Chapter 416 - Taking The Center Stage (1/2)

”Rend.”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

In less than an instant, both of Aurus's arms had been cut off by what seemed to be an incredibly sharp yet intangible aura. Naturally, this aura came from the blade Zeldrion was holding, Valtyrisk. To most of the bystanders that had been watching from afar, they only saw a quick flash of light emanate from the blade Zeldrion was wielding. However, to Dalton, he could not help but look at Zeldrion with a solemn expression.

”Something has changed,” Dalton muttered as he knew that the skill Zeldrion used was different than that. Although it achieved the same result as what happened to Aurus's arms, the aura formed by the attack would usually take on the form of a large dragon before compressing at the final moment. But instead, the aura was imbued with the power of a dragon, yet had the form of a blade…only to be compressed even further.

Nevertheless, after looking at Aurus, who hastily recovered his injuries within seconds from the attack, it didn't take long for Dalton to understand why King Zeldrion changed the way he used his skill. ”Against an opponent that can quickly learn what you're doing, other than using the element of surprise, there's only another thing you can do.”

”Quickly become stronger.”

Whoosh!

Without waiting for Aurus to retaliate, Zeldrion dashed forward as the intangible aura he had been suppressing up till now was released in its full glory, sending almost all of it towards the ignited Valtyrisk. With great force, he swung his blade down, wanting to bisect Aurus into two. However, at the very last second, Aurus ducked down and grabbed his enhanced Fragarach, holding it on both ends to defend against it.

Crash!

Normally, a person's bones would have broken and turned into dust from the great force behind Zeldrion's attack. After all, such an attack at his level would have already flattened a few cities. But as Aurus was an Inanimate, and a Spiriveritas at that, he was able to endure the force of the attack and send it towards the ground he stood on…though the earth greatly rumbled for a while thanks to it.

Slightly distancing himself from Aurus, King Zeldrion then placed Valtyrisk near his right hip before emulating the movement of what a great samurai would do.

”[Cutthroat Blade Arts].”

”Flash.”

Swoosh!

With great speed, a similar aura to what he had shot out before now headed towards Aurus, aiming to decapitate him, even though he knew that Aurus would be able to recover from it. Surprisingly, rather than receive the attack, Aurus raised his blade upward before swinging it down, reminding those that watched his next move of a person they didn't expect he'd emulate.

”King Zeldrion…”

”[Deca-Fragarach],” Aurus muttered, sending out a blade of dark green light that continue to compress and increase in power as it gradually met up with the aura Zeldrion sent out. To the primal instinct, it was quite surprised that Aurus was able to reach a type of peak with the sword, just like how he had reached a type of peak with the claw he usually made.

Nevertheless, even though Aurus had reached a peak for sword arts…

King Zeldrion was aiming to go even further.

Clash!

As the two sides collided against one another, the two types of blade lights radiated fierce levels of energy, seemingly giving off the feeling that they were two supreme dragons vying for territory. At first, the dark green blade light sent out by Aurus seemed to have the advantage, with those that had keen eyes noticing that it was gradually engulfing the attack sent by Zeldrion. Unfortunately for Aurus, at the very last minute, Zeldrion's attack finally bared its fangs as it overwhelmed Aurus's attack, easily dispelling it as it shaved off a large chunk of Aurus's head.

Seeing as how he was able to win against an attack Aurus had learned from him, Zeldrion could not help but feel proud, only to suppress those feelings as he knew that he needed to continue in becoming stronger, lest he wanted to be overwhelmed. Unexpectedly, once Aurus recovered the injury he had received, revealing more of the jade green energy making up his body, Zeldrion could not help but let his anger control him for a bit, shouting to Aurus, ”Is that all you got, you Inanimate bastard?!”

Fsshhh!

Seemingly triggered by those words, Aurus dispelled the enhanced Fragarach he was wielding so far before using the energy making up the blade to formed a great number of blades. Although it was uncertain as to whether he did it because his pride was hurt, it was apparent to all of them that Aurus was finally going all out from this point onward.

…

While the ruler of the Seraph Kingdom and the being called The Great Calamity were duking it out to see which one would prevail, a small group of beings made up of four Pseudo-Animates and an Animate seemingly noticed that a ruckus was going on in another part of the kingdom they'd just arrived in. Of course, these five were Argentum and the others.

”It seems Aurus won against the opponent he was fighting,” Argentum could not help but mutter as the five of them were still levitating above the kingdom's walls. While saying those words, he could not help but have conflicted emotions, wondering if he should be on the side of his original body or the side of the people that were just caught up in the mess.

Naturally, the others noticed the conflicting tone in Argentum's words, having a feeling of what he was feeling at the moment. However, at the moment a large barrier appeared inside the kingdom itself, all five of them looked at each other and knew that it had something to do with Aurus. After all, his goal seemed to be killing all of the people that lived in the kingdom.

With that, Felix released a bit more of his energy to propel the five of them towards where the barrier was, landing just a few dozen meters away from it on top of one of the higher buildings. Removing the energy that enveloped the five of them, Felix and the others then looked at what was happening inside the barrier, instantly turning solemn as both Felix and Eleanor were surprised as to who Aurus was fighting.