Princess Yaniesvyl and her father were running around the kingdom. Following behind them were the Queen and a few royal guards along with a number of civilians that managed to survive the first strike of invasion.
The royal capital was reduced to smithereens. Only a handful of people managed to preserve their lives from the disaster. The first strike of invasion was when Lord Dramus launched an attack. It quickly reduced the population of the capital by twenty percent. Then, the second strike was when those three experts appeared. The meteors that followed it killed seventy percent of the remaining people. At last, the battle between Souta and the four experts.
"The royal capital..."
"My home..."
"Brother and father are still there..."
Princess Yaniesvyl turned her head and looked at the survivors. Her expression was full of grief. She didn't expect this scenario at all. She realized that she was too weak.
A princess of a powerful kingdom in Spring Land?
Her status didn't matter in front of the people that truly possess strength. No matter how lofty she lived in this place, those people could easily take whatever she had. She realized that whatever she had was fragile as glass.
"Yaniesvyl, what do you think will happen after this?" The King suddenly asked.
Princess Yaniesvyl glanced at her father before she looked at the capital.
Various lights and elements were flashing at the city, ravaging the entire landscape. Waves of energy would spread out every second adding more destruction.
It was a total chaos in the capital right now. Ordinary people wouldn't be able to survive in that place so there was no more hope for Princess Yaniesvyl. She wanted some people to survive but looking at the battle scene gives her a sense of despair.
Even B-rank wouldn't be able to handle the intense pressure in the atmosphere so how could ordinary people survive?
'I...'
Princess Yaniesvyl tightly clenched her fists until blood came out. She swore to herself that she wouldn't let things like this happen ever again.
Bang! Bang!
Sparks of weapons showered down everywhere. Intense energy surged out from two people as they repeatedly collided in the air. The aftershocks from their collision tore apart the land layer by layer without stopping.
Sounds of explosions erupted in every direction. Souta and the man fought fiercely in the air as their killing intent burst out everywhere. Souta was at a disadvantage against his opponent. He was already using [Element Drive], [Blood Armor], [Monster Orb Release], parasite boost, and Blessings of the God of Hunt. Also, the equipment skills of his three dark grade artifacts were used. [Burning Ring Seal], [Solid Hunter State Boots], and [Vajra Sword Saya].
At this point of time, he already activated the [Yin Yang Twin Spirit] to deal with the Night Queen, Earth Master, and Lord Dramus. The twin spirits would fight alongside his doppelgangers in hope that they could capture at least one of them.
BOOM!!
Souta was trashed around. He couldn't gain an advantage against his opponent. He was being beaten down madly without leaving a chance to fight back. In response, Souta was forced to use [Soul Blood Mode] just to add one layer of strength.
Bang! Bang!
The two figures clashed again as shockwaves swept out everywhere. They step up and the force they were using this time was stronger than before.
"You! Soul arts! You really know how to use soul arts! Why don't you come and join me?" The man laughed as he tightly grip the scimitar in his hand. This was the treasure of his organization, a dark grade artifact.
"Join you!" Souta laughed before he dashed forward. He moved his body even faster than before. The weapon in his hand shook as it dispersed the energy that the man hurled at him.
The man jumped away while raising both of his hands. Flames and waters twisted together before he threw it at Souta.
[Opposite Fusing Shock]!!
Souta poured his mana into his weapon and swung it toward the incoming attack.
[Crimson Moon]!!
[Bestrou]!!
Two attacks collided. The collision sprayed intense energy everywhere. It evaporated a layer of land.
BOOM!!
"Soul arts is a forbidden technique. Once a word got out that you know about it, those hidden experts will come out and try to kill you." The man said.
"Kill me? What about you? You're already trying to kill me..." Souta laughed in disdain.
"Kill you, that's just their excuse. In fact, everyone will try to get the soul arts out of your mouth. They wanted to get their hands on it." The man said.
"I know it. But I don't even know a single soul art." Souta roared before he charged once again.
"Eh, you're already using it so there's no point in denying that you don't know soul arts." The mad looked at Souta in disdain. He also dashed forward to face this powerful monster.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
They exchanged thousands of blows in just a few seconds. They hover in the air as they hurled various powerful skills at each other. They fought at high speed which practically burst the wind dozens of kilometers away.
Souta could barely keep up with his opponent's speed. It was getting difficult to continue fighting this way as the man kept getting stronger. He tried all sorts of tricks but the man simply used more and more skills to match his own.
"I have no choice!"
Souta raised his hand and the [Yin Yang Bracelet] emitted a dim light. He activated the [Yin Yang Unification] which boosted his dark affinity. His skills that were related to dark undergo an upgrade in an instant.
"You're strong... You exceeded everything that I imagined!" The man said as he heavily swung the scimitar in his hand.
"Yeah," Souta roared as he also swung his weapon.
The weapon collision sprayed elemental energy everywhere. Sparks flew out in the center of the impact as a suction force appeared before it blew everything away.
Bang!
The man was a little bit surprised as his body was pushed away. When he looked up, he saw Souta in front of him. Souta has gotten stronger once again. The man didn't expect that Souta still had a power boost.
"Didn't expect this, right?" Souta laughed as he delivered a thundering kick to the man's stomach.
Ugh! The man groaned in pain as his figure turned into a stream of light, crashing on the ground below.
In the next second, a huge wave of energy exploded. The man stood up emitting intense energy in the air. Flame and water were swirling around him.
"This is it... [Element Drive]."
Souta heightened his senses to the max. He knew that his opponent was getting serious. It took Souta a lot just to force this man to use his [Element Drive]. Luckily, his opponent's [Element Drive] was only at Force Stage.
If it was Integration Stage, Souta was sure that he wouldn't be able to last a single minute.
But something wasn't right... Souta could feel a hint of familiarity from the man's energy flow.
Huff...
"This will be a problem."
Souta took a deep breath and his flesh wrapped around the handle of the vajra sword so that it wouldn't leave his hand. It would be dangerous from now on since the enemy was getting serious.
Still, his [Element Drive] could only last for another hour. After reaching the Integration Stage for his dark attribute, Souta's [Element Drive] time limit increased to two hours. It should be one hour but the effect of [Divine Dark Circulation] was better than he imagined.
Souta placed his hand inside the small bag on his waist. He took out a palm-size goblet and threw it in the air. The goblet flew alongside the [Burning Ring Seal]. This goblet was a dark grade artifact that he received from Alexander. He wanted to borrow the goblet's strength to increase his chances in this fight.
Alexander really knew how to gift someone. All of the gifts that Souta received were related to his attributes.
[Carpet of the Night]!!
[Darkness Sweep]!!
Souta activated the equipment skills of the goblet as he pressed both of his hands together. His weapon floated beside him, releasing a wave of energy. One of the equipment skills could boost his chosen dark attribute skill by three hundred percent and the other one add a layer of the night in the sky to boost his stats by ten percent while lowering the enemy's defense against dark attribute by five percent.
The skill he chose was his gravity skill so it received a two hundred percent boost in power.
Shadows covered the sky and ground. Then, the ground started to shake as Souta's energy erupted like a volcano. A crack appeared and it quickly grew larger in just a second. The whole capital was split into two. The two sides rose from the ground, emerging hundreds of meters above.
The man stared at this sight with wide eyes. The royal capital was huge. It has a size of forty-seven square kilometers. Yet, it was lifted and split into two. Countering the Imperium's gravity was hard to achieve especially the ground floor since it was restrained by nature's energy.
"AHHH!!" Souta forcefully put both of his hands together. The next second, the two sides of the capital collided together.
