Simultaneously, the second released jagged tendrils of black lightning, crackling with ominous energy that seemed to feed off the very bitterness felt by the people of Verduracliff on the day of their untimely deaths.
Bolts of dark-hued lightning streaked towards Luke with unnerving precision and intensity, carrying enhanced potency, which was then maximized to its highest damage potential.
What's more, was that getting hit by this didn't just roast you with lightning, but if you were unfortunate enough to survive, it inflicted a unique mental status effect on you, forcefully creating a maelstrom of resentment within you, amplifying emotions, especially those of enmity and bitterness.
Such a thing could cloud the judgements of those hit by it, leaving them vulnerable to further attacks and our resident Sword Saint wasn't about to become one.
He changed his sword's elemental infusion, switching to the earth element and charging forward while releasing slashes of geo-energy towards the incoming projectiles.
But it should be recalled, that the King had cast 3 spells and not two.
The king's hands moved as Luke charged forward, a halo of dark light spreading out around his outstretched arms, which then went on to encircle his palms.
Sparks flew towards the ground from his palms as they slammed together, turning into howling lighting beasts as they landed.
There were at least twenty of them surrounding Luke and each one blitzed towards him as fast as the element they were made of.
In the face of this, the Sword Saint executed a simple yet complex manoeuvre, dodging the light blue lightning spear with a swift sidestep, after having dealt with the ominous lightning bolts with his aura slashes.
An array of explosions rang out around him as the slashes and lightning bolts collided, but Luke's mind was more focused on the real challenge ahead, the encroaching dark lightning panthers of which he could count 30 at a glance.
'I'm not really good with this kind of Magic, but here goes.'
He stomped his foot on the floor and infused magic power into the ground through it, creating a giant three-ringed magic circle beneath his feet that spanned a bit over half the throne hall.
"Earth Magic: Terraquake!"
He cast a lower Tier Variant of the AOE Earth magic spell, causing the ground beneath his feet to tremble as a powerful shockwave was unleashed.
The dark lightning panthers had their trajectories disrupted by the tremors the rippling shockwaves caused, and their forms were thrown off balance.
For the unlucky few who had already closed in the distance and got into melee range, Luke's sword arm blurred and the Sword Saint sliced them apart.
"AWOOOOO!!**BOOOMMM!!!!
Each one cried in pain before exploding in a flash of black light, sending waves of darkness and lightning elements hurtling towards Luke but the man's innate defensive barrier was enough to block the damage from that.
A resounding impact followed the earth's embrace overwhelming the rest of the panthers. They were crushed by the force of the shockwaves and forcefully dispersed into dissipating darkness.
But despite this, despite the powerful spells both Luke and the King had used, the Throne Hall was still standing for some reason that baffled the Sword Saint.
Even so, he didn't dwell too much on this, charging straight towards the King whose grimoire's pages were already fluttering once more.
Seeing his sword still infused with earth elemental energy, the King generated a two-layered barrier of earth and flames to block the sword slashes that came crashing down towards his form.
'Blade Shower.'
Luke subtly activated a skill, making his energy condense rapidly in the air and form a pressurized water elemental sword construct.
The instant that Luke's sword struck the earthen barrier, the pressurized blade shot forward at sonic speed, piercing through the earth barrier with ease and moving onto the fire barrier beneath.
In that same moment, the man had already delivered twin strikes, each one sending another pressurized water blade through the hole that the first blade had pierced in the earthen barrier.
The flame barrier beneath it naturally did not last long against the watery onslaught, dissipating after the first strike and giving way for the other two swords to pierce the King's body.
Blood spluttered in the air as Luke destroyed the Earthen barrier, knocking the King's body backwards and charging in for another Two-Fold Cross-Slash.
The king quickly figured out the condition for the pressurized water blades to be triggered—Luke's actual sword strikes hitting him and quickly activated a spell to gain distance.
'Minor Teleportation.
Vanishing and reappearing a dozen metres away, the King waved his hand over the grimoire, making its pages flap rapidly before settling on a golden glowing page.
**BZZZTTT!!!!
A spear of lightning manifested in the air and stabbed down onto the ground bursting into trails of lightning that advanced forwards on impact.
'Using water against Lightning—bad idea.'
The Sword Saint thought as he stomped his foot on the ground, breaking his dash before leaping backwards up into the air.
His energy flowed through his energy circuits at record speed, escaping his body and into the air around him, before mixing with the ambient energies and dominating them.
An array of swords manifested above him, spanning an area of about 50 square metres, each one holding dense earth elemental energy.
'Go.'
Dozens of blades shot forward, stabbing into the ground and exploding upon contact with the incoming trails of lightning.
Others sliced downwards, splitting the golden orbs of explosive lightning that shot forward and triggering the explosions.
**BOOOM!! BOOOOMM!!!! BOOOMMM!!!
The entirety of the core castle trembled heavily, but yet, the Throne room remained undisturbed, as if all the power of the explosions was being absorbed somewhere.
*FLIT-FLIT!
The sound of the grimoire's pages flapping was followed by a blue light coming from the book, one that made Luke sigh and switch his sword over to his left hand.
Immediately he did that, four single-ringed magic circles appeared on his right arm, before combining them together to form one fourth tier circle that engulfed his arm in a fiery aura.
Simultaneously, another Tier Four Magic circle appeared in front of the King, this one gleaming with the light of the opposing water element.
From it, a massive pulsating orb of water twice the King's size appeared and hovered ominously in the air
'Water Magic: Deluge Cataclysm.'
The Orb hurtled forward with ferocious velocity, and in the face of this, Luke clenched his fist and punched forward.
"Brachium."
***KAAABOOOOOMM!!!!
The collision of the opposing elemental forces sent shockwaves ripping through the entire castle. Torrents of water met roaring flames in a fierce struggle, illuminating the entirety hall.
Steam billowed and hissing flames spluttered as the two spells locked in a brilliant display of power.
Yet, just when the two spells reached their apex, strange runes materialised on the walls of the hall, absorbing the colliding energies that threatened to blast the castle to bits several times over.
This caused the explosion to die down faster than it was meant to and before the sharp eyes of the Sword Saint could catch sight of the runes, they flickered out of existence, as if they were never there in the first place.
The steam cleared up and Luke gazed at the figure of the King on the opposing end, his body wrapped in multi-layered barriers, numbering six in total.
However, all but the last one which had cracks spiderwebbing through it had been destroyed.
'What absorbed my spell?'
Even if Luke did not see the runes, there was no way he would not notice the power of his spell being absorbed somewhere and his energy-infused gaze darted across the hall in an attempt to scan for it.
But such an attempt proved unnecessary as the young hero who was now watching the fight from a void step floating about seventy metres in the air, gave the answer to his queries.
"Mehn, the damage absorption runes in this place are crazy. Should have brought Laurene here, she'd be able to see through them and replicate them."
Hearing his words, Luke finally figured out what had absorbed his spell, and the same reason why the Core Castle hadn't been turned to smithereens already.
The Throne Hall had damage redistribution and absorption runes that spread out the power of each attack evenly across the Hall, before absorbing them, thereby preventing the Hall's destruction.
Sure, it could be broken, but its upper damage limit was quite high, and due to the damage redistribution runes, even attacks concentrated at a point would not be able to break them.
'Not so strange considering this an ancient kingdom o-'
**FLIT-FLIT-FLIT-FLIT!!!
'-that sound is getting annoying.'
With that thought, Luke blitzed in faster than the lightning magic circles could fully form, swinging his aura-coated sword and destroying the circles completely.
He then kicked off the ground, boosting forward with an even higher speed as he beelined straight towards the King, but his target was not the battle mage, but the grimoire floating beside him.
However—
"Stop, Sir Luke!!"
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