Rise Of The Infinite Sovereign

Chapter 324: Mythical Faceoff

"I’ll have them stay. Forever!"

He starting spinning, conjuring a tower of flames in his wake while rotating faster than a top.

FU!

A slash of fire-bigger and hotter than those before-was sent out, setting off alarms in the heads of the Grandmasters as it cut through the air.

Without delay, Ezra tossed his sword, placing the end of the other sword beside it.

Almost instantly, it adjusted and a double scythe manifested.

Activating the condense rune, Ezra infused Skyfall with strengthened ice.

In the same moment, he also activated the clarity rune to maximize his sense of balance and accuracy.

The first fire slash touched ground and exploded.

Several more followed.

"Infinite Forms" he reverted back to a neutral stance, white lightning coating his body as a layer of blue glow shot through his body.

Right after, his hands picked up speed and the scythe became an afterimage, moving faster than even Grandmasters could follow.

"Spinning Scythe!" Ezra spoke with a tone deep but low.

With pinpoint accuracy in tandem with masterful footwork, Ezra sent a slash of ice in respect of each and every fire slash.

Blades of Red and Blue clashed incessantly, making for a artistic sight.

*Pah!*Pah!*Pah!*Pah!*Pah!*Pah!*Pah!

The two opposing elements cancelled each other out, exploding like gunpowder upon contact, leaving large patches of vapour in their wake.

In a short minute, more than hundred slashes were exchanged.

Thirty seconds after, the barrage of flame slashes stopped.

The tower of flames faded and with a swipe of his scythe, the vapour cleared up, but Alvarach was nowhere to be seen.

Ezra was alarmed. ’Where did he go?’

Focused on repelled every fire slash, he’d missed Alvarach’s escape.

Pinning his location, Ezra sped off.

Reaching the circle of descent, Alvarach channeled his power.

The barrier was a buffer for him.

He constructed it to absorb negative mana and channel it into the circle of descent.

This made the atmosphere within favourable to demons, thereby indirectly countering Oranians, suppressing their use of mana.

It had absorbed the souls of those who died in the nearby town, and the peak masters who died within.

Using that, Alvarach called opened it up once more, tnis time as wide as possible, intent on calling as many of his subordinates as possible, consequences be damned.

Hearing his summons, demons flew through the portal in droves, squabbling all the way.

Demons popped of othe portal like a swarm of locusts.

With ranks irrelevant, their numbers blew past two hundred by the first minute, and kept going.

Weak or not, they would do enough to keep those Grandmasters busy-he couldn’t have them interfering a second time.

A figure clad in black lightning reached them soon after.

*Sha!

A wave of black lightning struck out, culling several demons as their bodies split like pieces of wood.

Even Alvarach didn’t dare to test it, he bent his knees and dodged.

Straightening his gait, his face was flushed with anger.

His sudden swerve severed his control over the circle of descent, forcing it closed at tens of demons died. Ripped apart by the void.

Moreover, such a haphazard disconnect messed it up, making it unstable and unusable till further notice.

No matter, the three hundred and something demons would have to do.

"Kreka Tisaga!" (Kill all the humans!) He ordered.

Crackling like maniacs, the demons got moving, flying towards the nearest sign of life.

Glinting, Ezra snapped his fingers and the rivers of blood spilled all over Quartez, rose up.

He didn’t take note of it before, but as a blood mage, there was no better place for him than Quartez.

With another finger snap, the blood coalesced, turning into arrows with sharp edges.

Making spears or swords would take much more effort, this was most efficient.

As if trying to throw something, Ezra moved his palm forth, and the arrows struck out, impaling multiple demons.

But then...

*Vom!

Alvarach appeared in front of him, his anger apparent.

"To do this in front of me, you must be longing to die!"

*Bam!

Alvarach sent him flying with a kick, a shockwave resounded as Ezra spat blood.

He lost control over the blood arrows and they dissolved.

Turning Skyfall back to its twin swords form, he blocked Alvarach’s follow up attack, but was blown away nonetheless.

Gaining a foothold, Ezra covered himself in black lightning and took the initiative.

"It won’t a difference"

Ezra and Alvarach clashed.

*Kang*Kang*Kang*Kang

A faceoff between two Mythical beings, who would come out on top?

__________

Meanwhile, Grandmaster and Peak Masters faced off against the horde of demons.

Although Ezra’s attack had culled a number of them, more than two hundred still stood.

With the shockwaves resounding from the battle of Alvarach and Ezra, they were on their own.

Not that such figures would shy away from a fight.

Peak masters stopped attacking the barrier, and prepared for the enemy.

Though fatigued, with Grandmasters bolstering the ranks, morale was high.

Demons in a frenzy for blood and humans wanting to defend their homes.

Both forces collided, and the battle instantly began.

Grandmasters didn’t wait before beginning their onslaught, tearing through the ranks of demons.

But under the suppression of the barrier and their inability to recover because their space rings were inaccessible, they were unable to fully showcase their might.

The Peak masters had it worse because the suppression was higher for them.

Nevertheless, a few still shined in this messy battlefield.

The siblings were naturally among the few.

"Filthy Demon!"

With a well kept beard, Theron like a textbook knight with his muscular but tender build.

Wielding his spiked mace, Theron leveled his surroundings, turning all approaching demons into porcupines and squashing them.

His white armour soaked in blood, with his gaze spelling a silent lethality.

Those who got too close for comfort got burned with his firefox breath.

Johan had grown had grown little in height, being more on the muscular side with a short hair and a moustache to boot.

Stabbing his saber through the mouth of a demon, the demon writhed in attempt to survive, throwing contents out of its mouth in due process.

Johan’s expression crumpled. "Such bad breath. Even graveyards don’t compare"

Before splitting its head in half.

Three more jumped at him, but my boy didn’t fret.

Cutting off the head of the first, his head expanded to that of a crocodile and bit into the second, tearing its head off.

The third landed a strike on the big head, but it was deflected, barely making a mark as the skin was iron.

Subsequently, Johan split the demon in half.

Reverting back to human form, he spat out pieces of the demons flesh.

"Disgusting"

As sisters, Roxanne and Velora always had each others backs.

Now, that was literal.

With their backs against one another, anything attacking simply put itself into a grinding machine.

Both had grown to be wonderful women, with Roxanne still being the taller one.

Her red hair waved as she moved around, her figure magnificent, being as slender as it was beautiful.

But, she was just as deadly.

With masterful movements, her swordwhip crackled, killing or at least severely injuring any demon in range.

It tore off skin like nobody’s business, painting the world in blood.

As a silver hawk, she occasionally tossed her feathers as daggers, to distract or deal the killing blow.

If Roxanne painted her section in blood and torn organs, Velora painted it with corpses.

On the short side but with bigger assets, her green hair fluttered, trimmed for combat.

After many months of practice, she had advanced on the her use of crystal snake, making it more versatile.

Having consumed exotic poisons, her poison had grown in lethality.

Now, she shot venom through her finger nails onto her serrated dlaggers-which were long enough to be called short swords instead-and cut them multiple time, slitting their throats occasionally.

With the bloodline of a crystal snake, after extensive practice, she could now adjust the nature of her jade like skin at will.

Making it smooth, rough or even jagged at will.

*Boom!

"Come at me!"

Ashton had grown to be the biggest.

Having worked out like a maniac, he body grow in width, giving him an enormous build, but he had little luck with height, remaining the shortest.

Bashing in demons the heads of demons, Ashton grinned.

More demons converged on his location.

Claws shot out of his gauntlet. He cut, punched and kicked demons without care.

Tearing through his opponent’s without fear, Ashton had become a fighting maniac.

Their stay at Arcadia had changed everyone of them in many ways.

__________

Ezra and Alvarach were still going at it.

Each hit produced shockwaves as both sides fought to the death.

The surroundings brightened up with colours of Black and Red.

Cutting and maiming each other, both of them healed fast as well, but Ezra was on the losing end.

With Alvarach’s claws filled searing heat, Ezra’s blood affinity wasn’t healing it fast enough while Alvarach was healing from Ezra’s attacks almost instantaneously.

"Do you feel it now?" Alvarach spoke. His tone was that of schadenfreude. "The insurmountable gap between us"

Stepping back, Ezra spat the little blood in his mouth. "What insurmountable gap? I’m already stronger than you"

"Insolent" Even for him, this human’s arrogance was too much!

"Let me show you strength!"

Alvarach’s body started emitting flames when suddenly, he sped up.

’He got faster?!’

Before he could process it, a right arm was cut from above the elbow, as was his right leg.

In the same motion, Alvarach kicked him straight on the chest.

*BAM!

Ezra puked blood at the point of impact, feeling his lungs about to tear before sent on a journey through the skies.

If other attacks sent shockwaves, the one sent a soundwave that blew away the soil as well.

Tearing through the atmosphere, Ezra landed with a bang, forming a crater in his wake.

With his head ringing, Ezra’s arm and leg mended themselves thanks to his blood affinity and outstanding healing factor.

Coughing blood, Ezra got back on his feet.

’Oh man’

He was in trouble.

*Vom!

As before, Alvarach appeared in front of him.

Staring him down with imposing figure, Alvarach blared in his ear.

"Do you understand now?" He spoke slowly. "Do you despair at your inevitable defeat?"

Regulating his breathes, Ezra didn’t say anything.

"Are you now so much in despair you don’t know what to say?"

Ezra raised his head, staring back at Alvarach. He snickered.

Alvarach slapped his head into the ground, furious. "Is something funny?!"

For Mythical beings, it was but a scratch.

Putting his head out of the ground, Alvarach stamped it right back in, with a smile on his face.

"A worm should act like one"

Alvarach continued to stomp his head, as if trying to turn him into an ostrich.

*Pause!

Ezra held the foot and took his head out of the ground.

Dusting his face, he spoke. "I made a mistake"

*Bam!

A kick to the face sends flying.

"Oh? And what mistake would that be?"

’It was stupid for me to think I could defeat him without reaching my limits’

Quickly back on his feet, Ezra said. "I got swept up in your flow"

*Boom!

His aura erupted and the silver glow embraced him.

Alvarach backed up.

Ever since the first confrontation after he hit Mythic rank, Ezra had subconsciously lowered Alvarach’s threat value.

Even after his transformation, Ezra didn’t take as seriously as he was supposed to, and hence, got swept up in Alvarach’s tempo, moving to match him, but ending up a step behind most times.

Moreover, moves that worked in the past weren’t working.

Black lighting dealt curses, but that was ineffective against a demon, and he couldn’t use ice alone because then he would lose the speed increase of lightning.

It had been at the back of his mind. The combination or black lightning and fire which he used to cut the crystal at the demonic cave previously.

But because he hadn’t built up profiecency with it, he deigned to use it. Having gotten used to practicing before usage.

In simpler words, he didn’t want to take the risk, and that was his mistake.

As Alvarach pointed out, if he kept at matching paces, he would inevitably lose.

Remembering his mother, if nothing else, that had to be protected. Losing was not an option.

He realized something.

’It was at that time’

"Promise me you’ll return"

That promise made Ezra subconsciously limit himself in the fight, reducing life-threatening risks like pushing his body to the limits.

No more. Reality spelled it out clearly. He won’t win if he didn’t take any risks.

After all, winning itself was a risk.

He pushed his body to the limit, preparing to test something he’d hypothesized since the start of the fight.

His aura settled, eyes on Alvarach, who was gawking him.

Alvarach covered distance in a second, and punched out.

Blocking it with Skyfall, Ezra was blown back, but far less than the last time.

Following up, Alvarach spoke with a tone of mockery. "Still struggling?"

His mouth widened like it was made of slime, revealing an ugly darkness.

"It’ll only make your despair all the more worthwhile"

Alvarach kicked him. Ezra countered it and landed an attack of his own, knocking Alvarach back.

Bringing himself to a halt, Alvarach’s gaze had changed, the playfulness dissapeared like smoke.

Exhaling in relief, having acclimatized the new changes of his body, he stretched.

Spinning the scythe as it changed into twin swords, he smiled for the first time since the start of the fight.

His gait radiated seriousness, and flickers of lightning came out of his eyes.

"Again. You talk too much"

*Boom!

His body erupted with white lightning, as black lightning was ineffective to battle Alvarach.

In terms of pure power, its capability for destruction was twice that of Black lightning.

Unilke before, it began to ravage his surroundings without him even trying.

At it limits, Ezra could feel the mana within him boiling.

"If I had to guess" Ezra addressed Alvarach. "You probably can’t maintain that form for too long"

Alvarach reached him and attacked.

"Doesn’t matter. All I have to do is kill you"

Countering, Ezra replied. "Again" his eyes filled with coldness. "I’m stronger than you"