Chapter 526: Disappointment
Time flowed like a river, and to halt it, Arthur used his Pseudo-Authority to place a dam in that river. However, the Planet Aramis’ Authority over its own time flow shattered the dam Arthur erected, freeing the Hero from the time stop.
Intrigued by this unprecedented situation, Arthur employed his Pseudo-Authority to halt time once more. As before, the planet broke it in a second, but by then, Arthur had already teleported behind the Hero.
"I see...it’s not fast enough. And it can only do this because my Authority is still ’Pseudo’."
"?!"
The Hero had only a split second to react to Arthur’s sudden presence behind him, turning just in time to block the godslayer’s fist from connecting with his skull.
Despite his successful block, the force of Arthur’s punch knocked the Hero back and Evan who was now behind him was not one to let the open back of an opponent go.
"Prismatic Vortex!"
A spiralling mass of multicoloured flames crashed into the Hero’s back and launched his body into the air, where a blue lightning bolt descended from the skies above and struck him.
Not even a second passed when Arthur reappeared above the Hero, delivering a powerful downward kick that sent the Hero crashing to the ground with tremendous force. The ground shook from the impact, creating a crater beneath the Hero.
The godslayer landed on the floor beside Evan who shook his head and spoke.
"Damn, I used my Unique Skill and still didn’t deal as much damage as you did with a single kick."
The Rogue Hero smiled wryly under his mask, but this situation couldn’t be helped. Evan was currently an Inferior Legendary while Arthur was a Superior Sovereign.
It’d be weirder if Evan could deal as much damage as Arthur could. What’s more, the Aramisian Hero was currently being boosted to Level 899, granting him increased durability that a normal Legendary wouldn’t be able to deplete. If they couldn’t get through it, then they couldn’t deal damage.
Evan could only bypass this durability and deal damage because of his Esoteric Flames and Blessing of Destruction Skill.
|Mesarthim: Prismatic Inferno;
Type: Unique Series Skill
This Multifaceted skill allows the user to command flames that embrace the vibrant hues of the rainbow, engulfing targets in a magnificent display of prismatic flames.
When used offensively, Mesarthim has a fixed chance to ignore a percentage of the target’s durability and resistances, dealing percentage damage in accordance with their maximum Health Values.
As the skill ignites, an ethereal blaze dances with vivid reds, dazzling oranges, vibrant yellows, luscious greens, brilliant blues, and majestic purples. These swirling hues create a mesmerizing spectacle that captivates both allies and adversaries alike.
This skill cannot be lost or taken away unless very special circumstances are met. |
Arthur read through the result he got from appraising Evan’s Unique Skill, before speaking to the boy.
"Rather than aiming for big bursts of damage, focus on hitting as many times as possible."
"Consistency, huh?
Even if my individual strikes don’t deal too much, if I hit him enough times, the damage would build up."
Evan responded, catching what Arthur was trying to tell him as he slotted a magic stone into his right forearm guard and activated his limit break skill.
"Can I take the kill? Even if that guy’s power is boosted, he’s still an Inferior Legendary. If you kill him, the EXP gain would be too little to matter."
When Evan asked this, Arthur thought about it for a second and realised this was the case. Currently, only Level 800 kills gave EXP that Arthur would consider ’Substantial’. The same way only Level 700s and above would give Evan substantial EXP.
"No problem."
"Thanks. Now let’s beat the shit out of him."
With those words, the two masked boys charged at the infuriated Aramisian Hero who was already heading towards them with his Unique Skill activated.
"Champion of Aether!"
The Hero roared and the surrounding space transformed by his command. Cosmic energy poured from his body and unstable portals of aether manifested, releasing rays of red energy that aimed towards his opponents.
Arthur and Evan teleported to dodge the attacks, but the rays curved and sought them out in the places they reappeared.
’Great, a Unique Series Skill with a homing attack.’
Evan rolled his eyes as he teleported once more, before using his Vindiction’s Strike skill to create gold-rimmed portals that fired beams of prismatic light which collided with the aether rays chasing him and ignited them in massive explosions.
As for Arthur, he created a barrier with gravity law energy to bend the rays off course and send them flying in random directions while he drew Celestia and swung it at the Hero.
Their blades met with a force that sent a shockwave rippling through the battlefield, cracking the earth beneath their feet.
Seeing that he pushed the Hero back with that first clash, Arthur restrained his strength a bit and swung Celestia in a wide arc, aiming for the Hero’s midsection.
The Hero parried with a swift upward block, countering with a thrust towards Arthur’s heart but Arthur sidestepped it and retaliated with a lightning-fast horizontal slash that forced the Hero to leap back.
He hadn’t landed on the ground when Arthur charged in and delivered a horizontal Extinction Slash that forced the hero to fly up to dodge.
Following him into the air, Arthur executed a series of rapid slashes with cosmic energy and the Hero matched his strikes blow for blow with the planet’s cosmic energy.
As they continued to battle, the ground below them bore the scars of their conflict, deep craters and fissures marking the earth where the shockwaves released from their attacks in the sky struck.
The Hero unleashed a burst of aether energy, momentarily blinding Arthur, and took the opportunity to strike. His blade cut through the air towards Arthur’s neck, but Arthur’s left eye gleamed with a memory of the future, allowing him to react in that second his field of view was temporarily covered.
He parried the strike with a powerful block, then twisted his body and delivered a spinning kick that sent the Hero flying back.
Without missing a beat, Arthur followed through with a lightning-fast dash, closing the distance in an instant and swung Celestia in a powerful overhead strike, but the Hero blocked with his aether blade, the impact sending shockwaves through the air.
The Hero infused his blade with more Aether, pushing Arthur back and using a technique tied to his Unique Skill.
"Phantom Strike."
He swung his blade at near hypersonic speed, creating a series of shimmering afterimages that trailed behind each swing. These afterimages, indistinguishable from the real blade, moved with a life of their own, slicing through the air with deadly intent.
Each one of them was capable of dealing real damage and Arthur noticed this due to the cosmic energy within them.
As such, he used gravity law energy to bend the space around him, forming an invisible barrier which bent the trajectories of the blades off course.
"Aether Chains."
The Hero summoned chains of aetheric energy to bind and restrict Arthur’s movements while he circled the godslayer and tried to attack from behind, however, crimson gold chains burst from the ground and wrapped around his aetheric chains, tangling them before they reached Arthur.
"Spectral Rend!"
The Hero swung his blade and unleashed a powerful wave of aetheric energy towards Arthur. He was about to swing it once more to send another sweeping arc towards the godslayer, but one of the crimson gold chains wrapped around his sword arm and the person holding the other end of the chain pulled on it, diverting his sword slash from its original trajectory.
The Hero turned to the chain’s source and saw Evan who waved at him lightly. With the same palm he used to wave at the Hero, Evan fired an abrupt energy blast which the Hero tilted his head to dodge.
Right after, Arthur’s hand gripped the back of his neck and Evan let go of the chain, allowing Arthur to easily pull the hero and fling him towards the ground.
He didn’t give the Hero a chance to regain his balance, rapidly condensing destruction law energy in front of his palm and releasing it as a beam of crimson silver light that collided with the Hero’s body, destroying the layer of cosmic energy protecting him, as well as the armour he wore before hitting his body and drawing blood.
Even after the Hero crashed onto the ground, Arthur didn’t let up, pouring more destructive energy into the attack for a good 10 more seconds, before finally stopping.
Looking at the Hero lying in a small pool of blood on the ground, Arthur sighed as he came to a realisation.
’This Planet...it doesn’t know how strong I am now.’
Arthur was certain of this.
The exchange he just had with the Hero was him trying to sound him out and see how strong the enhanced Hero was, but the result was disappointing.
Planetary Consciousnesses were capable of exerting their influence within their gravitational field, but that was it. They were not omnipotent.
For example, ’Aramis’ could break Arthur’s Time Stop but couldn’t prevent him from stopping time in the first place.
’Aramis’ did not have the power to do whatever it wanted, wherever it wanted, or however it wanted. Furthermore, there were rules binding it and limiting its actions.
These rules were why it had to use an indirect method like sending a Hero with enhanced power to take out Arthur.
Arthur recalled meeting "Hell," the Sentience of his home Universe, which revealed that it was nigh-omniscient within itself. Even a Universe’s Sentience had its blind spots, so a planet like Aramis naturally had many gaps in its awareness, particularly against higher powers.
