Chapter 616: A Monster.
Hywan and the other Great Spirits couldn’t believe that one being could overpower all Great Spirits and managed to take down the whole island in just a few hours. Even in Rullein’s weakened state, nobody dared to fight her because they knew most of them were no match for her. Their only hope was to let Zagres and Agon fight her, but even then, Agon had been defeated.
Zagres slowly turned back to his human form, realizing that fighting her in his dragon form would be a disadvantage. He had seen her power where she could turn into smoke as she pleased and appeared wherever she wanted to. With a big body, that would only make his fate the same as Agon’s. His only option was to fight him in his human form to match her speed and agility.
Zagres stretched his fingers and shoulders, noticing that his body was injured after taking huge damage from the explosion. Usually he could recover easily with the Mana that the world provided, but it wasn’t the case because he could see how much Rullein’s body acted like a vacuum and absorbed Mana for herself. He had a solution, and that was to let Simu heal him since she had rested enough to recover her Mana. However, that was when Rullein glanced at Simu with a cold gaze, knowing his plan before he could even create a plan for it.
"Don’t even try... or I’ll force my hand to kill her," Rullein said without showing any expression other than coldness. "Let me fight with a handicap then," she tossed her greatswords before they turned into puffs of black smoke and entered her body.
Zagres had no choice but to fight with his limitation. He raised his right hand and a fierce lightning bolt struck his hand and charged his body with explosive power. He knew it was dangerous because it would drain his energy faster, but it was better than losing the fight pathetically.
Zagres flew toward Rullein, creating a sonic boom and leaving an afterimage. When he struck her, the punch felt hollow because what he had just hit was nothing but the remnant of her before she teleported behind him. He used his elbow to strike right at her face but was immediately stopped when she locked his shoulder with her left hand. She tilted her head with a mockery written all over her face, but then suddenly a lightning struck her. To his surprise, she used her hand to catch the lightning and transferred the energy to feed herself as the sparks around her arm dissipated.
"You should have asked them about my power. I can absorb any kind of energy and turn it into my own. With this level of power, you’re only feeding me, not harming me," Rullein said and stared at Zagres with mockery and pity. "This is where desperation begins to sprout in the back of your mind, just like them before..." She chuckled mischievously.
Zagres immediately broke free and flew away to create a distance between them. However, when he turned around to look at Rullein, she had disappeared until he saw a faint black smoke in the corner of his eyes.
"Boo!" Rullein whispered into Zagres’ ear before she disappeared again as Zagres discharged the lightning in his body, releasing branches of lightning bolts around him. "So predictable," she appeared from thin air in front of him as soon as the lightning dissipated.
"You’re playing with your prey for too long," Zagres said with an impassive expression before he glanced behind Rullein.
Rullein glanced over her shoulder and noticed Agon had come back and was in his human form with the other Ancient Great Spirits behind him. All of them had regained enough power and Simu had used her power to recover Agon’s injuries and his energy.
"Oh, I’m aware. And I did that on purpose," Rullein chuckled with a grin on her face. "Go, ask your little healer to heal your wound," she smirked as she pointed her hand toward her back.
Zagres narrowed his eyes for a moment before he flew away and regrouped with the others. Simu began to use the remaining of her energy to heal and recover from his injuries and energy. She knew that her power wouldn’t be enough to bring Agon and Zagres back to their prime, but it was better than nothing.
"Now, finally all nine of you are going to fight side by side," Rullein said as she slowly turned around to look at them. "Let’s make a deal. If I win, all of you are mine to control. If I lose, I’ll accept whatever you want to do with me," she proposed.
"Enlighten us as to why you’re doing this to us?" Agon asked with his brows furrowed.
"Because I was told to," Rullein answered as she shrugged.
Rullein’s answer made Agon and the other Great Spirits baffled and stunned by how simple it was. Agon wondered what kind of being that managed to order someone like her around. That was when Hywan revealed everything based on what Garuma had said since Garuma met Rasmus, Aris, and Rullein when the Ashenvale family’s existence was threatened. The name that came to light was Rasmus, an anomaly, a child of an Aristoria and a human.
"Now, are we done talking? Do you agree with what I have proposed?" Rullein asked with her brows raised and head tilted to the side. "Honestly, I don’t need to. I can easily use my power to make obey me," she pointed out as she stared at her hand in front of her face, the hand that released black smoke. "But I’m not that savage," she smiled coldly.
"We will keep that in mind," Agon nodded as the bright sunlight pushed the dark clouds and glanced at Hywan transformed into a phoenix and soared through the sky, using his power to harmonize everyone’s power while at the same time destabilizing Rullein’s.
Rullein closed her eyes and she hated Hywan’s power the most compared to all the Great Spirits. His power was capable of disrupting her energy that made her unstable when using her power. She knew what she was doing, and she knew that future threats could have that kind of situation and she wanted to train for that.
"Shall we?" Rullein smirked as black smoke covered her hands and slowly turned into greatswords.
The dark clouds formed underneath Hywan’s feet but the sunlight managed to pierce through some of them. Snow began to fall from the dark clouds but at the same time a storm was brewing above them. The visibility of the sky reduced greatly that it was impossible to see a few meters ahead of Rullein, but that wasn’t a problem for her since she could sense energy with her draconic eyes. She looked down at the ravaging sea as a massive whirlpool formed underneath her. She glanced at the waterspouts forming and grew bigger, it was like many disasters combined into one.
The other Great Spirits were watching in the far distance, witnessing something that had never happened before. All of the Ancient Great Spirits stood side by side facing against a single being. The moment a lightning struck the sea, the Ancient Great Spirits and Rullein disappeared and a huge shockwave cleared the sky and calmed the weather and the sea. They saw eight Ancient Great Spirits attacking Rullein from all sides while Rullein used her wings, tail, and arms to block their attacks.
"What a monster..." A Great Spirit muttered in disbelief.
