Looking at Aditya who was still standing 100 meters above the ground, Easton secretly prepared to activate his skills. 'I still can't understand how a beginner 2nd-order can kill mid-3rd-order. This should be against the laws of nature. I understand that one can increase their powers by equipping themselves with powerful artifacts and weapons, but that also has its limit.'
Knowing the financial condition of the kingdom, everyone knew that it was impossible for the Istarin Kingdom to have a 3-star weapon or artifact. Other than the Kingdom of Nyland, no other Kingdom in the eastern part of the Dying Isle continent currently had any 3-star artifact or weapon.
Aditya and Duke Sarlus both noticed the cracking sound. Everyone turned their heads in the east direction where they found Duke Easton standing with sparks of black lightning starting to flicker around his body. The flickers of black lightning continued increasing, after 10 seconds Duke Easton's whole body was covered in a layer of transparent black lightning.
'This move is almost like my lightning dash.' Aditya looked surprised seeing the Black lightning covering Easton's entire body like armor. 'Unlike my blue lightning, this black lightning feels more destructive.' While Aditya's blue lightning could increase his agility, the black lightning was more focused on destructive powers.
Black lightning dash!
Swoosh!
Bang!
The ground instantly cracked like a spider web when the Duke of the Nepoca Kingdom dashed in Aditya's direction like a fierce wild beast that had gone berserk. The enemy moved so fast that even Peak second-order duke couldn't see Easton anymore. He only felt a strong gust of wind passing by him.
Seeing how fast Easton was moving, Aditya didn't dare test the water. Without holding back he also used lightning dash causing blue lightning to start flickering around his body. However, unlike Easton whose entire body was covered with a transparent layer of lightning, Aditya's body only flickered in blue lightning showing the difference in the mastery of the same skill. 'He is fast. Undoubtfully the fastest person I have ever countered till now.'
Black Lighting strike!
40 meters away Easton used his sword which was a conductor of black lightning to fire a black bolt of lightning at the enemy Dragon King. Seeing the bolt of lightning that was even faster than Easton's speed, Aditya didn't waste even a millisecond and stepped aside to let the bolt of black lighting pass by with only a few inches distance between.
'Not bad. He is able to dodge my lightning bolt which even Mid 3rd-order cultivators cannot dodge. My lightning dash skills give me an additional [125+], yet he still managed to dodge my attack. But let's see how long you can keep dodging.' Easton assumed that his current speed was faster than Aditya's which gave him extra confidence.
Suddenly Easton dropped the sword that he was holding in his left hand which confused Aditya for a second. The Dragon King saw the duke take a deep breath as the black lightning around his body started condensing on his both fists.
Twilight Dragon Punching Rose!
Simultaneously, the enemy Duke punched the air with his fists releasing two black snakes that were entirely made up of black lightning.
Aditya sensed the two lightning snakes were filled with black lightning mana. Each snake was about 15 meters long and 2 meters wide. Both snakes curled around Aditya before attacking him. One attacked from the front while the other attacked from the back.
Booom!
Easton smiled seeing that the attack had successfully managed to hit the Dragon King. While Duke Sarlus and others' faces for a moment turned pale seeing the attack had managed to hit their king.
Swoosh!
A red crimson beam of light suddenly appeared behind Easton. From the corner of his eyes, the duke found that the red beam of light was actually the enemy king. 'Not good, I can't react in time.'
The fear of death flashed in Easton's eyes as he watched the Dragon King slashing the red Crimson sword.
Bang!
Drip!
Easton retreated back while holding his left shoulder. His face instantly turned pale. He was gritting his teeth and trying his best to endure the burning pain in his back. The attack had left a deep straight cut on Easton's back.
Drip!
The red blood soaked his clothes red. With each passing second, he was losing one health point. "How are you this fast?" Easton managed to squeeze these words out of his mouth while looking at Aditya with a painful expression.
"That's my little secret." Easton gritted his teeth in anger and in pain. He realized the sword that the enemy was holding was no ordinary sword. He could feel his flesh burning from the inside out which further intensified the pain he was feeling.
As a beginner 3rd-order cultivator, Easton was an agility-type fighter. His current speed would match the speed of mid-3rd order. Easton's base speed [375+] while using black lightning dash had given him a [125+] boost in his agility. His total agility had reached [500+] yet the dragon King was able to overpower him in agility.
Aditya put the Crimson Dragon wrath sword in his storage ring and looked at Easton as he massaged his left shoulder with his right hand. "You know these 2 weeks have been a headache for me. Waging war is no fun. I constantly had to make plans so that my Kingdom would always stay 2 steps ahead of everyone. I admit that I had narrow escapes and some luck that also helped me and my kingdom."
Suddenly the look on Aditya's face turned cold. He looked at Easton like he was looking at his biggest enemy. For a moment Easton forgot about the pain that he was feeling, he instead began trembling under those cold and terrifying eyes that seems to reflect his death.
"With your end, My Kingdom will finally see a period of peace."
Swoosh!
Aditya's figure became blurred. He suddenly appeared right in front of Duke Easton. Easton raised his hand, trying to attack Aditya. He was faster so he easily dodged the attack as he closed his left palm to form a fist while condensing almost half of his mana, he punched Easton's heart.
Bang!
The punch wasn't that powerful but when everyone heard the soft cracking sound that was followed by the howl of agony everyone unconsciously shivered in fright.
Ahhhhh!!!!!
Cough!
Aditya coldly looked at Easton as he rolled on the ground not caring about the dirt and mud, he tightly held his chest and was screaming in pain.
"The King just crippled Duke's mana heart." Everyone looked at each other in shock. Crippling the heart of a cultivator was the same as turning them into a mortal. Not to mention the horrifying pain that comes with it. The pain of the Mana heart being crippled was enough to make people commit suicide so that they can escape from this hellish pain.
The soldier that once was saved by Easton stood there frozen in utter shock. Haku who was leading an army from behind ordered the troops to capture the remaining 3,000 troops and take them away. These troops now will be turned into prisoners of war and used in other future battles.
While Easton was rolling on the ground in pain, Aditya took out a 3-star healing liquid which he poured on Easton's back to stop the bleeding.
"Your Majesty, should I kill him?" Sarlus asked as he walked from behind.
"No, he will be an important asset to my next plan." Aditya turned around and looked at Sarlus's eyes which were filled with endless admiration and respect for this King. "I don't want the world to know that I have crippled his mana heart. Make sure that our troops keep their mouth shut."
"Understood my King." Sarlus didn't question why Aditya wanted to suppress his news. For now, he decided to follow his King and see what he wants to do with Easton.
"Listen everyone it's time to clean up everything. Gather all the weapons and armors and then dispose of the bodies and clean the roads." Without Aditya or Sarlus's order, Haku was capable enough to know what he needs to do next.
"Your Majesty, what should we do next?" Now that they have taken over the Zulux Dynasty and also have defeated the marching troops of the Nepoca Kingdom, Sarlus wanted to know if his King was going to continue the war and take over the whole Nepoca Kingdom.
Sigh!
Even though it has been less than weeks since the war started, Aditya felt as if a long time had passed. "What do you think I should do Sarlus?"
"I am afraid I don't understand your question." Sarlus replied as he tied unconscious Easton who now had become completely powerless.
Aditya looked at the sky which now had cleared up. "We just took over the Zulux Dynasty. I have a lot of things to do. Just taking over the enemy territory won't be enough. Not to mention we share borders with the Kingdom of Nyland. If we aggressively keep on expanding and take over the Nepoca Kingdom, I am sure that a 4th-tier powerhouse like the Nyland Kingdom won't just sit around and watch us."
Aditya looked at Sarlus while continuing with his words. "It's already a fortune that the Kingdom of Nyland back out and refused to participate in this war otherwise our chances of surviving would have dropped. Also with the back-to-back four big battles, the Istarin army has been weakened even though the size of our troops only has increased. We will need time for the injured troops to recover."
"So what should we do now?" Sarlus asked as he stood behind Aditya. Ever since Sarlus recognized Aditya as his King, he swore in his heart to follow Aditya everywhere. If his King were to fight with the whole world, Sarlus would still stand behind his King and cover his back.
"Simple! For now, we shall wait. Send a letter to the Nepoca King telling him that if he wants his Duke back, he should agree to have a meeting with me." Sarlus raised an eyebrow, wondering what his King was thinking.
"Also don't mention the fact that I have crippled Duke Easton's mana heart." Hearing Aditya's words, Sarlus finally understood what his King was thinking. He couldn't help but feel pity for the Nepoca King knowing that he was about to be scammed.
Both Duke and the King stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before bursting out laughing confusing general Haku.
Hahahaha!
"Your Majesty, no one can match your intelligence"
"This is just advance planning." Sarlus shook his head knowing that his King was only being modest here.
"Majesty, are you planning on heading back to the Zulux dynasty capital? or Are you planning on returning to Azure city?"
Aditya suddenly grabbed Easton by his neck and flew in the air. "I am taking him back to the capital. He needs to spend some time in our prison and experience our sexy massage." Hearing Aditya's words Sarlus shivered in fear. He suddenly started feeling pity for Easton even though Easton was his enemy.
Sarlus has heard that this sexy massage was so horrifying that former prime minister Joseph had gone lost his senses after a whole day of torture.
