Aerialia's gaze shifted, landing on the distant figure of White Flame. Squinting her eyes at the humanoid being, a sudden realization crossed her features, leaving her visibly stunned.
She turned her attention swiftly toward Orion, her eyes wide with disbelief. She questioned, "Why doth that being appear familiar?" Aerialia stared skeptically at Orion.
Though the figure was obscured by white flame, she sensed a strangely familiar divine energy emanating from him.
Orion observed Aerialia, recognizing the realization dawning in her eyes. Confirming her unspoken suspicion, he nodded in response, saying, "That's the god that had stopped you and your children from entering into this world."
At his words, Aerialia's body stiffened, her expression turning solemn. Grinding her teeth together, she spat, "Is that him?"
Her gaze snapped toward White Flame, currently engaged by Seth and Fifi.
"Yes, that's him," Orion affirmed.
"Now, can you reduce the weight on this thing? I won't be able to swing it properly if I have to use all of my strength to carry it," he added, glancing at some soldiers approaching his position.
Having confirmed that White Flame was indeed the god who had attacked them, Aerialia nodded solemnly and promptly lifted the restriction on the crimson greatsword.
Instantly, Orion felt the greatsword become significantly lighter in his grasp and raised it. He looked at Aerialia and asked, "I've been wanting to ask if I'm the only one who can see you."
"For now, yes. Although I can make myself visible to others, considering that I still don't understand my current situation, it would be unwise for me to do so suddenly," Aerialia replied as she gazed down at Orion.
Orion nodded with a sigh of relief, then redirected his focus forward.
After inhaling deeply, his body surged forward, gradually accelerating as he released his Vylkr energy from his two Vylkr containers, allowing it to fill every part of his being.
As he approached the soldiers, he swiftly activated his gift.
CRACCKKLLEE!! CRACKLLEE!!!
Bursts of bluish lightning shot out from his body, entwining around his arm. The lightning extended down his right arm, wrapping around the four-meter-long crimson greatsword in his grasp, casting it in a radiant bluish energy.
BANG!
The four-meter-long crimson greatsword crashed into the upper bodies of two soldiers, charring and tearing them to shreds. As their lifeless, severed bodies plummeted to the ground, they immediately transformed into several specks of white flames that gradually dimmed before disappearing into thin air.
Although Orion had caught a glimpse of this, he had already expected such a result. The four-meter-long crimson greatsword had been forged from Aerialia's divine essence, blood, and soul, which was why she had retained a considerable portion of her remaining self even while she was dead.
Added to the fact that Aegis of the Arctic Deity had said that the divine blood would be able to help defeat White Flame and escape this mountain, Orion no longer had any doubt that the thing capable of killing White Flame—a man-made god who, although currently at his weakest, was impenetrable, resistant even to Seth or Fifi—was not just any divine blood scraped from Aerialia's injured body, but the divine blood now within his grasp.
Knowing he possessed the only means to pierce through White Flame's defences, Orion continued to swing his blade, tearing through the hundreds of soldiers with the lightning-coated, four-meter-long crimson greatsword within his grasp.
Its power, currently immeasurable, stunned everyone watching intently as they witnessed how Orion dealt with the impenetrable, strange groups of individuals that had appeared out of thin air.
What was this?
Where did that sword appear, from? How was Orion able to break through their defences and utterly tear them to pieces?
Iris and the other Crystalforge Clan warriors stared at the four-meter-long crimson greatsword within Orion's grasp with a dazed look of realization in their eyes. They understood that this was the missing piece that would have enabled them to achieve victory against White Flame, a piece they had been unable to collect during the trial.
This meant that if Orion hadn't bothered to search around and risk his life to obtain it—
Every one of them gulped deeply.
Iris collapsed to her knees, her eyes fluctuating with intense emotions as she stared at the mesmerizing scene before her. She suppressed so many feelings within her, her mind racing with various thoughts about what would have happened if Orion hadn't followed them into the trial or hadn't appeared within the mountain.
Iris's lips quivered open, "…Thank you," before she slowly sealed her lips shut, not daring to take her eyes off the ongoing battle, afraid of missing every detail that led to their freedom.
Some distance away, White Flame had skidded backwards from Fifi's and Seth's barrage of attacks and came to a halt. His almost non-existent eyes shrunk to the size of a needle as his countenance started to warp uncontrollably, watching as the human tore through his hundreds of soldiers as easily as a hot knife slicing through a piece of butter.
Impossible! Utterly impossible!!
That human… how is he able to….
TEAR!!
The sound of the air being violently torn apart resounded within his ears as the next attack approached. White Flame's mind trembled with a tinge of madness as he took the lava fist-shaped punch head-on.
BOOOMMM!
White Flame was shot backwards again, forming a deep crater where he landed.
A terrifying gleam shot out of Fifi's eyes at that moment.
A golden opportunity!
Countless drops of water emerged from the ground, forming various water tentacles that soon turned into a sphere, caging White Flame within it before gradually compressing.
Although she had attempted this several times before, all of which had ended in futility, so what? As long as they could restrain him until Orion arrived, that was all that mattered at that moment.
SWOOSHH!!
A dense gush of wind flashed by her side, causing her eyes to widen in surprise immediately as she witnessed Orion racing towards the caged, flickering figure of White Flame with a lightning-coated, four-meter-long crimson greatsword in his grasp.
