Explosions, shockwaves, lasers, fire…destruction filled the horizon as far as the eye could see.
If a mortal were to witness this scene, they would believe it to be the end of the world, or something even worse if that was possible.
Nothing was spared, the environment itself was reduced to dust and the ground had sunken in so much one would believe the battlefield had always been a valley. A deep one at that.
This was the result of the fight between Sol and the six or rather, four remaining Lords. One of them had already been killed by Sol because he had chosen to put his core on his forehead.
That Lord in question had initially chosen to do so as a form of reverse psychology.
After all, who would believe that a lord would place their fatal points in such an obvious place? In fact, even Sol had been led to believe that it wasn’t really his core and had only killed him because of a stray shot.
Even so, the situation Sol was currently in was the most bitter state he had ever been in. There wasn’t a place on his body that was not wounded and in fact, he could even feel his vision growing dimmer and one of his eyes was completely busted while the flesh around it was sizzling.
He had difficulty breathing since one of his lungs was pierced. He also could feel some of his ribs were broken and his right arm was limping powerlessly, completely broken. Worst of all, all the skin around that arm was nowhere to be seen and only the bloody and wriggling flesh could be observed.
His face was so battered and bloody that even Milia would have a hard time recognizing him while his reserves of energy were at an all-time low.
It was while killing the second Lord that he had decided to sacrifice his arm in the action. The entire body of that particular Lord had been filled with acid, both inside and outside.
Sol decided to kill him because he posed simply too much danger for him. His acid was extremely potent and Sol thought it was lucky that he only had to lose some skin in this endeavor.
‘*Sigh* If the past me could see the current me, I wonder what he would think? Pretty sure he would throw up and faint or scream and faint.’
He chuckled inwardly.
‘Man, I wonder if it’s the acid on my face and my arm that’s fucking with my mind. Or perhaps the curse of confusion of that other Lord? Or the poison of Dordonii?’
Sol couldn’t believe that he still had the mood to joke around in such a situation where he should have normally felt despair. The him of the past, the unrecognizable and untalented him that was living on earth, would have been crying and screaming should he have been in such a state.
Or…Would any normal human even be still alive if they were in his place?
His mind wandered. He knew that he had reached his limit. At least, the limit of ‘him’ before he entered the Astral Realm, that is.
‘Let’s crank it up a bit.’
A malevolent grin split his disfigured face as his aura rose wildly.
—--
“What a monster…”
A lull had fallen on the battlefield as everyone was trying to rest even if a little bit. Even now, Dordonii couldn’t understand what had just happened and why this fight, which should have been done swiftly, was still ongoing.
An army composed of six Lords and thousands of foot soldiers had been unable to take down one enemy. Anyone who heard such a news would have been beside themselves in astonishment.
The fight between them had lasted for a full day. There was nothing they didn’t try. Curse, poison, kamikaze attack, traps, bewitchment, and so on, but the bastard refused to fall.
The worst was that they had even lost two Lords during the fight. But as if it wasn’t enough…
‘He isn’t a Duke? Nor is he a full dragon?’
This notion made him feel like waves were crushing his mind. During the fight, he had come to understand that Sol did not emanate the power of a Duke level nor did he show the aura of a full dragon.
Those things could be hidden normally, but in such a fight, it was impossible to hide those characteristics.
This was the true reason as to why he couldn’t understand the situation.
If Sol had been a pure Dragon that could take his massive dragon form and thereby greatly increase all his stats while adding the buff from his zone, while Dordonii would have been surprised, he would still be able to laugh it off.
But this wasn’t the case here. The difference between a Duke and those below it didn’t need to be said. In fact, in any and all wars, anyone below the Duke or Lord level was only considered as Canon fodder. Even a Divine Beast at a level below Duke would only be considered as a slightly stronger Canon Fodder.
Because of this, even though they had managed to corner him, he couldn’t help but worry.
‘Will we really be able to kill him?’
Their plan relied on not only the weakened power Tiamat had here, but also the lack of interest she showed to young elites. But the present case was different. The boy here was clearly no ordinary young elite. It was quite possible that Tiamat had set up a way to ensure his safety no matter what they did.
Even so, they couldn’t give up. They had sacrificed too much by now already. If they didn’t kill Sol and ate his flesh to grow stronger, the other four Lords who didn’t participate would use this occasion to eat them.
“Hahaha Dordonii, stop showing such a conflicting face. Look, that bastard is already on the verge of dying. Kuh, I can’t wait! Don't forget our promise, I will take his heart.”
“As for me, I am more interested in his brain.”
Dordonii scoffed as he heard the words of his companions.
‘Morons.’
They couldn’t even analyze how uncanny the current situation was. In fact, Dordonii wouldn’t even be surprised if a King Level dragon was hiding in the surroundings.
“Let’s go at it slowly, we should wilt away-”
He was briefly wondering if she should prepare a path of retreat, when—
‘What!?’
A chill suddenly went down his spine and he abruptly raised his head to stare at Sol.
‘What is happening?’
He wasn’t the only one that could feel the changes in the atmosphere. Even the other Lord, drunk as they were in their dreams of victory, shut up when they perceived the weird sense of pressure surrounding them.
In an instant, the world seemed to fall silent, as if announcing the arrival of a great catastrophe.
‘It’s him!’
“Stop him!”
“W-what!?”
“Fucking stop dawdling around! We need to bring him down, now!”
Even while shouting his order, Dordonii was already rushing at full speed toward Sol. All plans of retreats vanished from his mind.
His instincts were telling him, screaming at him, that death was upon him and running away would be futile. The only thing he could do was to give his all in stopping Sol before he did whatever he was about to do.
‘I am close!’
In one instant, he reached Sol and raised his ax above his head in order to bring it down.
“Arghh!!!”
His muscles bulged and his aura soared as he put all his strength in that one swing. A swing that exceeded everything he did until now.
For one instant, he felt like he was at the top of the world. If it was this swing; if this was this attack, he was sure that he could cut through anything no matter what stood in his way.
The wind stirred and space quaked in the wake of that mighty attack. It was one so powerful that it left the other Lords completely baffled at what they were seeing.
Unfortunately, the events that followed left them even more baffled, as their eyes constricted in terror.
“Is that all?”
A beautiful hand covered in scales stopped the powerful swing in its track.
There was no explosion of energy, no waste of power, and no flashy movements. Only complete and absolute silence as if falling into a deep murky swamp with no end.
This was this strange silence that made the situation even eerier.
Everything seemed to stop at the sight of the young man stopping the big ax that was twice his size with only one hand without even moving.
Ignoring them, Sol looked at his previously charred arm and was glad to see that all the wounds had vanished. Not only the wounds on his arm but also all the wounds on his body had disappeared.
‘The experiment is nearly successful.’
During his last fight against Rio, he had remarked that using his War Form had replenished all his energy and healed all his wounds. He had been wondering if it was a one-time thing but never had the occasion to test it until now.
This was why he had fought so crazily against them earlier. Using everything he had and exchanging a wound for a wound. He wanted to see what would happen if he transformed later and he was glad to see all his wounds healing.
…Though, there was a little problem.
“Bastards! Stop staring slack-jawed and help me! Only by giving our all now can we win…”
“Oh? I nearly forgot you.”
Dordonii had been trying to take back his ax while calling for the others to help, but no matter what he did, the weapon would not bulge from Sol's grip.
*Crack*
He had just applied a little more pressure, but this was enough to make fissure appear on the weapon, showing it was on the verge of falling apart.
*Whoosh* *Bang*
Swinging his spiky tail at a speed too high for most to follow, he swatted Dordonii aside like a mere fly. The mighty Lord famed for his defense was sent flying with his body literally falling apart.
Looking at the ax that was still in his hand, Sol showed a surprised expression before grinning,
“I see. So this was your secret.”
This ax was not a conventional weapon made out of any metal. It was in fact, a part of Dordonii’s body and it was also the part that held his core.
Gazing at Dordonii who barely managed to stabilize himself in the air, he snickered at the look of despair the bastard was showing and — heartlessly crushed it.
The result was immediate as Dordonii’s body began to crumble until nothing but dust was left behind.
Even though he had just completely crushed a Lord, Sol’s gaze showed neither joy nor pride, not even elation.
It was as if what he did was the most normal thing in the world as if he had done nothing more than crushing an insect.
Finally, his gaze landed on the last three Lords that had been petrified by fear and unease.
“Three dead, and three left.”
*Gulp*
It was hard to say who was the first one to move, but in the end, the three of them came to the same conclusion.
‘Run!’
In an instant, they all vanished from where they stood as they fled in different directions. Even the army below them had long fled from the premises.
The wind blew as the place that was filled with monsters of all kinds was now devoid of any presence.
“Hahaha. Cowards. If they had stayed a little longer…”
He was honestly quite tired physically and mentally. If they had tried to fight more, he would have been left helpless.
Chuckling, Sol ignored the fleeing Lords and immediately phased in his mirror dimension before putting his full speed in rushing in the direction of the Safe Zone created by Kiyohime at the end of the 4th Circle.
His goal in fighting this time had been to get more experience and face more hardship. After all, only by doing so could he evolve more.
Now that this was done? It was time to use the advantage of having his own dimension.
As for the Lords that were busy running away with their tails tucked between their legs?
It was only after not being chased nor feeling any fluctuation of energy that they understood that they had been tricked.
Sol had been on his very last leg even after transforming. Had they helped Dordonii as he begged them to, not only would it have been possible to keep him alive, but Sol would have most likely lost as well.
Of course, they did not know about him being a dimensional mage. If Sol had been cornered, he would not have hesitated to use his dimension and take them out one after another.
As such, running away had indeed been the right decision.
Unfortunately for them, they would never know this and could only lament and wallow in regrets.
