Skullius blinked. Crude Vision had made the experience of being borne down by that extreme weight, like judgement from the heavens that had descended from above, even more terrifying than it would have been otherwise. For a moment, he had almost forgotten to react, stunned by the glaring light, but [Primal Caution] urged him against stillness.
The land was battered in the attack's wake... and gone.
It was frightening to imagine that what had fallen was essentially condensed lightning in a wave like from the sea, but the untrained eye would have only seen a sharp burst of light.
If Rias was to be considered a centre, then, it wouldn't be a stretch to say everything north of him was gone, replaced by a chilling darkness, as if whatever had been there, had been uncreated.
Skullius himself was to the far west of the young EverSword heir. Thankfully, while the attack was extremely devastating, it wasn't so fast that a combination of [Destined Warp Steps] and [Boundless Evil] couldn't help him dodge, especially when spurred by [Primal Caution]!
'The clouds...' Skullius thought as he looked towards the green pillar that was far away, and then to the horizon on his left, where there was nothing below. 'He used the clouds... like Baddan... but on a much, much bigger scale! That's cheating!'
The sword in Rias' hand. It seemed to either be formed by the bodies of Sky Watchers, or had somehow adapted their abilities, however such a thing was possible.
To even begin to think to compete against that...!
The only thing Skullius could see as a plus, was the fact that Rias was limited to a blue mana core, which meant that as much as his Imagining Technique was terribly powerful, it was still only at the Special level. Granted, with it, he somehow managed to gain access to the Super level techniques of the Sky Watchers, which pretty much crumbled Skullius' hope to dust immediately, but...
Skullius stood from where he had sat after crashing down, saved by his skills from certain death.
With Crude Vision, he saw puddles in the darkness, barely visible unless he strained his uncoloured sight.
He couldn't tell the colours, but he could identify the shapes. The pools in the darkness... He had seen them before. Twice, actually!
First, was when he fought the Cluster General Jackpot, in the very first Cluster he ever set foot into, and the last was when he entered the Cluster with the Bookworms – the half worm, half human monsters that carried books with spells. The mash of colours within the Cluster, to Skullius, meant the border of the world within the Cluster. He had even surmised that it was the clashing Deities' energies in their most raw form.
This was what made Clusters, but it was extremely dangerous in that state.
Well, it shouldn't be surprising that Rias actually carved out the foundations of this world with that attack. It was just that devastating.
Speaking of Rias...
"Did he say... Reon...?" Skullius wondered. Why was that name familiar?
From the distance, he saw Vali suddenly flash close to Rias.
It wasn't a shock that she had survived, even if he hadn't even been focusing on others when the attack just now struck.
This tore his mind from the whirlpool of his current thought, and he got to steadily observing.
"Is she still going to act as the cavalry?" Skullius asked himself.
Sure enough, Vali didn't seem to be fazed enough to stay away from engaging Rias.
"That sword of yours is... quite something..." she said with a grin, her mana bubbling forth. "Isn't it a tad bit too unfair though?"
"You can still leave," Rias suggested, and whirled the large saber dexterously in his hand, as if it wasn't almost as thick as his waist now, much to Vali's apprehension.
"I'll take my chances here," she said as she dashed towards Rias.
This time, she seemed to be attacking with infinitely more aggression than before.
As she approached, the radiant deer head beside Rias vanished, but the still yet to fully manifest figure behind him, his Incarnation, laughed out all the more, and turned more vivid.
It had a ghostly green appearance, its shape similar to an ugly witch with her long hair – tendrils of Aura that turned to an acid green hue – that flew up in all directions, over her body a nasty, baggy robe decorated with columns of small horns!
It was rather intricate.
Like something drawn from a children's bedtime story.
Rias brandished his sword, his hand speeding down phenomenally, but Vali was quicker to strike!
She appeared before the young man, and sent a light tap to his wrist with her foot, slowing the descent of his saber, before twisting quickly and sending a roundhouse kick dead set on decapitating Rias!
The young man ducked down, displaying a short burst of speed several degrees faster than Vali's. As he did this, he planted his sword into the ground, and threw a crisp palm at Vali that parted the air with its immense power, almost leaving the two in a vacuum!
Fragments of time before it hit, the crown of Vali's head exploded with a neon light, and she became bathed in a beautiful magenta coat of Aura.
POW!
As Rias' palm struck her, she felt the immense power behind it, but she was guarded well enough to not vomit her innards. The young heir of the EverSword House realised this, and sent a flurry of punches to Vali's vital spots, which she reacted to by...
...!
Rias was stunned to see a thick fist the six of two of his own, burrow its way from the circular opening on Vali's dress – displaying her smooth abdomen.
It caught him off guard, smashing into him crazily, but he didn't budge from where he stood, despite how he grunted silently in pain.
That was too outlandish. A thick, third arm sprouting from someone's stomach in such a quick exchange was too odd. And it was even coated in Aura!
Rias raised a brow, and gripped his sword.
"Weird," he remarked.
"It's just a limb," Vali said with a grin. Over her forehead, a gleaming shape had appeared. It was a rather exquisitely crafted diadem that almost seemed to grow from the skin over her skull, a rich variety of magenta, and purple spotting what looked like jewels over it, and its whole!
This was Vali's Genuine Incarnation. With so much offensive power, she preferred a defensive unit for an Incarnation. A stylish one.
Rias didn't waste another second with chatter. He raised his sword to bring it down, when...
He frowned, and vanished before Vali's sight.
Vali was taken aback, and in the next micro moment, she heard a loud clang!
Following the sound round to the other side of the pillar where she found Rias, clashing his eyeballed sword with... Gabel and his glaive.
It seemed that while Vali was keeping the young man busy, the tall, dark haired man had decided to try and dismantle the pillar!
The two glared at each other, a pair of large honey-coloured eyes against a small pair of dark ones.
The moment the two split, Vali leapt in, and joined Gabel in the assault. She flew up and dished out an overhead punch livid with magenta Aura which Rias dodged by diving to the side, then she threw a series of hooks, two that were swatted away by Rias' Incarnation, and the rest which he blocked on his own.
Less than a moment after, Gabel swung his glaive, creating a cross with two devastating slashes only to find that Rias was nimble enough to weave away, parry his next attack, and then jump in the air afterwards to send a hard back kick towards Vali who crossed her arms to guard against it successfully, before charging forth once again!
Gabel and Vali were astonished.
What Rias had shown before paled in comparison to his true prowess as Form User, and an Arma User. In raw combat, he was holding his own against both of them.
'Incredible!' Vali thought, half delighted, and half appalled.
When she saw Gabel get parried and pushed back by Rias, she launched herself at him, and sent a high kick at his head with staggering force from the right!
Naturally, Rias intended to duck down, avoiding it rather than parry, since he was starting to realise how much power was packed in each of Vali's physical attacks. But then, as he lowered his torso...
...!
Rias found to his shock, another Vali lunging his way with a grin, and a welcome spread of her arms!
Her magenta Aura flashed madly, increasing three fold in power as she cackled, and tackled Rias cruelly!
What in the world?!
With a glimpse that lasted no more than a quarter of a second, Rias found to his disgust an elongated mass of flesh and skin protruding from the original Vali's belly. It was the long mass that ended with another torso of Vali, which was now gripping him tight and hurling him to the glass panes around the flame!
WHAM!
With a severe smash onto the glass, Rias grunted and then felt the copy of Vali laugh madly before exploding into... an ugly mass of tens of large, bony hands that restrained him firmly!
...!
An irritated look showed in Rias' eyes that could barely be seen, what with the large hand covering half of his face tight!
His sword had fallen, and his Incarnation thrashed against Vali's flesh duplicate futilely, since it regrew the lost flesh instantly.
It was looking bad for Rias.
And then worse yet...
"O lady of the veil... is this not enough? Let me carry that burden of ceaseless flow again..."
Gabel suddenly called obscurely before pointing at Rias with his heavy glaive.
...And as if Vali's showing wasn't strange enough...
Everything turned still.
The air stopped moving.
Vali – and her clone – along with Rias and his groping hands, were frozen in place.
The green, and black flame stopped dancing.
A murky bubble had appeared, and within it, only Gabel moved.
Indeed, time had stopped moving, prompted so by Gabel.
He heaved his glaive, coated it in a shimmering, grizzly Aura, aimed and flung it at Rias' head!
Without any resistance at all, either in the air, or on getting into contact with Rias' overhead, the glaive pierced through, and nailed the young man into the thick glass pane!
...
A silence pervaded.
Rias' face continued to hold the same expression, and time seemed to still be held hostage within the small area.
Gabel took a breath.
Did it work?
Had he truly vanquished the formidable, new Game Master?
Probably not.
The man's dark eyes scrolled to Rias' bandaged arm... which was bleeding again.
Curious...
Dangerously curious...
Without thinking, Gabel stormed towards the young man, a murderous gleam in his dark eyes.
This wasn't over.
He had to finish it!
He sped, passing the large saber Rias had dropped upon being tackled.
But... this sword suddenly changed.
The silver furs on it fell away, and the dark of its blade faded.
The eyes on the blade persisted, but they no longer remained clear white.
Instead, each of them obtained a new pupil within them, a pupil... shaped like an hourglass.
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