321 Terrified, Mystified Ezra attacked, aiming to behead him in one strike.
On instinct, Alvarach parried with his nails.
As a cause of his initial surprise, Alvarach was caught lacking.
Ezra slashed at his shoulder, cutting off his left arm and drawing first blood.
"You!" The pain jolted him back into the present.
"YOU. DARE?!"
"Shut up" Ezra wasn't having it.
Gritting his teeth, he set himself ablaze, creating distance as Ezra retreated due to the sudden heat.
But then…
"Hmm?!"
What was going on? His arm should've instantly regenerated.
Confusion set in, before it clicked when he took a closer look at Ezra's weapon.
He wasn't sure of specifics, but the sword was closely related with the demonic scythe from before.
With its base items containing demon scales, Alvarach found its attacks were harder to heal from.
Had Skyfall been in its scythe form, he would've been more cautious from the start.
Right now, he couldn't be more pissed.
Not that Ezra cared…
Sha!
In the seconds of deliberation and anger, Ezra struck again, with the swords glowing blue.
Fighting with anger was routine for demons, Alvarach was no exception.
At a disadvantage, he was quick to back away, Skyfall sliced through his flames at the same time and it turned to ice.
Alvarach raised his awareness by multiple levels, unlike before, he was starting to understand that he couldn't afford to joke around anymore.
Retreating to create distance, Ezra tailed him, hacking away like a crazy hound.
Using his left arm to parry strike after strike, Ezra still gave him a few injuries.
With the situation going into a stalemate, Ezra's body burst with white lightning, and he stopped actively using other runes, leaving only the haste rune.
On cue, Alvarach's arm regenerated like a caterpillar breaking out of its cocoon.
The second hand provided Alvarach with much needed defence.
Unfortunately for Alvarach, Ezra's haste rune provided him with a sudden increase in speed.
Sha!
Again, he was caught lacking.
'He got even faster!'
Only this time, he lost half his arm.
'Ack!'
With Skyfall infused with ice energy, Alvarach's blood was frozen, the incompatibility between his fire affiliated genes and the Ezra's strengthened ice heavily affected his nerves, making the pain worse than the first time.
The sudden pain affected his body coordination, giving Ezra a rare opening.
One he would not miss.
Parrying a first sword, Ezra plunged the second into Alvarach's chest.
Well…almost.
On instinct, Alvarach swung his half arm horizontally, spraying blood in a straight line towards Ezra.
'Huh?'
Lighting up, the blood burst into flames.
Slashing it, the line of fire iced up, but Alvarach achieved his aim, he was able to create distance within that short time.
Far from the initial bravado, Alvarach's face was grim as he tore off the piece of ice out of his chest.
Almost defeated, his heart was in tremendous turmoil.
"What is this?"
From the bottom of his heart, an emotion too familiar awoke.
Fear!
Him?! The Demon Lord of Pride! Afraid?!
'I reject it!'
He forcibly suppressed the unpleasant emotion.
He had flown here unbridled.
In his mind, the situation was easily solved.
The new Mythic rank would have to either bow to him or die.
While weakened, he was more than strong enough to defeat a Mythic rank newbie.
So what was this?!
How was he losing to someone who just stepped into Mythic rank mere hours ago? It didn't make any sense.
Moreover…
*Crunch!*
Alvarach clenched his fists, boiling with regret.
'I should've made sure to kill him at that time!'
His pride held him back from going all out against mere Grandmasters.
But now, it had bitten him in the back.
'Either way-
His arm regenerated.
-I just have to kill him'
With a burst of speed, Ezra reached Alvarach, adorned in white lightning.
09:43
Placing the two swords together, it turned into the scythe.
Ezra was faster on the uptake.
With a burst of speed, Ezra reached Alvarach, adorned in white lightning.
Placing the two swords together, it turned into the scythe.
"This is me cutting your head off"
'SHIT!'
Alvarach immediately leaned back.
But the scythe wasn't so easily dodged.
*Sha!
It cut right through his windpipe, severing his vocal cords.
Alas, it failed to completely serve it.
Holding his head, a magic circle formed in front of Alvarach, pushing him away from Ezra.
"Tsk" Ezra clicked his tongue.
With Lightning having a burn effect, Alvarach was able to heal from it faster than he would've if it had been ice.
No, if it had been…
'I might've just been able to end the fight just now'
Annoyed that he botched his chance to end the battle, Ezra chased after Alvarach like a fugitive.
At the same time, he realized that he might've overestimated Alvarach more than a little.
With the rank suppression gone, the demon didn't seem even half as threatening as he did before.
As he pursued that train of thought…
[Get over yourself and concentrate]
The train of thought came to a halt.
Alvarach was disadvantaged because he underestimated Ezra.
For Ezra to do the same thing…
'Right right, I must not be arrogant'
Steadfast, Ezra picked up the pace.
Alvarach was frightened out of its wits after almost being beheaded, hurling a multitude of fire slashes at Ezra while amplifying the magic circle to increase the distance.
'This situation is too disadvantageous for me'
He grit his teeth.
He couldn't handle Ezra's onslaught in this weakened state.
To alleviate this weakness, he had to head back to his home turf, and that's exactly what he was going to do.
Ezra didn't know what Alvarach was up to, but he'd have to be brain dead to simply watch him succeed.
With due haste, Ezra sent out a barrage of ice slashes towards Alvarach and focused fire at his sole, explosively boosting his speed.
'Ack!'
Maneuvering in the air, Alvarach found it difficult to dodge the barrage of ice slashes set upon him.
With some occasionally landing on the magic circle and disrupting it, the chances of him reaching Quartez under such intense assault was extraordinarily slim.
He had to think of something…and it didn't take him long to come up with an answer.
He'd been saving his energy reserves because of the abysmal recovery rate to use in emergencies.
But if this wasn't an emergency, what was?!
Reducing his speed, he turned and returned barrages of fire slashes towards Ezra.
With the slashes being of extreme heat, cutting through them with an ice infused Skyfall caused an explosion of vapour through evaporation.
As such Ezra deigned to dodge instead, closing in on Alvarach.
Now close, Alvarach suddenly proclaimed "It's done"
Without further ado, five magic circles formed consecutively beneath one another, each one bigger than the last.
Eyes widening, Ezra realized what Alvarach was up to and promptly sent him a large ice slash.
While ice slash was able to lodge itself into the magic circles and damage it, it was unable to disrupt it.
With a boom that shook the earth, Alvarach took off like an arrow released at full strength, leaving Ezra to bite the dust.
"Damn it!"
Watching Alvarach streak across the sky, Ezra was pissed.
He let the perfect opportunity slip through his fingers and the enemy got away.
While he had studied magic circles a while back at the academy, it was lost to him with all the things that had happened afterwards.
Even if it wasn't, chances of stooping Alvarach-a demon that had meticulously studied magic circles for decades-was slim.
The moment Alvarach manifested the magic circles, his departure was already set in stone.
Calming himself, Ezra picked up his pace as well, concentrating all his efforts on speed.
With only fire and lightning to help, Ezra decided on fire, since lightning with reflexes and agility, it would be the better choice if he decided to run instead, but he wasn't running.
For Flying, Ezra took inspiration from Alvarach and used flames from his hand and legs to propel himself.
His flying pose resembled a certain someone whose heart had been exchanged with metal.
Out of the danger zone by a large margin, Alvarach didn't use the move a second time-it would be detrimental in preparing for his inevitable battle against Ezra.
At the same time, he dared not travel casually and quickly sped off once more.
Natives saw two streaks of red following one another, racing towards Quartez.
Two hours since Frederick entered the barrier, the surviving Peak master had cleared out the rubble, rescuing others and fed them healing potions to have them recover.
Only now were they back in shape.
With Frederick inside the barrier, the remaining Black Jaws members decided that it was only right for them to follow.
The siblings were all unharmed, they watched quietly and let others decide.
Most of the royal army combatants died from the surprise attack, as they were the ones particularly drunk from the night before.
Thanks to the commander's efforts, Triton survived, but with most of the hired help dead alongside more than half of the army members, he wasn't really feeling optimistic anymore.
He had the remnant forces gather around him as a form of protection, but contrary to expectations, Triton proposed that they advance into Quartez.
He looked up to his father as a role model, and at such a crossroad, he simply wondered what his father would do.
To him, the death of the Emperor was an impossibility-he'd never even considered it.
Such a courageous act appealed to the others, because they were also warriors.
Moreover, the Black Jaws guild members were thinking the same thing.
After quelling their fears, they gathered together and marched into Quartez as one.
Once inside, like past visitors, they found themselves unable to leave.
A small commotion burst out, but as Peak masters, they quickly composed themselves.
What hit them next was the heavy stench of death permeating the atmosphere.
Seeing the corpses strewn all around, charred and lifeless, some couldn't help but gulp.
Some couldn't help but wonder…was this the Emperor's doing?
Other than the Frederick, Cabrera and Jebas, none of the others had seen the attacker, so they simply thought it was a Grandmaster.
Going further, they realize they can't extend their senses beyond the barrier.
With their backs against the wall, they could only march forward.
Getting closer, a huge pressure descended on them, and the cause was soon revealed.
Attacks poured all over the place as Grandmasters battled, lighting up the continent like a fireworks show.
The earth bent and cracked as they clashed with weapons in hand.
One group to destroy the barrier and one group to protect it, the continent almost crying as they showcased their might!
The commotion had corpses strewn about, damaged buildings collapsed, while collapsed buildings were blown afar.
The congregation of Peak masters became solemn seeing Grandmaster attacks thrown about.
Moreover…
"Aren't those demons?!"
"Where's the Emperor?"
"What's going on?!"
The appearance of demon shook them like no other.
The situation was far too different from they envisioned.
Even in the bustle of the battle, the congregation did not go unnoticed, but the demon Grandmasters were too busy defending themselves to attack.
In the last hour of fighting, a few attacks successfully reached the portal, but they sizzled out, unable to do much damage.
The attacks that did damage, didn't do enough.
Frederick stepped back from his opponent, leaving him for the other Grandmaster to give a message to the Peak masters.
"All of you, focus your attacks on the barrier!"
He resumed his fight right after.
With a given directive, the Peak masters did not waste time, rushing towards the barrier, they began bombarding it.
Triton was in turmoil as he couldn't point out the Emperor's figure, but he suppressed those feelings and joined the others in their bombardment.
As a product of a Mythical being, the situation was akin to trying to crack a dragon egg with a chicken's.
Nevertheless, when more than five of three attacks concentrated on a single area, they were bound to be results.
The barrier began fluctuating from their attacks, giving them a confidence boost to launch better attacks, and then, an entity burst into the barrier faster than they could process.
His aura called all attention.
Bathing in crimson light, Alvarach struck fear and awe in the hearts of those masters at the same time.
They were terrified.
Yet at the same time, they were Mystified.
