The area above the imperial army where they were trying to activate an offensive formation suddenly got many times darker as they looked up with puzzled expressions.
The air around them was still filled with the suffocating jet black energy, but suddenly this energy seemed to come together and coalesce to form something else.
It formed multiple jet-black clouds, and from within, small pockets of energy took a crystallized form high up in the air, breaking down into several smaller yet sharp jet-black shards, and even then, the men in the imperial army didn't feel any sense of danger since these shards seemed too fragile.
But Ruthren, who slowly looked up, had his eyes shook upon recognizing what this was.
"You fools! Use the defensive formation!" He shouted, but the jet-black shards suddenly started to fall down faster than a speeding bullet, and from afar, it seemed no different than rain from a doomed world.
*Sstk! Sstk! Sstk!*
"AAH!!"
"Aaarghh!"
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"Ughhh!!"
"HELP!!!"
One could hear the sound of those shards puncturing the flesh of the soldiers without giving them a break. The shards were cutting through most of them cleanly as if cutting through paper.
Not even their defensive ethereal energy was of any help to them as their defensive barriers were instantly rendered ineffective as they succumbed to the ground.
Even the Low and Middle-level Profound Ethereal Realm cultivators couldn't last long after using their ethereal defensive arts. Within just seconds, whatever shield or barriers they used to protect themselves were shattered, and their bodies turned into a bloody mess.
They didn't even get the time to manifest their ethereal manifestations. But even if they did, their deaths were set in stone, albeit a bit delayed.
Their screams and howls filled the air as Damien looked at them with a blank expression while the rain of death shards continued to fall on them just like rain, seeming to never stop.
Due to the "clouds" of Anti-God energy up in the air, the Rain of Death seemed to be never-ending, and even the only Supreme Elder among Ruthren's army who was at the eighth level of the Profound Ethereal Realm was busy trying to protect his men from dying using his ethereal manifestation.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})But because of this, his hands were full, and even then, he couldn't extend his protection to everyone.
He coldly smirked as he saw thousands and thousands of Ruthren's men succumbing to the muddy ground every second.
The intimidating figure of 500,000 men was rapidly dwindling under the Rain of Death. Damien never expected this ethereal skill to be really this effective. He realized how useful this would be against a large group of enemies.
But he knew that the reason the Rain of Death was so effective was that his Anti-God energy was already present in the air and that this was the best way to bring out the true potential of this skill. And since he was already a Heaven Ethereal Realm cultivator, he was able to manipulate his Anti-God energy in the air to power the Rain of Death.
All he had to do was split some of his soul energy into the corpses of the ethereal beasts in his soul space which he had stored for purposes like this. It was taxing, but he was already recovering his soul energy and was glad that Yuria was able to use her skills to make the ethereal cores of the beasts unstable or chaotic so that they would explode upon getting struck by ethereal energy attacks.
Since Ruthren weakened everyone around him to ambush them, he decided to do the same to him as well.
Without the army to worry about, he can finally focus on Ruthren and end things once and for all.
Ruthren had already manifested his ethereal manifestation in the form of a dragon, shielding him from all the jet-black shards falling on him with its huge body.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})However, his expression was dark as he looked at Damien with a sharp cold gaze, "Well done. You have once again made me realize that I shouldn't let you live a day longer."
"Same goes for you as well. Today…you won't leave this battlefield alive. I will turn you into a corpse no matter what," Damien said as his feet slowly left the ground as jet-black streaks of lightning danced around his body.
Ruthren curled his lips as he scoffed, "No matter how talented you are, you are just a junior in the end. Your experience in battle will always be lesser than mine."
"Let's put that to the test!" Damien said as his figure charged toward Ruthren like a lightning bolt.
Ruthren was surprised by Damien's staggering speed, and before he could even realize it, Damien's fist struck his abdomen.
Ruthren had already enveloped his body with his ethereal defensive energy, but even that layer of defensive barrier got shattered under Damien's punch, making his feet slide back through the ground by a few feet.
Ruthren had a look of disbelief, unable to understand how Damien's strength again increased rapidly. Was this jet-black energy in the air making him stronger, or was it because his cultivation had again increased recently? Even then, how could someone at the Third Level of the Heaven Ethereal Realm cause even a scratch on someone at the Peak of the Profound Ethereal Realm?
"Impressive…Your strength has surpassed the limits of this continent," Luna said with a subtle smile as Kalypso added, "It is because Master is surrounded with Anti-God energy, but Master should act fast before the ethereal energy from outside disperses the Anti-God energy. Ruthren thinks it's nethereal energy, but the Anti-God energy is weakening him without him realizing it."
"I will," Damien mumbled with a determined gaze as jet black energy swirled around his palm, getting bigger and bigger as lightning streaks jumped around it.
It got big enough till it formed a long, spine-chilling jet-black lighting bolt, and Damien raised his arm as he looked at a stern-faced Ruthren, "Catch this," He said as he threw the lightning bolt towards Ruthren.
