The Archdukes' instincts tingled as Varian shot forward.
The ten level 9 space awakeners in their group didn't take any chances and blasted the space around Varian.
It was as if someone was throwing powerful invisible bombs around Varian. The space around him cracked apart like a broken mirror and came close to opening dangerous space cracks.
Varian felt like he was moving in the middle of a dozen broken mirrors. Just a single touch would cut his skin and if he bumped into the broken space, he'd likely lose a limb or two.
It was a tough terrain to navigate through but Varian moved like a fish in water.
"Roach that won't just die!" The Archdukes signaled for the five close combat awakeners to be ready while they and the remaining lightning awakeners charged their attacks together and attacked Varian.
The red space briefly turned golden as the lightning arrows, spears, swords, and harpoons trapped him from all directions.
Each of these attacks had enough power to destroy a big city spanning hundreds of miles. And now, nearly a hundred such attacks were aimed at him alone.
Forget being directly hit, if he stayed close while these attacks exploded, Varian was in for some serious injuries.
To make matters worse, the space around him was blocked off preventing him from escaping. This time, the abyssals were smart enough to not allow Enigma's intervention and decided to keep the space chaotic until the last moment.
"Die!" The Archdukes felt Varian could dodge their lightning attacks. So, they did what any sensible warrior would do.
The lightning attacks surrounding Varian quickly inflated before they exploded. The sky lit up into with golden light and for a brief moment, even the sun was overshadowed by the brilliant golden sphere.
The golden shockwave swept like a tsunami sweeping the soldiers on the moons like fierce wind and tingling the skins of humans on Neptune.
"This is the end." Archduke Samaron stared at the fading golden light in front of him and muttered.
"No. This is the beginning of the end."
The curtain of the golden light tore apart as Varian stepped out.
His entire chest was burnt black. Some of his chest bones were visible while blood just flowed out of some cavities like a broken tap. His left arm was twisted at a strange angle and a large chunk of burnt flesh on his right leg just fell off as he moved.
In such a badly injured state, Varian stared at them and…smirked.
Even the Archdukes felt their hearts sink for a moment. What the hell was his deal? He's so injured now that they could kill him in a blink. Wasn't he scared at all?
Archduke Samaron waved his hand and the lightning awakeners began moving back while they prepared for another round of attacks against Varian.
The five body awakeners stepped forward to block Varian from going after the lighting awakeners and fighting them in close combat.
The space around Varian began to twist violently as the space abyssal worked diligently, once again blocking him any chance of teleportation.
Facing the most elite group of high awakeners in Neptune, Varian knew he couldn't easily kill them. The reason he's able to finish off twenty-five of them previously was he laid a trap and caught them off guard. But with them being extra cautious now, there's no such chance.
He had to do it the hard way.
Varian's right eye shone golden and the left blue. The immediate space around him stabilized. It wasn't enough for him to teleport out. But it could barely transport his elemental attacks provided they were smaller than a medium dagger.
The restraints didn't end there.
To teleport an elemental attack, the Elementalist needs to know the complexity of the space teleportation while creating the elemental weapons and the space awakener should know the inner workings of an elemental weapon to teleport the weapon without collapsing it.
Dual awakeners had the best shot of achieving this but due to the complexity, even they rarely succeeded.
It's hard for Varian too. But he had the mind paths to help him smoothen the process. And his mind paths were strong enough to make a difference.
So, he easily summoned a dozen ice daggers and they vanished with the space.
The lightning abyssals charged up another round of explosive attacks for Varian and were about to attack him.
The space abyssal stood behind them, preventing Varian from teleporting and trying any ambush.
But their senses suddenly tingled and they reached out their hands toward the lightning abyssals in an attempt to save them.
They're fast enough to save their comrades but the time flow around them slowed down.
It wasn't much and they were only slightly late. But during that tiny duration, ice daggers appeared behind the unsuspecting lighting abyssals and shot into their necks. Only four were sharp enough to dodge but the rest died on the spot.
"Bastard!" Archduke Samaron's lightning phoenix reached Varian and exploded.
The golden light engulfed him and this time, the archdukes didn't assume he'd be dead. They led the remaining lightning and space abyssals to attack Varian relentlessly even as the golden light didn't subside.
But history seemed to repeat as after a few minutes, Varian stepped out of the golden curtain again. With almost the same injuries as before. But this time, it only caused the Archdukes to panic.
…Varian's previous injuries were healed. And then he's injured again. His healing speed, whatever the reason, was just ridiculous!
Varian's strength compared to earlier remained the same. But on their side, only ten space abyssals, four lighting abyssals excluding the two archdukes, and five body awakeners were left.
The Undead Leader fighting Evander had taken note of this situation and increased the pressure on Evander. The latter was accumulating more injuries but somehow, he managed to keep fighting.
The archdukes tried to attack Varian again. But since their firepower was mostly taken down, Varian decided to go on the offense.
