501 Chapter 501: Demigods (1/2)
The Black Swordsman spun about, a whirlwind of death and black blades. Even my Celestial Guardians were forced to jump back or suffer messy deaths. Paying no heed to the storm of violence, we unleashed elemental energies, spells of all flavors bombarding the vicious Black Swordsman.
To his credit, however, the Black Swordsman fended each and every spell or attack, his sword flashing out. An obsidian gleam in the maelstrom of fury, he perfectly deflected each elemental spell and strike with precise movements. His defense was flawless and impenetrable.
At least that was the impression I received, until I saw blood drip onto the ground. Despite his best efforts, even the Black Swordsman couldn't intercept every spell or attack. Several had rammed home, scorching his armor and somehow penetrating his protection. Probably a spell found a chink in his armor and burrowed within, cutting deeply into the fragile flesh underneath.
Even so, the Black Swordsman didn't falter. He swung his sword and unleashed a black wave of mana that knocked us back. I was somehow able to guard against it, ice forming a thick barrier between me and the Black Swordsman. Even so, I was flung back while buffeted by the shockwaves.
My Celestial Guardians flipped back and landed agilely, while Vermillion Phoenix ascended to the skies above in an effort to avoid getting tossed about. Hydra struck from behind, its many heads biting and snapping at the Black Swordsman.
Aware that he couldn't simply cut off his heads, the strongest Grimaldus warrior-mage leaped back and instead used the flat edge of his sword to fend them off. Black mana erupted from the obsidian blade and enveloped Hydra, causing my titanic Constellation spirit to fall back, screeching.
Then White Tiger slashed the Black Swordsman from behind, his claws somehow penetrating the armor and drawing geysers of blood. Lethal lightning crackled across the scorched black armor, and the swordsman yelled out in pain and fury.
”!!��
White Tiger was barely able to leap away when a pillar of destructive black mana burst from the swordsman's body, engulfing the field and carving a molten crater in the earth. All of us kept our distance, cautiously watching the Black Swordsman. The moment his spell stopped, Vermillion Phoenix immediately unleashes his flames upon the heavily breathing Black Swordsman, engulfing him in a ferocious inferno that supposedly reached the temperatures of the sun itself.
That should have done it…yet why did I still have this ominous feeling that it wasn't over yet? The atmosphere – rendered suffocating by the presence of the Black Swordsman – remained unchanged. That meant that the source was still alive.
The flames vanished, extinguished by a single swing of the enemy's sword. The Black Swordsman stood, unbowed, his armor glowing red-hot from the heat. Fumes continued to billow upward, but he gathered his dark, purplish mana around him to cool himself off and return his heavily damaged armor to its original color. Not restoration or repairing his armor – his magic wasn't that omnipotent – but he could move again without being hindered by the press of molten metal damaging his body rather than protecting it.
Hydra was the first to move, lunging forward as if to devour him. The Black Swordsman swung about, his sword sweeping in a wide arc. It wasn't the blade that cut into Hydra, but rather a shadowy shockwave that was unleashed from his movement that blasted Hydra back.
While he was distracted, Green Dragon seized the chance to swoop in, flower petals swarming about him before spiraling downward in a deadly dance to slice the Black Swordsman apart. For a moment, it appeared that the Black Swordsman had resigned himself to his demise, his hands lowered but still gripping his sword. He didn't move an inch, waiting for the attack to hit.
”!!!”
And then black mana erupted from his sword. The Black Swordsman held his sword up high, and I watched, momentarily transfixed by the enormous vortex that now swirled around his exquisite, obsidian blade.
With a single swing, he sent a collosal tide of destruction across the field. Before anyone could move, he was blasting the entire area apart, obliterating it with astronomical quantities of black mana. My whole world seemingly disappeared in inky darkness.
Boom!
The black mana turned into a gigantic sphere, a shadowy conflagration that ate away and left a crater almost a kilometer in radius. Grass instantly disintegrated, and molten rock glowed red-hot, the remnants of the scorched earth. Everything that had been caught in the blast was instantly annihilated by the devastating energies, be it Celestial Guardian or Constellation spirit.
”Ugh…!”
My body fuming furiously, I staggered out of the smokes and collapsed. Bloodied and broken all over, I almost couldn't stand. Taking a deep breath, I did my best to stem my wounds, to alleviate some of my pain by directing mana toward the most damaged parts.
”Incredible. You're still alive.”
The Black Swordsman strode toward me, sounding impressed. I glared at him defiantly and coughed, blood leaking from my mouth.
Damn it…was that an Anti-Fortess Noble Phantasm…I mean, an apocalyptic spell? My Hydra and three Celestial Guardians were wiped out in one blast. One bloody blast!
The good news was that it didn't seem like he could spam such a destructive spell and the casting time required to pull it off was obviously long. Otherwise he would have obliterated me and my Constellation spirits right from the start.
The Black Swordsman thrust his sword at me, but I managed to roll to my knees and parry his blade with both of my swords. The forceful blow sent me tumbling back, my body hitting the ground and bouncing a few meters away. Even so, I made use of the momentum to put a good distance between myself and my assailant, and flipped my body upward to land on my feet.
”Huff…”
Wiping the blood from my mouth, I glared at my foe. He regarded me behind that visor of his, glowing red eyes blazing in the darkness, and then advanced forward.
”Scary,” I murmured. Straightening up, I cast another spell and felt its divine aura wrap around my battered body, coalescing into one of my strongest armaments. ”Hercules!”
Golden armor materialized around me, encasing my body in divine protection. Strength filled my limbs, power coursed through my body and I felt rejuvenated once more. Holding my ground, I met the Black Swordsman's charge. My foe had noticed something was up, and he had dashed forward with his sword in an attempt to stop me.
But he was too late.
Emboldened by Hercules, I withstood his first blow. The ground beneath my feet cracked and shattered, the crater becoming deeper, but I held firm. Gritting my teeth, I retaliated with both of my swords, a ferocious counterattack that actually drove the Black Swordsman back. Surprised, he parried my strikes and answered with a riposte, but I smacked it away with the side of my gauntlet and slashed down upon him.
The Black Swordsman whirled away avoiding my strike completely, but the moment Hei Yue hit the ground, my black blade split open a fissure.
”!!”
The Black Swordsman stared at me, astonished for a millisecond. But he was a consummate professional on the battlefield and didn't waste time on idle chatter. With a roar, he swung his sword, but I blocked it with Bai Ri. The ground beneath us shook from the collosal impact that resulted from the collision of blades, but neither of us yielded.
Instead, our strikes became faster, more precise, stronger. We exchanged over hundreds of blows, our swords smashing mercilessly against each other, sending tremors across the ground. To another person, we must have appeared like blurs, golden and black flashes clashing against each other with movements too fast for their eyes to follow. Each exchange was like thunder, metal screeching against metal. Our auras and mana crashed against each other with the fury of lightning and tsunamis, threatening to engulf and devour the other.