Chapter 596: Borrowing a ‘Pet’ Hydra
The true Level 995 Duskhand.
Arthur’s realization froze him in place for a moment. He couldn’t beat this version of Duskhand. The weight of that truth pressed down on him, and Duskhand knew it too.
The man had been concealing his strength, deliberately restraining himself to avoid drawing the attention of the Transcendents at Plomux High Command. But now, with his power exposed, the silence between them felt as heavy as the destruction energy swirling through the battlefield.
Then, as if snapping back into focus, Arthur’s energy surged, his power converging around him in an intense burst.
Energy crackled in the air as Arthur focused the power of his Law of Summoning, forming a complex circle around him. But Duskhand, realizing what was happening, wasn’t about to let him finish the spell so easily.
The man released his hold on his power, using his Radiant Surge technique to heal some of the wounds Arthur inflicted and charged forward, his spear radiating with powerful divinity.
"Divine Convergence!"
Since his Unique Skill required Divinity for activation, he had no choice but to use it. He thrust his spear forward, channelling a full-powered attack aimed directly at Arthur.
But just before the strike could land, Arthur’s Stellar Guard activated. The shimmering barrier of Cosmic energy intercepted Duskhand’s spear, absorbing the devastating attack in a flash of brilliant light.
’That damned invisible barrier again!!!’
Duskhand cursed internally as he felt his spear hit something invisible, and the impact sent shockwaves across the battlefield. But Arthur remained unharmed, protected behind the indestructible guard.
At that moment, the summoning circle finished forming and Arthur’s Anti-Divinity flared, rising in a silver surge that pierced the clouds.
A massive six-ringed summoning circle unfurled behind him and the boy cast a glance into the distance and spoke.
|¬Barron, you’re in Plomux, aren’t you? I’ll borrow your pet for a little bit. ¬|
From the glowing summoning circle, a gigantic seven-headed beast emerged, its colossal form casting a shadow over the battlefield. Duskhand’s expression shifted instantly—he knew this beast.
He had faced it in numerous battles. This was not some common creature; it belonged to none other than Demon Admiral Agriker, known for commanding some of the most fearsome summons Aramisians had ever seen.
As the Seven-Headed Hydra manifested, its aura exploded outward, scattering debris and shattering what remained of the battlefield’s calm.
The Hydra’s power was far beyond anything Arthur should have been able to summon, unless...
’He’s stronger than we calculated! His strength is higher than it was when the demons took down Plomux High Command! Far Higher!’
Duskhand’s brain immediately arrived at the correct conclusion, but he couldn’t afford to focus on it much as there were more pressing issues; namely, the implications of the Hydra’s presence here.
But the Hydra itself was also confused.
Of the Hydra’s seven heads, six turned their gaze toward Arthur, their eyes narrowing in suspicion. One of the heads, its scales glinting with a dark sheen, tilted slightly forward before a voice, low and thunderous, rumbled from its throat.
[How?]
The creature could not understand. The Arthur it knew didn’t possess the energy to summon it—let alone the Authority.
This beast was contracted to Barron, not Arthur. Arthur neither had the Authority nor the summoning rights to call upon it, so how?
In response to the Hydra’s question, Arthur chuckled, a sly grin spreading across his face behind his mask.
"Well, last time we met, I left a little something on you. Guess you didn’t notice it... since you probably couldn’t have imagined that a mere Legendary would dare to mark you."
The Hydra’s heads shifted at Arthur’s words, their massive eyes now searching their own body with a mix of curiosity and unease. At first, it noticed nothing. But then, it scanned again, and slowly its eyes widened with shock.
In the narrow space between two of its necks, a glowing silver mark shimmered faintly atop one of its many scales—Arthur’s silver energy, hidden and dormant, but present all the same.
It had been left there by Arthur during the Triton’s Ark encounter, an unnoticed residue of power meant for a moment like this.
The summoning law mark was a basically temporary claim and the main reason the Hydra had not noticed it was because Arthur had made it using Barron’s Pseudo-Authority!
The Hydra hadn’t detected it because the mark was camouflaged under Barron’s own signature.
Back then, Barron had granted Arthur permission to summon the Hydra once, using a charge of his Pseudo-Authority. Arthur had decided to play a little trick and made a temporary claim—enough for Arthur to summon the beast once, as long as Barron, the true contractor, was nearby.
One of the Hydra’s heads began to glow, the energy swirling around its maw. It then uttered a single word.
[Reverse summoning.]
Arthur’s laugh echoed again.
"I figured that was coming."
The Hydra was no fool. Though it had been summoned by Arthur, it was bound to Barron. Its immediate reaction was to use reverse summon—calling its true master to its side, rather than being dragged by Arthur’s will.
Moments later, a summoning circle appeared, and from it, the shoulder-length-haired and brown-eyed Demon Admiral stepped forth.
Barron glanced at Arthur with sharp eyes, intending to demand an explanation for how his prized Hydra had been summoned.
But before he could speak, his gaze swept over the battlefield, taking in the chaos. He saw Duskhand, the retreating Aramisian forces, and Arthur’s summons rampaging across the field.
Spreading out his aura, Barron quickly calculated the distance to Plomux High Command and the nature of the battle.
His eyes narrowed and without a moment’s hesitation, he sent a message through his mind link to Plomux High Command, alerting every Transcendent in the area.
Their responses were instantaneous. Within seconds, Barron could feel auras rushing toward the battlefield, fast and powerful. In fact, they were already on the move after having sensed Duskhand releasing the hold on his power.
Sensing the immediate danger, Duskhand made a swift decision. His voice boomed across the battlefield as he commanded.
[All units, full evacuation now!]
The Aramisian forces, already on the back foot, began to retreat as fast as they could, attempting to escape the impending clash of Transcendents.
But Barron had no intention of letting them flee so easily. Shoving his concerns about Arthur aside for the moment, he issued a command to his Hydra.
"Unleash your breaths!"
At once, the Hydra’s seven heads opened their jaws wide, each one charging with a different elemental energy. In a devastating display of power, the Hydra released seven streams of energy, each targeting the fleeing Aramisian Transcendents.
The blasts hurtled through the air, aimed at the Inferior and Intermediate Transcendents who had no time to counter the monstrous attack bearing down upon them.
While all this happened, Arthur sheathed Celestia and watched in silence.
Arthur had anticipated that he could take down Duskhand now, but to his surprise, the man had fully recovered—even after Alvey had aggravated the wounds he’d sustained in their last encounter.
’Maybe a god King healed him...’
Such a thought crossed Arthur’s mind as he turned around and began walking away.
Noticing this, Barron turned and was about to call out, but his voice caught in his throat when he saw Jamie shimmer into existence beside Arthur.
"Beatrix said Evan’s awake now."
|¬Oh? Let’s get going then. ¬|
Turning around, Arthur locked onto the figure of Duskhand who was blocking Barron’s Hydra’s breaths and shouted out.
|¬Hey, Duskhand.
The next Extreme Nothingness is gonna end you. Ready your neck. ¬|
With that final taunt, Arthur stepped through the Cosmic Gate Jamie had conjured. In the blink of an eye, they both vanished, leaving the battlefield behind.
Within minutes of his departure, the summoning magic that held Arthur’s beasts faded, and his powerful summons dissipated, returning to their home worlds.
But that short window had been more than enough. As the High-Rank Demons arrived, the battlefield was already theirs so Arthur’s summons were no longer needed.
◇ ◇ ◇
Restricted Battlefield Ruins
Plewren Continent
High-Level World Toverus
July 30th
Year 1054 of the 50th General Calendar
The scene was one of utter devastation.
It was a desolate, battlefield, a scarred testament to the cataclysmic battle that had raged just ten days prior.
Once a lush world, now it was a broken wasteland, the remnants of cosmic fury scarring the ground with unhealed wounds, with dozens of ruptures in the fabric of space that not even the planet’s consciousness could mend.
The planet had suffered heavily under the war against Gozon, but the final battle of the war caused it more damage in one day than decades of war.
Arthur’s battle with the angels and the Cosmic Artifact left behind by the Progenitor Angel had magnified the destruction Toverus suffered.
The energy unleashed when Arthur had destroyed the Book of Truth replica—a facsimile of one of the most powerful cosmic tools in existence—had ruptured not just the battlefield, but the fabric of space-time itself.
This wasn’t simply cosmic energy; it was the cosmic energy of an artifact created by the Progenitor Angel, a being renowned across the Cosmos.
Jagged tears hung in the air, shimmering with a deadly radiance. Each one a spatial fracture carved by each swing of Lostvayne in its partially released state.
Every swing of that blade, during his battle with the Transcendents who sought to stop Arthur, had left these immutable scars in space, and they wouldn’t heal for centuries, if ever.
The power of the ’Cosmic Sword of Destruction’ left marks that time itself refused to erase.
The Gozonian Demons had cordoned off the area, fearful of the lingering danger. These spatial tears were not benign; anything unfortunate enough to touch them would be erased from existence, as though sliced by the sharpest of space-woven blades.
Only fools would willingly approach the area knowing this risk.
And yet, in the heart of this devastation were two figures, unbothered by the tears that ruptured both space and reality.
One was on his knees, chains of cosmic energy binding his arms and neck, and his head was bowed in submission. The chains were linked to the hand of the second figure who stood.
This kneeling Demon General looked hollow, his eyes dull and his voice devoid of spirit—the kind of things one would expect from someone who’d been mind-controlled.
Standing over him was a ’man’ with sharp piercing iridescent eyes, and long black hair tied in a ponytail below the base of ’his’ head.
’He’ wore a simple short-sleeved shirt and black trousers, under a long, flowing overcoat that billowed slightly in the wind.
This ’man’ was someone that the Eternals who governed the Concepts of the Cosmos had granted Candidacy for the Eternal Seat of Time and Destruction.
’He’, was the Rogue Planetary Consciousness from the First-Generation Prime World, Cruotis Prime.
’He’, was Bewusstsein.
