The unstably flying ball of verbally powered darkness clashing against the tremendous wave of Nitros was disastrous. All the onlookers only remembered the world whirling and breaking when the two powers met.
Massive chunks of land broke off and spun, trees were hurled messily in all directions, and the sky seems to crack and crash like a broad, dark board while the clouds swayed as if they were soup in a circular bowl!
Those still alive felt as if they were pulled on violently for five long seconds and then...
The Cluster burst like a bubble, and its distant horizon filled with a variety of landscapes shattered as it was merely an depthless canvas of glass!
...And as this world's many pieces flew out vibrantly, the bright sun of Aigas shone on all things, its cloudy sky overlooking what had just occurred.
Yet, as it turned out, with a keen eye, it became clear that this place, where the purple Cluster had been, was a large island surrounded by the blue sea.
It was far from Feinheath, its coordinates known only to Actuass and his operatives who could flit in and out of the Cluster, the location of the Royale, as if it wasn't a ridiculous feat when the Cluster General was still standing.
Sadly though, the location of the Royale was of very little concern when compared to everything else going on right now.
While mounds of the Cluster world which had exploded fell all around them, the figure spawned by one of the Nine Seeds of the Fruit of World Myths, [Seramoro Oblivion's Edge], looked on at Rayn, the blessed child from eight millenia before, the most trusted Royal Knight of King Edricus Royan!
Was it fate that they had made again, and so unnaturally?
The latter's soul had been packed into a different body, but his power was as vibrant as before, though, evidently it was eating away at the inferior flesh it sat within.
Rayn's body had been the only one that could contain his soul, and with how he had grown during the Second Grand War, his soul coming to be baptised with more power when a portion of the Deity Quintess dwelled within him, it was only natural that the vessel Actuass had provided, after successfully having found Rayn within the Yormuness with Revia's help, and making a deal with him, would not be enough.
No other body could match his original mortal vessel.
For now that didn't matter though. Rayn almost hated Fulgardt as much as Fulgardt hated him, though right now, the former Royal Knight couldn't ascertain whether or not what he was facing was Fulgardt or remnants of him.
He remembered this form of Fulgardt's.
It had been a staple of evil since that one fateful day when he had banded with other vessels of the Deities to fight Fulgardt and had him cornered.
It didn't seem to be nearly as powerful as it had been back then, but with that verbal manifestation...
"Veneration..." Rayn said, his eyes calm. The large clot of Nitros around him had clashed with Seramoro's 'voice' and diminished somewhat.
Just because of that ability alone, he couldn't relax, even if Fulgardt was weaker.
[Evil Veneration], it was called.
~~~
[ Pseudo Evil Veneration | 1% ]
<Verbal Veneration Type>
Words delivered with an evil and cruel intent will be actualised to reality to a certain extent. Due to the art being a lesser form of the true 'Evil Veneration', the use is limited to short phrases and the efficacy varies depending on luck and how cruel the intent propounded is. Differences in strength barely matter, unless opponent has reached a high Realm of power.
~~~
Rayn's wariness soared.
'Must be because he is using a vessel. We might in a similar boat.' he thought, feeling his body crumbling as he exerted his strength.
Another mystery.
This body was too weak. Why had he been placed in such a significantly inferior body? Did it belong to a lowly Incandescent Stage expert?
His eye darted to Actuass who was a distance away, watching closely.
This body.
Fulgardt.
'How much of this did he plan?'
The look under Actuass' mask would have answered one of Rayn's suspicions. The masked man was quite surprised.
With his knowledge of very old events, he was able to recognise the truth behind this coincidental occurrence.
'Fulgardt? Fulgardt's legacy... So it was taken after all?' he thought, as he looked closely at Seramoro – Skullius' form. He hadn't had even the faintest reason to think that one of the contenders would have it. He didn't recognise Skullius for that matter, since the Hybrid Luman looked vastly, vastly different from when he had last seen him.
Besides that, he too had suspected that Skullius was dead, since, as he recalled, his master Somanda, after manifesting through the treasure he had given him, SoSei, had pursued him.
Actuass didn't know why, but he had imagined that Skullius was dead. There was no way he could have survived.
Thus, he couldn't tie this form to him. However, that didn't change the possibilities that could come from the plethora of outcomes riding on this conflict he hadn't foreseen.
'In the end, as long Rayn comes out on top... Better yet, if fighting such an opponent can weaken him further with that deteriorating body, I'll consider this another stroke of good luck,' Actuass thought, and he then eyed Revia, and Fulina who were hidden in different locations over the island.
At that moment, there was a mad ploughing noise, and the island shook.
Seramoro had leapt up, and zipped like flash that caused a heavy, chaotic winds all over the island towards Rayn!
Rayn ran up to meet the long-haired figure and the two smashed into each other, causing a large chunk of the island to crack deeply!
The two locked fingers, and stared dead into each others' eyes.
Then...
"| Let it warp you! |" Seramoro exclaimed in a croaking voice.
Around Rayn, the space whirled, twisting exaggeratedly to distort the former Royal Knight's body along with it while a scratching, rhythmic sound echoed.
The part of the island they were on twisted, the land arching to the side like rubber!
But...
"Cheap," Rayn mocked, and his Nitros burst out fiercely in solid white, forcing the turning space to straighten back to stability!
BOOOM!
The power behind his expelling of Nitros split the whole island into four rapidly, and the waters around it poured upwards!
"|Your mana revolts!|" Seramoro called again as the two detached from each other.
Rayn's terribly powerful mana core groaned, and mana gushed out of it before beginning to rebel within his mana channels, attempting to rip his body open!
To this, the Royal Knight looked a bit concerned, and as he stalled for a micro moment...
"|Raaaaar!|" the long haired figure simply screamed in his face, and a warping mass of revolving darkness blasted tremendously against him, forcing to skid along the ground yonder!
This was quite the mild effect on an enemy, but to everything else, it was as if the world had turned dark when Seramoro screamed, and the tree littered lands behind Rayn were turned to dust!
Again, Seramoro followed Rayn, its movements like the incarnation of angry winds, and it called loudly "|Crush!|".
Decked in unfathomable darkness, Seramoro locked its fingers and hammered down on Rayn with an unreal crushing force that forced the Royal Knight to get dipped into the ground which slithered inward like mud!
Rayn blocked the attack with his arm which was layered with Nitros. He was less concerned with this physical attack than he was with his mana within, which was out of control.
"|BLOAT!|"
Furious darkness sank into Ryan and attempted to make him blow up from within.
"I'm fighting a mere husk," he said with a deeper frown on his face, his body expanding only for a second before it reverted to normal.
A flurry of punches that threatened to atomise the whole island – broken as it was – rushed from the rampaging Seramoro, but Rayn blocked them all, gripped his opponent's neck, and leapt high with him.
He flung Seramoro hundreds of miles away, and watched it bounce on the surface of the sea before it made a sharp brake and raced back towards.
In the meantime, he gathered his control over his core and resisted the earlier 'You mana revolts.'
Looking at the incoming Seramoro again, Rayn scoffed, unamused.
The way it moved, running wildly, but with purpose as the long, dark hair flew every which way.
The hatred was its fuel.
Too bad the one who was used as its vessel, was going to be a victim.
Actuass had hurried to move out of the way of the great battle given that the scale of the clashing powers were enough to turn him into collateral damage. He sped over to Revia, grabbed her and then raced with her over to Fulina.
"What do we do now?" Fulina, her trust firm in Actuass, asked.
"We wait," he said.
"And the others?"
"They never mattered."
Speaking of these others...
When the Cluster world shattered, Seville had been separated from Maxim, and the still incapacitated Gabel and Vali. Thus, the two's fates seemed to have turned for the worst.
For Vali, many of her clones had been destroyed when the Cluster was destroyed, but a few remained, split from the Cluster General they had been holding down.
One of them however, had kept track of the main body's location, and this was the same clone that had been gesturing something towards Skullius. The clone had seen the original body's soul start to flow out seconds ago and had sent out all the mana it had been given back to the original, as most of the other clones had done before getting destroyed.
And now, as the soul was moments away from slipping out...
'Hopefully, this works...' the clone anxiously thought, trying to steer activity for its unconscious main body.
Singular Cellular Extract.
The clone activated this ability for the original body, and with all its focus on the mana reserve, it intended to use the Singular Cellular Extract traits to the fullest – extracting her 'truest essence' from this original body into a flesh bud that rapidly grew into the new original Vali – and that included extracting her soul too. Or least, part of it.
Right then, with Cellular Extract active, the original body was made into the clone, and a flesh bud started to fall from it. The soul which had been escaping was pulled on; both by the influence of the Control Seal, and by that of the skill.
In the end...
RIP!
Vali's soul was torn, a larger chunk of it flew from Vali's body, and the smaller part was absorbed into the bud.
The flesh bud rapidly grew into Vali, and she emerged screaming at the top of her lungs from the agonising pain.
Called by her scream, the figure of Maxim dashed towards her, and with a dark face, she recalled Skullius' words before he turned into... whatever that was, and what he had placed on the ground.
'Give this to Vali.'
In Maxim's hand, was a vial of golden potion that Skullius had dropped from his storage. A Supreme potion.
The larger chunk of Vali's soul flew towards Rayn, and sank into his body as he wrestled Seramoro. It created a ripple of light as it dissolved through him, and the former Royal Knight narrowed his eyes. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford to tear off his attention from his opponent longer than that.
In the same moment, he thought he saw another soul hurtling towards him as well, but somehow, it didn't reach him. Or perhaps he was too distracted by another booming roar that came from Seramoro to see properly.
Rayn swatted the blast of darkness away.
'His moves aren't at all complex. Neither are his words,' he thought as he blocked a powerful punch from Seramoro that rocked through the sea, and extracted dead sea life that floated on its surface.
'This is a waste of time. He doesn't seem to have any of his other abilities,' Rayn said before dashing back. He made another complicated gesture with his hands, and his Nitros rushed out to cover the other broken chunks of the island!
In a second, the entire space where Actuass, Revia, Fulina, Vali, Sevill and Viccil were, was covered in a solid white coat, as if all worldly detail was erased. And then...
"Majestic Territory Expulsion: Deific Moonlight Paradise," Rayn softly called.
In an instant, a ripple of colour, a sandy gold hue, replaced the white, different gradients of it showing with height. Specks of hazy golden lights flew in the massive space, their source being largely clear.
Every living being felt a powerful suppression.
Vali, Maxim, Revia and Fulina felt their mana rebel against them, refusing to spill from their mana cores and into their mana channels.
It was only natural.
The basic function of a Territory, was to cancel out lesser forms of energy and break away the possibility of the enemy countering with their techniques.
As for what else it could do...
Rayn, with a solemn look on his face, then clasped both hands together, and in a dreamlike sequence, a massive city began to materialise from behind him, covering the entire golden horizon with a cluster of different sized buildings stacking up with the distance.
They all bore a brass-like, golden colour, a polished shine glittering over them whether they featured the lining of bricks or were plastered. Rich palm trees showed from the streets, and small pools of clear water could be spotted in secluded areas.
Just over the city, a gigantic silver moon showed off a faint rainbow halo over the city, and shockingly, several human figures could be seen bowing or raising their hands towards the large construct from different spots around the settlement!
The beauty of the image was stunning, but it wasn't a mere background. It was all real, brought to life by skill and power.
The walls of gold turned transparent after the image was formed, showing the outside of the Territory – the real world – vaguely.
With the Territory fully realised, Rayn glanced at those trapped inside.
'Impressive. Incandescent Stage experts who can block the passive effect of my Territory...' he thought at the sight of Viccil guarding Maxim and Vali with a solid, bubbly white Nitros, Sevill guarding Darwel, and Actuass guarding Revia and Fulina with the same.
Rayn's eyes then turned to Seramoro whose body seemed to be turning into an illusion.
"You are not unkillable in this state are you, Fulgardt?" he said, and the moon sitting above the city swelled threateningly.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢