Chapter 561: Divine Sparks +1
Arthur concluded his words echoing with the weight of inevitability. As he spoke, a silvery haze began to rise from his body, the manifestation of his Null.
The air around him seemed to warp and distort, the haze spreading like a creeping mist.
Suddenly, three non-divine Humans descended from above, their bodies glowing with powerful elemental law energies as they landed between Arthur and Jakimor, forming a barrier to stop Arthur’s advance.
"Sir Jakimor, release ’it’ now!"
One of them shouted, urgency and resolve in his voice before charging at Arthur to hold him off and buy time.
Jakimor, catching the brief respite, nodded without hesitation. His expression was grim, yet determined, as he quickly began to chant softly, his hands moving in a practised rhythm as he activated his Pseudo-Authority of Binding.
White chains of light appeared, wrapping around his form as he conducted a quick unsealing ritual.
He accessed the archive of sealed items, calling upon one of which was a dark power—a blade of a fallen god, once a beacon of light, but now corrupted by the demons before its wielder’s demise.
"Corrupted god Sword: Abyssal Torment."
As the name was spoken, the ground beneath Jakimor split open, and the hilt of a dark, ominous blade emerged from the depths.
The sword pupplsed with a malevolent energy, dark divinity swirling around its length. Jakimor grasped the hilt, and as he did, a surge of corrupted power flowed into him, filling his veins with dark energy.
The blade’s corruption spread up his arm, turning his fingernails ink black and crawling up his fingers, but the power it granted him was immense.
He looked up, ready to face Arthur with his newfound power—only to see Arthur nonchalantly waving his hand, the action seemingly casual yet devastating in its effect.
An intense gravitational force erupted from Arthur’s gesture, sending the three Humans who had been guarding Jakimor flying through the air and into the path of a nearby group of Demons.
Arthur’s gaze then shifted to the blade in Jakimor’s hand, his brow raising in mild curiosity. He shrugged a moment later, as if the blade were of little consequence before charging forward with Lostvayne, undeterred.
Jakimor dashed forward to meet Arthur’s charge, his great sword blazing with the combined might of his divinity and flames flickering between white and black.
He swung the massive blade in a powerful arc, as if intending to bisect Arthur in a single stroke, but Arthur was faster—much faster.
Arthur simply slowed time and sidestepped the attack, letting the great sword cut through empty air before retaliating.
"Extinction Slash."
Lostvayne released a thin silver line of energy and Jakimor was unable to dodge the close-range slash. It tore through his hastily made barrier and split his flesh, cutting deep into the root of his existence.
A sharp pain tore through Jakimor’s soul, and blood began to trickle from his nose and the corners of his eyes. He staggered back, clutching at his chest as the soul damage manifested physically.
"Oh, you didn’t scream? I’m impressed."
Arthur told no lies. He was genuinely impressed by how the man didn’t scream like a child at the soul damage. Even he screamed aloud when he first experienced Soul damage.
Jakimor growled in response, shaking off the pain as best he could. He swung his great sword again, this time with the Law of Fate infused into the strike, but Arthur only smirked and made the attack skip forward in time, bypassing the trajectory entirely.
Jakimor’s sword met nothing but air, and the god felt a cold sweat break out on his brow a moment before Arthur’s foot hit him in the side and sent his feet skidding on the ground.
|¬Gravitational Maelstrom. ¬|
The air around them warped as a swirling vortex of gravitational force formed on Arthur’s command. Jakimor found himself lifted off the ground, his body at the mercy of the powerful gravity.
He used chains to try anchoring himself to the ground, but Arthur destroyed all his chains with an Extinction Slash before flicking his fingers and expanding the gravity maelstrom.
It reached out to the nearby battlefield and Arthur selected his targets as ’Divines’, causing the bodies of gods and divine humans—those still alive and those already dead—to be pulled towards Jakimor’s position, their forms crushed by the intense gravitational pressure.
The screams of the battlefield seemed to increase as random combatants were dragged into the sky, and Arthur pivoted on his foot, dragging divines from all around him.
"?!"
Jakimor’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what was happening. He struggled with all his might, summoning every ounce of his divinity to break free.
"Eternal Bind!"
He conjured chains of luminous energy to try and drag his body to the ground whilst also trying to hold down the bodies of those who were being pulled by Arthur’s Maelstrom. He sent some chains towards Arthur, hoping to distract him with them, however, the silvery haze around Arthur disintegrated the chains before they could reach him.
Arthur raised his left hand and channelled cosmic energy into the maelstrom, before forcing his palms close.
The bodies of the gods and divine humans caught were compressed further, blocking Jakimor’s form from view.
Bones shattered, blood splattered, and the air was filled with the sickening sound of bodies being crushed into pulp. Jakimor’s own body was caught in the maelstrom, the pressure seemingly threatening to break him apart.
The man had wanted to avoid harming his allies, but seeing that any delay was only going to make it worse, he gritted his teeth and roared in defiance.
Jakimor unleashed a burst of divinity, the grey light exploding outward in a desperate attempt to break free from the maelstrom. The force of the explosion scattered the crushed bodies and sent shockwaves through the air.
The god had broken free, but his body was battered.
Arthur watched with a cold smile as Jakimor struggled to regain his composure. The man was exhausted, both from fighting Arthur, the mental stress that came with seeing his comrades get crushed and the cost of wielding the Corrupted god Sword.
Arthur had the advantage and he pressed that advantage, his eyes glowing faintly as he raised his great sword to block Jakimor’s slash.
Their blades met with a deafening impact that sent shockwaves through the ground, and Arthur thrust forward six times in one second, each one aimed at exploiting Jakimor’s weakened state.
He used time manipulation to delay his attacks, confusing Jakimor and forcing him to react to blows that came at unexpected intervals. Each time Jakimor blocked an attack, another would follow, skipping through time and space to land a devastating blow.
Jakimor could feel his strength waning; his soul weakening with each hit. Blood continued to trickle from his nose and eyes, the physical manifestation of the soul damage Arthur was inflicting.
Desperation flickered in Jakimor’s eyes as he swung his great sword with all his might, channelling as much of the dark divinity dwelling within it as he could. Chains surged out and bound Arthur’s feet, with Jakimor hoping to keep the boy in place for even a second.
However, this was for nought as the silver haze emanating from Arthur’s body surged and turned the chains to dust. With that, Arthur disappeared and reappeared a split second later behind Jakimor.
Before Jakimor could react, Arthur thrust Lostvayne forward, the blade biting into Jakimor’s back. The destruction energy coursing through it seared his flesh and soul alike, and Jakimor gasped in pain, his vision blurring as the soul damage took its toll on his soul.
His cracked armour had gaps which Arthur exploited, stabbing through them and twisting the blade to ensure maximum pain. Arthur amplified the destructive energy and then with a forceful shove, he pulled it out, sending Jakimor stumbling forward, struggling to stay upright.
Arthur flicked his fingers and used gravity to draw Jakimor’s body back towards him. The man took advantage of the momentum and turned around, swinging down his blade but Arthur simply snapped his fingers and created an Anti-Gravity field around Jakimor.
This caused the god to be abruptly thrown in the air, and before he could regain his balance, Arthur quintupled the gravitational force, slamming the god back down to the ground with devastating impact.
Not giving Jakimor a moment to recover, Arthur dragged him back once more, thrusting Lostvayne forward the moment he got in range.
|¬Extreme Nothingness. ¬|
The point-blank blast of energy erupted from Lostvayne, tearing through what remained of Jakimor’s armour, stripping his upper body bare. Golden blood sprayed into the air as Jakimor was sent hurtling backwards, tumbling through the air like a broken doll.
The boy then stabbed his blade into the ground, harnessing the silver haze rising from his body and condensing it into an orb with cosmic energy.
’Should I make an orb variation of Extreme Nothingness?’
The idea flitted through Arthur’s mind as he shaped the energy into a dense, swirling mass, before kicking off the ground and dashing towards Jakimor.
He caught up to the god struggling to his feet, and faster than Jakimor could swing his sword, Arthur slammed the orb of energy into his stomach and twisted it before the force sent Jakimor flying once more.
’Raseng-!’
[Copyright!]
Just as he did that, he was attacked by two Transcendents, but a simple gravitational downforce of 25 times Olrerth’s gravity was enough to bring them to their knees.
Arthur ignored them and dashed forward, Lostvayne flying back into his grip as he pulled it overhead and filled it with anti-divinity, before swinging it down with both hands.
Jakimor, coughing blood, swung his corrupted blade with all his might to block the strike in a clash that clash sent violent tremors through his arms.
Without hesitation, Arthur pulled back and delivered another powerful overhead slash, then followed up with a brutal kick to the side of Jakimor’s head, sending the god flying to the side.
’Gravitational Chaos.’
Arthur stomped his foot on the ground and commanding with his Pseudo-Authority, he disrupted the gravitational balance of the area around them.
The landscape itself began to tear apart under the chaotic shifts, disorienting everyone in the vicinity. Even the demons were affected, but Arthur quickly followed up with a gravitational maelstrom, setting Jakimor as the focal point.
The bodies of nearby divines were pulled toward him, crashing into Jakimor with relentless force. Arthur squeezed his left fist, using cosmic energy to squash them together into an orb of flesh, uncaring of whether they survived.
He then raised Lostvayne overhead, swirling the iridescent cosmic energy, blue temporal energy, crimson destruction law energy, and most importantly, the silvery power of his Anti-Divinity and Null around the blade.
|¬Extreme Nothingness¬|
Arthur’s swing released a long, jagged slash of purple-silver energy that tore through the air, crossing the distance between him and the maelstrom in an instant.
The slash split through the maelstrom, shredding the bunched-up bodies. Jakimor who was in the centre, was blasted with enough force to send him crashing into the shattered ground below.
Arthur teleported to the point of impact, looking at the body of the god with blood seeping from multiple wounds as he struggled to breathe.
He raised Lostvayne and in response to this, Jakimor erupted with a final surge of willpower. He reached out, conjuring his last defence—chains of luminous energy that shot out to bind Arthur, hoping to seal him once and for all.
The chains wrapped around Arthur’s limbs, glowing with a fierce, desperate light as they tightened their grip.
For a moment, it seemed as if Jakimor had succeeded. But then, Arthur sighed and the silvery haze of his Null erupted from his body, dissolving the chains like acid and eating them up in seconds.
Arthur wasted no more time and swung Lostvayne down, the soul-devouring blade cutting through Jakimor’s neck with a single, swift motion.
Blood spurted from the wound as Jakimor’s head rolled away, his body collapsing in a lifeless heap.
|¬Don’t eat his Soul, Lostvayne. ¬|
The blade thrummed defiantly in response, but Arthur just narrowed his eyes at it and it went silent.
|¬Divine Spark Extraction¬|
Jakimor’s wounded chest tore open and the white crystal on his heart flew into Arthur’s palm. The godslayer then took a deep breath and released all his powers except his Destruction Pseudo-Authority.
’I’m fucking exhausted.’
He concealed his fatigue behind a facade, projecting an aura of strength as if he could easily engage in another battle like the one he’d just won, leaving Lostvayne and Celestia floating around him.
In truth, though, he had depleted a significant portion of his reserves.
He’d won against a Transcendent, but even if weakened, it was still a Transcendent so the current Arthur didn’t even have the magic power to cast a single spell.
’Well, I didn’t touch my divinity and aura so they’re still there, but the other energies are completely spent.’
Arthur used water magic to wash the blood of the divine spark, before biting into it as he kept maintaining his Progenitor Authority for the sake of the warring demons.
’Maybe I’d summon Stelan and the others in the next world.
The thought flew into his mind as he bit down on the divine spark and looked up at the cloudy sky that seemed to herald the dark outcome of this battle for the people of Olrerth.
