Chapter 395: The Taste of Defeat (2/2)

”[Spellswords of Ruination: Ultimate Lost Art].”

”[Billion Sword Embodiment].”

”[Otherworldly Summoning: Myriad Corporeality Lucifer Claw].”

Seeing as he had no way to escape from the attack, Erudis eventually submitted to the fate of dying in the hands of a weaker and younger Spiriveritas than him, closing his sense of vision as he waited for that fateful moment to come.

…but it did not.

'Hmm? Did someone stop Verdante from attacking me at the very last minute?' This was the first thought that entered Erudis's mind. 'Surely, it wouldn't be Vytalis and Mannelyn, right? They're too weak to hold his attack back.'

'Or is it because he wants me to have my eyes open before he lands the final hit on me?' he soon thought, thinking that it was plausible. After seeing how Vytalis and Mannelyn were near the verge of death by the time he arrived, he had a feeling that Aurus toyed with the two for a bit before dealing the final blow. With that in mind, he inwardly let out a sigh and opened his eyes…

…only to be greeted by nothing.

At the moment, any traces of Aurus had disappeared, as if he had never been there fighting against him in the first place. The same went for the dark green domain restricting him from anything and everything a while ago. It was now gone.

Realizing this, he hastily utilized his energy to control himself from falling as confusion filled his mind. Right now, he could not help but wonder if the fight he had with Aurus was even real in the first place. That showed just how jarring the change from before to now was.

”I know I'm already pretty old, but my senses can't fool me that easily,” he soon muttered before deciding to place the matter at the back of his head. Whether the fight was real or not did not matter to him anymore. What was real though was the fear and danger he felt while fighting Aurus. He knew very well that something like that was hard to replicate, even with the art of illusions.

Feeling as if he could not change the winds of fate lingering around Aurus, he decided to make his way back to Mercuria Continent, thinking of his next move as a Spiriveritas, and as a whole as an organization overseeing the world of Erudinia.

Along the way, he summoned an orb through a rift before infusing it with energy. Soon after, the image of a pink and cyan being appeared on the orb once more. Surprisingly, the beings on the orb were the first ones to talk, asking Erudis, ”How did it go?”

With a sigh, Erudis replied, ”He escaped. Unexpectedly, he was stronger than me. Or at the very least, he has ways to restrict the amount of strength I can unleash.”

”Wouldn't he just become a bigger problem if we leave him be? At this rate, he might end up destroying the entirety of Maerr-viki Continent within a week!” Vytalis could not help but say. With that, Mannelyn suggested to Erudis, ”Is it possible to move all of the Spiriveritae to fight against Aurus?”

”Even if we did ask for the help of all the Spiriveritae, we would probably not get anywhere,” Erudis said, recalling how he was not able to do anything inside that dark green domain. ”With the skills he has, it's next to impossible for us to fight against him.”

”So, you're telling us that we should just leave him be?” Vytalis muttered, feeling defeated as she thought about it. Letting out yet another sigh, Erudis replied, ”Unfortunately, that would be the best action we could take. Though, if we had the help of the Transcendents in the Transcendent World, this wouldn't be so much of a problem.”

”If only that event didn't happen,” he muttered to himself, sighing inwardly as he thought about it.

After a moment of silence, Erudis then told them, ”Vytalis, Mannelyn, once I get back, I want you two to use all of your resources and connections to create a strong information network throughout the continent to inform me of every move Verdante makes, as well as every move done by the continent against him. Of course, your safety should still be the greatest priority.”

”Don't worry about us too much, Erudis,” Mannelyn replied, her tone slightly calm. ”After fighting against Verdante, we've realized that we need to become stronger. With that, we might head to Mercuria Continent or any of the other continents sometime soon. Of course, we'd still be doing surveillance over Maerr-viki Continent from time to time That's our duty as a Spiriveritas, after all.”

”As long as you know what you're doing,” Erudis said in response before going silent for a bit, increasing the speed at which he moved to arrive at Mercuria Continent faster. With that, it only took him a couple more minutes to arrive at the border of the continent, letting him heave a light sigh of relief as he told the two, ”Ah, right. I think we'll be holding our 77th assembly sometime soon.”

”Eh? What's with the sudden announcement?” Vytalis could not help but ask, to which Erudis replied, ”I feel like a great amount of change would happen to your continent within these next few days, so the other Spiriveritae should be notified of it. Of course, if they offer to help you two out on the problem with Verdante, then it would be better done through the assembly as well.”

”When is the assembly going to be held, then?” Mannelyn asked in response, making Erudis ponder over his answer for a bit.

”Well, I'm not too sure just yet. In the meantime, just wait for my announcement. I'll tell all of you to arrive here as soon as I make up my mind.”

”…Alright then. We'll be waiting.”