Whoosh!
At the very moment the young man uttered those words, it was as if time around them had frozen.
The shards making up the dark barrier were still there, giving Valyr a faint semblance of the protection he had earlier.
On top of that, the projectiles hidden within the golden light surrounding him could now be seen, their insidious fangs more than visible to the naked eye.
Naturally, Amauris' eyes widened in surprise after seeing his attack stop out of nowhere.
Yet, no matter how much he tried, his attack remained frozen in place.
Shifting his gaze at Valyr, the man faintly wondered whether his opponent had the ability to manipulate time.
Fortunately for him, that was not the case.
However…
What Valyr could manipulate might possibly be far worse than that.
Swoosh!
Before Amauris could even fathom what was happening, the world surrounding him had taken on a muted color, with the golden light he had conjured disappearing in less than an instant.
At the same time, the shards that made up Valyr's barrier swiftly headed towards Amauris, only for all of them to turn into a puff of dark smoke the moment the two made contact.
Beginning to wonder whether Valyr's attack was just an illusion or not, the man began to look around, eventually focusing his gaze on the darkness under his feet.
"What…" Getting an ominous feeling from the darkness that grew under him, Amauris decided to try and flee.
Only to find out that he could not do so.
Bang!
As if it was just waiting for the man to realize the graveness of his current situation, it was only then did the darkness under him burst out with full power.
Enveloping the man in a cocoon of Shadow Energy and mana, the darkness soon worked its way into Amauris' body as the cocoon exploded not long after.
Bang!
'-5,578'
"Damn." Watching as the energy making up the cocoon transforming into a dark skull above Amauris' head, Valyr sucked in a breath of cold air as he took note of the damage the skill had dealt.
"Normally, the skill would've dealt tens of thousands of damage," muttered the young man, shifting his gaze towards his disheveled opponent.
Due to the effects of the skill he had unleashed, as well as the great amounts of Shadow Energy that went into it, it went without saying that Amauris had taken on a slightly dark color.
Though, rather than have multiple wounds all over his body, or any other sign that the man had taken on a grievous amount of damage…
The man instead looked to be unscathed.
Scratching the back of his head in slight confusion, the young man pulled up the description of the ultimate skill he had just unleashed, wondering if he had misunderstood its new effects.
Ding!
<Ultimate Technique: Consummatum Est - Just like the world intends, everything always meets an end.
Renders the user temporarily invincible as they summon a chunk of the Shadow Plane into their surroundings, dealing damage equivalent to 550% of the user's Attack stat (scales off INT) to those caught up in it. The duration of the summoning lasts for 1 minute.
Those that remain standing after the summoning are inflicted with Shadow Poison that deals 150% of the user's Attack stat (scales off INT) as damage for 1 minute.
This skill also inflicts True Shadow Corruption, which increases the damage dealt by any subsequent attack from the user by 50%, as well as Stun and Slow. Cooldown: 3 hours. Cost: 60 Shadow Energy, 30,000 MP.>
"It's not the skill." Seeing that the cause of the low damage was not the skill, the young man eventually returned his gaze towards Amauris, who still remained frozen due to the skill's effect.
"[Superior Analysis]."
Ding!
————
[Amauris Zeihardt] (Memory Image)
Class: True Archmage of Opulent Light (Rank 1 — Ancient)
Subclass: Apostle of the Luminescent Deity (Mythic)
Species: Human (1st Unsealing)
Level: 20
Power Level: 14,780 (A)
HP: 6,197/11,775
MP: 23,342/26,340
Attack: 1,733 - 1,733
Defense: 1,884 - 1,884
Stats: 785 VIT, 722 STR, 514 AGI, 487 DEX, 1756 INT, 1618 WIS, 955 PER, 114 LUK
Skills: [Astral Body of the Luminescent Deity], [Aegis of the Luminescent Deity], [Magic Arts of the Luminescent Deity], [Opulent Light Magic Style], and 87 other skills.
Remarks: Though weakened by the rules of the Gates of Awakening, this memory image still greatly resembles the true Amauris Zeihardt, the mage who is said to be the personification of the Luminescent Deity.
"Hiss…" Similar to Sven's status screen, Valyr sucked in a breath of cold air after seeing Amauris' status screen.
However, recalling why he had brought up the status screen in the first place, the young man did not take long to obtain a plausible answer as to why the man only took a low amount of damage.
"[Astral Body of the Luminescent Deity] and [Aegis of the Luminescent Deity]…" muttered the young man, staring at Amauris once again.
"I may not know what those skills specifically do, but I'm sure as hell they're the reason for why he's still standing."
"You figured that out faster than I thought."
Whoosh!
Just as the young man thought that there was still more time before Amauris could move again, the latter instead defied all of his expectations and began to move towards him with a faint smile.
"I must say… I definitely didn't expect you to have such a perverse attack," said the man as a faint layer of golden light covered his body.
A moment later, this layer of light disappeared, soon revealing that Amauris' body had returned to its previous condition.
"Then again, I'm sure that you've paid quite the hefty price to use something like that."
"It's a shame that such an attack has proven itself to be ineffective against me." Amauris looked at Valyr with a faint mocking smile.
"In any case, I'm quite glad that you have great combat strength, unlike those useless scum from the Zeihardt clan."
"To thank you for that, I'll be fighting against you a bit more seriously."
At those words, a faint layer of golden light covered Amauris' body once more.
Though, unlike before, this layer of light instead transformed into a set of golden armor.
"From now on, I'll be telling you all of my moves beforehand."
"With that, here's my first move."
"[Magic Arts of the Luminescent Deity]."
"[Superluminal Pulse]!"
Bang!
