Chapter 181 - Lies and Deceit (2/2)

”[Mana Ascension].”

”[Will of Nature's Mana].”

”[One with Mana].”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In an instant, the aura Horell was radiating had easily surpassed the aura Herellia and Aurus were radiating, with him laughing in a slightly malevolent manner before saying, ”Herellia. Aurus. It's quite nice to see you again.”

”To think that you've defected from the alliance to help such a tyrannical being.” Herellia was the first one to respond to Horell's words, her tone having a hint of disdain. ”Are you satisfied with the choice you've made?”

”Why wouldn't I be? Master is far more powerful than you, Alliance Leader,” Horell replied to Herellia's question with a hint of a mocking tone at the end. ”This is farewell for the two of you.”

After saying what he had to say, a ball of silver light manifested over Horell's head, gradually growing in size as the aura it emanated intensified alongside the increasing size. Both Herellia and Aurus could not help but look at the silver ball in fear, with Aurus voicing out his fear in a serious tone. ”Are you seriously going to kill both of us?”

”As I said earlier, why wouldn't I?” Horell evilly laughed as the silver ball grew larger. ”The two of you are weakened by the [Grand Restriction] spell. By killing off the two of you, this would allow Master to easily kill the other members of the alliance and truly rule the Tempest Cliff.”

Hearing what Horell was saying, Chonk, who was circulating the ominous aura that had manifested a while ago around his body, could not help but cackle malevolently as he said, ”As expected from my loyal servant!”

He then looked at the two, who he thought was about to die either under his or Horell's hands, scoffing as he said, ”Since the two of you could die from the hands of your former alliance member, with my attack being the final nail on the coffin, how about I enlighten you two on the spell that has led you two to your untimely demises?”

With a haughty grin on his face, he said, ”Although I said that it was a 2v2 earlier, in actuality, it's a 2v3.” He then continued, ”The [Grand Restriction] spell is being consciously controlled by another member of the army, who is at the Animate existence level.”

”You could go ahead and try dispelling the [Grand Restriction] spell, but you'd surely die under his hands before you can even do so!” Chonk added before laughing once more, thinking that his army had finally won. On the other hand, Herellia, Aurus, and Horell could not help but look at each other with expressions of disbelief.

”Too easy…” All of them let out a sigh soon after as they muttered at the same time. They could not help but wonder if something was wrong with Chonk's brain. Nevertheless, the three continued their facade, with Horell shouting, ”Prepare to die!”

”[Canus Excidio]!”

Fwoosh!

In that instant, the silver ball over Horell's head had transformed into a large beam, aiming at both Herellia and Aurus. Due to the distance between the three, the bodies of Aurus and Herellia were fully covered by the beam. But against Chonk's expectations that the two would die, although it seemed that the beam would kill the two, the two had conjured barriers in front of them, giving off an expression that they were still struggling to the bitter end.

”Grh…!” Aurus grunted to keep up the facade of them being at a disadvantage before shouting, ”We will…never surrender!”

”Dream on!” Horell replied to Aurus's words before saying, ”You'll eventually exhaust your energy and die under my beam! Master wouldn't even need to make a move!”

While Horell was saying this, Aurus sent a message to him through their connection, asking, ”Could you focus the beam's strength towards me for a bit? I'll use the beam's strength to fly towards the alliance base. Of course, I'm going to make it look like I was defeated by the beam, dispelling my transformation.”

”Uh...alright.” Although Horell did not know the reason why Aurus wanted him to do this, he still did it anyway, shouting words that mostly revolved around the topic of despair and demise as he shifted most of the energy in the beam towards Aurus. While this was happening, Aurus continued to put up a struggle as a facade while sending a message to Herellia through their systems.

”I'm gonna go and dispel that [Grand Restriction] spell,” Aurus said to Herellia through a connection.

”Is that the reason why Horell focused the beam towards you?” Herellia could not help but ask after Aurus told her what he was going to do.

”Yeah. I'm gonna it look like I've exhausted all of my energy, dispelling my transformation as I use my trump card to go and kill that other member in their army.” Aurus responded to her question before adding, ”You're fine with me doing this, right?”

”As long as it allows the fight to be on an even playing field again, I'm fine with it. Then again, Chonk might attack while you're gone so I'll alert you when he does,” Herellia replied to Aurus's question. Not long after, she added, ”Don't get caught.”

”I'll try not to.” After responding to Herellia's reminder, Aurus reduced the strength of the barrier in front of him as he shouted, ”I...will…never…surrender!”

”Just die already!” In response to Aurus's words, Horell focused all of the beam's strength towards him as Aurus reduced the strength of his barrier to zero, allowing the beam to shatter the barrier as Aurus, who was still an Infernal Spirit, was sent flying tens of meters towards the alliance base.

”Gah! Noooo!” Aurus could not help but shout in agony due to the beam's strength. Of course, Aurus was just shouting as a facade as he manually dispelled the transformation, sending him, Fenrir, and Charisa flying towards the alliance base with a loud thud.

Chonk, who looked at this situation from afar, could not help but look at Horell in a new light as he muttered, ”He truly is a capable servant.”

…

Thud. Thud. Thud.

”Are you two okay?” At the instant the three of them had landed somewhat close to the alliance base, Aurus hastily returned to his normal position, asking both Fenrir and Charisa if they were fine.

”I'm fine, Master.” Fenrir was the first one to respond since he landed on his four paws. On the other hand, Charisa took a while to respond as she landed in the same position as Aurus, eventually getting up as she said, ”I'm kind of dizzy…”

Fortunately, it did not take long for Charisa to return to normal, returning to her exuberant self in a matter of seconds. With Charisa finally recovering from the fall, Aurus looked at the two of them and said, ”I'll put you two back into the system once more. Is that alright with you two?”

”You don't have to ask us this question every time, Master~” Charisa responded to Aurus's question before adding, ”We were summoned to protect you. Don't worry about it~”

”If you say so,” Aurus said before letting out a sigh, inwardly feeling bad for what the two had to put up with. He then said, ”While the two of you are in the system, please practice the incantation for the forbidden art. I have a nagging feeling inside that this war is coming to a close.”

After listening to both of them acceding to his request, he then commanded the system to keep the two inside as Aurus let out a short sigh of relief. He went over the plan he had in mind, which he had created after Chonk revealed the information regarding the [Grand Restriction] spell, before radiating an aura of seriousness around him. Soon after, he suppressed this aura to a bare minimum, remembering that he had to keep up an illusion that he had been defeated by Horell.

Nevertheless, this did not stop him from becoming slightly excited inwardly, muttering, ”Time to initiate the operation that shall turn the tides to our favor…”

”And hopefully, even end the war.”