Gruckarth was sitting cross legged in a meditation room. Eyes closed his face revealed tranquility. Calm yet firm. He was like a mountain.
Taking a deep breath, Gruckarth slowly opened his eyes. His steel mask fully covered his face. One could only see a pair of light as eyes.
"And who are you to disturb my meditation?" Gruckarth said.
"You have great instinct." Aldred walked out of the darkness.
Aldred activated his godly eyes and peered through the mask. The man barely showed any expression. He was as calm as a mountain.
"Are you sent here by the man named Aldred?" Gruckarth asked.
"No."
"Then who?"
Aldred smiled. "I am Aldred."
Gruckarth became silent at first, before he slowly pulled out the blade off his back. "It's honorable of you to come here. Are you prepared to die?"
Laughing, Aldred summoned his Phantom Doomblade and pointed it at his enemy. "What do you think?"
Gruckarth's eyes flickered. "I think you are."
Right after that statement, he vanished from the spot, leaving an after image behind before arriving behind Aldred, blade going horizontally towards the neck.
The blade went through the neck, but Aldred vanished. It was a fake body. Not wasting time to think, Gruckarth turned around and slashed. He had sensed something behind and attacked immediately. But it was another fake.
Gruckarth looked around while he was in a battle stance, wondering where the attack would came.
"You're quite fast," Aldred said. His voice sounded like it came from every direction. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to be this fast."
Gruckarth kept his silent. His guard was never down.
"You're not really into talking, do you?"
"I usually not fond of it when I fight," Gruckarth replied.
Two gunshots were heard, and two bullets pierced through the wooden wall, going straight to his head. Lifting his blade up, Gruckarth slashed the bullets, making them missed.
He then turned around and raised his right arm.
Clang!
Aldred's Phantom Doomblade was blocked by the tough vambrace. It was constantly being devoured by the Phantom Doomblade, but some sort of mysterious energy constantly repair it at rapid rate.
"What an amazing power. Anyone else would have lose their arm," Aldred praised.
He whipped his Phantom Doomblade back over his head and then down to his right in a powerful blow. This happened in less than a fraction of a second. A Diamond Rank's battle happened at such speed that normal human wouldn't be able to comprehend. For them, the fight might be at normal speed, but for ordinary people, it was like seeing the fastest F1 car passing by them at maximum speed.
Gruckarth raised his arm again, blocking one attack after the other. At first, he manage to block the attack with ease, but as time passed, Aldred became more and more fierce with his attack, putting more speed and strength.
Aldred laughed as his eyes turned crimson red. He was like a killer maniac that had a passion for killing.
"What is this power…" Gruckarth slightly frowned.
"Aren't you the spirit warrior? Show me! Show me your power!" Aldred roared as he constantly pushed him back.
"In that case, I will." Lifting his blade, it shone with an ethereal blue light, and then slashed diagonally. The blade went through Aldred's body.
There was no physical wound, but Aldred leaped back and coughed out a mouthful of blood.
"That attack… it damaged my soul."
The attack earlier was similar to the passive attribute of his Phantom Doomblade. It was able to devour a part of the enemy's soul, but Gruckarth's abilities did not seem to come from his blade, rather from his power to access the spirit realm.
Aldred wiped the blood off his lips and smiled. "It's not over yet."
"Of course not," Gruckarth replied. "It is only over when I kill you."
"We'll see who will die today!" Aldred rushed forward, and then leaped up into the ceiling. "Gravity Manipulation!" His body glowed and suddenly, his body fell to the ceiling, not the floor.
He ran through the ceiling, and then kicked it, pushing himself towards Gruckarth. That was when gravity changed again and his speed increased.
"Hiyaa!" Aldred slammed his blade down.
Gruckarth raised his blade to block, but the impact destroyed the ground under their feet.
They then exchanged attacks. Blows for blows, counter-attacking each other numerous times. They dodged, block, and tried to come for each other's throat.
The fight ensued for weeks, and Aldred had decided it was already long enough.
"I have to admit. Killing you is very hard."
Gruckarth stood his ground calmly. He didn't break a sweat and seem to be full of stamina. He wasn't surprised by his own physical capability, but he did not expect his opponent to be in the same state as him.
Aldred was as vigorous as ever. He did not seem tired, rather bored that he could barely make any progress.
"Are you going to give up?"
"Of course not. Like you said earlier. It's not over until one of us dies."
Suddenly, bullets came from the side. Gruckarth moved left and right, slashing the bullets with absolute precision.
As Gruckarth cut the bullets into pieces, however, Aldred attacked with a maniacal laugh.
When Gruckarth blocked Aldred's attack, some of the bullets manage to hit his waist, damaging his armor.
This pattern repeated numerous times. Aldred would attack, making it almost impossible for Gruckarth to dodge or block the bullets. As time passed, more and more bullets struck him, destroying the armor on his waist. The bullets punched his body, creating dents and nasty wounds.
"You think you can kill me with this? This will not work on me."
Mysterious ethereal energy covered the wounds and bruises, healing it instantly.
"Alright, then what about this?"
Another Aldred stepped out of the darkness, wielding the same Phantom Doomblade.
Gruckarth frowned a little deeper this time. "A clone? No. This is not a normal clone. You two have the same strength, the same blade, and the same power. But more than that, your souls are the same."
A clone was usually just an imitation of the real body. As imitation, of course it wouldn't be as good as the real original body.
But this was not a simple cloning spell. It was duplication. This meant that the real body was literally duplicated with literally no differences at all.
"I have never seen something like this before."
The two Aldred smiled and then rushed forward to attack. The attack came from two different direction, but with the same strength and deadliness.
Gruckarth blocked, but his arms and whole body trembled in pain. Not only that, two bullets came and struck his waist, further damaging his body.
Gruckarth roared. His blade turned ethereal and then slashed at the two Aldred at once. The attack made them cough a mouthful of blood, but the two Aldred did not care, and keep pushing forward and then drove their blade into Gruckarth's chest.
The Phantom Doomblade exploded with power, crushing Gruckarth's internal organs and a part of his soul.
Another Aldred appeared and then drove the same Phantom Doomblade into Gruckarth's neck.
Gruckarth's eyes lit up even more and then an ethereal aura exploded around him. A large ethereal blade hovered above Gruckarth, releasing a wave of aura.
Aldred then realized that the aura negated almost 90% of the damage, making his attack as good as useless.
"Fuck! In that case, I have to use this skill!"
"Beastly Rip!"
The three Aldred swiped at the same time, and then, a moment later, space all around them turned into chaos, shattering and breaking, destroying the fundamental reality around them.
It bent, twisted, and then wrecked half of Gruckarth's body.
The space returned to its normal state as Gruckarth fell to the floor. The large ethereal blade above flew towards him.
"Quick, Don't let him escape!"
Three Aldred rushed forward and stabbed his neck right before Gruckarth vanished.
The other two Aldred vanished immediately.
"Did I get him?" Aldred wondered. He had used four clones for this attack, and yet Gruckarth manage to escape. "Fuck! He better be death!"
Corduul teleported into the room. "There is a 50% chance that Gruckarth will die master. Your Phantom Doomblade shards are embedded inside his body and continuously gnawing on his health."
"I hope that is the case," Aldred replied. "That man might be one of the strongest one I have ever fought. He survived against three legendary skill casted at the same time."
"We have recorded your battle with him. We will spend most of our resources to think of a better battle plan for you."
"You do that. I want my enemies to die!"
Aldred finally experienced how it felt. Most people in Diamond Ranks hardly able to kill their enemies at the same rank because they always manage to escape. All these time, Aldred just killed all of them in such a short time, that they could not escape. His attack was too deadly.
