Power of Runes

"Did you all forget your way?"

The moment those words left his mouth, fury surged through the Saints present. Unimaginable rage coursed through their veins as realization struck them all at once.

The source of the natural disasters ravaging the world, the cause behind the countless deaths, was standing right in front of them.

It was this demon.

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

Saint Nichole completely lost his composure, after all the demons have killed so many students and along the way who knows how many deaths he had witnessed, thus all that anger was now coming out of him.

The instant his shout rang out, he rushed forward, tearing through the air. In the blink of an eye, he had already crossed several hundred meters, appearing directly before Orien.

At the same time, Orien casually waved his hand. A sword formed instantly in his grasp, forged entirely from condensed demonic energy.

Every step of the ritual had already been completed. Now, all that remained was to wait for the abyssal darkness to fully take shape. Once that happened, using the key would open the Abyssal path.

Until then, the black sphere could not be allowed to suffer even the slightest interference.

-BOOM!!

A violent explosion echoed through the underground sky. After a single clash of blades, Saint Nichole was sent flying backward, his body smashing toward the opening in the ground through which he had entered.

"Hmph!! You are thousands of years too early if you think you can exchange blows with me on equal footing."

The reason behind Orien's abnormal strength was simple. It was his trait, [Reversal].

Any direct attack inflicted upon him would be reversed and returned to the attacker combined with his own attack its power would increase by many folds.

However, the trait had a flaw.

Attacks launched from a distance would not be reflected. Instead, their power would accumulate within his body, allowing him to release it during his next strike.

Even so, Orien was not using the true depth of his trait. What he had just displayed was only its most basic function. The rest of its abilities remained sealed, and unlocking them required abyssal energy to flow through his body.

That was one of the main reasons he was opening the path to the Abyss.

If those abilities were fully unlocked, one could only imagine how terrifying Orien's power would become.

-SWISH!!

-SWISH!!

-SWISH!!!

Responding to the clash, his three Generals appeared in front of him almost instantly. They knelt in midair, lowering their heads.

"Please punish us, my King. We failed in our duty as your Generals."

Orien hovered silently, his expression impassive as he looked down at them. He understood the reason behind their apology. They had failed to prevent the Saints from attacking him.

But the power difference between their ranks was too large, even if they wanted they couldn't stop them.

"Stay here and protect that black orb at all costs. Sacrifice your lives if necessary, but do not allow it to receive even a single scratch."

With those words, he turned away and floated toward the Saints in the sky.

"I was already suppressing my anger while thinking about the distant future. But since you are all already here, why not stay for all eternity. Especially you humans."

His voice boomed like thunder, sending a chill through the Saints. A sense of impending disaster settled heavily over them. Saint Nichole had already regrouped beside Saint Myra, who was healing his injuries.

Cold gazes locked onto Orien from all directions.

In a single instant, silent communication passed among them. There were sixteen Saints in total, while their enemy was only a single Demon King level existence.

They moved at the same time.

Ten Saints charged straight toward Orien, while the remaining six split off and rushed toward the black sphere.

But who was Orien?

He was a Demon King ranked demon, an existence standing on par with the true Demon King himself. How could someone like him fail to see through such an obvious move.

The moment the six Saints split away, Orien's eyes shifted, turning into swirling pools of liquid red and black. His gaze locked onto the six Saints who were trying to bypass him.

Instantly, their flight destabilized.

The flow of mana supporting their movement collapsed without warning. Their bodies jerked violently in midair as they desperately tried to regain control. The next moment, they came crashing down. Some smashed into the ground below, while others were thrown straight into the castle walls, stone and metal shattering on impact.

Among them were two human Saints, Maelis and Nichole, along with four Elven Saints.

As they fell, disbelief spread across the faces of the remaining Saints.

Before they could even begin to process how it happened or why it happened, a calm voice echoed beside them.

"Are you all forgetting that I am still here...?"

-SLASH!!

-SLASH!!

Their focus snapped back instantly.

A massive dark slash was already descending upon all ten of them.

-BOOM!!!!

The impact sent all of them flying backward. However, they managed to stabilize themselves midair as their domains wrapped around their bodies, merging with their physical forms to reinforce and empower them.

In the next instant, they transformed.

Their eyes shifted, glowing with the colors of their respective elements. Their bodies became coated in elemental energy. Some manifested floating elemental weapons beside them, while others formed halos resembling those of angels, hovering near their hands and backs.

Orien observed them calmly, then smiled faintly.

"Hehe, let's continue. Only a minute has passed anyway..."

None of the Saints expanded their domains outward to exert influence. With so many Saints present, clashing domains would only weaken them further. If their domains interfered with one another, they would never be able to deal with Orien.

Orien, on the other hand, made no effort to deploy his own domain.

Instead, his gaze shifted toward the six Saints who had fallen earlier. They were struggling back to their feet, but it was already too late. They could not use their mana or their domains anymore. He had sealed them completely.

Though they can use their will instead of mana, still it reduced their power level by a large amount.

It's a pity. I can only seal the mana of seven people at the same power level...

Shaking his head slightly, Orien turned back just in time to face the incoming attacks.

A barrage of spells and techniques rushed toward him, all of them long ranged. Among them, one Saint attempted to use the chaos as cover, redirecting their attack toward the black sphere.

Orien's eyes flashed.

In that instant, he sealed that Saint's mana.

Immediately, the Saint's domain vanished along with the attack. A domain was formed through mana and will acting together to influence the world and its surroundings. With mana sealed, its strength collapsed.

Like the pillars holding the buildings being broken.

Orien gave them no time to react.

As countless attacks and spells slammed into his body, he absorbed them, storing their power. In the same moment, he redirected everything toward the Saint whose mana he had just sealed.

Everything happened in a flash.

Before anyone could fully comprehend what had occurred, a dark blur cut through the battlefield as all the accumulated power was released.

And next second, a cry of grief echoed through the air.

"ELANOR!!!!!!!"

One of the Elven Saints rushed forward, his voice cracking as he moved to attack Orien.

The eyes of the remaining Saints constricted as they saw Elanor's body falling toward the ground, split cleanly into two.

Unbeknownst to them, a seed of despair and fear quietly bloomed in every heart.

On the other side of the battlefield, the Generals had engaged the six Saints whose mana had been sealed.

Unable to fully defend themselves and only restricted to their Will, the Saints were getting injured under the relentless assault. But even so, they were able to defend themselves under the assault of 3 generals.

However, killing a Saint was another matter entirely. Their defenses were still formidable, and breaking them required time.

"YOU MOTH#RF#CKER I WILL KILL YOU!!!!!!"

The Elven Saint roared in rage, his eyes bloodshot. He slammed his hands forward while moving towards Orien, and thousands of earth shards erupted into existence, shooting toward Orien at terrifying speed.

Hmm, that might actually be able to injure me...

Orien narrowed his eyes slightly as he saw everything is slow motion.

His trait was overwhelming in close combat, but fighting experts specialized in long ranged attacks was far more troublesome.

Although he could store the power of long ranged attacks and unleash it later with even greater force, especially when combined with his own power, he could not do it repeatedly.

There was a delay of around ten seconds before he could absorb another long ranged attack. If someone struck him during that window, he would be injured.

But the others are still wary of my power, so they are not attacking recklessly. If I get injured now, they will realize the gap in my abilities...

That was something he could not allow.

After all, he was protecting the black sphere. If that were not the case, taking such risks would not have mattered at all.

Thus, his eyes flashed once again, and the domain of the attacking Saint vanished instantly as his flight destabilized. The Saint's body lurched violently in midair, his control collapsing as mana was forcibly sealed. However, the earth shards did not stop, because the spell had already been completed before his mana was cut off.

Thousands of jagged shards tore through the air, closing the distance in a blink, their momentum carrying the Saint's hatred and desperation straight toward Orien.

Seeing the earth shards already so close to him, with no room to casually evade, Orien clicked his tongue in irritation.

Tsk, troublesome...

***