"Like I told you, you're too late. Rise!"
The Emperor waved his Metagen's arms from below upwards. Along with the emission of his black smoke domain, the previous minions that his domain produced transformed into 10-meter tall Black Smoke Giants. Each of them has different forms and they all exuded different aura that was enough to drown a Rank 5 Mortal in their pressure.
"You're proud of that? Rise!"
With our communication open, I could see Nysia's amused expression as she copied his word and gestures.
From the half-ruined skyscraper domain, broken debris of buildings rose up from the ground and formed 10-meter tall Ruin Golems. Some of which were holding makeshift blunt weapons while some were holding different sizes and types of shields.
Both the Black Smoke Giants and Ruin Golems immediately put each other as enemies. The two groups of Domain Creatures moved and met at the border where the two domains clashed.
At first, it looks like the battle was at a stalemate, however, when the Ruin Golems started using part of Nysia's awakened abilities, the Black Smoke Giants fell into a disadvantage and started dropping like flies. With every defeated Black Smoke Golems Nysia's domain ate away on his black smoke domain.
It's already more than a week since she started treading on that Pathway, compared to this guy who has just gotten enlightenment for his own Pathway, Nysia is way ahead of him.
"How is it? Do you have more tricks you'll show me?"
Nysia mocked him again and this time, she swung her Morning Star which produced a spiked energy projectile that was sent shooting towards the All-black Metagen. Like a baseball batter who hit the pitch straight to the pitcher, a bright green spiked ball of energy which contained her own Bluntforce was sent straight towards the Metagen's face.
Surely, his reaction was slower that when he tried to dodge, the spiked ball of energy curved downwards and accurately hit the shoulder of his Metagen, drilling deeply into it rendering the regenium plates covering it useless.
With the force brought about by that casual swing, the All-black Metagen was pushed back for at least 30 meters away from its original position.
Using that chance, Nysia followed it up by dashing over directly in front of Lucas. The Sanguine Aegis moved swiftly and did not let her enemy stabilize his own footing.
Their domains that were contesting against each other continued their clash and in no time at all, the black smoke domain of the Emperor could be clearly seen as it was being eaten away by the half-ruined domain little by little.
Lucas tried to teleport away but Nysia countered that skill of his before his body dissolved into a black smoke by sending another energy projectile coated with her Bluntforce.
Nysia has been watching and observing our battle since earlier. Even if I didn't let him land any hits to my real body, he already used most of his skills against my clones. Nysia took note of that and immediately employed the counter-attacks for each of his skills. As long as she's faster than him, Lucas should forget about running away.
The All-black Metagen turned silent as Nysia started dominating in their battle. Lucas deactivated his domain and instead created Black Smoke clones which became his shields instead of helper.
Nysia effortlessly used one of her skills, Reduce Armor to his clones before bashing them away with her Bluntforce coated morning star. With each swing of her weapon, a clone will be destroyed.
Through the screen, I could see how she was enjoying this battle. Toying with the smug Emperor and fighting a strong enough opponent after a while awakened her previous persona, Aegis.
No. That persona wasn't really shelved, she just couldn't find a strong enough opponent to test her newfound strength after becoming my Companion as well as becoming enlightened about her Transcendent Pathway.
Well, there's me but we always spar inside the simulation and more often than not, Nysia gets frustrated at how I always run away from her.
Unlike me, this guy thought he could fight her head-on and that ignited her desire to thrash him and finish him off.
Well, even if she's currently drunk in battle, her head is clear on our current objective.
Either killing or crippling Lucas for the safety of this world.
Of course, we both prefer killing him but there's also value at letting him live. However, now that he got enlightened about his Transcendent Pathway, the scales lean completely on killing him.
Even if Leianne took it to heart later, I'll take that blame even if she started hating me. But knowing her, I'm sure she'll be fine.
Now that his domain was deactivated, Lucas was completely under Nysia's domain. Not only could she hit him mercilessly, but the Ruin Golems also started to take their turns at cracking his All-black Metagen.
With his desperate attempt, Lucas managed to pull back while creating more clones. To answer his move, a rope-like energy thread was sent hurtling towards him. He failed to dodge it and that resulted for that thread to deeply embed onto him. It was a Defense Thread that's almost similar to my Energy Thread. It's the link needed to activate Nysia's other skill, Defense Empowerment, which drains her opponent's defense while adding it onto herself.
Of course, it's not permanent. It will be back to normal after a while once the link is cut.
Unfortunately, he's already like a cornered rat against the Sanguine Aegis.
With nowhere else to go, the All-black Metagen could only stand his ground and fight his way through numerous Ruin Golems to fight Nysia head-on.
From out of nowhere, he finally pulled out a weapon. Like Leianne, he's holding a black rapier that was coated by his black Swordforce.
Upon seeing that, The Sanguine Aegis put a hand on the ground and activated another one of Nysia's skills.
Shield Mimicry!
From the ground, a huge chunk of regenium ore was directly extracted from the mine below. It hovered in front of the Sanguine Aegis before slowly forming into one of its clones.
It imposingly stood in front to face the incoming All-black Metagen and its black Swordforce-covered rapier thrust.
The clone raised its arm holding the morning star and another line of Defense Thread shot out and latched onto the charging Metagen.
Even if it's from the clone, due to the drained defense and the reduced armor, the Defense Thread easily pierced through the Metagen's regenium armor plate.
If that Ultimate Metagen received a full-blown attack it would probably be crushed into pieces.
After latching the Defense Thread, both the clone and the original Sanguine dodged that desperate attack and positioned themselves behind him.
Watching it from the side, this battle became one-sided too fast. My clones waiting at my side or even the gun I was preparing to shoot him with might not be needed anymore.
Without my buffs, Nysia is already strong enough to defeat him. This time, with the addition of Domain of Valor and the stats given to my companions, Lucas will have to ask for a miracle to win against her. The difference between those connected to me and those that are not is too wide. In a Mortal World, we're already unbeatable if it's against Transcendents at the same rank.
"You've fallen from grace, Lucas. Your era is over. Eaten by your ambition to take the world only for yourself. This is just a fitting end for you."
Nysia's voice turned solemn. The amused expression on her face disappeared and what replaced it was her seriousness.
It's over. Nysia has finally decided to end this battle.
The All-black Metagen which didn't hit anything turned around and the Pilot inside it laughed and roared in frustration. Even without opening the microphone, his despairing voice leaked out from inside the cockpit.
I've given him a chance to join our side and drop his ambition but he rejected it. This kind of conclusion was already being kind to him. Giving out the world's resources to the world's enemy... That's enough reason to cut him off. Liam and Lyra were also guilty however, they turned over a new leaf. As for Julian. I'll let them deal with him.
The Sanguine Aegis and the clone made from Shield Mimicry stood side by side and faced the black Metagen.
With morning stars covered with Meta Energy and Bluntforce on their hands, the two, original and the clone flickered from where they stood and appeared in front of the despairing Metagen.
As they aimed for the cockpit, the last desperate attempt of the All-black Metagen was released.
The black smoke filled the area and defended against the two blows of two spiked weapons.
The point of impact exploded and blew the surrounding rubbles away.
Yet, the morning stars continued its way as it hacked through that dense amount of black smoke and hit the weakened armor of the cockpit of the All-black Metagen.
As another explosion ensued, what I thought of earlier actually happened.
The 20-tall Metagen was visibly crushed and exploded into pieces which scattered around the area.
Thereupon, the Emperor of the New Haven Empire made no attempt to dodge the leftover force.
As I glanced at him one last time, a look of despair was apparent on his face but no remorse. Until the end, his ambition to take the world for himself doesn't change.
When the leftover force hit him, he flew far away like a broken kite. His blood spilling out to the ground.
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