Chapter 161 Chaos and Ruin II (2/2)
Roaring like a maddened beast, Lino's feet crackled with lightning yet again as a strange, seemingly empty yet boundless streaks of smoke surfaced from his skin, dyeing him in obscurity. He blasted off into the sky, directly into the heart of the rain and began slashing his sword which he still held backhandedly. One slash... two... ten... fifty... a thousand...
Within a blink of an eye, he slashed out hundreds of thousands of times, triggering the sword's second special effect: 'Baptism'. Coral-colored blasts of flames, golden streaks of holy light and purely white beams of life itself were unleashed in thousands, illuminating the sky yet again in a mystical and beautiful stream of colors.
Two ends met quickly and crashed like two divine beasts, blasting apart space itself. The latter cried out in a ear-piercing screech as the torn bits found it impossible to come back together. Rueful storms were birthed within the clash as winds carrying the air of destruction itself bellowed out into all corners of the small realm. Holes streaking into the limitless void of the universe opened up repeatedly, some occasionally unveiling a flickering light of the distant stars for a moment.
Lino suffered a massive backlash as the energy from the chaotic collision blasted him back into grounds; he was unable to stabilize his body in time and crashed directly into the earth, blasting it open as though it was a mere body of water. The entire cliff upon which the castle loomed collapsed into utter ruin and rubble, with a crater covering the entirety of the realm appearing with Lino at its center.
His entire body was bleeding profusely, hundred of cuts intersecting, his muscles and bones torn and broken. Yet, he merely howled out like a beast before streams of Qi began repairing his broken body. Not even a second later and he arose, his image a pure reflection of death itself, two jet-black eyes seemingly holding the might of the whole universe within them.
His quickly located Erkhaan's figure which was similarly in a sorry state. Both of his wings were clipped and his clothes were completely ruined, with one of his eyes having been pierced dead. Much like Lino he was bleeding profusely from every corner of his body, yet similarly had insane regenerative abilities thanks to his Vampire bloodline.
He was currently donning a serious expression as he had gravely underestimated the Bringer of Chaos; despite the massive difference in Levels, their Qi reserves seemed to actually be about the same. Naturally, Erkhaan was unaware that Lino had already formed a Singularity, something all other cultivators only did much later on in their path of cultivation.
His white hair fluttered madly within the winding storm, his one remaining eye shining in a brilliant light. There was no coming back, he realized; from now on, it was a battle of life and death and whatever the two held back beforehand would now be unleashed. As such, Erkhaan didn't hesitate before he suddenly grasped at one of his swords and sliced one of his arms off immediately at the shoulder.
The arm fell off but before it touched the ground it turned into ash that had then turned into a bleak flicker of gray light before vanishing entirely.
”Answer my Call, o' Great One.” he mumbled faintly into his jaw. ”Grant this Servant the might to defend Thine Grandeur!”
The world suddenly rumbled as Lino's eyes glinted in dangerous color; he looked up only to see a massive, gray pillar of light shuffle through the boundaries of the realm and collapse entirely onto Erkhaan. Lino naturally didn't think someone had come to give him aid and kill off the man, yet found it impossible to even take a step forward in order to at least attempt to prevent whatever was happening.
The gray pillar's energy was not something that Lino could comprehend at the moment; he only felt it twice in his Life -- once when he first entered the Realm of the Primal Spirits and the second time when he inherited his first Primal Spirit of Chaos. The aura was ancient, ageless, endless. It seemed as though a mere ounce of it would be enough to collapse the entire world unto itself.
The pillar didn't last long, at most a few seconds. Yet, as it disappeared, the atmosphere shifted from the previous one. Erkhaan's one eye turned dimly gray, his entire body billowing out smoke in thick droves which caused space around him to repeatedly distort. Lino felt as though the sense of pressure increased twofold, but he didn't think Erkhaan himself had grown twice as strong. After all, one's body could only handle so much -- overexerting it would not lead simply to 'instability', but complete disintegration.
There was no doubt however that Erkhaan had grown far stronger. While ignoring the repeated alarms of pain that were screeching at him from all ends, Lino took in a deep breath and lowered his stance, closing his eyes for a moment.
Erkhaan's pupils constricted as he quickly grasped at one of his swords before streaking forward at his maximum speed; rather, it was better to say that he directly teleported in front of Lino as he had completely ignored the limits of worldly laws. He immediately struck in a narrow arc as his intention was simply to break Lino's concentration rather than to inflict any damage. The next moment, however, Lino opened his eyes.