, unable to resist, had his throat slit.
It was a hollow end, but it seemed inevitable.
The tide had turned long ago, and that strike was merely the final blow.
Zion then proceeded to destroy even the core within the decapitated body of Kezarus.
Knowing the tenacity of the life force of these monsters, Zion deemed this step essential.
Not deeming that enough, he burned the corpse with a black flame.
Only then did Zion turn away.
'Fortunately, the altar seems unharmed...'
At that moment,
With that thought, as Zion turned his head toward Elysis at the altar, confusion clouded his eyes.
Despite the battle being over, her face was pale as if drained of life.
Elysis's gaze was fixed not on Zion but on something behind him.
“Tha-that...!”
Zion turned once again, and a strange sight met his eyes.
Crunch!
The remains of Kezarus, which had turned to ash, were regenerating.
No, it wasn't just regeneration.
It was as if being reconstructed from scratch.
A lordship castle, overlooking from the vast hollow outside.
Inside that castle was the essence of every specter.
“Ah, no... Kuaaaak!”
Against their will, the essences drawn out started to converge towards where Kezarus's ashes were, beginning to form a new body.
The forbidden technique, one so vile that it even uses its kin as ingredients.
Zion's gaze darkened as he watched.
‘Did he have an extra life?’
It seemed that instead of his original body, he had split a single extra life into dozens and implanted them into his subordinates.
Blowing away the roof and walls of the hollow earlier must have been for this very reason.
Thud!
In the meantime, Kezarus, having perfectly reformed his body, smirked looking at Zion.
“Didn’t see this coming, did you?”
His face brimming with leisurely amusement.
Proving his point, his body and power seemed to have fully recovered.
No, it appeared even stronger than before.
“So, what will you do now?”
The leader of the specters slowly approached Zion, opening his mouth.
“You are undeniably powerful. So much so that I had to use my anti-life technique. But after our last battle, you've almost exhausted your strength. Moreover…”
With that, Kezarus casually pointed past the lordship.
Hehehehehe!
From there, specters wearing the hides of territorial residents were approaching the castle, laughing madly.
“In a bit, my subordinates will arrive here as well.”
Kezarus's laughter deepened.
“Do you truly think you, exhausted as you are, can handle all of us?”
It was impossible.
Outnumbered.
Kezarus was certain.
The odds of this mysterious man defeating him no longer existed.
In fact, the chance of escaping alive from here was null.
“If you give up now and obediently offer your life, I promise a painless death.”
Such were Kezarus's words, his eyes filled with a sense of superiority and ecstasy.
“L-lord Zion…”
Behind him, Elysis called out to Zion in a trembling voice.
“It does seem difficult for me alone.”
The faint voice trickled from Zion's lips.
As Kezarus pointed out, Zion's power was indeed waning.
Once it completely faded, the backlash would make combat nearly impossible.
It would've been a crisis, under normal circumstances.
If things were as they originally were.
“So, hurry and…”
“But you know..."
With that, Zion's eyes slowly drew a line of focus.
“...What?”
The moment Kezarus's face clouded with confusion,
Kwaang!
There was a massive explosion outside the lordship castle.
Without thinking, Kezarus instinctively turned his head towards the explosion's origin.
Suddenly, a situation he had never expected entered his field of vision.
"Kill them all! The Witch of a Thousand Years stands with us!"
"Ooooo!"
Crash and clang!
Magicians, seemingly out of nowhere, were clashing with the disciples.
"What...?!"
Kezarus's eyes widened in shock.
Where had this group of magicians suddenly appeared from?
Even more astonishingly, all the magicians were utilizing the rare blood magic.
At that moment,
"You were here?"
A voice whispered in his ear.
It was crystal clear but carried an eerie chill.
Slowly,
From the shadows, the owner of the voice emerged.
A woman with jet-black hair and eyes as red as blood.
It was none other than Liushina Bloodwalker.
"It's been a while, Master."
She waved joyfully in Zion's direction, greeting him.
"But..."
Almost immediately, Liushina's gaze began to slowly turn towards Kezarus.
"Is that one left for me?"
Her witchy eyes curved menacingly as she said this.
In that very instant,
"I'm truly thrilled."
The entire area began to be suffused with a crimson hue.
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