?"Mana awakening…? What the hell is that?" Peniel asked. As someone with the fountain of knowledge, she never heard of this term.
"I don't know," Jack answered. "It's what they told me… Or at least, what their sensations described."
"They…? Who are they?" Jeanny asked.
"The mana," Jack answered.
The three didn't know what to think of that answer.
Paytowin came back with the loots in his hand. "What did I miss? Why are the three of you making those weird faces? Oh, hey, Bro. These are your loots."
"Keep it. I have a bigger target in mind," Jack said to Paytowin. He asked, "Can the three of you stop those dragons from coming here?"
Jack was indicating the swarm of obsidian dragons fighting their way against the Allied forces' fliers.
"If those dragons arrive, it will be more difficult to take down Azzarilth. Please hinder those dragons while I help Broidrireg and Eoranth to finish her as fast as possible."
"You want to fight her again?" Peniel asked in disbelief. In her opinion, Jack had just escaped the death's maw due to some luck. This mana awakening, or whatever it was, did appear miraculous, but Azzarilth was a non-God being that could be said to be at the top of the food chains in this world. To battle her again, Peniel was afraid that this mana awakening had given Jack an unjustified confidence.
"Don't worry. I fully understand my capability," Jack saw the concern on Peniel's face. "You stay with Grace. Help her heal the soldiers who were battling those dragons."
"What about you?" Peniel asked.
Jack gave her a confident smile. "Don't worry about me," Jack assured her again.
Jack spread his gold dragon wings. The mana awakening aura also covered these wings. He then disappeared from in front of them.
"What movement skill was that?" Jeanny asked.
"It was not a skill…," Paytowin answered. "Callan granted me a unique-grade bloodline called Brave Ancestry. It gives me a bunch of passive abilities, one of which is increasing my response time. In other words, I see things in slightly slow motion, all the time. Just now, Jack was moving extremely fast, but it was not a skill. It was just normal movement."
They turned to where Azzarilth was. Jack was already there. They decided to trust him and do as he requested. They flew to engage the first group of obsidian dragons that were on their way here.
*
"Hrggh!" Eoranth was flung back after receiving another of Azzarilth's tail slaps. Azzarilth could attack using all parts of her body. Even her wing flaps could generate sharp-cutting winds.
Her spells were also alarming. She continued to cast spells while fighting Eoranth. These spells disrupted Broidrireg from casting powerfull spells. Broidrireg and Eoranth's HP that were recovered by Peniel's healing was brought back down to almost the same percentage as hers again.
"Hm?" Azzarilth noticed someone near her.
"You again?" Azzarilth said when she saw the person was Jack. She was astonished that Jack had broken out of her Mind-
dooming Gaze. Her astonishment turned to worry when she thought about Jack's high fairy who might heal Broidrireg and Eoranth again.
However, the high fairy was not in sight.
"Jack! Move away!" Broidrireg warned. He hurriedly came to Jack's side to protect him. He noticed the multicolored aura enshrouding Jack then.
"You… What happens to you?" Broidrireg asked. He then realized that he couldn't sense Jack. "Do you use mana concealment?"
"Not really," Jack answered. "This mana awakening blankets my presence from other's senses."
"Mana awakening…?" Broidrireg didn't understand what Jack meant.
Azzarilth didn't bother with their conversation. It was good that Jack came near. Broidrireg and Eoranth had been fighting her while preventing her from going to where Jack was. Now that Jack came on his own, she could end his life and in turn, remove the high fairy's chance of recovering Broidrireg and Eoranth's HP again.
"Look out!" Broidrireg shouted. He cast a spell that conjured several water whips to stop Azzarilth, but one slash from Azzarilth's claw cut those water whips to pieces.
Eoranth was rushing over but Azzarilth cast a spell that placed many dark purple plates in a large area. Those plates were Chaos Mines. Each of the plates was a mine that would explode and cause chaos damage when an enemy came near. Eoranth had to take a large detour unless he was willing to endure the blasts from those chaos mines.
Broidrireg cast Magic Wall and placed it between Jack and Azzarilth. Azzarilth cast force impact at Broidrireg. The impact from the spell sent Broidrireg tumbling backward. Jack sent a mental message for Broidrireg to not worry and to start casting his mega spell.
Azzarilth swung her claw, producing void tear marks. Broidrireg's magic wall shattered in one hit. Her claw continued towards Jack.
Jack's two weapons appeared in his hands. His magic staff turned into a sword using Magic Weapon. He then disappeared from his position when Azzarilth's claw arrived.
"What…?" Azzarilth's eyes caught Jack's movement, but she didn't expect Jack to move that fast. Jack had arrived by the side of her head when she was still surprised.
When she was about to turn her head to bite Jack, Jack's sword arrived first.
Jack's sword created a trail following his swing. This trail was multicolored, the same as his aura. When his sword collided with Azzarilth's head, a strong impact sound was heard. A shockwave was generated and Azzarilth's head was thrown to the opposite side from the impact.
"What…?!!" Azzarilth couldn't believe the result of their clash. Jack wasn't even using a skill. That slash just now was a standard attack.
When Azzarilth was still reeling, the two swords in Jack's hand turned into a blur. As they did, uncountable slashes besieged Azzarilth's body. Each of these slashes left multicolored trails. The slashes were so rapid that Azzarilth could only rely on her strong defense to tank the slashes.
However, the slashes were unending. The slashes continued to chip Azzarilth's HP without any sign of stopping. The damage inflicted increased as time passed due to the combo multiplier. From the look of it, Jack could maintain these slashes indefinitely.
That wasn't wrong, because these slashes were the final phase of his Formless Flowing Sword Style.
