Chapter 676: The Battle of Kings (I)
Edward had a simple tactic: test as many curses on this man as possible until one of them sticks. Vitalis — the Blood Demon God — was more than happy for this nourishing meal. So, Edward's battle was in a strange state for a few seconds. He would teleport around his opponent, evading his opponent's blood spears while casting curses on his opponent.
However, Vitalis suddenly had a bad feeling and evaded the curses instead of swallowing them. "It's too late," Edward sneered, activating his Gluttony Curse. Vitalis immediately felt an immense pain in his belly. A better way to describe it would be an uncontrollable hunger.
His eyes turned red as the desire to swallow everything on sight overcame his consciousness. However, he was a Demon God. He has spent years invading numerous worlds and dimensions, meaning his willpower was high enough to control himself. Unfortunately, the pain in his stomach would not stop.
Vitalis looked at him with the eyes of an angry predator. If anger could kill, Edward would have been impaled numerous times by now. Vitalis exhaled to calm down before raising his hand to condense a blood spear and teleporting before him.
Edward's shield materialized on its own, but it was useless. Vitalis' spear tore it apart, absorbing all the energy in the process. Edward reacted swiftly by using his [Aura] to kick the spear away from his heart. However, he still felt his stamina drained just because of the contact.
'Vampire Ability to absorb all energy and power,' Edward analyzed. He pointed his wand and fired a pure force of kinetic energy. Vitalis' blood spear turned into a shield that easily nullified the power of the attack.
'Normal attacks won't work,' Edward thought as he changed tactics. The Primordial Runes from his homeworld were known for their extreme control and application of energy, and Edward decided to use that characteristic to his advantage.
He modified the runes of his spell inside his Soul Dimension before casting them. Hundreds of magic circles appeared around him, each firing an elemental spell. Vitalis was calm despite this overwhelming attack.
He had learned his lesson and would not easily swallow anything that came toward him. However, he can use a more subtle application of his Gluttony Authority by neutralizing or nullifying his opponent's attack.
A red shield materialized around him, blocking all sides of this attack. Vitalis' plan was wise, but he underestimated what the word [Arcanist] represented. Arcanists are dangerous because of their vast knowledge. They can react to different situations.
As soon as Edward's spells touched the shield, something happened. The spells started a rapid transition of energy that made Vitalis's nullification ability useless. A fireball spell suddenly turned into a Water Jet spell, a thunder strike spell suddenly turned into a holy light spell, and so on.
The transition was fast, constant, and accompanied by minimal energy loss during the process. Vitalis' Nullification was based on his ability to absorb a certain portion of the energy composition of a spell, thus rendering it useless. However, Edward's approach made it impossible to absorb any key areas of the energy's basic composition.
As such, the spell bombardment tore apart his red shield, leaving his body with holes all over. Vitalis looked at his injury, and at first, he did not care. However, he soon realized his body was not regenerating. These attacks contained a seal on his life energy and an unknown power that bypassed his defense and regeneration.
'The application of Haki and Willpower is quite effective against these immortal creatures,' Edward analyzed. 'However, it still needs work to affect the soul directly.' He knew this small victory meant nothing. He needed to injure Vitalis' soul, so he took this opportunity to attack again. A beam of light descended from the sky, reducing Vitalis to ash.
'Damn it,' Edward thought as he cast numerous spells to find Vitalis. He noticed the latter allowing his body to perish while protecting his soul. The Demon God was strategic as it abandoned the flawed body, most likely to condense a new one.
As expected, Vitalis appeared with a new and intact body a few seconds later before Edward could find him. The Demon God condensed more than 10 blood clones to surround Edward, but the latter just created clones of his own.
"It's really disgusting fighting you," Vitalis commented. The Blood Clone is one of the abilities that has allowed him to rise to the position of Upper Demon Gods, and even as a King, it played a significant role. However, it was rendered useless by this sorcerer.
"You're not the first person to say that, and you won't be the last one," Edward commented. The blood clones raised their hands to surround Edward with blood weapons. Edward's cosmic sense immediately activated, alerting him to upcoming danger.
'There is an attack in one of these weapons that will instantly kill me,' He analyzed, trying to find the source of his danger. 'Nothing? How come? This power — it's cause and effect. Damn it, this bastard is using my curses.' He realized Vitalis can use other people's abilities after swallowing them, and he was using the Cause and Effect Characteristic of Edward's curses to render his cosmic sense useless.
Edward ordered his clones to defend him at all costs as he cast a spell. A green clock materialized under his feet as his eyes also turned green. He cast a spell called Seeing Death, which allowed him to peer into the future to see his death.
While he was doing that, Edward's clones used numerous spells to prevent any of these weapons from reaching the main body. A few died in their attempt, but the surviving ones remained steadfast, executing their mission until it was their time to die.
"I see it," Edward uttered. However, it was almost too late. A sword with a power that he was too familiar with broke all his protection, reaching less than a meter from him. 'The power of death,' Edward thought. Blood is considered the source of life, so it's understandable why Vitalis could tap into the Death Authority. This also shows how talented he was at blood magic to push his authority to touch on a higher authority.
'I need to do something,' Edward thought as the blade reached a few centimeters from him. As he was trying to think of a solution, everything around him suddenly paused. Whether it was Vitalis, the two Odins fighting in the distance, Ra, the Ancient Ones, the demons, and the Kryptonian Legions — everyone paused.
"It seems you're in danger. Do you need help?"
"Lady Death?"
"The one and only," Lady Death revealed as she appeared next to Edward. "What do you think?"
"I'm going to be honest, your highness. If your plan was to wait until I'm in mortal danger to make a devil's bargain with me, then you appeared too early," Edward said calmly.
"You're telling me you have a way to survive this encounter?"
"I do." While Edward's mind and reaction time were not enough to evade this attack, Morgana existed for situations like this.
"Interesting," Lady Death said, looking him in the eyes. "Very well, I'll continue watching. But do know that if I have to revive you, your soul will belong to me."
"If it comes to this, I'll accept my fate," Edward replied.
"Very well."
Time continued to flow normally, and Edward found himself in his previous situation of near death. The blade had almost touched his nose, meaning it was close to piercing his head. However, right before it hit, something happened.