Lifeblood Chaos [LitRPG Apocalypse]

The course of the battle had allowed Ray to create some distance. It was part of why the Tower Lord had unleashed that storm of arcing light blades to shoot at him from a distance.

Thankfully, Impenetrable Shell was strong enough to withstand the blasts. It probably helped that Ray had squeezed in some extra Aeon Mana with the Mana Infuser ring. The added vitality from the entire Duskshell materializing around its shell helped withstand the overwhelming assault from the Tower Lord.

Not that it could fully defend Ray against the attack for long. The Tower Lord was… well, the Tower Lord. Someone even stronger than the Floor Lord.

It dawned on Ray that he couldn't recall what the Tower Lord's name even was. What was he even called?

Bastard swung in for the kill directly. One advantage of being far stronger was that he could rely on his superior physicality to overwhelm Ray, provided he could get close enough. There was a significant enough difference in their levels and their stats to allow that.

Ray just fired off another blast from the Windbane head around his hand. It missed. But Temporal Passage took him out of direct danger from all of the Tower Lord's attacks.

He had also made sure to teleport to a spot where none of the Floor Lord's Growth Mana had even been close to. There would be no sudden reappearance and disappearance to catch Ray off guard.

"Ah, you think you can continue running," the Tower Lord said. The smugness in his voice sent an unpleasant shiver down Ray's spine. "How foolish."

To prove that Ray did indeed have nowhere to go, the Sylvan started calling in more Growth Mana from everywhere. If it had been bad before, Ray was starting to think he would be properly screwed soon.

Just like before, the golden Growth Mana grew from every possible point in space around Ray. They grew from nothing in the air, blanketed the sky, and burrowed out of the earth as well.

Screwed. Oh, yes. If Ray couldn't find a way to stop the Tower Lord's ability, he would be properly fucked. Because there really was now nowhere to run. There was no other option but to face it head on. Especially since the tendrils of Growth Mana weren't shooting at him like arrows, but as massive, serpentine vines seeking to flood every inch of space on the battlefield.

For just a second, the same feeling he'd gone through in the fight against the Demon of Humanity surfaced again. The fear, the first flickers of hesitation, the doubt that this was it.

That he would die here.

All of them rose again, rearing their ugly heads to lock him in place. To paralyze him and make his nightmares become reality.

Ray growled. "I am not dying."

His hands clenched into fists. Then began casting.

Cast after cast of Mottling Aeonguard sent out the temporal blue orbs expanding around Ray and shooting through the battlefield to counter the golden Growth Mana. It wouldn't be properly effective. Good thing Ray had more spells to count on.

Resurrect Recollect with the help of the Mana Infuser ring created a series of Impenetrable Shells more powerful than ever before. Then came the flying Windbane head constructs, their jaws bristling with blue flames. He made sure to use his newest Soul Aspect, Death Touch, to make sure he had room to manoeuvre.

Last of all, Ray used Aetheric Trace to call forth the Petrified Vines. He had already crushed an Aeon Mana crystal to top himself up, at the same time that the Tower Lord had used a similar crystal.

But the vines would provide an added layer of security. Much needed, because they weren't just for regaining Mana.

The golden Growth Mana vines all shot in like a furious, auric glacier determined to crush Ray. He growled, then sent his Petrified Vines crashing against the Tower Lord's attack.

Ray was extremely glad he had infused his ears with Mana too. The impact between the gleaming, overpowered vines and his spells set off a shockwave that threatened to crush his body. He bore through it, as did his ears, all of him shaking at the concussive force.

There was a careful equilibrium for the moment. Ray's amped-up Impenetrable Shells were holding back the tidal barrage of Growth Mana, while the constructs were trying to burn them down with compressed blue flames.

But the most effective were his Petrified Vines. In that state of equilibrium, the thorny tendrils had free rein to leech away the Mana creating the Tower Lord's attack.

"Your paltry defence will fail," the Tower Lord said, loud voice ringing over the clash of abilities. "You will die, little insect!"

The Growth Mana pressed in harder. More and more of it shimmered into being, hammering Ray and his defences. Taking the fight to him and forcing him back.

"That's what you think," Ray growled.

He thrust out his arm. Pure defence wasn't going to work. The Petrified Vines were being torn apart, the Impenetrable Shells were moments away from being shattered, and his Windbane constructs were too busy flying and dodging to actually burn away the Growth Mana.

Which was why Ray used Aetheric Trace to craft another Windbane head on his hand. This time, he pushed in almost all the Mana he had drained using his Petrified Vines into the spell. The Windbane head grew and grew and grew. It got so big and heavy, Ray had to bring his other hand to hold up and support the gigantic draconic maw jutting out from his arm.

The pressure was intense. He didn't have time to waste. The Growth Mana was going to ram through his defences and end him. No time. No time.

With a yell, Ray released it. The oversized Windbane yawned wide, and a geyser of compressed navy flames burst free like the exhaust of a rocket. Ray himself was pushed back by several feet. It was only his wings and his low stance that kept him upright.

The massive lasering breath burst past the Impenetrable Shell and then vaporized through the golden Growth Mana. Every contact set off an explosion, a series of increasingly powerful bursts detonating in front of Ray in a near straight line, rushing through the battlefield almost all the way to the stands.

Ray was finally thrown back when the Windbane's strength ran out and the fiery geyser stopped. An explosion destroyed the area and everything around it, sending Ray rolling over the ground backwards.

He was back on his feet in seconds, dragging in harsh breaths as his heart thundered. No kill notification. Bastard was absolutely still alive.

It didn't take long for Ray to find the Tower Lord. He was glowing high above, without a scratch of course. He must have teleported out of the area of effect of Ray's counter.

It only served to highlight that Ray needed to be thoughtful and smart about how he went about this battle. And he was starting to get an idea of how he was going to win…

Teleportation. That was going to be his ace.

"You smile after one measly effort like that?" the Tower Lord said. More Growth Mana emerged around him, ready to send another devastating rain. It couldn't be the same old trick, could it? "Pathetic."

"Pathetic, huh? I don't think I'm the one who called in an audience and put them in danger too…"

The Tower Lord scowled. Ray had a good idea of where to poke at the guy. That latest attack from the oversized Windbane had threatened to spill out of the arena and into the stands. Ray certainly hadn't tried to stop it. The only reason no one in the audience had been affected was because the Windbane's power had run out.

Something that the less stupid ones in the audience were apparently realizing. Even at this distance, Ray could make out several of them trying to head towards the exit.

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So much for a grand ceremony witnessed by an eager audience.

"You will not win," the Tower Lord shouted. Then he sent down his Growth Mana.

Ray was getting good practice at stopping them by now. His constructs had survived, so now they swung in and belched out flames, shooting down from the air. An Impenetrable Shell called up the next instant stopped more—

The Tower Lord flashed into being next to Ray. His sword swung in, a blade that seemed made of pure white-gold light.

An instinctive use of Temporal Passage saved Ray. He was floating next to a flying Windbane head construct, still for just a heartbeat before he started plummeting.

And the Tower Lord was already rushing in. Flashing in.

It was a battle of teleportation already. Ray cursed.

What followed was a series of disappearances and reappearances all over the battlefield. Ray didn't even have time to think of a proper counter. He could only spare the briefest instant to locate where his enemy was and where he was headed and then act accordingly.

Ray barely even had time to crush another Aeon Mana crystal to keep himself topped up. The light blade swung in close way too often, arcs of rupturing power blitzing off it to tear apart everything in the vicinity.

Weirdly, as Ray moved in and out, he could hear the yells from the stands.

"End this!" someone shouted.

"—can't even stop a human!" yelled another.

"—unbelievable—"

"How long must this—"

"Kill him, now!"

And on and on it went. The audience was incensed. It had been mere amusement before, to see a lowly human brought to his knees, now there was a ton of wrath. This was not what they had signed up for.

More importantly, this was not at all what the Tower Lord was supposed to have shown them. That was the key thing. Their discontent and anger was directed at the main organizer.

Paying attention to the audience's reaction was also helping Ray with the fight, ironically. He was getting better at reacting in time. He could now almost anticipate the Tower Lord's attacks and movement instead of just barely reacting in time.

Ray could almost counter.

Three exchanges later, as he was being forced to cycle his teleports through the same few spots, Ray managed to attack back for once. His arm came up, as did the Windbane maw he had crafted around it with Aetheric Trace. It was meant to catch the Tower Lord off guard, a sudden motion to take advantage of his assumption that Ray was helpless.

Bastard reacted far too quickly, though. His sword flashed, the blade cutting through the air right in front of the draconic head.

The empowered light and the flaming blast from Ray's Windbane collided in an explosion. Even as the Tower Lord's blade cut through it, dissecting the flames from reaching him, Ray was pushed back.

He bit down on his lip to stop from yelling out in pain. The sword… it had extended in the last second. The Windbane had been sliced right through, and most of Ray's hand was completely broken and wounded. He didn't look down. There was no point. All that mattered was getting through the pain. He didn't need a whole hand to win.

"You may wish to surrender," the Tower Lord said, triumphantly eyeing the wound he had delivered. "But you have caused far too much grief for me to accept it. Now die."

Ray thought it was going to be the same rigmarole as the last minute or so. More teleports to take advantage of the reduced area Ray could teleport to, even though he had cast Mottling Aeonguard to suppress the Growth Mana around them and make the Tower Lord face the same issue.

But the Tower Lord decided to just blow up.

"Witness true power, you mongrel," he yelled.

His body glowed brighter and brighter. All the red horns and curling growths on him started turning blinding white. A second later, a pillar of burning golden-white power emerged from where he stood, towering into the sky.

Ray staggered back a step. Not that it was going to help. The pillar was expanding outwards with incredible speed. It ate up the ground, rupturing everything in its path, forcing Ray to squint his eyes. He cursed. If he was hit by that thing, he was pretty sure he'd be vaporized on the spot.

For a split second, he considered trying to defend himself the same way he had done against that tidal wave of Growth Mana earlier.

But then, he recalled his use of Eternal Gravity.

Ray cast Momentous Domain the next second, moments before the expanding light pillar hit him. It worked. Even as he called up an Impenetrable Shell with Resurrect Recollect and threw himself back with Soaring Wings, Momentous Domain activated and called up Eternal Gravity and the way it had drawn in all the powers both he and the Tower Lord had used.

Right under the spot where the Tower Lord had first activated his light pillar ability.

The Impenetrable Shell wasn't really for protecting Ray against the light pillar. Oh no, what Ray actually intended was for it to hold back the massive detonation that ripped through the battlefield next.

He was getting used to the thrumming vibrations and blasts of furious flames and shrapnel flying everywhere.

Ray's teeth chattered as everything shook and a dust cloud obscured his sight ahead. The Tower Lord, curse him, still wasn't dead. No helpful notification awarded him with more experience. The fight wasn't over yet.

At least it had silenced the damn crowd.

It was good Ray hadn't lowered his guard yet. Light flashed higher up in the smoke, like lightning flashing through a storm cloud.

"You fool!" the Tower Lord roared. He came at Ray like a meteor, wreathed in golden light. But this time, he was wounded. Ray's sudden blast had destroyed one of his legs. "You are only postponing your gruesome death!"

Ray teleported away with Temporal Passage. Somehow, the Tower Lord read his movements. Predicted where he'd end up. Instead of following him, he thrust his sword out just as Ray reappeared.

An instinctive dodge was all that saved Ray. He dived to one side. The extended sword still caught his side, still managed to smash half his ribs.

Once more, Ray bit down on the pain. It was severe enough that he was forced to his knees for a second, but Soaring Wings flapped and got him back upright. Just in time. The Tower Lord was coming again. Rushing him down for the kill.

It was a combination of his meteoric, energy-wreathed movement and his teleportation. Even with one of his legs ruined, he was able to move with incredible agility.

Ray managed to crush another Aeon Mana crystal before teleporting again. The Mottling Aeonguard he had used earlier was enough to give him room to use Temporal Passage, forcing the Tower Lord to rely more on his teleports as well.

The wound on his side was taking its toll. Blood was littering all over the battlefield and he was slowing down. He couldn't keep this up for long.

As though sensing it, the Tower Lord almost grew desperate to strike Ray down. He screamed as he began teleporting with wild abandon, his swinging sword slashing apart the arena and nearly catching Ray multiple times.

Focus. Ray had to focus. He could do this. He had to. If he couldn't stop the Tower Lord before the treasure arrived, if he couldn't defeat the bastard now…

No, he would. This was his main opportunity. This was what everything was building towards.

Once again, in the furious fray of teleportation between Ray and the Tower Lord, he was getting a hang of things. He was starting to be able to counter. Although, the few blasts he managed to fire in his enemy's direction hardly did any impact. The blue fire just ricocheted off that dense, golden aura surrounding the bastard.

Alright. Ray was left with only one choice.

He was cornered instants later. The Tower Lord had forced him to the rear of the arena, to where a chunk of the audience could look down upon him if they leaned over. He growled.

"Enough is enough," the Tower Lord said. "Die, you—"

He froze. There. Now!

Ray thrust his injured arm out and blasted the Tower Lord with an eruption of blue flames from his Windbane maw. It didn't work. That dense aura around him shielded him from Ray's fire.

The Tower Lord charged through. "As if your foolish tricks would ever work!"

His sword was raised, the flames dissipating as he burst through the inferno. But Ray didn't dodge. Instead, he dove straight at his enemy. The flames might not have harmed the Tower Lord, but it had done enough to obscure Ray from the Sylvan.

Which was why the Tower Lord didn't see Ray rushing at him too.

Rushing in with an orb of sparking energy in his left hand.

Commitment. Ray had committed. They were colliding in too fast for either of them to change direction, too fast to even use teleportation to get away. Besides, this was both their chances to end this. Ray was primed right underneath the Tower Lord's blade.

The blade of light slashed down. At the same time, Ray rammed his left fist into his enemy's aura. Core Deconstruction slammed through the dense aura, likely because Ray had pushed in a good chunk of extra Mana into the skill with the Mana Infuser ring.

They were both blasted back. This time, Ray did let himself scream. The Tower Lord's blade had cut through his shoulder and collarbone, almost reaching his lungs.

All that had stopped him was Core Deconstruction taking effect. The Sylvan's overwhelming aura had disappeared, as had the rest of his Mana. Violent sparks coruscated over the Tower Lord's body, making him jerk and writhe as though he was being actively electrocuted.

"What… have you… done?" he gasped out. He tried to rise back to his feet but fell back, contorting again.

Ray shut off his screaming. He breathed in harsh and fast. There was no one to happily heal him like against the Demon of Humanity, but that was fine. He could survive. He would.

Grunting after dragging in a heavy breath, Ray forced himself back upright. His right side was practically ruined, but there was no point in moaning about it. It was time to kill the Tower Lord, before his goons arrived with the treasure if they had found it already.

"This… won't…" The Tower Lord's words cut off as he jerked some more under the effects of Core Deconstruction.

"You know the most gratifying thing about all this?" Ray said as he dragged his feet over to his enemy. "It's the fact that your captive audience is now completely silent."

The realization made the Tower Lord freeze in his attempts to continue struggling. Ray was right. The whole audience had gone mum. Shocked. Refusing to believe that a human like Ray had indeed stopped the Tower Lord. Was on the verge of killing him.

"I've destroyed your Mana Core," Ray said. "So now you can die helpless, just like you deserve."

Ray raised his hand, the Windbane head still wrapped around his wound.

Gritty: Wingman, they've got it. They got the treasure! And they're heading for the battlefield.

The sudden spike of worry that needled his heart forced his arm to the side instead of at the Tower Lord. The blast of flames that emerged barely got a second to fly before Ray was using Temporal Passage. Just in time. It didn't matter if burning agony ripped through the huge wound on his chest, if the motion caused him to lose another chunk of blood he couldn't afford.

If he had stayed in place, the spear—the oh so familiar spear—would have impaled through his already shattered chest.

For Pierce had appeared to stand over the fallen Tower Lord with the dungeon treasure in his hand.